Racial Reconciliation

Resources on Race

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As followers of Jesus - who hold firmly to this gospel and look forward to the day when Christ returns putting to death all pain, injustice, oppression and even death itself - we stand up for righteousness, truth, justice and love - because those things are definitive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, justice and reconciliation - especially regarding race - have been in the collective consciousness of our churches for the past several years.

We believe it’s timely to put those resources, conversations, and teachings back to the forefront of our minds and invite us once again to be a force for change.

In the list of resources, we’ve also included links to organizations and opportunities for you to take further steps to stand up for justice and love. We’d ask that you’d prayerfully consider giving your voice, energy, and resources to these opportunities.


Recommended Resources:

Join us each Wednesday morning as we pray together as a church family.

Midtown Resources: 

A collection of Midtown sermons and a supplemental book dedicated to racial injustice and reconciliation in the church. 

A conversation hosted by our Downtown and Two Notch churches shortly after the events of Ferguson, MO. 

A sermon from our Lexington church on race relations in America and how the church responds.

A teaching given by our Two Notch church’s pastor, Ant Frederick, at an Outreach North America conference. 

Additional Resources:

**Inclusion on this list does not necessarily equate to an endorsement of everything they say, but we believe the following media is helpful and important when discussing race in America.

Actionable steps white people (and anyone else) can take.

Campaign for thoughtfully biblical civic, political and social Christian engagement. 

The Witness is a black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective. 

  • Be The Bridge

    A Christian organization empowering people toward racial healing, equity and reconciliation.


Podcasts: 

Things White People (and anyone else) Can Do For Racial Justice

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As followers of Jesus - who hold firmly to this gospel and look forward to the day when Christ returns putting to death all pain, injustice, oppression and even death itself - we stand up for righteousness, truth, justice and love - because those things are definitive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, justice and reconciliation - especially regarding race - have been in the collective consciousness of our churches for the past several years.

We believe it’s timely to put resources, conversations, and teachings back to the forefront of our minds and invite us once again to be a force for change.

In the list of resources, we’ve also included links to organizations and opportunities for you to take further steps to stand up for justice and love. We’d ask that you’d prayerfully consider giving your voice, energy, and resources to these opportunities.

**Some items on this list were adapted from the article 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack

Read, Watch and Listen:

**Inclusion on this list does not necessarily equate to an endorsement of everything the authors say, but we believe the following books and media are helpful and important when discussing race in America. Consider starting a book club with your LifeGroup and/or invite in people you are building with.

  • Read Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison.

  • Read The Color of Compromise by Jamar Tisby

  • Read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. 

  • Read Caught by Marie Gottschalk. 

  • Read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

  • Read A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

  • Read The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah

  • Read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article, The Case for Reparations. 

  • Watch these videos to hear first hand accounts of what our black brothers and sisters live. Then read everyday people’s experiences through the hashtag #realizediwasblack. Share with others.

  • Watch movies that portray the realities of America’s history Roots, 12 Years a Slave, and Selma are great films to begin..

  • Check out black movies, TV, and other media that show persons of color as lead characters and in their full humanity. 

  • Watch “13th” - a documentary on the American criminal justice system and mass incarceration of African Americans.

  • Watch “The House I Live In” - a documentary on the American criminal justice system. 

In sum, diversify your bookshelf and your watch/listen lists to include authors, speakers, stories and story-tellers of color. 

Give, Buy, Share:

Advocate, Vote, Volunteer:

  • Engage in local elections, especially those involved in the criminal justice system, and advocate for legislative criminal justice reform. We tend to focus our attention on federal elections, but local and state elections (e.g., solicitors, sheriffs, town and county council) are very important as well.

  • Research your local police department. Do they currently outfit all on-duty police officers with a body-worn camera and require that the body-worn camera be turned on immediately when officers respond to a police call? If they don’t, write to your city or town government representative and police chief to advocate for it.

  • Multiply your voice by soliciting others to advocate as well, writing on social media about it, writing op-eds, etc.

  • Sign and share The And Campaign’s 2020 Presidential Statement.

