Action items:

• Stay up to date with what is happening in our city and county

• https://www.buncombecounty.org/common/office-equity-human-rights/racial-equity-plan.pdf

• Equity and Inclusion | The City of Asheville (ashevillenc.gov) and Equity-Focused Budget Engagement – PublicInput.com links both with the city of Asheville.Asheville City Council meetings are televised live on the Asheville City Channel, typically at 5:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.Contact Maggie Burleson at mburleson@ashevillenc.gov or 828-259-5601 to be added to the email distribution list to receive City Council agendas and City Council-related notifications.
• Keep up with the Historic Reparations Process in the City of Asheville as it happens. See all meeting dates and details here.

White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism By Robin Diangelo

Diangelo brings language to the emotional structures that make true discussions about racial attitudes difficult.

White Too Long By Robert P. Jones

Jones explains the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity.

Caste The Origins of Our Discontents By Isabel Wilkerson

Wilkerson gives an immersive account, with stories about real people, of how America through history has been shaped by a rigid caste system…a hierarchy of human rankings.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 
“An unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.” Quote from Amazon

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi 
“The National Book Award-winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.” Quote from Amazon

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You: A Remix of Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X.
Kendi and Jason Reynolds  This reimagining of Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an anti-racist future. Shorter and easier to grasp than Kendi’s original book.

The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby 
An “enlightening and compelling” history, the book is “equal parts painful and inspirational.”  It details “how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices.”  It guides readers “ in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.”  Quotes from Amazon.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
The author “gathers meticulous research showing how government at all levels long employed racially discriminatory policies to deny blacks the opportunity to live in neighborhoods with jobs, good schools, and upward mobility.” Quote from the Washington Post

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
This 2010 book is aimed at the specific audience of “people who care deeply about racial justice but who…do not yet appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration,” according to the author in a new preface to her book.

The Sum of Us: What White Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee 
McGhee offers “a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color.” Quote from the New York Times.