Racial Justice

Racial Justice Team

The Racial Justice Team is a group of church members committed to anti-racism work in our community.

The RJT was commissioned to listen to and strengthen congregational relationships and partnerships with BIPOC leaders, congregations, and organizations; to advocate for anti-racist policies and practices; to invite and encourage the congregation into deeper learning and reparative practices of worship and daily living, and to lead our congregation in taking tangible action steps on behalf of racial justice and equity.

Learn More

Please contact Marge Marsh if you have any questions!

Resources
  • Action items:

Books to Read
  • 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.

Videos to Watch
  • This Divided Land – YouTube
    This video from Habitat for Humanity – Asheville is an eye-opener and gives some history of racial inequality and housing.

Racial Justice Book Club

FPCA has a monthly book club that reads books and discusses them with an eye towards awareness of racism and racial reconciliation. Please contact us if you would like more information on this group! For a list of current books, please click here.

In 2023, the Racial Justice team partnered with local nonprofit organization Read 2 Succeed and Tried Stone Missionary Baptist Church to host a reading skills tutor training and has since participated in the R2S program that helps close the opportunity gap for children of color.

The team will provide a full-day racial justice educational workshop in partnership with the YWCA on March 16.

Click here to sign up!

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