Hosted by Eno Friends Meeting of Hillsborough
Eno Friends Meeting invites all Piedmont Friends to a special Zoom event to meet Noel Nickle, Executive Director of the NC Coalition of Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Alfred Rivera, an exoneree from NC death row. Friends will watch “Racist Roots,” a powerful 30-minute film, on-line beforehand and then join in a Zoom discussion with Noel, Alfred, and fellow Piedmont Friends. The film demonstrates the deep entanglement with white supremacy and racial terror lynching to today’s death penalty in our state.
Last week, more than 300 Faith leaders across North Carolina (including many Piedmont Friends) signed a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper asking him to commute the sentences of all 137 people on North Carolina’s death row before he leaves office in 2024. This letter expresses our belief that the death
penalty is immoral and inherently racist. Read the letter and learn about NCCADP:
https://nccadp.org/a-letter-to-gov-cooper-from-north-carolina-faith-leaders/
Quakers, historically as well as currently, have opposed the death penalty knowing that there is that of God in each of us, and that all human life has potential for redemption. We hope you will join us to become more “proximate” to the work to end this cruel practice in NC.
First, reply to [email protected] and let us know that you plan to attend.
Second, at your convenience, or preferably at 7:00 p.m. on May 7th, view online the 30-minute film—
Racist Roots: https://racistroots.org/film/
Third, After watching the film on-line, join the Zoom meeting at 7:30 on Sunday, May 7th to hear Alfred Rivera tell his story and hear about the work of NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty from Noel Nickle. After our discussion, we will go into small group break out rooms for worship sharing around a query relating to what we’ve learned. Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81523056269?pwd=TUFRNTVpQnBGTGJIRnRYeXVIbWl4Zz09
The film draws on the work of UNC-Chapel Hill American Studies professor Seth Kotch:
https://americanstudies.unc.edu/seth-kotch/ and his work published in his 2019 book, Lethal State.
Below is the discussion guide from the Racist Roots website:
This film covers hundreds of years of history, some of it deeply disturbing. Whether you watch the film alone or in a group, we suggest that you take a few minutes to breathe and absorb the information. A few suggested questions for reflection:
• Before you watch the film, spend a few moments reflecting on what you already know, feel, and believe about the death penalty. After you’ve watched, what in the film confirmed what you already thought and why? Were there parts of the film that challenged your beliefs?
• How does your own racial identity and life experience influence how you see this film?
• Which of the stories in the film surprised you or made you feel something? Why?
• Why does what happened decades or even centuries ago matter to the modern death penalty? And why is ending the death penalty a key part of reforming our state’s criminal legal system?
• Now that you have this information, what do you plan to do? Who will you share it with?
• What actions will you take?