An anti-racist passover resource

Haggadah Section: -- Four Children

FOUR CHILDREN, REGARDLESS OF AGE 

The Haggadah tells of four children: the Chacham, the wise one; the Rasha, the wicked one; the Tam, the straightforward one; and finally, the one who doesn't know what to ask. 

The Wise One/ The Chacham says: How do I become an anti-racist?

To that one we say: Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.1 Educate yourself about your own role in the mechanics of racism and how you can make choices to disrupt the structures and systems of injustice rather than perpetuating them.

The Wicked One/ The Rasha says: I’m not a racist, so racial justice is not about me.

To that one we say: You are complicit in a white America that slammed the door shut on the opportunity for the fundamental transformation of the civil rights movement.2 You may not be guilty but you are responsible.3
 

 The Straightforward One / The Tam says: How do I even begin to confront racism?

To that one we say: Repentance means a new insight, a new spirit. It also means a course of action.3 Choose a place to begin, and that will be good enough for a start.

To the One Who Does Not Know What to Ask we say: We, too, are either ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil.4 Your liberation is bound up with mine; let us work together.5

Citations

¹ https://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/the-powerful-lesson-maya-angelou-taught-oprah-video

2 https://time.com/5859214/james-baldwin-racism/

3https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/heschel-religion-and-race-speech-text/

4 https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/f10/Heschel_Insecurity_of_Freedom_excerpt.pdf

5 https://lillanetwork.wordpress.com/about/ 

Clip Featured in Haggadot'sA Haggadah for Justice
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A Haggadah for Justice
HA
Haggadot
Table of contents
    Introduction
  • Human Rights Quote
  • Introduction
  • Human Trafficking Today
  • Introduction
  • Freedom - by Emory Douglas
  • March on Washington, 1963
  • "Седер на Песах". авторка Зоя Черкаська-Ннаді
  • #MyKeshetSeder
  • WHO SITS WITH US AT OUR SEDER??
    • Commentary / Readings
  • Praise the Contrary and Its Defenders
  • Four Cups of Wine: Social Justice Readings for Your Seder
  • Then they came
  • Poetry - Reading The Haggadah Backwards
  • The Brutality of Corrective Rape
  • Liberation in God's Image. Progressive Islam as an Islamic Humanism
  • The Ten Plagues of Domestic Poverty
  • The Banana on the Seder Plate: A Ritual to Reflect the Refugee Crisis
  • Reflection Questions/Preguntas Para Reflexionar
    • Bareich
  • Social Justice Blessing
  • The Third Cup: Transformation
  • Pour Out Your Wrath
    • -- Ten Plagues
  • Heschel Quote
  • Ten Modern Plagues
  • Gentrification: "It's Not About Race...”
  • LGBT Stats
  • Ten Plagues Facing Refugees in the U.S. and Worldwide
    • Human Rights Prayer
      • Yachatz
    • Breaking the matzah - hunger
    • Let All Who are Hungry, Come and Eat—A Reading for The Passover Seder - A Supplement from AJWS
    • Matzah
      • Maggid - Beginning
    • Child Labor in the Cocoa Fields
    • Adding Fair Trade Chocolate to the Seder Plate
    • Rabbis Organizing Rabbis Immigration Seder Ritual
    • The Thesis Statement of the Haggadah
    • Tomato on the Seder Plate
      • -- Four Questions
    • 4 Questions
    • The 5th Question
    • Ask the Fifth Question
    • The Four Questions: What Questions Must We Ask Tonight?
    • Four Questions Through the Lens of Food Justice
    • Four Questions: Human Trafficking
    • Four Questions: Worker's Rights
      • -- Four Children
    • 5th Question
    • Four Children Through the Lens of Food Justice
    • The Four Children: A Racial Justice Haggadah Insert
    • An anti-racist passover resource
      • -- Exodus Story
    • Social Justice - Modern Slavery
    • Maggid & Persecution of Native Americans
    • Heschel on Selma
    • Stand With Refugees This Passover
    • Ruby Bridges
    • Justice For All
    • The Statue of Liberty Reimagined
    • Bread and Roses
      • -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
    • Dayenu intro
    • What Does 'Dayenu' Mean Today?
    • Miriam's Cup - Winona LaDuke, Native American Activist
    • Being LGBTQ and Enough: A Queer Dayeinu
    • Dayenu
      • Rachtzah
    • Rachtzah: A Deeper Washing
      • Motzi-Matzah
    • Dissatisfied...
      • Maror
    • Rights for All Workers
    • Maror
      • Hallel
    • Hallel Prayer for Children of Pilgrims, Slaves & Native American Peoples
      • Songs
    • L'Internationale
    • A Social Justice Commentary on Chad Gadya
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