Racial Justice in the Episcopal Church
The Becoming Beloved Community vision was presented by the National Church’s key leaders in May 2017 and has been continually revisited since. It is a practical and theological framework guiding Episcopalians into racial healing, justice and reconciliation. It is a positive and biblically based ideal – a dream toward which we strive. It is the end toward which the Jesus Movement points.
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 11-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.
At St Charles Church we have had two Sacred Ground circles (groups). They were just the first steps in becoming better informed about racism in our country’s and church’s history. After reflectively discerning, the people involved in those circles are now working on taking action, and inviting our entire community to join us. We are committed to continuing to learn, but also to building partnerships, identifying needs, and growing our advocacy right here in the Fox Valley.
Recommended Books, Movies, and more...
The Diocese of Chicago Resolution on Antiracism
Image Gallery
Books
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The Social Justice Bible Challenge
Edited by Marek P. Zabriske
Up Home- One Girl’s Journey by Ruth J. Simmons
Jenisha From Kentucky by Jenisha Watts
The Atlantic, October 2023
And there was light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
Resurrection Hope by Kelly Brown Douglas
Life on The Color Line by Gregory Williams
Face to the Rising Sun by Mark Bozzuti Jones
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
by Emmanuel Acho
We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor Peoples’ Campaign by LIz Theoharis
His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham
The Ground Breaking by Scott Ellsworth
Better Not Bitter by Yusef Salaam
Injustice Inc. by Daniel Hatcher
The Blood of Emmit Till by Timothy Egan
The Unjust Steward by Miguel Escobar
Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
Barking to the Choir by Gregory Abbott
The Three Mothers by Anna Tubbs
Good As New: A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures
by John Henson
America’s Original Sin by Jim Wallace
Faithful Antiracism
by Christina Edmonson and Chad Brennan
Waking Up White by Debby Irving
Dream Town by Laura Meckler
America in the King Years trilogy by Taylor Branch
Eyes on the Prize…PBS documentary series
The Bluest Eye…Toni Morrison
A Black Theology of Liberation, James Cone
Race Matters, Cornel West
Project 1619: A New Origin Story, Nikole Hannah-Jones
How to be an Antiracist, Ibram X Kendi
Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram X Kendi
The Water Dancer (Fiction), Ta Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me, Ta Nehisi Coates
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Fiction)
Zora Neale Hurston
The Bluest Eye (Fiction), Toni Morrison
The Man Who Lived Underground (Fiction)
Richard Wright
Also See...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Coalition for Racial Justice and Equity ncrje.org
Center for Racial Healing centerforracialhealing.org
Movies
Glory (Morgan Freeman)
Fences (Denzel Washington)
The Butler (Forest Whitaker)
Self Made (Octavia Spencer)
Podcasts
National Public Radio has a variety of podcasts on this topic.
Other Literature
Plays by August Wilson
Poetry by Langston Hughes