Black Lives Matter Resources

Black Lives Matter Workshop Videos

 

Please click/tap here to watch our BLM videos on Vimeo.

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Book List  

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Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving (Elephant Room Press, 2014). Reviewed by Jessica Fleming
 

Irving tells her story of growing up in the old New England tradition of not offending anyone. As an adult she goes through an awakening to her whiteness and invites thoughtful answers to provoking questions at the end of each section. Would be an excellent book for a discovery and discussion.

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When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrice Khan-Cullors and asha brandele (St. Martin’s Press, 2018). Reviewed by Cindy Spring
 

The slogan #BlackLivesMatter began as a response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year old Trayvon Martin. This is the story of the background and the ripples, then waves, that have happened since. An easy read, and a disturbing one.

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Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry
Rev. Mitra Rahnema, editor (Skinner House, 2017). Reviewed by Paul Phillips
 

Unitarian Universalist ministers of color share their experiences ministering to mostly white UU congregations. A book that invites deep reflection on the ways we practice our seven principles.

 

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. (New Press, 2012). Reviewed by Stew Weldon
 

In some states, black men have been imprisoned on drug charges at rates 20 to 50 times greater than those of white men. And in major cities wracked by drug war, as many as 80% of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives. These young men are part of a growing under-caste, permanently locked up and locked out of mainstream society.

 

Just Mercy – A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (Spiegel & Grau, 2015). Reviewed by Cindy Spring
 

Stevenson tells the story of his experiences with Walter McMillan, a black man convicted of murder who at the time was on death row in Alabama. The year was 1983 and the author was a young black lawyer from the North. It is an easy read since it is mainly “storytelling,” but devastating to realize how little justice there was/is for people of color in the South.

 

Unitarian Universalists of Color, Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love and Faith (Lulu Publishing Services, 2017). Reviewed by Nancy Chaddock 
 

Fifteen authors tell their stories of being people of color in UU congregations. It is heartbreaking to learn of the difficulties these people of our faith have had, and continue to have, within UU congregations merely because of skin color. As one writer puts it, being in a UU congregation of mostly white people can be exhausting.

 

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Seal Press, 2018). Reviewed by Paul Phillips
 

A very accessible “how-to” approach to discussing racial issues that offers incisive insights on topics like micro-aggressions, cultural appropriation, and the school-to- prison pipeline.

 

Journeys of Race, Color & Culture: From Racial Inequality to Equity & Inclusion by Rick Huntley, Rianna Moore and Carol Pierce (New Dynamics, 2017). Reviewed by Cindy Spring
 

This guidebook was designed to foster dialogue across the racial divide in the United States. It includes a complex continuum of the process toward equality for both white people and people of color. The book explains the journeys and the many set-backs as one moves to a greater understanding of what it means to be simply human.

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