Racism, Privilege, and Faith

Updated August 31st, 2020

BLM Protest in Mill Valley in June 2020 In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and in recognizing the Episcopal Church’s historic legacy of involvement and complicity with white supremacy:

Over twenty members of Church of Our Saviour undertook a series of weekly conversations by Zoom to confront our inheritance of white supremacy and identify the next tangible steps for our community to take to help dismantle this legacy and learn how to better participate in Christ’s healing for the deep wounds of racism and racial injustice in our church, society, and the world.

We are now engaging projects of outreach based on our discussions, including:

Preparing flyers about our parish that reflect the historical diversity of our faith tradition and its values;
Seeking to start and build community and individual relationships across the racial and socio-economic divides in Southern Marin;
Supporting the planning in Mill Valley to engage every level of our community in conversations on Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion;
Participating in programs to enhance voter turnout in the 2020 election season

Below you’ll find the notes and reading we have been doing to help us in this work, and the resources we recommend for moving forward. Send more suggested resources to the Rector, Br. Richard Edward.

Notes from our Summer 2020 Conversations on
Racism, Privilege, and Faith

“A pastoral letter for such a time as this” by The Rev. Nadia Boulez-Weber

“A REFLECTION OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, HOPE AND CHALLENGE FOR THE CHURCH ON DISMANTLING WHITE SUPREMACY AND RACISM” by The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows

“How long, white Episcopalians, how long?” by The Rev. Cn. Gay Clark Jennings

“White identity in America is ideology, not biology. The history of 'whiteness' proves it.” by Nell Irvin Painter with an accompanying video with Robin DiAngelo

“white supremacy culture” by Tema Okun

“Speaking of Freedom: A 4th of July Letter to the Church” by Kelly Brown Douglas, Stephanie Spellers and Winnie Varghese

Becoming the Beloved Community NOW (2020), with leaders of The Episcopal Church:

Supplemental Writing, Reading, and Multimedia from this Summer

Emmanuel Acho: Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

June 29 – Ian Desmond on being biracial in America

July 1 – “White Supremacist Ideas have Historical Roots in U.S. Christianity” by Tom Gjelten

July 2 - “A Long Road to Hope” by Marvin Blakely

August 30 - “How Black Lives Matter is Changing the Church” by Eliza Griswold

Resources for Families
Compiled by St. Michael and All Angels, Los Angeles

Books
DiAngelo, Robin, White Privilege
Kendi, Ibram X., How to be an Anti-racist
Law, Eric, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb

Documentaries
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

Historical Documents
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass as read today by some of his descendants

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Dr. Dorothy Tsuruta, Chair of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University, and Board Member of the Episcopal Impact Fund

Films and videos
8 Minutes, 46 seconds, by Dave Chappelle
H ow Can We Win?, by Kimberly Jones
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-happened-99-years-ago-in-the-tulsa-race-massacre
An Outrage: A Documentary Film About Lynching in the American South - Viewers Guide, by Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren
When They See Us, by Ava Duvernay
Thirteenth, by Ava Duvernay
The Miracle of Morning, by Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman
How to be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi (interview)

Articles and Essays
Message from President of SFSU
Who Gets to Be Afraid in America, by Ibram X. Kendi
Glimmers of Hope, by john a. powell
New Analysis Shows Startling Levels of Discrimination Against Black Transgender People, National LGBQT Task Force
America, This Is Your Chance , by Michelle Alexander
The 1619 Project, New York Times Magazine
Juneteenth, New York Times
What is Owed ?, New York Times
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument, New York Times

Curricula and Compiled Resources
White Supremacy Culture in Organizations
Silicon Valley Community Foundation Racial Justice Resources
Episcopal Church Anti-Racism Training
The Great Unlearn, Rachel Cargle

Books
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
The Best of Simple by Langston Hughes
Maud Martha, by Gwendolyn Brooks,
Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha, a Critical Collection, which includes an essay by Episcopal Impact Fund board member Dr. Dorothy
Tsuruta, Edited by Jacqueline Bryant.
The Angela Y. Davis Reader, edited by Joy James
Between the World and Me , by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackman
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, by Edward E. Baptist
Fledging, by Octavia Butler
Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Black Wall Street - A testament to the human spirit following the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, by Hannibal B. Johnson

Blog
Funding Black Communities for Long-term, Borealis Foundation

Virtual Exhibit
Bisa Butler: Portraits

The Episcopal
Church of Our Saviour