ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES

LEAD’s recommended reading list:

  • Strength to Love* by Martin Luther King Jr.
  • The Color of Compromise* by Jemar Tisby
  • White Fragility* by Robin DiAngelo
  • How to Be an Antiracist* by Ibram X. Kendi
  • The New Jim Crow* by Michelle Alexander
  • The Cross and the Lynching Tree* by James Cone
  • White Awake by Daniel Hill
  • Racing to Justice by John A. Powell
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
  • Church Forsaken by Jonathan Brooks
  • Love Big by Rozella Haydée White
  • Dear Church by Lenny Duncan
  • Radical Reconciliation by Allan Aubrey Boesak and Curtiss Paul DeYoung
  • Faith-Rooted Organizing by Alexia Salvatierra and Peter Heltzel
  • Here, Now, With You by Gregg Louis Taylor
  • Neighborhood Church by Krin Van Tatenhove and Rob Mueller
  • Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr
  • Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal
  • Justice by Michael J. Sandel
  • The True Believer by Eric Hoffer
  • The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
  • My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakam
  • A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. edited by James M. Washington

*Not sure where to start? These are Peggy’s top 6.

 

Anti-racism resources

Videos

Young adult fiction

  • All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Supporting black-owned or local bookstores

I am a witness.

A video message from Peggy Hahn, Executive Director

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. –John 12:27

I am a witness.

share your video

I am a witness.

by Peggy Hahn

Even if you are TIRED…

Be a witness.
Say it out loud.  

White leaders, this is for us. Don’t opt out. Don’t say you are too weary.

Now is the time for us to push through our COVID-19 grief and

Listen to the uprising.
Hear the pain of people who have been abused for too long.

Recognize this truth:

There is no room in the Christian faith for racism.

We cannot opt out.

We are called to be a witness to the God who loves all people equally.
We are called to stand with the black community.
LEAD is standing with these beloved people.

Friends, we cannot say we love God with our whole hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves unless we mean it.

Black lives matter.

Don’t opt out saying, “all lives matter.” That is not enough. It leaves out the most vulnerable.

Ask yourself, “Why does saying this make me uncomfortable?”
That, my friends, is your witness.

Own your own growth. This is a good thing.

Our LEAD staff made this list of what it means to be a witness:

Uncomfortable.   Humble.   Truth-telling.   Courageous.

Waiting on the Lord.   Grace filled.   Loving.

Empathy.   Being in relationship.

Accountability.

Confessing complicity.

Now is the time.

Be a witness. Right now. Take out your cell phone and be a witness in the world:

I, ____________, am a witness to the God who loves all people. Black lives matter.

I have been complicit because of things I have done and things I have left undone.

(…add your thoughts here.)

I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbor as myself. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Forgive me, renew me, and lead me, so that I may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name.

We stand in the place Jesus stood when he said:

“Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place. I’ll say, ‘Father, put your glory on display.’” – John 12:27-28 (MSG)