Racial Awareness / Racial Justice
At Brunswick Church we are committed to build multi-cultural community where every individual thrives. Part of acting justly and walking humbly is to learn about privilege and disadvantage, and to recognise and challenge microaggressions, advocate for racial equality and work to bring healing. We believe silence in the face of racial injustice (including that faced by members of our own church family) is complicity, so we will persist in our work of learning and action. This means we will probably continue to make mistakes, but hopefully, and prayerfully, less often. We have made a start and have some way to go.
As part of our task of "doing the work" – particularly our white members – we have a regular notice called 'Woke Note / Better Together' which features a wide variety of items including videos, podcasts, articles, blogs. These range from quick thought provokers, to sit-down-with-a-cuppa and apply the gray matter, and everything in between. Some examples below. We're always on the look-out for more ideas, not just for this, but other resources and ways to improve our knowledge and practice.
- Review of The Old Oak by Mo Blue - read
- 'I Am Somebody' Jesse Jackson - watch.
- 'Dear White People' Revd Charity Tozivepi-Nzegwu - read.
- 'The Lie That Invented Racism' John Biewen - watch
- 'Jesus wasn't a Christian' - Steve Chalke - watch.
- 'From Kelso Cochrane to Brexit – Is Racism Over?' Rev Dr Joe Aldred (former trustee of our mission partner MJR) - read.
- 'The Legacy of Empire: How to Reckon with the Past' Amol Rajan - listen
- Sally Mann of Red Letter Christians at the Together Alliance rally - watch.
- 'We need to talk about the whole Muslim/terrorism stereotype thing' Gaz Khan - watch.
- 'Our immigration laws have racism built into their DNA' Afua Hirsch - read.
- 'Lest We Remember - how Britain buried its history of slavery' Gary Younge - read.
Dave Walker - cartoonchurch.com