Racial Justice
Middle Church understands that the so-called American Dream has been a nightmare for racial-ethnic minorities. America was built on stolen land by people stolen from their land. From Jim Crow to Japanese Internment to the Trail of Tears, we know America has behaved poorly toward groups who are not White and Anglo-Saxon.
We think healing racism is an act of faith. Our racially diverse congregation wore hoodies to church after Trayvon Martin was murdered, and sent Skittles and iced tea to Sanford, Florida. We prayed with our hands up after Mike Brown was killed and kneeled in prayer in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick We participated in die-ins throughout New York City after Eric Garner was murdered. We speak out against structural racism in how our country responds to COVID, and created a series of popular antiracism workshops to uproot bigotry from minds as well as culture. And our current budget dedicates $100,000 to Black Lives Matter education.
Our faith is political because Jesus was political. Just as people of faith stood at the center of the Civil Rights movement, we know it is our call to be on the front lines of racial/ethnic justice in America.
Action Items
Attend Revolutionary Love: The Courage to Imagine this spring.
Join Middle's Voter Reform Group by emailing votingproject@middlechurch.org
Lift up the work of Communities United for Police Reform and the Movement for Black Lives in their efforts to defund the police and reimagine community care.
Donate to Middle's fund for Black wellness. (Specify "in honor of Black wellness")
If you want to support protestors right now, email Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft.
Cultivate Black joy and center rest. And remember that rest is active resistance.
Here's a list of steps employers can take to create an antiracist workplace.
Remember that antiracist work is God's work. Remember that—for those of us who are Christian—we cannot follow a man who was lynched by the state if we do not fight against the ways our country is systematically killing Black people.
Resources
To get you started, here's an incredible antiracist syllabus compiled by Ibram X. Kendi.
Articles
Stop Blaming History for Your All-White, All-Male Movie by Aisha Harris, February 6, 2020
The Fight Over the 1619 Project is Not About Facts by Adam Serwer, December 23, 2019
The Fight to Redefine Racism by Kelefa Sanneh, August 12, 2019
The 1619 Project, August 2019
Reckoning With Violence by Michelle Alexander, March 3, 2019
Black Women’s Faith, Black Women’s Flourishing by Eboni Marshall Turman, February 28, 2019
Blackface Is Just One Part of the Problem by Jamil Smith, February 4, 2019
The Heresy of White Christianity by Chris Hedges, December 10, 2018
Why Jews Should Support Reparations for Slavery by Rabbi Sharon Brous, March 7, 2018
DACA, Harvey, and Charlottesville: This Is An Emergency by Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D., September 8, 2017
Confronting #WhiteSupremacy With #RevolutionaryLove by Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D., August 13, 2017
Race, Money and Politics: Connecting Some Dots by Rev. John Janka, April 6, 2016
Being Brown While Black Lives Matter by Rev. Dr. Miguel De La Torre, August 29, 2015
Profiling Act by Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D., August 10, 2015
I Am Black, and Black Lives Matter by Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D., August 10, 2015
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates, June 2014
Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., April 16, 1963
Books
America's Original Sin, Jim Wallis
Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Borderlands, by Gloria Anzaldúa
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Can We Talk About Race?, Beverly Tatum
Citizen, Claudia Rankine
Coming Together in the 21st Century, Curtiss DeYoung
The Cross and the Lynching Tree, James Cone
Dismantling Racism, Joseph Barnett
The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
Race Matters, Cornel West
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, Kelly Brown Douglas
The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
White Rage, Carol Anderson
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
Art/Film/Television
Purchase Rev. Jacqui's widely acclaimed racial justice workshops in our online store!
Watch PBS Chapter and Verse series on race. Jacqui Lewis interviews national faith leaders.
Documentary 13th on Netflix
Selma
Fruitvale Station
Do the Right Thing
If Beale Street Could Talk
Podcasts
Sermons
400 Years: A Reflection on Liberty by Jacqui Lewis
What’s Love Got to Do with It? by Jacqui Lewis
A Conversation on Race by Traci Blackmon
#StayWoke by Otis Moss III
Holy Blackness: The Matrix of Creation by Wil Gafney