Anti-Racism Ministry

Moving Beyond Racism: Old Memories, Transformations, New Conversations

This book was produced by First Congregational Church member, Carole Ann Camp, with writings by many church members, as a follow-up to our Sacred Conversations on Race in 2008.  It’s readable, thought-provoking, and a good discussion starter for any church or group wanting to examine issues of race and racism.

During the spring of 2008, one of the media’s feeding frenzies involved a United
Church of Christ congregation in Chicago, pastored by the Reverend Dr.
Jeremiah Wright. For days and weeks, all one could see on every news channel
were a few very short clips, absent of context, of Reverend Wright’s sermons
preached some time ago. What followed outraged many on both sides of the
political fence. The sound bites lent themselves to commentators’ easy, negative
analysis of the sermons. In the traditional media, commentators offered an interpretation,
couched in the language of patriotism, that Wright was too angry, that
he overstated the problem of racism in America today.
While some were extremely frustrated at this nearly universal take on
Wright’s sermons and felt it served to mask the continuing reality of racial
oppression, others saw a positive side, in that racism had resurfaced as a topic of
conversation in homes across America. Nearly forty years after the Civil Rights
Movement had “fixed everything,” people started talking, discussing, and even
arguing about racism in the United States. Was racism still with us? If so, how
could that be after such a long period of time? Or had racism just changed from
blatant, in-your-face discrimination to a new, post-affirmative action, “colorblind”
racism.
—from the introduction to Moving Beyond Racism

Meet the twenty-one authors of Moving Beyond Racism who were moved
to share their compelling personal memories and the events that inspired
their reassessment of the complexities of race relations in 21st century
America. You’ll nod in recognition, shake your head in disbelief, and
bear witness to the courage and self-knowledge that comes from bravely
facing the place that racial attitudes play in our everyday lives.
Make no mistake, the people you are about to meet are your neighbors,
your co-workers, and your friends. Moving Beyond Racism is about
all of us.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Heather Powers Albanesi is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado
at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Carole Ann Camp is a retired United Church
of Christ pastor and has written and published on a variety of topics, including
Praying at Every Turn: Meditations for Walking the Labyrinth.

The authors are available for conversation and autographs.

The book is available for $5.00 by e-mailing Carole Ann Camp at caroleann.camp@gmail.com