Upcoming Events
As we move towards a vote on whether to become a Racial Justice Church in June, we hope you will join us in May for crucial information aimed at helping all make an informed decision.
Racism: Present and Powerful in NH May 5, 2021 from 7-8 pm
We will share articles and videos that represent the presence of racism in the individuals, policies, and systems of New Hampshire now, today! We will look at the hate groups in existence in NH. There will be consideration of our responsibility, as people of faith, to educate ourselves and act when efforts to weave and strengthen the hold of racism into our laws and systems take place. We are fortunate to have James T. McKim, PMP, ITIL as our guest speaker! He has contemporary knowledge of the manifestation of racism in NH.
James T. McKim, PMP, ITIL Mr. McKim serves as Managing Partner of Organizational Ignition. He is driven by an intense need to help organizations achieve their peak performance through the alignment of people, business processes, and technology. He is recognized as a thought leader in organizational performance, the use of Neuroscience, and Program Management.
Mr. McKim has led organizations such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, FIRST, Hawkeye Data, LLC, and Digital Equipment Corp to deliver award-winning product launch and performance enhancement solutions that increase company efficiency and revenues.
Mr. Mckim has, also, played an active role in the shaping of public policy affecting the Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Technology industries having served on several boards including the Software Association of New Hampshire, NH PBS, Economic Vitality NH, and the Manchester NAACP.
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) - 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) - 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/
- Black Heritage Trail of NH: “Juneteenth Celebration” http://blackheritagetrailnh.org/2021-juneteenth-celebration/
- 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
- 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.
- The Color of Fear
- 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
- Selma
- 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.