Anti-Racism Ministry

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RESOURCES




Videos that can be borrowed from the church:

“Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North” – Descendents of slave traders set off to retrace the Triangle Trade, uncovering the vast Northern complicity in slavery. 86 min; or abridged to 56 min.

“Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” – PBS documentary in seven segments (most are 30 min).

“We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes”  - PBS documentary on Native history in the US. Five episodes covering almost 400 years. (Total is approx 450 min.)

“Tim Wise – Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity” – powerful lecture from Feb 2010. (77 min.)

“In Conversation: Tim Wise and Eva Paterson – Race in the Age of Obama” – conversation from 2009. (60 min)

Handout from May 11, 2011

Racism Hurts Everyone – Costs to White People

Part of being committed to eliminating racism is continuing to grow in our understanding of the horrible effects of racism on people of color today. While there is no comparison with the effects on people of color, white people are also dehumanized and burdened by racism. It is valuable to also grow in our understanding of this part of the system that affects us all. For instance, white people often:

  • Experience a sense of being cut off from people of color – of not belonging  with, or being welcomed by, people of color (who are a majority of the world’s population)
  • Have stereotypes, prejudices, and negative thoughts about people of color, and feelings of superiority, enter our minds against our will
  • Are deeply pained by learning about the suffering and inequities experienced by people of color as a result of racism
  • Feel hopeless and powerless to create a just society in the face of racism
  • Feel guilty about the history of racism and current racism
  • Fear making mistakes and being seen as racist
  • Have our integrity eroded and our sense of goodness and self-worth undermined by our failures to stand up against racism
  • Experience unjustified fears of people of color
  • Are separated from other white people by feelings about race
  • Are separated from working class and poor people of color, who are our natural allies, with whom we could join forces to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth that would benefit us all
  • Experience unfounded fears of what people of color might do to white people when they have the power to exact revenge or retribution for racism
  • Miss out on the benefits of deep human relationships with people of other “races” and cultures, and all that can be learned and enjoyed in such relationships

What would you add to the list?

The position of supremacy is inherently dehumanizing to individuals in the dominant group, in addition to the terrible costs to the subordinated group. Our full humanity is only realized in full community with other human beings - in situations of reciprocity, equity, fairness, mutuality – with all of God’s children.

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

Other resources will be posted in the future.