2022 Common Read Discussion Dates Announced

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The Social Action Committee has set dates and times for this year’s Common Read discussions:

  • Saturday March 12, 7:00pm: Part 1 — The Unsafe World
  • Saturday April 9, 7:00pm: Part 2 — A Vision of Safety
  • Saturday May 7, 7:00pm: Part 3 — Reimagining Realities

Register to attend the discussion groups on Zoom here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrcOuopz8tE9AKcQJrALJkVzT6Xs8Zit_x

Each year, First Parish Stoughton participates in the UUA Common Read. This provides us an opportunity to learn together about an important topic. We generally collaborate with other UU Congregations from the 5 Points Cluster and other community groups in Stoughton interested in the issue.

The 2022 UUA Common Read is Defund Fear: Safety without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment by Zach Norris. The author is a lawyer and the executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. His book offers a new blueprint for public safety that holds people accountable while still holding them in community.

We all have our own stories and experiences with public safety; this book read and discussions give us the chance to explore those stories with each other. This is a valuable opportunity for us all to consider our different perspectives through shared learning and conversation about a challenging and pressing issue. No matter whether you feel strongly in favor of the current system, or you have serious concerns about it, this is an issue that policy makers are actively engaging with right now, and they are making decisions that affect us all. Therefore, it feels important to seize on this chance to educate ourselves and understand each other’s questions, concerns, and viewpoints.

We encourage you to check with Paperback Junction in Easton (508-238-3034) to see if they have copies of the book in stock (they got a batch of them for us in January) or can order it for you. Support a local bookstore!

Register to attend the discussion groups on Zoom here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrcOuopz8tE9AKcQJrALJkVzT6Xs8Zit_x

email SocialAction@FirstParishStoughton.org for more information