White Authors, Black Subjects

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/geraldine-brooks-horse-book-review/638449/

Many of us are fans of Geraldine Brooks, author of, among other things, People of the Book and March. Her latest book is Horse, which centers on the role of black slaves in the horse racing industry in the South. Can a white author convey a narrative of the black slavery experience? The attached Atlantic article has an opinion. I think we should read this book with a questioning mind. There is much to learn, but many voices to teach.

Chris Graesser

Racial Justice Resources

Here is a list of great resources to begin and continue your journey learning about racial justice and how to become actively anti-racist. The list has been compiled by our Justice Action Team.

• Books

  • The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone

  • Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US

  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

  • The Fire Next Time; I Am Not Your Negro; The Cross of Redemption all by James Baldwin

  • I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

  • Bury My Hear at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

  • White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

  • Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

  • Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzales

  • How to Be Antiracist; Stamped from the Beginning both by Ibram X. Kendi

  • Beloved by Toni Morrison

  • Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates

  • An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

  • The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andres Resendez

  • Is Everyone Really Equal? Ann Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education by Oslem Sensoy, Robin DiAngelo, et al.,

  • From#BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

• Articles

  • You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body is a Confederate Monument

• Podcasts/Radio

  • On Being:

    • A Conversation with Robin DiAngelo & Resmaa Menakem

    • Ruby Sales--The Inner Life of Social Change

    • Resmaa Menakem--Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence

    • Vincent Harding--Is America Possible?

• Movies/Documentaries/Videos

  • A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery (YouTube)

  • White Savior: Racism in the American Church (Amazon Prime)

  • I Am Not Your Negro (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Kanopy)

  • Holy Post: Race in America by Phil Vischer (YouTube)

  • United Shades of America: Where Do We Even Start with White Supremacy? with W. Kamau Bell

  • The Long Shadow

• Social Media Accounts to Follow

  • White Nonsense Roundup

  • Ally Henny

  • Christena Cleveland

  • Lace on Race

• Other

  • Legislation: Black & Puerto Rican Caucus Agenda for Equity

  • An American Lament Devotional

• Resource Lists from Others

  • Willow Creek Resources to Combat Racism

  • Shareable Anti-Racist Resource Guide by Tasha K

• Trainings

  • Race Forward/Colorlines Racial Justice Trainings

  • Whites for Racial Equity Free Online Classes

• For Kids/Working with Kids

  • EmbraceRace Webinars, Resources, and More

Improving Your Serve

As we enter into a fresh Fall season of ministry, we are looking for some key people to step into leadership roles and for everyone who calls Riverfront home to "improve their serve" and volunteer somewhere significant.

In terms of leadership roles, we are beginning to structure our church around six Action Teams: Worship, Family/Fellowship, Spiritual Growth, Community Engagement, Justice, and Children/Youth.

This structure emerged out of the important vision/mission work we did this past Spring. Each of the teams will "steward" that area of ministry -- developing a vision, ideas, plans, and programs. We hope that every member and regular attender at RFC will serve on at lest one Action Team in some role.

Additionally, we are looking for leaders (or co-leaders) for each of these teams. These leaders will help coordinate the individual teams as well as meet monthly with the pastoral staff as an Action Coordination Team (ACTs) to make sure we are coordinating our efforts, stewarding resources well, and thinking about our vision/mission from a 30,000 foot level.

The Board will focus on areas of spiritual leadership, stewardship, policy, and accountability. Each Action Team will have a Board liaison serving on the team (but not necessarily leading the team. One of the pastors will also be a part of each of the teams.

So far, we have leaders in place for two of the teams:

1. JUSTICE ACTION TEAM - Miela Gruber & Chris Graesser

2. WORSHIP ACTION TEAM - Michael Minch & Diana Scott

We are still looking for people to take on leadership roles for the following Action Teams:

• Family/Fellowship Action Team

• Spiritual Growth Action Team

• Children & Youth Action Team

• Community Engagement Action Team

If you are interested in serving in one of these roles, or have any questions about them or want to discuss more, please email Pastor Ben and Pastor Michael at pastors@riverfront.church.

If you are interested in volunteering and serving in a particular role, you can also check out our VOLUNTEER INFO PAGE.