You’ve asked, “Where do I start if I want to learn more about what our black brothers and sisters have experienced?” Good question. Pastors Jon Nitta and Josh Reasoner and worship leader Kurt Felsman have been thinking, learning, and talking together and with others about these issues for a few years now, especially about how the gospel intersects with and informs racial equality and harmony. Here are some resources they recommend to get you started.
Easy reads:
Inside Out by Bryan Loritts
Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation by Latasha Morrison
Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope by Jasmine L. Holmes
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith
United: Captured by God’s Design for Diversity by Trillia Newbell
Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win by John Perkins
Take your time to read:
Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
Letters to a Birmingham Jail. This is Bryan Loritts’ edited edition of contemporary theologians response to King’s seminal work and the state of race relations. -Pastor Jon
Racism: A Very Short Introduction by Ali Rattansi. This is part of the Oxford University Press series on contemporary issues. A fine introduction to the topic of race but it’s not a Christian perspective. However, it’s helpful in understanding the idea of race as a historical social construct. -Pastor Jon
Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America by David Kennedy. A fascinating book on dealing with issues of race through the economic lens of poverty. The chapter “Across the Racial Divide” is very helpful. -Pastor Jon
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John Piper
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Podcasts:
Pass The Mic
1619
Floodlines (Warning: some language)
The History of American Slavery
