Racial Justice Book Club

Circle of individual voices on anti-racist journey

The journey began with the first Zoom session on January 12 by meeting the facilitator, Crixell Shell, Assistant Executive Director of the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute, where she is a Peacebuilding Trainer and Coming to the Table Racial Talking Circle Facilitator.

 

Book clubbers also met others who joined the circle and discussed the touchstones that will guide discussion. Some circle members are from Epworth and others from the wider community with more joining the circle at later sessions. 

 

As they introduced themselves to each other, circle members shared their personal intentions in joining this Book Club. They also shared their reflections on how the introduction to Ibram X. Kendi’s How to be an Anti-racist impacts the way they view our past racist thoughts, feelings and behaviors towards themselves and others. 

 

The Book Club was established as a place for contributing individual voices and stories. “It was a powerful beginning,” Crixell said “I think our first book club meeting was a success.”

 

The circle shared a few resources in that first meeting. Because the resources list has grown since then, Crixell shared a Resource Guide in a Google doc so that others in the circle can access and contribute resources as well. Kendi’s definitions of terms in the book are also available in that document.

 

As they continued this journey of reflection, expansion, and action together, they felt it was imperative to keep mindful of the energy it takes to process racialized trauma. Crixell advised them to regularly practice self-care strategies and create your own individual communities of support as an effective way to process and move through emotional, mental, and physical responses as they read and reflect. 

 

After the first three sessions, Crixell started using breakout rooms to create smaller groups to help with sharing of thoughts and stories. Afterwards, the entire circle met to share some of their breakout room discussions.

 

Up to this point, the Racial Justice Book Club has only one session left to meet to discuss the journey and decide where they will go next. Anticipating the end of this leg of the journey, Crixell emailed to the Book Club, “Thank you again for walking as a community on this anti-racist journey.”

 

Epworth hopes to continue with the Racial Justice Book Club using a different book, but no date or book has been decided yet. Epworth also wants to follow up this first reading with action, doing the work of justice. As one of the resources on the Resource Guide tells us, “Treating authors of colour as tools for self-improvement is an impoverished response to centuries of harm” (Yaa Gyasi in “White people, black authors are not your medicine”).

 Spiritual Work of Overcoming Racism

Since its beginnings in 1935 as a daily devotional guide, the Upper Room® has been a global ministry dedicated to supporting the spiritual life of Christians seeking to know and experience God more fully. it has grown to include publications, programs, prayer support, and other resources to help believers of all ages and denominations move to a deeper level of faith and service.

 

In these days they feel called to give special and focused attention to being antiracist. They believe that racism is an obstacle to grace that works against the reign of God in society, in our relationships, and in our formation as human beings made in God’s image designed to grow in the love and likeness of Jesus Christ. 

 

Their website includes a growing list of resources to support this spiritual work. The list is continuously updated as they journey with you.