In May, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children. At the height of the attack, over 113,000 people were displaced from their homes, and today more than 8,400 people remain in temporary shelter. All of this occurred as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout Gaza.  

Last summer, the streets across the United States were filled with millions of people marching for Black lives and calling for defunding the police. In Chicago, it was a summer of protest—and also a clear reckoning with the failed policies of a city that spends $4.7 million per day on policing but has closed 54 public schools and half of the city’s mental health clinics in the last nine years. And despite runaway spending on police, the city is still grappling with a record number of gun-related homicides—more proof that policing doesn’t make us safer.

“What supports the movement of a religious group to deepen their practice toward racial justice? What structures, learning, and interventions can move a body forward toward deeper relational work for repair and systemic change?”