To confront racism, we must look within, among, and beyond.

The Race Matters team focuses on the personal “within” work as it relates to issues of racial justice, a top priority for Mayflower members.

Statement of Purpose

We will create spaces where we can understand the spiritual and personal costs of racial injustice. We will increase Mayflower’s engagement with multi-cultural/multi-racial experiences in preparation for becoming a more diverse church community and a more effective ally in our racial justice work.

Resources from the UCC

Have you been soul searching and learning about racism since that fateful day of May 25 when George Floyd was murdered? We highly recommend a video from the UCC exploring how churches are doing reparations work.

Organizations involved in pushing for changes in the Minneapolis Police Department

• Reclaim the Block
• Black Visions Collective
• Jordan Area Community Council
• MPD 150

Other Articles

• Article from New Yorker on Environmental Racism History
• Yale Environment 360 Group
• Lakota People’s Law Project
• Marshal Project (nonprofit journalism on criminal justice)
• Rising violence against Asians in the United States
• Justice every day plan

Books

• Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall
• Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendal
• Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter
• Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne
• Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. By Martha S. Jones
• How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit by Mary-Frances Winters
• Long Overdue: the politics of racial reparations by Charles Henry
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho – also on Youtube
• Hope in the Struggle by Josie Johnson
• Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend by Ben Philippe

Children’s Books

• A Ride to Remember by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan
• Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
• Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
• Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagra
• Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange
• Go Vote Baby by Nancy Lambert, Anne Passchier
• I Love Me by LaRonda Gardener Middlemiss
• Malala: My Story of Standing up for Girls Rights by Malala Yousafzai
• Respect by Rachel Moss
• Shades of People by Shelley Rotner
• Sulwe by Coretta Scott King
• The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (Author) and Rafael López (Illustrator)
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Youth Books

• Black Panther – Marvel Graphic Novels
• Black Enough by Ibl Zobol
• Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
• Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson
• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Blended by Sharon M. Draper
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love by Patricia McKissack
• Fresh Ink an Anthology by Daniel Jose Older and others
• Ghost by Jason Reynolds
• Green Card Youth Voices: immigration stories from a Minneapolis High School
• Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Patina by Jason Reynolds
• To Be Free – Understanding and Elimination Racism by Thomas Peacock
• Who Were the Tuckegee Airman by Sherri L. Smith
• Zeely by Virginia Hamilton

Consider purchasing your books through https://www.blackgarnetbooks.com, a Black women-owned store in Minneapolis that is doing on line book ordering. There is also a Little Library on the corner of 59^th and Park Avenue that supports only Black stories and Black authors. Please feel free to come and take any book you like and share any books on the same subject you may have. Books are for all ages.

Listen/Watch:

• America Radio Works – Historical Black Colleges and Universities
• AMP Report Order 9066
• 60 Minutes – Curtis Flowers
• Josie Johnson MPR interview
• Since I Been Down, directed by Gilda Sheppard, is a social justice documentary that examines the harsh draconian culture of punishment and shows a model of healing. Watch Since I Been Down through the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival ($10). Watch a trailer of the documentary (free).
• The White Savior Complex: The Dark Side of Volunteering | Kayley Gould | TEDxLAHS

Films and TV Series:

• One Night in Miami
• 13th (2016), directed by Ava DuVernay
• Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement (2016), directed by Laurens Grant
• Do The Right Thing (1989), directed by Spike Lee
• Malcolm X (1992), directed by Spike Lee
• Freedom Riders (2010), directed by Stanley Nelson
• Fruitvale Station (2013), directed by Ryan Coogler
• Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018), directed by Jenner Furst
• Seven Seconds (2018), directed by Yeena Sud
• I Am Not Your Negro (2016) directed by Raoul Peck
• Get Out (2018) directed by Jordan Peele
• When They See Us
• Selma (2014)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
• The Hate U Give (2018)
• Just Mercy (2019)

Follow

• Anti-Racism Daily: Daily Emails
• Antiracism Center: Twitter
• Audre Lorde Project: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook
• Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook
• Color Of Change: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook
• Muslim Girl: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook
• NAACP: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook