Rev. Dr. Dorothy White's June 2020 recommended resources

Talking About Race - a web-based educational program from the National Museum of African-American History

 

Going Where it Hurts, a conversation between Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Ruby Sales:  https://wayoflove.episcopalchurch.org/ 

 

Where Does it Hurt? an interview with civil rights worker Ruby Sales (also available as a podcast on the website, On Being)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STa0KU6-4mw

 

The Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign --  Preaching at the National Cathedral:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eviTAayTGT4

 

 

Books:  

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, by Debbie Irving

The Cross And The Lynching Tree, by James Cone

Lynched, by Angela Sims

Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of An American Pilgrimage, by Pauli Murray

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Additional reading resources are here

 

Documentaries:  

The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery, produced by Trinity Church, Chicago, sermon by The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6985UG0Z3k

Backs Against the Wall:  The Story of Howard Thurman, produced by Journey Films, may access through PBS

King in the Wilderness, HBO Documentary on King's final years, produced by Taylor Branch

There are countless additional resources to glean from as we move forward to finally be the America in which the worth of every human being is respected.  Our history has been rooted in the antithesis of the Gospel message of love.  We are the hearts, lives, and voices that can and must change that narrative.

Book clubs as well as discussion group moments of dialogue over shared information can begin to change the compass of our lives, individually and collectively.  Even in our time of social distancing we can find ways to reach out, learn, as well as grow together.

Do not underestimate the reality that you can make a difference.  MLK wrote, Racism is a doctrine of the congenital inferiority and worthlessness of a people.  The lunacy of racism and its toxic, dream destroying fruit must be uprooted.  Awareness, education, and maintaining the willingness to learn are key.  Let us maintain hope even in the midst of challenge.