Conversation Starters

Most book authors have lists of podcasts, etc. on their websites. Most are free, especially for charitable uses. Conversations can be started by any of the resources listed in this document. Documentary Films, YouTube presentations, daily news accounts, letters or personal statements all provide a starting place. Its best to have a plan for following starters with continuing sermons, study groups, and action plans, else efforts for eradicating systemic racism or white privilege will lose momentum.

Articles and Essays by Coates

• Acting French  --It’s hard to learn a new language. But it’s way harder to learn a new culture

• Fear of a Black President -- In having to be “twice as good” and “half as black,” Obama reveals the false promise and double standard of integration…

• Letter to My Son -- Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage

• My President Was Black -- A history of the first African American White House—and of what came next

• On Homecomings – Everyone wants some place to retreat, to collapse, to be at home—but you can’t always go home again…

• Other People’s Pathologies -- Black culture and the culture of poverty are not the same thing…

• The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration -- American politicians are now eager to disown a failed criminal-justice system that’s left the U.S. with the largest incarcerated population in the world…

• The Case for Reparations -- Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole

• The Economics of Magazines and Diversity -- It is really hard to have a conversation about diversity because we are all facing a world in which there is nothing to diversify

• The First White President -- The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy

• Margaret’s Open Letter 

• Harvard Implicit Bias on Race  (Measure)

• Suburban Mother’s Confession to Her Church (Angie Hurd)

• John Lewis Last Essay

• Murphy Answers to Provocative Questions

• Racism, The Enemy Within: A White Protestant Congregation Takes a Look Inside

PODCASTS, YOUTUBE, CSPAN, BING BROADCASTS

Almost all authors listed in the For Reading for Watching page have live broadcasts on one or several online sources. Simply search by title or subject on your browser and you will find an enormous supply of material. Most of it is free and freely available.

​

This list is growing rapidly on an hourly basis. Please notify wwayson@columbus.rrr.com of any you find especially valuable. This is also a topic which will attract much false or misleading material designed to cloud or distort the issue while dividing the American public. Notify us of any that you encounter.

New York Times 1619 Project

• LESSON PLANS

  • Reading Guide: Quotes, Key Terms, and Questions

  • https://pulitzercenter.org/builder/lesson/reading-guide-quotes-key-terms-and-questions-26504

• LESSON PLAN GROUPING

  • The 1619 Project Curriculum

  • https://pulitzercenter.org/lesson-plan-grouping/1619-project-curriculum

• PULITZER CENTER UPDATE

  • The 1619 Project Wins Two 2020 Ellie Awards

  • https://pulitzercenter.org/blog/1619-project-wins-two-2020-ellie-awards

• See Mt. Olivet Church (Columbus, OH) Plan for Three Sessions using 1619 Project.

• June-Friesen, Katy. A Northern Family Confronts Its Slaveholding Past: Filmmaker Katrina Browne Discusses Her Family’s Role in American Slavery. Smithsonian, June 2008. 

  • https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-northern-family-confronts-its-slaveholding-past-88307/.

• Alexander Michelle - The New Jim Crow

  • https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=alexander+michelle+-+the+new+jim+crow&docid=608037721141808832

• Robin DiAngelo's presentation on "Deconstructing White Privilege"

  • Deconstructing White Privilege with Dr. Robin DiAngelo

• Pastor Kyle Doebler, Liberty Presbyterian Church, Olentangy River Road, Delaware, Ohio for a class beginning in August, 2020. 

  • Racism Resources PDF  - On-line resources

​

• Anti-racism Resources from The United Methodist Church:

  • Rev. April Casperson works for the West Ohio Annual Conference of the UMC and is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion.  She works directly with UMC congregations on issues of race, equity, etc.  Her email is:  acasperson@WOCUMC.org or april.casperson@gmail.com.

    • If it is helpful we also just set up a webpage (as of Friday!) listing some anti-racism resources for local churches, ministry leaders and laity: https://www.westohioumc.org/anti-racism

• Anti-racism Resources and Statements from The United Methodist Church:

  • https://www.westohioumc.org/underground  Mariellyn and Ryan Grace created this documentary on Black History and Racism entitled Underground. It was screened in many congregations and at last year’s annual conference. It is well done.  If you go to this link, you can also see documentaries created on Appalachia, Criminal Justice, Hispanic Heritage, Homelessness and Native Cultures. https://www.westohioumc.org/conference/justice-studies

  • https://www.westohioumc.org/conference/gospel-race  The Gospel and Race is a four week study and worship series. It includes a devotional reflection and discussion questions each week; worship and preaching guide; a short video reflection for each week.

​​

• Mitchell Harper is our lay leader. He is a 28 year old African American male. He wrote a reflection for West Ohio entitled Statement on Righteous Anger. It is very good. 

  •  https://www.westohioumc.org/conference/news/reflections-conference-lay-leader-mitchell-harper

​

• Andres De Arco is another West Ohio young adult. He wrote a reflection on being Afro-Latinidad that was picked up in the national UM media. He is an impressive young man who will be starting seminary at Harvard this fall.  

  • https://www.umc.org/en/content/reflections-on-afro-latinidadqw

• Recent statements from some of the UMC Bishops and Ecumenical

  • ​Organizations: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/statements-against-racism

    • UMC Social Principle on Rights of Racial and Ethnic Persons: 

      • https://www.umc.org/en/content/social-principles-the-social-community#racial-ethnic

  • ​Women: https://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/racial-justice/tools

​

• GCORR- REAL Talk “Xenophobia and Anti-Asian Racism during COVID-19”   https://www.facebook.com/GCORRUMC/posts/10163501812925156

• GCORR Online Course “Implicit Bias: What We Don’t Think We Think” https://www.gcorr.org/online-course-implicit-bias

• 2016 Book of Discipline, Social Principles ¶162.A “The Social Community: Rights of Racial and Ethnic Persons” https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/social-principles-and-resolutions/the-social-community-162/the-social-community-rights-of-racial-and-ethnic-persons-162-a

• 2016 Book of Resolution, #3378 “Racism and Economic Injustice Against People of Color in the US” https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/social-principles-and-resolutions/racism-and-economic-injustice-against-people-of-color-in-the-us-3378

• 2016 Book of Resolutions, #6024 “Global Racism and Xenophobia: Impact on Women, Children, and Youth” https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/social-principles-and-resolutions/global-racism-and-xenophobia-impact-on-women-children-and-youth-6024

• 2016 Book of Resolutions, #3376 “White Privilege in the United States.” https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/social-principles-and-resolutions/white-privilege-in-the-united-states-337

• 2016 Book of Resolutions, #3422, “Speaking Out for Compassion: Transforming the Context of Hate in the United States.” https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/social-principles-and-resolutions/speaking-out-for-compassion-transforming-the-context-of-hate-in-the-united-states-3422

• Commemoration of the Emmanuel 9

• ELCA anti-racist pledge

• ELCA social statement: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

• Statement of the ELCA to People of African Descent

• Southern Ohio Synod (ELCA) statement on racial justice (July 2020)