To holistically move towards the Kingdom we must cross racial barriers and allow God to show us a new way in word and action; a way that rejects the human construct of race which was created to divide and has generated the unjust power structures we see today. The resources below include history, confession, lament, celebration, commentary, and radical invitations to this new way of living.
By Leroy Barber
"Drawing upon two decades of mission experience, Leroy Barber exposes the racial divisions within Christian ministries and offers practical and comprehensive solutions for promoting diversity.
RED, BROWN, YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE highlights the historic patterns that have created racial discrepancies within missions. It joins the essential canon created by touchstone books like Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith and the ever-popular Race Matters by Cornel West.
With a no-blame attitude, powerful personal narratives from a dozen other black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and white Christians, interactive histories of missions, and the writings of MLK and Howard Thurman (the entire "Letter From Birmingham Jail" and Howard Thurman's motivational speech "Sound of the Genuine"), Barber addresses this tough issue in a way that will inspire and motivate readers of all races toward change."
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding." -From TEDGlobal2009
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”
By Phil Lee; Featured in the Washington Post, November 3, 2017
"Racism, I recently came to understand, isn’t about me having some kind of hate in my heart for black people in general, nor is it about me believing that the failures of individual black people in our society are because they are morally or intellectually inferior. Racism is more than individual beliefs and actions. It is a complex system that has given — and continues to give — my racial group a host of advantages and power by oppressing and disadvantaging others."
Featuring Matt and Bev Hale
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This video is an excerpt from Dr. King's sermon, Loving Your Enemies, which he preached at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama on November 17, 1957.
"...I love you. I would rather die than hate you. And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed and then we will be in God’s Kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life because we had the power to love our enemies..."
John Lewis
"We take in the extraordinary wisdom of Congressman John Lewis, on what happened in Selma on Bloody Sunday and beyond — and how it might inform common life today. A rare look inside the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation with themselves — and their intricate art of "love in action."
"In 2015, The New York Times began a series titled "Conversations on Race." The purpose of the video series was to engage in discussion with real people over how their racial identity has shaped their experience in America. The conversations explore personal journeys as well as social and systemic issues that affect people of color in ways that majority culture Americans can sometimes fail to notice."
For more New York Times videos, visit their Race in America page.
A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs
Conversation With Latinos on Race | Op-Docs
A Conversation With Black Women on Race | Op-Docs
A Conversation About Growing Up Black | Op-Docs
A Conversation With Asian-Americans on Race | Op-Docs
A Conversation With Police on Race | Op-Docs
It's like the ripples on the water, you never know…
Systemic Injustice | Transformational Living | Practices | Gospel Foundations
If we imagine residents of a neighborhood resourced and empowered to engage in communal life, we must also imagine the physical, political and economic structures that allow them to do so.