Jones Library Will Host Stolen Beam Series On Reparations

Report On The Meeting of the African Heritage Reparations Assembly, April 11, 2022

This meeting was held on Zoom and was recorded. It can be viewed here.

Present: Michele Miller (Chair), Heather Hala Lord, Yvonne Mendez, Amilcar Shabazz, and Irv Rhodes. Absent: Alexis Reed.

Staff Liaison: Jennifer Moyston

Introduction To The Stolen Beam Study Series
In response to the murder of George Floyd in May, 2020, the Jewish Community of Amherst (JCA) established a committee on Racial Justice. A subcommittee began studying reparations to the African American community. After six months of studying written materials, the committee had intensive internal study sessions, reflecting on what they had read. From these discussions, they developed the Stolen Beam Study Series, a five-session program with readings and thought-provoking questions illustrating a different perspective on U.S. history from that which is usually taught.

When the JCA offered the program to its members, 65 people signed up the first day. This enthusiasm led the developers to consider expanding its reach beyond the JCA community. Stolen Beam study sessions have been offered to Reparations4Amherst (R4A), Congregations Beit Ahava and Bnei Israel in Northampton, the Pelham Library, and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Longmeadow, among others. It is now being piloted in several Jewish congregations around the country, and has been nominated for a national award in Reconstructionist Judaism.

The Jones Library is presenting the program for five Tuesdays in May. Michele Miller said that when she co-facilitated a Stolen Beam program for R4A, it was an “incredibly rich and moving experience.” She suggested that the African Heritage Reparations Assembly (AHRA) might want to partner with the JCA in the series scheduled at the Jones. She said that community education is one of the goals of the AHRA, and this program may help further that goal.

Rabbi Devorah Jacobson and Jeff Gold of the JCA came before the AHRA to introduce the Stolen Beam program and answer questions from the assembly. The title, Stolen Beam, comes from a story in a collection of ancient Jewish texts (the Mishna) in which two rabbis discuss what one should do if one finds that his house was built with a stolen beam. One rabbi said that the house should be dismantled and the beam returned. But the second rabbi said that the house should remain standing, but the theft should be acknowledged and the aggrieved party compensated. It is this second approach that the Stolen Beam program addresses. It acknowledges that the United States is built on stolen land and “400 years of racialized plundering.”

Gold said participants in previous classes have been motivated to rectify past actions. The JCA Board of Directors unanimously voted to support HR40, the House of Representatives bill to study reparations at a federal level. Jacobson said that the program is being disseminated for free to any group that wishes to employ it. Any donations for its use will be donated to A4A. They do not consider it a finished product, but a living document that can be modified for different communities.

AHRA Members To Partner With The JCA Program At The Jones
While AHRA members praised the JCA for developing the program which they noted contains many important readings and thoughtful questions, they worried about facilitating or discussing such sensitive topics in a forum where only a few Black people might be present in a majority White group. They felt that it would be better for AHRA to present the program to an African American audience, at least at the start, and maybe expand to mixed-race groups later.

Yvonne Mendez praised the “sincere and well-thought-out effort.”

Amilcar Shabazz worried that the approach of acknowledgment, redress, and closure may not be sufficient, suggesting that the work or repair needed to be incorporated into ongoing action. Referring to the disposition of the stolen beam he said  “… how we acknowledge it in our heart and in our soul, and in ways we continuously display that acknowledgement and live that acknowledgement, is what to me is really where and if that house stays up.”

The AHRA will join the JCA in sponsoring the Jones program.

The five-part Stolen Beam series at the Jones begins on May 3 at 7 p.m. Registration is required. Those interested should email Janet Ryan at ryanj@joneslibrary.org .