Over the holiday break from the end of November to January, a number of emails connected our study group. Mostly these came from our leader/moderator/facilitator, Karen. I’ll just list them here; I have not read or listened to all of them.
The Quiet Danger of McConnell’s Racist Policies
https://www.breachrepairers.org/blogs/2019/11/27/the-quiet-danger-of-mcconnells-racist-policies
160 books written by black women authors between 2000 and 2019
During Hannukah
Letters from an American; Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of history at Boston University
Levar Burton videos, “This Is My Story”
https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/levar-burton-does-more-than-read-his-new-video-series-1840777410
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsGlBNDf64c
“Native Son” by Richard Wright was recommended (on sale at bookbub)
Here’s a review of Wright’s body of work (it is long)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/07/20/the-hammer-and-the-nail
I also came across some quotes while reading for the Wednesday night Bible study at Grace; they may or may not be exactly relevant, but this is my blog entry, so I reserve the right to put in anything I want!
On Faith, Hope, Love:
We don't have to be "successful," only valuable. We don't have to make money, only a difference, and particularly in the lives society counts least and puts last.
From Credo by William Sloan Coffin
On Social Justice and Economic Rights:
Had I but one wish for the churches of America I think it would be that they come to see the difference between charity and justice. Charity is a matter of personal attributes; justice, a matter of public policy. Charity seeks to alleviate the effects of injustice; justice seeks to eliminate the causes of it. Charity in no way affects the status quo, while justice leads inevitably to political confrontation. Especially I would hope that Christians would see that the compassion that moved the Good Samaritan to act charitably—that same compassion prompted biblical prophets to confront injustice, to speak truth to power, as did Jesus, who, though more than a prophet, was certainly nothing less.
Peace,
— Duncan Taylor