  • If you are an educator, buy books that feature people of color as protagonists and heroes. A few good lists are here, here, here, here, and here. And/or purchase educational toys that feature people of color, such as finger puppets, Black History Flashcards, etc for their classroom. Use these items year-round, not just in February. 

  • Work on ensuring that black educators are hired where black children are being taught. Listen to this episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast to understand why this is important and the difference it makes. 

  • Work with your HR department to recruit African Americans. Recruiting from HBCUs is a good start.

  • Learn about criminal justice disparities and advocate for policy changes to address them by contacting your state representatives. For example, read up about mandatory minimum sentences and watch videos about this on Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM’s) website. Call or write to your state legislators and governor about reducing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes.

  • Research your local prosecutors. In South Carolina, our prosecutors are called solicitors. Solicitors have a lot of power in their decisions about which crimes to charge a person with, when to schedule cases (yes, solicitors schedule cases in SC not judges), and what sentence to recommend.

  • Find out how slavery, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are being taught in your local school. Advocate that history is taught correctly and certain parts are not skipped over or barely mentioned. Advocate that many voices be used in the study of history. Often these decisions are made by the local school board or set by the state Department of Education. Find out who makes the decisions and reach out to them. For example, when talking about slavery, is your school showing images such as Gordon’s scourged back, a slave ship hold, and an enslaved nurse holding her young master? Are non-white explorers, scientists, politicians discussed? Are non-white male and female authors on reading lists? Are Japanese internment camps being discussed? There are a lot of great resources out there with a little googling, like PBS’s resources for teaching slavery, this People of Color Online Classroom blog, Teaching for Change, and The National Association for Multicultural Education.

  • Get to know your local police department. Call and ask to meet the officers who work in the region you live in or set up a time for them to come meet you and your neighbors. Most departments have programs in place to set up these kinds of events.

Relationships, Parenting, and Etc:

  • Listen without ego and defensiveness to people of color. Truly listen. Don’t scroll past articles written by people of color — Read them.

  • Buy and read God’s Very Good Idea by Trillia Newbell with your children. Consider buying to give to others as a gift, too!

  • Provide and read books that feature persons of color as protagonists and heroes. The previous lists here, here, here, here, and here may be a helpful place to start.

  • Seek out a diverse group of friends for your kids.

  • Seek out a diverse group of friends for you. Practice real friendship and intimacy by listening when people of color talk about their experiences and their perspectives. They’re speaking about their pain.

  • Don’t be silent about that racist joke.

  • If there are black children/teens in your life, contribute to their college savings plans.

  • Be honest about your history - both American history and your own.

  • If you have a close relationship with a young person of color, make sure he/she knows how much you love them. Love and affirm that child.

  • Talk to the white people you know who aren’t clearly upset by white supremacy. Use “I” statements and “I care” messages (“I feel [feeling] when you [behavior]”). They need to know you see a problem. Call them out, and call them in.

Racial Reconciliation

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The Racial Chasm

The racial problems that we have inherited explains an awful lot of the current tension in our society. Something happens, whether it’s a shooting, a viral video, a protest, or another inflammatory comment by another political figure, and different people look at the same events, and often come to very different conclusions.

What did you see? Who was at fault? Who’s right and who’s wrong? What do you think about                                          (fill in the blank with the latest controversy)?

The same events, seen through different eyes, can yield wildly different interpretations. These differences often lie among racial lines, because different races have had vastly different experiences in this country over our existence as a nation.

The recent events that have brought racial tension to the surface in America are nothing new. They are only the latest occurrences in a long history of racial pain, tension and strife. What the vast differences in reaction along racial lines tell us more than anything is that America is still deeply divided by race. Especially between white Americans and black Americans, because we have inherited the most baggage from a long and painful history.

Even to this day racial separation is a significant issue. We largely operate in different social circles, live in different neighborhoods, go to different schools, and even belong to different churches. Our family get-togethers not only look different from one another, they feel different, right down to the stories that are told, the shared history of our ancestors, and the extent to which race is a topic of conversation. These differences in experience and worldview seem to be lit on fire when a controversial event happens in our country.

Point to how much progress has been made on racial issues, how much better things are now than they were in recent history, and you might just get a pained look from a black American. They may nod in agreement, but then have a list of a dozen instances where all is still not equal.

