Virtual Book Club - April 2, 2023

Book Club_April2023

Join us on Sunday, April 2, 2023 from 4:00-5:30PM for a virtual Book Club conversation. This month we will be reading and discussing There There by Tommy Orange. High school students are welcome! 

“PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. A contemporary classic, this “astonishing literary debut” (Margaret Atwood, bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale) “places Native American voices front and center before readers’ eyes” (NPR/Fresh Air).

Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. They converge and collide on one fateful day at the Big Oakland Powwow and together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism

A book with “so much jangling energy and brings so much news from a distinct corner of American life that it’s a revelation” (The New York Times). It is fierce, funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down--full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.

To RSVP to the Book Club gathering or to request or get information on reasonable accommodations or language access, please contact Caitlin Starr at [email protected] or at 617-731-2345.

The first 20 people to RSVP will receive a confirmation email and a registration link to the virtual meeting. All other interested participants will receive an email indicating they have been added to a waiting list.

Books are available for purchase at the Brookline Booksmith, as well as on Amazon. There are also books available to borrow from the Brookline Libraries; there are 3 copies specifically on hold for this Book Club at the Coolidge Corner Library under the name Goldner until March 26th; you may inquire at the desk.

You may also be interested in attending the following event:

Tommy Orange will be presenting at the HUNAP Annual Lecture on April 6, 2023 at 6:00 PM at the Harvard Arts Museum. Admission is free, but seating is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. Doors will open at 5:30 PM and the lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. More information about the HUNAP Annual Lecture and HUNAP can be found at these links. 

Historical Acknowledgement 

As we gather today as Town Meeting Members, let us take a moment to acknowledge the history of this land we call Brookline.

This is the unceded land of the Massachusett people, whose traditions, language and stewardship continue today through their lineal descendants, the Massachusett Tribe of Ponkapoag. Today, we are living on land that was taken by force. By 1641, the colonists in “Brookline” had allocated to themselves almost all land that had been inhabited by Indigenous people.

Land was not the only form of theft that occurred. Lives were also stolen. Historical records state that in 1675, during King Philip’s War, seven Indigenous men were sold into slavery in the Caribbean by residents of the area that we now call Brookline. The seven men represent part of the early slave trade.

Slavery in Brookline continued and grew but soon those enslaved were African or of African descent. By 1746, enslavers claimed ownership of over half of all Brookline land.

We acknowledge the theft of land, culture, and lives and the ensuing enslavement of Indigenous and African peoples that occurred here. These early policies set the stage for centuries of systemic racism.

As we remember these atrocities, Town Meeting Members and the larger Town must commit ourselves to address the ongoing inequities that are the result of our history of colonialism and racism. Although we as individuals were not perpetrators of these atrocities, we benefit from these systems. Thus, we dedicate ourselves to addressing them today.

PAST EVENTS

Indigenous Authors Book Club 2023

  • In January 2023, we had our first Book Club.  Book Club participants read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  

Indigenous Peoples Day 2022

In October of  2022, the Brookline Indigenous Peoples Celebration Committee, in partnership with the Brookline Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations invited the community to participate in the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration held at the Brookline Health Building and Garden of Remembrance. 

We celebrated with free food from Manoa Poke Shop, supported various local Indigenous art and craft vendor, and learned about the history and current political and social justice actions of Indigenous peoples in Brookline and throughout Massachusetts.  

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month

The Indigenous Peoples Celebration Committee and the Brookline Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations  celebrated Native American Heritage Month with a Conversation on Climate: Indigenous Communities and Climate Justice this past Monday, November 28, 2022 from 7-8 pm.  

The program featured a recorded presentation from Julian Aguon, a Chamorro human rights lawyer, defender, and author from Guam. He is the founder of Blue Ocean Law, an international law firm based in Guam, specializing in human and indigenous rights, self-determination, and environmental justice in the Pacific.  His presentation also included a reading from his new book ‘No Country for Eight Spot Butterflies’, a collection of essays on resilience and power in the age of climate disaster.  

Our Keynote Speaker, Crystal Johnson, presented A Black Indigenous Voice: Advancing Climate Justice with Science, Collaboration, Sacred Conservation, and Human Faith. Crystal Johnson is an astute energy and environmental leader with more than twenty-five years of accomplishments in strategic planning, management, policy, research, and assessment of energy (energy equity, clean energy workforce development, energy efficiency, energy management, renewables, emissions inventory), environmental resources (water, air, natural resources, food systems, and other), and sustainability. She specializes in energy equity, clean energy workforce development, stakeholder engagement and collaboration, and climate action planning.

This program was made possible by a grant from the Brookline Community Foundation and support from Brookline Interactive Group and educators at Brookline High School.  

Resources:

IPCC Charge

Warrant Article 20 of the November 2017 Special Town Meeting was a resolution urging the Select Board to establish Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October and to appoint an Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration Committee to develop and implement the Town's commemoration of indigenous Peoples Day.

To implement the purposes of Warrant Article 20:

  1. The Select Board hereby proclaims that Indigenous Peoples Day shall be celebrated in Brookline on the second Monday of October.
  2. The Select Board encourages the citizens of Brookline to use Indigenous Peoples Day to commemorate and celebrate indigenous peoples in Massachusetts and the Americas and to study and become educated on the culture, history, and diversity of indigenous peoples in Massachusetts and the Americas.
  3. The Select Board hereby establishes an Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration Committee to develop and implement the commemoration of Indigenous Peoples Day as follows:
    1. The Committee shall be comprised of 5 residents of Brookline appointed by the Select Board. The Select Board may appoint additional resident voting members to the Committee upon the request of the Committee. A majority of the appointed members shall be a quorum for the conduct of business.
    2. The Committee is urged to invite other Town residents, schools, non-profit organizations, civic organizations, and businesses to participate as non-voting members in the programming of the Committee.
    3. The Committee shall collaborate with the Commission on Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations to develop programming that expresses the Town's values of diversity, inclusion, and positive community relations among all peoples.
    4. The Committee shall provide ideas and assistance to the Public Schools of Brookline to develop appropriate commemorations of Indigenous Peoples Day and instruction in the schools on the culture, history, and diversity of indigenous peoples.
    5. The Committee may invite non-voting participation by non-resident New England based indigenous people and local or national organizations of indigenous peoples to assist in developing the programming of the Committee.
    6. The Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations may assist the Committee in identifying and applying for funding and resources necessary for the Committee's work.
    7. The Committee's focus shall be on the culture, history and diversity of indigenous peoples, including the adversities suffered by indigenous peoples as a result of European conquest of the Americas, but in a manner that prioritizes education and reconciliation and appropriate advocacy in line with the Town's values of diversity, inclusion, and positive community relations among all peoples.