The call to take up an anti-racist Christian identity is really just a call to be a Christian.
Dr. Sheila Caldwell
Increasingly, we are convicted that, for white Christians in America today, an inescapable implication of believing the gospel is to actively repent of and resist the systemic racism that has plagued our country for 400 years.
Part of that repentance is to unlearn what we thought we understood about the history of racism and the way it works today. Here are some resources to equip you to begin practicing anti-racism.
Podcasts
- Seeing White – a podcast series on where the concept of “whiteness” came from, and how it was used against people of color
- Black and White: Racism in America – a podcast episode from The Liturgists
- 1619 – a podcast from the New York Times about how slavery transformed America
- Race in America – The History of Post-Civil War Racism – The Holy Post podcast tackles Race
Books
- Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith
- I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone
- The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa, by Emmanuel Katongole
- The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins, by Willie James Jennings
- Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way, by Richard Twiss
- Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah
- Reconstructing The Gospel: Finding Freedom From Slaveholder Religion, by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
- Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America and How to be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram X. Kendi
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
Movies
Online Resources
- From Esau McCaulley, one of our canon theologians: “I Have Only One Hope for Racial Justice: A God Who Conquered Death”
- Another from Esau: “Discerning Friends from Enemies: Critical Race Theory, Anglicans in North America, and the Real Crisis”
- One more: “What the Bible Has to Say About Black Anger”
- “Race, Gospel, and Justice: An Interview with Esau McCaulley”: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
- Join the Pass the Mic 101 FB Group and do the work they suggest for new members.
- “European Christian missionaries and their false sense of progress,” by Willie James Jennings
- “The Origin of Race” by Willie James Jennings
- Holy Post – Race in America – Phil Vischer breaks down racism in the U.S. in 18-minute video
- Holy Post – Race in America Part 2 – Phil Vischer answers questions about his first video
- Systemic Racism Explained – Short video cartoon explaining systemic racism
- African American History: From Emancipation to the Present – A free course offered by Yale University on African American History
- Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community – A detailed explanation of the mental health toll of racism in USA
- Addiction and Mental Health Resources for BIPOC
- Top 61 BIPOC Addiction & Mental Health Resources
- “What is Critical Race Theory?” by Georgie Williams
Family Resources
- Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
- Raising White Kids Talk by Jennifer Harvey
- Raising White Kids Discussion Guide for Parents
