Laura Cheifetz Read More – The Problem of the Color Line

Laura offers these additional thoughts and resources for her week:

I hope we come away understanding the problem of living in a diverse country is not that we have difference, it is that our society is structured to give power to the few over the many based upon race (among other factors, most of which are immutable). In the American West, these structures have had specific impacts upon our communities. This is an invitation to build movements for transformation and liberation for all people. 

Racism and white supremacy are not uniquely American or unique to the South; the American West has been significant in the development of inequality by race. Now more than ever, we need to understand how it functions, what role we play as individuals and religious communities, and how to disrupt division, hatred, and segregation.

We are threatened with a return to pre-civil rights era policies, but the gospel is not a segregation handbook. Come be part of those who believe God made every person distinct and precious. We will learn together the reality of racism and white supremacy and ways in which is can be disrupted, even now.

An interview with Laura herself: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/japanese-jewish-queer-and-clergy-with-rev-laura-cheifetz/id1750329843?i=1000658464460

Other resources: 

https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/

The Sum of Us by Heather McGee https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sum-of-us-what-racism-costs-everyone-and-how-we-can-prosper-together-heather-mcghee/14618549?ean=9780525509585&next=t

Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl https://bookshop.org/p/books/dying-of-whiteness-how-the-politics-of-racial-resentment-is-killing-america-s-heartland-jonathan-m-metzl/12786650?ean=9781541644977&next=t

White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler https://bookshop.org/p/books/white-evangelical-racism-second-edition-the-politics-of-morality-in-america-anthea-butler/21334845?ean=9781469681511&next=t

A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-different-mirror-a-history-of-multicultural-america-ronald-takaki/16634389?ean=9780316499071&next=t