Bring up the centuries of mistreatment and abuse of African Americans to a white American, and they may do a mental shrug and settle into a sense of helplessness. Yeah, all those things were terrible, they might think. But that was a long time ago, and I had nothing to do with any of that...so what am I supposed to do?

All of this sometimes leads to the feeling that there is an uncrossable chasm between our races. In every period of our history there has been pain, mistreatment and racial division. Our society, try as it might, does not seem to have the necessary tools to adequately deal with this chasm.

 

The Chasm Maker: Simultaneously Invisible & Obvious

How can a justice issue this large and this obvious to me be this invisible to some?

How can something that seems so invisible to me seem so large and obvious to others?

One of the biggest problems with justice issues in general is that if you haven’t experienced them, they often seem invisible to you. Meanwhile, if you have experienced them directly, their realness and detriment are so obvious as to demand immediate attention and action. This is precisely the case with racial issues in America. When we let the media fill in the gaps of our limited real interaction with people from another race, we are left with a lot of confusion, anger and misunderstanding.

If you find yourself thinking, “I really don’t see it”, that’s okay. It might be good to remind yourself that a lack of insight and experience doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist. Seek to understand. Read some books. Talk to a person who does see it. Don’t assume anything about their motives or bias. Just ask them questions and be willing to listen.

If you find yourself thinking, “Why can’t you see this?”, that’s okay. It might be good to remind yourself that there are people who have never experienced, seen or dealt with what you has been a huge piece of your life. And that doesn’t necessarily mean they hate you or don’t care.

The only chance we have at really pursuing solutions together for the racial chasm in America is for us to all faithfully work together to help each other see clearly and accurately. We will never respond appropriately while we are blind to anyone else’s perspective.

 

Hope for the Chasm

Racial issues can feel as hopeless as any. The divide seems to widen across a lot of painful history and settle in over time, leading to despair that any true and lasting reconciliation could ever happen. Even if we agree about all of the root issues, we can still disagree wildly about what are the best solutions moving forward.

For Christians, however, there is a thing about chasms like this one:

Jesus doesn’t do chasms.

He did not save white and black people, only for us to draw an invisible line in the sand and stand there silently thinking, “You’ll never understand.” No, He came to make us family. He came to bring the unity of the gospel, right into the midst of our centuries of racial strife. Lines in the sand are not an option when we’ll share eternity together worshipping God in a sea of diversity.

The church has an incredible opportunity in this time and place, because we have God-given resources and motivation to deal with these historic problems. We have gospel tools that the world around us doesn’t. We have the compelling truth to tell with our lives that no blood runs deeper than Jesus’ blood.

Upon visiting a recent Baptism Gathering, one guest to our church made an incredible remark. He said:

"I wish the rest of the world could see what's happening here. The media makes it seem like there is no hope that people from different backgrounds and races can live together in harmony. But whatever is happening here is proof that's not true."

This is the goal family--for us to continue to grow into the sort of reconciled community that the world needs and wants to see. Here’s how Cole Brown, African American pastor from Portland, Oregon puts it:

“In John 17 Jesus repeatedly states that the unity of his people will be a convincing apologetic for Jesus and his gospel. Jesus prays that his followers will be brought “to complete unity” and then states that when they are “then the world will know that you sent me.” The unity Jesus is speaking must be a visible unity and an abnormal unity. It has to be visible enough for non-Christians to see it and abnormal enough for non-Christians to need an explanation for it which only Jesus can satisfy. It can’t be unity of a group of people who are already alike in every way. Such unity is normal in our world and would not stand as evidence that Jesus really is who he says he is. It must be unity of people who would never otherwise be together apart from Jesus Christ. This includes unity across socio-economical, educational, generational, and cultural divides. It also includes unity across racial lines. In fact, in twenty-first century America, unity across racial lines may be the most powerful demonstration of unity that Christians can provide as evidence of Jesus’ identity.”

Let’s prayerfully seek to see Jesus put the racial chasm to death, by acknowledging our own prejudices, humbly seeking understanding and taking any steps to walk in gospel reconciliation (both inside the church family and outside) wherever possible.