(Additions are regularly being made to this page.)
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’” Jesus, Matthew 25:40
Privilege is when I think something is not a problem because it isn’t a problem for me.
We at Lighthouse Fellowship UMC are determined to believe and love until the world knows Jesus. We recognize and repent of our own personal, national, and religious racial biases and for the ways in which we have participated in and acquiesced to white supremacy. We continue to learn and inform ourselves as to the depth and breadth of the problem. We stand with Jesus and our diverse community in communion, lament, prayer, love, and joy as we join together with those working to create a more just and equitable society founded on God’s sacrificial love for all people: created in the image of God.
Amazing Websites on Black Excellence:
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/initiatives/black-history-month-2023
The HistoryMakers: the digital repository for the Black experience, an educational resource ideal for students, teachers, and institutions: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/
The History Channel: links to a plethora of fascinating and inspiring stories from American history: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month
Connect:
End Racism UMC Resources
Learn:
Masterclass (free access): “Black History, Black Freedom, Black Love”
Read:
“Caste: The Origins of our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
“The 1619 Project” by Nikole Hannah-Jones (Creator)
“How to Be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram Kendi
“Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson
“Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice That Restores” by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“400 Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019” with over 80 contributors, edited by Ibram Kendi
“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
“Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” by Ibram Kendi
“The Source of Self-Regard” by Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author
“This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us” by Cole Arthur Riley
“Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly
“The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander
“The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr” edited by Clayborne Carson
Dr. King’s letter to the white churches in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
“The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B Dubois
The collected works of Fredrick Douglas
The “Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Malcolm X, Alex Haley
The Forbes article on Haiti to begin to understand the justice of reparations
Watch:
Ava DuVernay’s documentary “13th” on YouTube & Netflix
“Amend” about the history of the 14th Amendment on Netflix
“High on the Hog” with Stephen Satterfield, a gorgeous cultural food journey from Africa to America on Netflix
The 2019 legal drama “Just Mercy” from Bryan Stevenson’s book of the same name.
The Interview with Isabel Wilkerson and Bryan Stevenson on YouTube.
Authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi on how to become aware of privilege, CBS This Morning, on YouTube.
“We need to talk about an injustice” Bryan Stevenson’s TEDtalk
“Systemic Racism Explained” on YouTube
“Racism has a cost for everyone” Heather C McGee’s TEDtalk
“Gather” on Netflix (YouTube preview link) a beautiful documentary on Native food sovereignty
“I Am Not Your Negro” by Raoul Peck, in James Baldwin’s words, on YouTube
“I’m Black. I’m Christian. I’m Methodist” discussions with Rev. Rudi Rasmus
“Let’s get to the root of racial injustice” Megan Ming Francis’ TEDtalk
“Why America Needs a Slavery Museum” The Atlantic
“I’m Mexican. Does that change your assumptions about me?” Vanessa Vancour’s TEDtalk
“Actions are illegal, never people” Jose Antonio Vargas’ TEDtalk
“How Immigrants Shape(d) the United States” Nalini Krishnankutty’s TEDtalk
“How to deconstruct racism one headline at a time” Baratunde Thurston’s TEDtalk