Racial Justice

GET INVOLVED!

A Conference-wide Racial Justice Task Force gathers resources and encourages congregations to engage in conversations around race. If you and your congregation are interested in participating in this group, you are welcome. Contact Lisa Hart if you are interested!

Voter rights video

This recording of a webinar from June 2022 discusses the racial justice issues at stake in the current fight for voting rights, threats to voting rights in specific Wisconsin municipalities, and concrete ideas of how our members and congregations can advocate for robust voting rights for all.

RESOURCES TO BUILD UNDERSTANDING

(Also see the “Take Action” page for study guides and other tools.)

Wisconsin Council of Churches Webinar:  Wrestling with Whiteness

Featuring Rev. Dr. Zachary Moon, Associate Professor of Theology and Psychology, Chicago Theological Seminary  View video

A few resources from Professor Moon’s presentation…

Professor Moon’s suggested books to educate oneself on racism:

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
• Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Professor Moon’s suggested books to ‘interrogate’ your theology:

• The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings
• The Black Christ by Kelly Brown Douglas
• Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God by Kelly Brown Douglas
• The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
• Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology by Pamela R. Lightsey

View video clip of Professor Eddie Glaude, Princeton University speaking on MSNBC about racism in America

Rev. Zayna Thomley offers up a sermon: “Food for Thought: A racial justice sermon.”  Access the sermon here>

Detour-Spotting for white anti-racists by Joan Olsson – As the article states: “For white people living in North America learning to be anti‐racist is a re‐education process. We must unlearn our thorough racist conditioning to re‐educate and re‐condition ourselves as antiracists. There is scant social or political encouragement for this journey of re‐education. We are constantly tempted to detour off course by the racist propaganda of society and our own guilt and denial. In the face of society’s and our own resistance, sustaining the will to continue this journey takes bold and stubborn effort.” Read the entire article>

Anti-Racism educational resources shared with us by Elmhurst University:

• Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13^th
  • A documentary related to the 13^th Amendment of the Constitution, which formally abolished slavery
• The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project
  • An ongoing initiative to acknowledge and reframe the consequences of American slavery by placing black Americans’ experiences at the center of the narrative
• New film release: Just Mercy
  • A biopic about civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson
• The Anti-Racism Starter Kit
  • A useful “how-to” guide on how to become actively anti-racist.

“How to Be Anti-racist – Speak out in Your own Circle” by CNN  https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/health/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-wellness/index.html

Movement for Black Lives (M4LB):  Week of Action  https://m4bl.org/week-of-action/

Extensive Anti-Racism Resource list. Check out these resources:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/preview?pru=AAABcppX5Ec*4LiWCINH3fkAcxPQ9DeYOg

75 things white people can do article from Medium:  https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234

Teaching Tolerance – Clergy, youth ministry and faith formation people can sign up for a free subscription to Teaching Tolerance.  They offer a magazine, free training webinars on justice topics and many free resources.  https://www.tolerance.org/   One example…Teaching tolerance has a free program Selma: Bridge to the Ballot  https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/film-kits/selma-the-bridge-to-the-ballot

Love Over Fear – Love Over Fear is an ecumenical effort to counter hate language. Learn more >

Recommendations and reminders:

• Please remind the white folks that it is okay for discussions to happen in all white groups, and they should
• An important reminder regarding “diversity in racial discussions” – it is often safer for groups of historically marginalized individuals to be in small groups themselves.  We have to exhibit extreme care when only 1 person of color or 1 LGBTQ+ person/youth is in a small group.  It should never be the work of those individuals to teach or support the learning of those in the majority.

VIDEOS

“The Disturbing History of the Suburbs“  This insightful video illustrates just one historic systemic factor contributing to racial inequality in the United States. Worth viewing!  View>

“Inclusion Starts With I“  Diversity vs Inclusion vs Belonging:  “Diversity is simply having representation. Inclusion is when people get invited to be at the table. And belonging … is the emotional connection that people are feeling to each other and to the organization.”  —Ellyn Shook, Accenture   View>

Systemic Racism Explained – a 4:23 video appropriate for use with youth and adults   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHIQIO_bdQ

“One Minute Word” video with Rev. Darrell Goodwin (actually closer to 12 minutes)- “What I need from my White Allies”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3NdUmQd_ss&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1RC3NysBgxO-YldWXP8dD1VZNafZQNWD81U78ldwH27ZbTttV6QbRTgAE

This is an interesting, short video on why people should NOT say “all lives matter” when they hear Black Lives Matter   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtAAeyswlHM

Impactful video to show youth and white families, it is advice parents give to their black children about surviving:  https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2015/1/14/get-home-safely-10-rules-of-survival

This video is a Pentecostal Protest Prayer  https://youtu.be/3uRhYU6jVb4

Recommended movies:   Just Mercy and 13^th

Service of Lament:  The Many have been offering weekly Lament Services online throughout the pandemic.  On 6/3, they offered a powerful and moving service focused on the current situation of unrest and anger over the racial injustices in our country.  Here is a link to that service:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aKy0KU0Cs0&feature=youtu.be   The Many’s website (https://www.themanyarehere.com/):

BOOKS

• “The Cross the Lynching Tree” by James Cone
• “Disciplines of the Spirit” by Howard Thurman
• “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• “Dear White Christians” by Jennifer Harvey
• “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
• “America’s Original Sin” by Jim Wallace
• “Tears We Cannot Stop” by Michael Eric Dyson
• “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond
• “The End of White Christian America” by Robert P. Jones
• “Anxious to Talk about It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism” by Carolyn Helsel. Available from Chalice Press
• “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” is a new YA book by Kendi and Reynolds (published on 3/10/2020)  Click here
• Children’s Book List for Anti-Racist Activism Click here

(Also see the “Take Action” page for study guides and other tools.)