Racial Justice Resources

PAGE CONTENTS:

STATEMENT FROM BISHOP BROWN

RACIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL

COVENANT TO ROOT OUT RACISM

LEARNING ABOUT RACIAL JUSTICE

- RECOMMENDED WEBSITES, ARTICLES & VIDEOS

- CHURCHNEXT

- SACRED GROUND

- FROM MANY, ONE

- BECOMING BELOVED COMMUNITY: RACIAL RECONCILIATION AND ANTI-RACISM TRAINING

ORGANIZATIONS IN MAINE WORKING ON ANTI-RACISM

RESPONDING TO RACIAL VIOLENCE

COMMITTED TO LISTEN (RECORDING OF 2021 MLK DAY PROGRAM)

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
Watch these videos that are included in Racial Healing training, a program of The Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing:

“White Like Me”
“A Girl Like Me”
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

· Boston University Center for Antiracist Research

· Equal Justice Initiative

· Faith in Public Life

· Four Directions Development Corporation

· Greater Portland Immigrant Welcoming Center

· Indigo Arts Alliance

· The Justice Collaborative

· Maine Community Foundation

· Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition

· Maine Initiatives

· Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition

· Mano en Mano

· NAACP

· Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

· Wabanaki REACH

RACIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL

Bishop Brown spoke of the formation of the Diocese of Maine’s Justice Commission in his statement on June 11th. The commission will integrate existing committees and networks, such as Episcopal Peace Fellowship and the Committee on Indian Relations with new initiatives to equip us for the hard work of listening, learning, and joining together to work for racial justice. The creation of the new Justice Commission and a new Racial Justice Council were supported by a resolution passed at Diocesan Convention in the fall of 2020. The chair of the Justice Commission is the Rev. Eleanor Prior of the Cathedral of St. Luke, Portland.

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

Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.

The 10-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories.

Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. This series is open to all, and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people.

Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.

Find out more here: https://episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground

FROM MANY, ONE: CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DIFFERENCE - NEW!

“Conversation with others across difference is not just a nice thing to do. It is a spiritual practice of love in action.”

- Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

“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

Becoming Beloved Community: Racial Reconciliation and Anti-Racism Training

February 18 - March 18, 2021

$200

This course is designed to help embrace and enact the vision of Beloved Community, as well as satisfy the Canonical requirements for all lay and ordained leaders to participate in anti-racism training.

It includes opportunities for:

Personal reflection (Workbook)
Asynchronous group reflection and interaction (Threaded Discussions)
Synchronous group interaction (Zoom web conversations and Day of Gathering)

The session is led by Kaleidoscope Institute (KI) facilitators and offered by Bexley Seabury.

Click here to learn more and to register.

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.

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