06.12.20 | Advocacy and Action, Racial Justice
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. And justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
Why is the church talking about racial justice?
- United Methodist Social Principles and Resolutions on Racism
- Church should be a sanctuary for having difficult conversations
- MLK’s four key principles of prophetic witness for church leaders
- "Why, as Christians, We Must Oppose Racism" by Bishop Desmond Tutu
why do people keep bringing up race or denying that racism exists?
- Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1. We are all part of the human race. Race is a social construct. This 15-minute video from the Ford Foundation explores the difference between us.
- What is Internalized Oppression? The truth is all humans, regardless of social status, are made in the Image of God with inherent worth and value. The lies of oppression and internalized oppression, say this isn’t so.
- Deconstructing White Privilege
Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, taken from the General Commission on Religion and Race’s series, “Vital Conversations
But how can I have white privilege and power? I'm poor.
What are some beginning steps to engage?
- Get to know someone who doesn’t look or think like you. Download this resource sheet for help with that.
- Be aware of your own implicit biases. You can start by taking the Implicit Association Test on race. Learn more.
- Do your own work to be a level 4 change agent: acting as a role model, taking action when appropriate, and addresses others' behaviors when necessary.
- Learn about how to have conversations about race and consider convening a small group.
Centers for Learning More
- Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing. The Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing, founded by Dr. Catherine Meeks, provides programs and resources to promote racial reconciliation.
- Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training. Recognizing that racism goes beyond personal prejudice, Crossroads offers a distinctive Power Analysis of how racism functions in institutions, and offers tools to create antiracist transformation.
- Sacred Ground. “Sacred Ground” is a Film-Based Dialogue Series on Race & Faith created by Episcopal Church staff led by film director Katrina Brown. This set of videos and workbooks can be used to facilitate conversations on racism and reconciliation.
- Seeing the Face of God in Each Other. Developed by staff of The Episcopal Church in the early 2000s, this curriculum focuses on anti-racism and can be used to develop customized training to be supplemented with content that follows the Anti-Racism/Reconciliation Framework described above.
- The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. Reconciliation is a collaborative process. The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity works to collaborate both locally and globally by stimulating a growing network of reconciliation scholars and practitioners as well as offering robust resources for reconciliation.
- The Kaleidoscope Institute. The Kaleidoscope Institute provides resources to equip church leaders to create sustainable churches and communities. It’s training programs incorporate concepts defined by the Framework.
- The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond focuses on understanding what racism is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone.
- Visions, Inc. Our vision is to be a catalyst for a more equitable world where differences are valued and used for the benefit of all.
On her blog, Debbie Irving, a racial justice educator and author, provides great questions to start conversations about race, including: