racial justice church - what's next
We are now a Racial Justice Church based on our vote in June. That vote will be submitted to the UCC and, we hope, recognized after their review. Thank you all for voting in our annual meeting on June 6th!
There are other UCC churches in New Hampshire that are also undertaking the process of study, contemplation and awareness that we have completed. We appreciate the attention, commitment and discovery that the vote of our church community has bestowed on First Church. Thank you all so much for your vision, your attention and your fundamental belief in justice for all people!
The summer is a time of rest and contemplation. We are adding some things to this web page that I hope you will consider and learn from, but we are also not asking for the level of commitment right now that guided us to our vote in June.
The Racial Justice Team is considering “next steps”, a future path forward, and the addition of new materials that we hope will engage and inspire. This summer we hope, however, you will consider listening to some of the Seeing White podcasts. We hope to convene a monthly group discussion and will schedule it through the church bulletin. The link is: https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/
Educational Recommendations
articles about racism in New Hampshire and elsewhere
- American Democracy is Only 55 Years Old and Hanging by a Thread
by Vann C. Newkirk II (The Atlantic February 11, 2021) - The Campaign to Cancel Wokeness – How the right is trying to censor critical race theory.
by Michelle Goldberg, NY Times Opinion Columnist (The New York Times February 26, 2021) - Denial Is the Heartbeat of America – When have Americans been willing to admit who we are?
by Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research (The Atlantic January 11, 2021) - The Last of the Nice Negro Girls
by Anna Devere Smith, playright and actor (The Atlantic March, 2021) - No, I Won’t Stop Saying “White Supremacy”
by Robin Diangelo, Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington (Yes Magazine June 30, 2017) - Answering White People’s Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Black Lives Matter Movement
by Robin Diangelo, Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington (The Bold Italic June 30, 2017) - The Real Rosa Parks Story Is Better Than the Fairy Tale
by Jeanne Theoharis, Professor of political science and the author of eleven books on the civil rights and Black Power movements (The New York Times February 1, 2021) - How Racist Is America?
by David Brooks, Op-Ed Columnist (The New York Times July 22, 2021) - A Love Letter to All the Overwhelmed White People Who Are Trying
by Melissa DePino, That White Lady Who Shared the Starbucks Video. June 7, 2020) - Isn’t 400 Years Enough? The failure to appreciate Black history leaves our nation incomplete.
by Jonathan Holloway, President of Rutgers University, a historian and the author, most recently, of “The Cause of Freedom: A Concise History of African Americans.” New York Times February 10, 2021) - A Long History of Affirmative Action – For Whites
RACE – The Power of an Illusion. California Newsreel - The solution to America’s race problem isn’t written in black and white
by Jason Reid. Black History Always July 11, 2016) - A Tale of Two Preachers – The fraught relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Billy Graham.
by Kirstin Butler (American Experience May 21, 2021) - Are You Willing to Give Up Your Privilege?
by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation (NY Times June 25, 2020) - Return the National Parks to the Tribes
by David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present (The Atlantic May 2020) - N.H. lawmakers debate banning schools from teaching about systemic racism and sexism
by Eileen O’Grady, Monitor staff (Concord Monitor February 18, 2021) - UNH Professor Allegedly Behind Offensive Twitter Account Resigns
by Todd Bookman, NHPR staff (NHPR February 12, 2021) - N.H. Audubon Reports White Supremacist Vandalism At Concord Preserve
by Annie Ropeik, NHPR staff (NHPR November 26, 2020) - Systemic racism in New Hampshire: The view from Exeter
by Robert Azzi, Columnist. (Concord Monitor June 21, 2020) - COVID-19 Data Shows Racial Disparities in N.H. Cases
by Daniela Allee, NHPR staff (NHPR April 30, 2020) - Data Shows Racial Disparities Increase at Each Step Of N.H.’s Criminal Justice System
by Emily Corwin, NHPR staff (NHPR August 10, 2016) - New Hampshire police chief refuses to reinstate officer who was fired over racist text messages
by Carma Hassan and Jennifer Henderson, CNN (CNN September 9, 2020)
Podcasts and other Web-based Opportunities
- History of Black People in NH: http://blackheritagetrailnh.org/tea-talks/
- Oprah interview with Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oprahs-book-club/id1529009628
- Human Migration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJdT6QcSbQ0
- Black Heritage Trail of NH: “Frederick Douglass Statewide Community Readings” http://blackheritagetrailnh.org/event/frederick-douglass-statewide-community-readings/
- Understanding Microaggressions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDd3bzA7450
- Connecting God’s Word and God’s Love with Being a Racial Justice Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knW0v3n23Wk Rev. Dr. Gordon Crouch, Rev. Dawn Berry, Rev. Jim Howard and Rev. Richard Slater discuss the presence of race and oppression in theology. They answer questions regarding the presence of the call for justice, peace, love, and compassion in the messages of the Bible. The panel offers insight into their own journey as they have prayerfully reflected on what God calls us to be, and what God tells us to do.
- Racism: Present and Powerful in NH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p16oW28L0c In this webinar, James McKim, President of the Manchester NH NAACP, discusses the presence of racism in our state and in our communities today.
Books
- Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone
- White Too Long, by Robert P Jones
- How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
- The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee
- The Lessons of Ubuntu, by Mark Mathabane
- My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, by Resmaa Menakem
- My Vanishing Country: A Memoir, by Bakari Sellers
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
- Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race, by Derald Wing Sue
- Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
- Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, by Debby Irving
- The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
- White Fragility , by Robin DiAngelo
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Movies/TELEVISION
- 13th – Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay’s examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
- Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer – This is a new National Geographic Film documenting events in 1919-1921, the racial unrest and multiple massacres that tore our country apart and have subsequently almost been lost to history and covered up by lack of subsequent attention.
- The Color of Fear – Eight North American men, two African American, two Latinos, two Asian American and two Caucasian were gathered by director Lee Mun Wah, for a dialog about the state of race relations in America as seen through their eyes. The exchanges are sometimes dramatic, and put in plain light the pain caused by racism in North America.
- Freedom Riders – Freedom Riders is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws in order to test and challenge a segregated interstate travel system, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
- Just Mercy – A powerful true story that follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his battle for justice as he defends a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence.
- Selma – 2014 historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay, based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches.
- Gather – Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.
- Suppressed – Suppressed weaves together personal stories from voters across the state of Georgia to paint an undeniable picture of voter suppression in the 2018 midterm election. Stacey Abrams fought to become the first Black female governor in the U.S. while her opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, was in charge of running the election. In a race that was ultimately decided by 54,723 votes, the film exposes that the basic constitutional right to vote continues to be under siege in America.
- Shadows Fall North – A documentary exploring how a state with the motto “Live Free or Die” and a celebrated history of abolitionism confronts and understands its participation in slavery, segregation and neglect.
- High on the Hog – This Netflix series tapped years of scholarship and the life experience of its creators to chart how African Americans have shaped the country’s cuisine. Chef and writer Stephen Satterfield traces the delicious, moving throughlines from Africa to Texas in this docuseries.
MUSINGS BY JerriAnne Boggis
The following “Musing” is from the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire’s recent e-newsletter. Click the link to visit their website, watch videos, join their email list, make a donation, and more: http://blackheritagetrailnh.org/.
With mid-summer coming and my family preparing for our annual trek to the White Mountains, I couldn’t help but think about the majestic Old Man of the Mountain who kept watch over New Hampshire for thousands of years.
This landmark was integral to the state’s identity living on in books and as an emblem on highway signs, on license plates, and even as a US coin … our state quarter. Hawthorne famously memorialized our granite formation, as an “enormous giant, or a Titan,” with a “broad arch of the forehead,” and a “long-bridged nose” that spoke to the solid, sturdy, rugged characteristics of New Hampshire’s citizenry.
Its collapse in 2003 was like a death in the family to many who left flowers at the base the mountain as a tribute.
In thinking of the Old Man, I couldn’t help but also think about another rock formation carved by Mother Nature that still stands today, the Indian Head in Franconia. For me, its curved nose and spiked hair, speak to our land’s indigenous inhabitants, the Abenaki and the Western Pennacook peoples. And I couldn’t help but think about the different stories that could have lived on just as ubiquitously as stories of the Old Man if our state also honored this granite formation with as much vigor.
Recently, Yvonne Goldsberry, the president of New Hampshire’s Endowment for Health, shared an article (under the Did You Know section below) that announced the digitization of her great-great grandmother’s library books that served the community of color in Worchester, MA in the 1800s. This article reminds us that there are many ways of maintaining historical memory landscapes. Here too was another story that changes the landscape of what we think our New England is about. This permanent collection tells the story of generations of African Americans who were successful, extremely well educated, and devoted to enriching their community.
How much richer would our lives be if our diverse stories were given equal attention?
JerriAnnne