Racial Justice Resources
PAGE CONTENTS:
STATEMENT FROM BISHOP BROWN ON RACIAL JUSTICE AND THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE
Read a transcript of Bishop Brown's remarks here.
WEBSITES AND ARTICLES RECOMMENDED BY MAINE'S DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY
- The Episcopal Church's Racial Reconciliation webpage
- Visit the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing for resources, news and events
- Creation Justice's Racial Justice Resources
- Maine Council of Churches complile anti-racism resources from member denominations here: MCC Anti-racism Resource Compilation
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Watch these videos that are included in Racial Healing training, a program of The Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing:
- Read Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Diocese of Indianapolis: A Reflection of Personal Experience, Hope and Challenge for the Church on Dismantling White Supremacy and Racism
- Being church while the neighborhood burns from Christian Century. Interview of Ingrid C. A. Rasmussen and Angela Khabeb, Pastors at Trinity Lutheran, Minneapolis
- Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man is a series of videos of YouTube created for white people trying to learn
- Watch the video George Floyd, the Minneapolis Protests, Ahmaud Arbery & Amy Cooper by Trevor Noah
- Consider spending a portion of your consumer dollars with Black Owned businesses. Find them here: https://www.blackownedmaine.com/
MAINE ORGANIZATIONS DOING ANTI-RACISM WORK
RACIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL
LEARNING ABOUT RACIAL JUSTICE
We are all advised to learn from experts about racial justice. Here are some courses and programs that can help.
CHURCHNEXT
- Modern-Day Slavery with Richard Lee For Individuals and For Groups
- Spirituality and Racial Justice with Michael Curry, available in formats For Individuals and For Groups
- Whiteness and Racial Justice with Kelly Brown Douglas, available in formats For Individuals and For Groups
- Reparation and Racial Justice with Jennifer Harvey, available in formats For Individuals and For Groups
- Theology and Racial Justice with J. Kameron Carter, available in formats For Individuals and For Groups
- Racism and Racial Justice with Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, available in formats For Individuals and For Groups
Presentations are from the Trinity Institute's outstanding conference, Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice. You can find more on their website.
Here's a preview to Michael Curry's course:
SACRED GROUND: A FILM-BASED DIALOGUE SERIES ON RACE & FAITH
FROM MANY, ONE: CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DIFFERENCE - NEW!

“From Many, One: Conversations Across Difference” is a campaign inviting Episcopalians and our neighbors to engage in one-to-one listening and sharing across the many differences that separate us. The conversations center on four questions: What do you love? What have you lost? Where does it hurt? What do you dream?
Echoing the Latin phrase on the U.S. seal – E Pluribus (“from many”) Unum (“one”) – and following in the footsteps of Jesus, we trust that the spiritual practice of conversation across difference can help to knit us all into a diverse, more perfect union. This program is recommended for those who have already engaged in Sacred Ground. (above)
Follow this link to find information on how to engage with From Many, One: Conversations Across Difference. You can find explanations for each of the questions, suggestions on going deeper, and additional resources to keep your conversations going on the webpages.
Sign up for updates on From Many, One here. Watch the videos. Invite a partner. Have the conversation. Pray. Join in deeper conversation, learning and action. Help to form God's beloved community.
BECOMING BELOVED COMMUNITY: RACIAL RECONCILIATION AND ANTI-RACISM TRAINING - SESSION BEGINS FEBRUARY 2021
- Personal reflection (Workbook)
- Asynchronous group reflection and interaction (Threaded Discussions)
- Synchronous group interaction (Zoom web conversations and Day of Gathering)
RESPONDING TO RACIAL VIOLENCE AND POLICE BRUTALITY
The Episcopal Church’s Department of Reconciliation, Justice and Creation Care and the Office of Government Relations have assembled resources to assist individuals, congregations and communities seeking to LEARN, PRAY and ACT. Please use and share the resources below and here.
- Read Presiding Bishop Curry’s Word to the Church: When the Cameras are Gone, We Will Still Be Here
- Minnesota’s Bishop-Elect and Bishop's statement on the killing of George Floyd and set of initial recommendations
- Statement from Province I Bishops regarding President Trumps Cynical "Photo Op"
Let Us Pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, whose rage over Injustice upended tables in the Temple, guide our anger and outrage over the murder of George Floyd. Raise up protesters who will be known not for looting and violence, but for effective pressure on unjust systems; inspire legislators to spurn partisan politics in favor of real fairness and change; awaken police departments to end brutality and racial oppression; and may our discontent fuel the searching of our own souls, that we might put to death in us the things that led to George's death. This we ask of the One who finds life in every death,
Amen.
COMMITTED TO LISTEN:
A PUBLIC READING OF THE REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'s LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
On April 16, 1963, from his cell in a Birmingham City Jail, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. penned a public letter addressed to several of Alabama's leading white religious leaders, who had openly questioned the pace and the confrontational nature of civil rights demonstrations. Co-hosted by The BTS Center and the Maine Council of Churches, this event included multiple voices, contemplative music and space for reflection, including that of our bishop, The Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Brown. Listen and view the recording here.