Upcoming Events
Events happening in and around the Snohomish area presented by Snohomish for Equity or that align with our mission.
SFE Book Club: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 6:30 - 8:00 PM PST
Online Meeting
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation—that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation—the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments—that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.
Through extraordinary revelations and extensive research that Ta-Nehisi Coates has lauded as "brilliant" (The Atlantic), Rothstein comes to chronicle nothing less than an untold story that begins in the 1920s, showing how this process of de jure segregation began with explicit racial zoning, as millions of African Americans moved in a great historical migration from the south to the north.
As Jane Jacobs established in her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, it was the deeply flawed urban planning of the 1950s that created many of the impoverished neighborhoods we know. Now, Rothstein expands our understanding of this history, showing how government policies led to the creation of officially segregated public housing and the demolition of previously integrated neighborhoods. While urban areas rapidly deteriorated, the great American suburbanization of the post–World War II years was spurred on by federal subsidies for builders on the condition that no homes be sold to African Americans. Finally, Rothstein shows how police and prosecutors brutally upheld these standards by supporting violent resistance to black families in white neighborhoods.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited future discrimination but did nothing to reverse residential patterns that had become deeply embedded. Yet recent outbursts of violence in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and Minneapolis show us precisely how the legacy of these earlier eras contributes to persistent racial unrest. "The American landscape will never look the same to readers of this important book" (Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), as Rothstein’s invaluable examination shows that only by relearning this history can we finally pave the way for the nation to remedy its unconstitutional past.
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Past Events
Viewing / Discussion: Black Girl In Suburbia
Sunday, January 24, 2021 5:00 - 7:00 PM PST
Online Meeting
A Documentary by Melissa Lowery
Black Girl In Suburbia is a 55 minute feature documentary that looks into the experiences of black girls growing up in predominately White communities. This is a different look into suburbia from the perspective of women of color. This film explores through professional and personal interviews the conflict and issues black girls have relating to both white and black communities.
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SFE Book Club: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:30 - 8:00 PM PST
Online Meeting
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
Snohomish for Equity Community Meeting
Join us for our discussions!
Monday, November 9, 2020 6:00 - 7:00PM PST
Online Meeting
We welcome you to continue the conversation at our next Snohomish for Equity community meeting.
Meeting agenda:
- 6:00pm: SFE Board Update/Coming Events
- 6:10pm: Community comment (please limit your comments depending on attendance; we'd like to hear from as many community members as possible!)
- 7:00pm: Community meeting adjourn
Please download the Zoom app in advance (for phones) or find the meeting on your browser. Jump on a few minutes ahead of the start so you are ready to go when we begin promptly at 6pm.
Click here to join the meeting...
Roundtable on Racism: How do we create an anti-racist school district
Saturday, November 14, 2020 1:00 - 2:30 PM PST
Online Meeting
Snohomish for Equity in partnership with local faith communities presents the second installment of the Roundtable on Racism series. Join us for a panel discussion with an open question and answer period to follow as we discuss how we can collectively work to create an anti-racist school district in Snohomish.
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SFE Book Club: The Incovenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 6:30 - 8:00 PM PST
Online Meeting
Suffused with wit, anger, perception, and wisdom, The Inconvenient Indian is at once an engaging chronicle and a devastating subversion of history, insightfully distilling what it means to be "Indian" in North America. It is a critical and personal meditation that sees Native American history not as a straight line but rather as a circle in which the same absurd, tragic dynamics are played out over and over again. At the heart of the dysfunctional relationship between Indians and Whites, King writes, is land: "The issue has always been land." With that insight, the history inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America—broken treaties, forced removals, genocidal violence, and racist stereotypes—sharpens into focus. Both timeless and timely, The Inconvenient Indian ultimately rejects the pessimism and cynicism with which Natives and Whites regard one another to chart a new and just way forward for Indians and non-Indians alike.
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SFE Book Club: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Join us to discuss Jesymn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Online Meeting (meeting link will be distributed prior to the meeting date)
Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is "perfectly poised for the moment" (The New York Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. "Ward’s writing throbs with life, grief, and love… this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it" (Buzzfeed).
Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.
His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.
When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.
[Online Meeting] Click here to join the meeting...
SFE Book Club: Me and White Supremacy
Join us for a discussion on Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy
Tuesday, August 11, 2020, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Me and White Supremacy leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. Awareness leads to action, and action leads to change.
