The Center’s Antiracism Group is the brainchild of Terri Mork Speirs, former Director of Community Relations at the Center. Sparked by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, Speirs issued an antiracism statement of solidarity with the Black community on the Center’s website home page. 

Through a series of synchronicities, she and Billie Wade partnered to create the group. Speirs’s courageous action and the Center’s commitment to supporting the Black community are significant beacons for other individuals and organizations. 

Facilitator: Billie Wade 

Mondays, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Virtual via Zoom 

Weekly starting TBD, as Billie is experiencing major computer problems. Watch the website for updates. Thank you for your concerns and patience.

Cost: FREE, however, each participant is responsible for getting a copy of the book on their own, whether audiobook, purchase, or public library.

Registration is required for security purposes.

Contact Billie Wade at [email protected]. Include your name, email address, and telephone number. In the Subject line, enter Antiracism Group Registration. You will then be added to the email list to receive the Zoom link and other information. Your name and contact information will not be shared with anyone. Announcements and information are emailed using blind carbon. Note: Do not share the Zoom link with anyone.

Persons whose names are not on the email list will not be granted admittance. People who have registered in the past and are already on the email list do not need to re-register.

Discussion:

Book: “The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921” by Tim Madigan

“I began to suspect that a crucial piece remained missing from America’s long attempts at racial reconciliation,” Madigan wrote in 2001 in the author’s note to The Burning. “Too many in this country remained as ignorant as I was. Too many were just as oblivious to some of the darkest moments in our history, a legacy of which Tulsa is both a tragic example and a shameful metaphor. How can we heal when we don’t know what we’re healing from?”

Now, 100 years after the massacre, Madigan brings new resonance to these questions in the reissue of this definitive work of American history. Featuring a brand new afterword, The Burning skillfully places the Tulsa Massacre in a broader historical context. Rather than an exception, the massacre was completely consistent with that time in the United States, an era of Jim Crow, widespread lynching, and racism endorsed and promulgated at the highest levels of society. Such were the foundations of the systemic racism at the root of our problems today.

Where can you find the book?

Available at Beaverdale Books in Urbandale, Iowa. You will receive a 10% discount if you tell them you are a part of Billie Wade’s antiracism group. If they are out of copies, they can order it for you and have it within a few days.

Also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Thriftbooks

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We discuss books in five to six-week segments. Our discussions are popcorn style. There is a 2-3 week interval between books. We also discuss relevant articles, podcasts, videos, movies, and documentaries; some directly related to the book we are reading. Participants are encouraged to suggest books or other reading materials and topics.

There is no homework or other expectations at the Center’s Antiracism Group. All are welcome.

For more information, see Billie’s Blog post, The Antiracism Group Explained, dated
March 17, 2025.