Read about an unexpected friendship between Van and Bruce— a Black man and a White man.

RAIN & Go Green Northbrook come together for this important topic.

Maya Angelou said it best when she said,

“Won’t it be wonderful when Black history and Native American history and Jewish history and all of U.S. history is taught from one book. Just U.S. history.” 

We have to be willing to fully consider that justice is not served by a system that measures success by the number arrests and convictions and incarcerations it accumulates and instead of the number of human beings restored to safety and security and wholeness.

I’d like to share my observation of possible implicit bias seen in a busy Northbrook restaurant…

Psychologists agree that most of our actions occur without conscious thoughts. Thus, our implicit biases often predict how we’ll behave more accurately than…

Some people express fear at the thought of people of a different economic background moving to Northbrook.

Wow, we are in the middle of a story that we heard a bit about in the last meeting, compelling evidence of where we are, in the middle. On the one hand, we have some people concerned about their safety, based on the presence of “some other people” who don’t quite look like they belong here.

Have you ever stopped to think why there are so few Black people living in our community, or in the North Shore altogether?

Historically, restrictive covenants, were one of the discriminatory practices used against racial or religious groups of people. Tonight, as Jews across the world prepare for Yom Kippur, also known as the day of atonement, I want to acknowledge and speak about the restrictive covenants that came to post-World War II Northbrook.

There is a common phrase spoken by many white people: “I don’t see color.”

You may be wondering what a white man can say about prejudice aimed at Asians.

For some, diversity is another word for different ethnicities, varied skin tones and facial features. Differences that are often lumped together incorrectly. For example, if I were to ask you to think of people from Asia what comes to mind?

Have you ever been called by the wrong name? Repeatedly?

How did you feel? Overlooked? Offended? Sad?

Now imagine you are called the wrong name every day, by coworkers, neighbors, family, and people with power over you.

RAIN thought it would be useful to provide the Board and the Northbrook community our vision for the purpose of the DEI moment, how we intend to approach the DEI moment, and importantly, explain what the moment is not meant to be.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of slavery. Also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, Juneteenth got its name by combining the month and date (the 19th) when 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were finally informed of their freedom.

It is appropriate that the Northbrook Village Board is starting its DEI moment on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd. RAIN stands for Racial Awareness in the North Shore. We are a grass roots organization that started in 2015, when the leaders of four separate Northbrook faith communities came together to lead discussions about Race and White Privilege.