This book will walk you step-by-step through the work of examining:
- Examining your own white privilege
- What allyship really means
- What allyship really means
- Anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation
- Changing the way that you view and respond to race
- How to continue the work to create social change
SFE Book Club: Me and White Supremacy / Days 16 - 20
Join us for a discussion on Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy
Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Weekly book club meet up to review days 16 - 20. We are using this format to talk through things learned, reflections and other thoughts on the daily readings.
SFE Book Club: Me and White Supremacy / Days 11 - 15
Join us for a discussion on Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy
Tuesday, July 21, 2020, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Weekly book club meet up to review days 11 - 15. We are using this format to talk through things learned, reflections and other thoughts on the daily readings.
Online Meeting
SFE Book Club: Me and White Supremacy / Days 6 - 10
Join us for a discussion on Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy
Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Weekly book club meet up to review days 6 - 10. We are using this format to talk through things learned, reflections and other thoughts on the daily readings.
Online Meeting
SFE Community Discussion
Join us for our discussions!
Monday, July 6, 2020 at 6:30 PM
We've added a "Community Comment" period to our Snohomish for Equity Board Meetings! Please come share your concerns, hopes and ideas for Snohomish for Equity and for our community.
SFE Book Club: Me and White Supremacy / Days 1 - 5
Join us for a discussion on Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy
Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
UPDATE: Me and White Supremacy book club changes.
We've changed the format for this book club read as the book is meant to be journaled through for reflection and discussion along the way. Starting next Tuesday 7/7 we will have weekly one hour book club meet ups (on Zoom) to discuss the previous 5 days worth of reads. An event has been created for each week along with the link to Zoom. Please join us for these conversations, they will lead up to the main book club meeting that was scheduled for 8/11. At that meet up we will discuss the book as a whole and it will be a longer meeting.
Thanks for leaning in to the work and taking the time to look deep inside.
#beintentional
Weekly book club meet up to review days 1-5. We are using this format to talk through things learned, reflections and other thoughts on the daily readings.
Online Meeting
Bystander Intervention Training
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Online Meeting
Please join us for a free training to learn the Four Ds of Bystander Intervention and how to stand up to racism, harassment, and hate. You can make a difference!
Click here to join us...
Snohomish Youth-led BLM Protest
Peaceful Protest in Snohomish
Friday, June 12, 2020 at 5:00 PM
Meet at Avenue D and 2nd Street
The Plan
5:00 PM : Meet on Avenue D and 2nd Street.
6:00 PM : March down Avenue D to First Street. Then walk up First Street to City Hall.
We will hold a 9-minute memorial for George Floyd outside City Hall.
Then walk back to 2nd Street and Avenue D. Continue the walk up Avenue D to the Snohomish School District Office. (You can also drive and meet us there. Approximately 2 miles.)
Bystander Intervention Training
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Online Meeting
By popular demand!! Please join us for a free training to learn the Four Ds of Bystander Intervention and how to stand up to racism, harassment, and hate. You can make a difference!
Click here to join us...
Race for Racial Justice
Virtual 5K Walk / Jog / Run
Friday, June 19, 2020
Join us and the Snohomish for Equity community and Walk / Run / Jog - Race for Racial Justice. Help raise awareness and your health for Racial Justice.
On Friday, June 19th, Snohomish for Equity will be at the Gazebo on First St. in Snohomish from 8:30 - 10:00 AM and from 4:00 - 5:30 PM. Come by for some snacks and photos.
Then post your efforts and results on Social Media. Be sure to Tag #SFERaceForRacialJustice with your photos and results!
Good luck, stay safe and have a great race!
Bystander Intervention Training
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Online Meeting
Please join us for a free training to learn the Four Ds of Bystander Intervention and how to stand up to racism, harassment, and hate. You can make a difference!
Click here to join us...
SFE Book Club: Homegoing
Join us for a discussion on Yaa Gyasi's book, Homegoing
Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 6:30 - 8:30 PM PST
Online discussion via Zoom Meeting (https://zoom.us/j/5759060527)
Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.
Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.
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Rally for Racial Justice
Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 3PM
We will meet at the corner of 2nd Ave and Avenue D in Snohomish.
Rally Call: #BlackLivesMatter
We are taking a stand in Snohomish tomorrow, Saturday, May 30, 2020, at 3:00 PM. Please bring signs of support, wear face coverings, and maintain social distancing. We will line the streets starting 2nd Ave and Ave D.
Stay tuned to our website, instagram and facebook pages for further actions/steps.
To find out more about Black Lives Matter...
SFE Book Club: Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
Join us for a discussion on Seth Holmes book, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
Tuesday, April 14th, 2020, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Online Discussion via Zoom meetings (Meeting ID: 575 906 0527)
Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies provides an intimate examination of the everyday lives and suffering of Mexican migrants in our contemporary food system. An anthropologist and MD in the mold of Paul Farmer and Didier Fassin, Holmes shows how market forces, anti-immigrant sentiment, and racism undermine health and health care. Holmes’s material is visceral and powerful. He trekked with his companions illegally through the desert into Arizona and was jailed with them before they were deported. He lived with indigenous families in the mountains of Oaxaca and in farm labor camps in the U.S., planted and harvested corn, picked strawberries, and accompanied sick workers to clinics and hospitals. This "embodied anthropology" deepens our theoretical understanding of the ways in which social inequalities and suffering come to be perceived as normal and natural in society and in health care.
21-Day Racial Equity Challenge
Jan. 20 - Feb 17, 2020
What is the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge?
Have you ever made a successful change in your life? Think about the time and attention you dedicated to the process. Change is hard; setting our intentions and adjusting how we spend our time and focus our attention is essential. It’s about building new habits.
SFE Community Discussion
Join us for our discussions!
Monday, February 24, 2020, 6:30 PM
We've added a "Community Comment" period to our Snohomish for Equity Board Meetings! Please come share your concerns, hopes and ideas for Snohomish for Equity and for our community.
SFE Book Club: Dear Martin
Join us for a discussion on Nic Stone's, Dear Martin
Tuesday, February 4th, 2020, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Snohomish
1306 Lake View Avenue, Snohomish, WA 98290
Justyce is an African American teen caught between two worlds. He knows that the education he's receiving at a private school will grant him more economic opportunities, however he begins to question the effects his private school education on his own identity. Some of his classmates believe that the racial pendulum has swung too far, giving African Americans an unfair advantage over their white counterparts. The kids he grew up with believe Justyce has assimilated too much and has forgotten where he came from.
Walking Through The Cedars
A journey of an Indigenous Sduhubš woman
Tuesday, December 10th, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Snohomish
1306 Lake View Avenue, Snohomish, WA 98290
Tulalip Tribal citizen Deborah Parker carries her Sduhubš (Snohomish) grandmother's ancestral name, Tsicyalta. Tsicyalta will take us through the journey of what it means to be a modern day Sduhubš woman. She will walk us through the trials and rise of her tribal nation, her life and her hopes for the future.
SFE Book Club: How to be an Anti-Racist
Join us for discussion on Ibram X. Kendi's, How to be an Antiracist
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Snohomish
1306 Lake View Avenue, Snohomish, WA 98290
Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America--but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.
In this book, Kendi weaves together an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.
SFE Book Club: There There
Join us for a discussion on There There by Tommy Orange
Tuesday, October 8, 2019, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Snohomish
1306 Lake View Avenue, Snohomish, WA 98290
There There is a relentlessly paced multigenerational story about violence and recovery, memory and identity, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. It features a wide cast of characters who are all Native American, but with varying degrees of connection to the culture. Each of whom have private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow.
Tommy Orange explores what it means to be an urban Indian in a stunning novel that grapples with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and profound spirituality, and with a plague of addiction, abuse, and suicide. In a voice full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with stunning urgency and force.
"There's a dehumanization that's happened with Native people because of all these misperceptions about what we are," he says. "And it's convenient to think of us as gone, or drunks, or dumb. It's convenient to not have to think about a brutal history and a people surviving and still being alive and well today, thriving in various different forms of life, good and bad. I wanted to represent a range of human experience as a way to humanize Native people."
Film Screening & Discussion
of Ava DuVernay's '13th'
Monday, September 9th, 2019, 6:15 - 8:30 PM
Snohomish High School Performing Arts Center
Please join us for a special screening of the award-winning documentary "13th" with a discussion to follow. Doors open at 6:15pm; film begins at 6:30pm.
