EQUITY • INCLUSION • JUSTICE
This information repository was created and is managed by the Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Task Force at St. Andrew. The task force was formed to address the Inclusion, Diversity, and Justice Vision Goal within the Mission, Core Values, and Vision Goals adopted by St. Andrew in September 2020. Its mission is to facilitate St. Andrew living more fully into our Welcome statement (below) and to advocate for equity, inclusion, and justice.
RESOURCES BY TOPIC
Welcome to the Racial Justice resource page. This resource page provides you with a visual way to explore and download the many types of resources we have available. You may also use our powerful search engine to find other resources not listed here.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Supporters of LGBTQIA+ people and families are not the minority in our Lutheran church, but are the growing majority. ReconcilingWorks is committed to this work, but we cannot do it without the support of partners like you.
The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators.
Lutheran Services in America- Disability Network
The Lutheran Services in America-Disability Network harnesses the collective power and wisdom of its nationwide group of Lutheran social ministry organizations to amplify our voice through advocacy and champion services and supports that enable individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to realize their dreams, achieve their potential, and lead their best lives.
Southwest Washington Equity Coalition
Promoting racial justice and creating a more equitable society in Southwest Washington through collective action, inclusion, and collaboration.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
ME AND WHITE SUPREMACY
Book by Layla F. Saad
Using a 28-day exploration and journaling exercise, Layla Saad leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous, and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE
Book by Ijeoma Oluo
Ijeoma Oluo uses her experiences growing up as a Black daughter of a white mother in Seattle and in her early career to guide readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" to motivate and empower honest conversations about race and racism, and how the latter infect almost every aspect of American life.
HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST
Book by Ibram X Kendi
Ibram Kendi weaves together his personal experiences, together with ethics, history, law, and science, to guide the reader in understanding racism in America and to motivate and empower its opposite, antiracism (rather than “not racist”), so as to contribute to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.
WAKING UP WHITE
Book by Debby Irving
Debby Irving shares her “sometimes cringe-worthy” struggle to understand racism and racial tensions after a privileged upbringing and offers a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance, plus tools for white people seeking to learn about race and racism.
DEAR CHURCH
Book by Lenny Duncan
ELCA pastor Lenny Duncan argues that the ELCA’s lack of vitality stems fundamentally from its lack of diversity, rejects the narrative of church decline, and calls everyone to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice, including taking on the forces that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice.
WHITE RAGE
Book by Carol Anderson
Carol Anderson documents how key advances made by African Americans towards full participation in our democracy was met by white backlash, including Black Codes/Jim Crow following Reconstruction; public school closures throughout the South following the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision; and disenfranchisement following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME
Book by Douglas A Blackmon
Pulitzer Prize winning book (and also a PBS documentary) describing the ways black people continued to be disenfranchised after the Reconstruction era. Blackmon argues that slavery in the US did not end with the Civil War, but persisted well into the 20th century.
STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING:
Book by Ibram X Kendi
Ibram Kendi uses excerpts from the life stories of five American intellectuals, from Cotton Mather to Angela Davis, to chronicle the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history, including contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. Kendi documents how racist ideas arose to justify racist policies and led to racial hatred, rather than the other way around, and shows how sacrifice, uplift, persuasion, and education over centuries have had very little impact on racist ideas. Lengthy but accessible to lay readers, this book won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
THE GAY REVOLUTION
Book by Lillian Faderman
The sweeping story of the modern struggle for gay, lesbian, and trans rights from the 1950s to the present—based on amazing interviews with politicians, military figures, legal activists, and members of the entire LGBT community who face these challenges every day.
THE NEW JIM CROW
Book by Michelle Alexander
Carefully documenting the impact of the so-called “War on Drugs”, initiated in 1971, which was applied disproportionately to Black men and expanded greatly over the next three decades, Michelle Alexander makes a compelling case that the five-fold increase in incarceration rates and associated policies have created a new racial caste system in America, with devastating consequences for families of color. In her preface to the 2020 edition, Alexander says that in the decade since the book was published, “everything and nothing have changed.” It seems clear that any significant move toward racial equity must include criminal justice reform.
MY JESUS LOVES GAYS:
WHY BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS SHOULD LOVE AND ACCEPT LGBTQ PEOPLE
Book by Robert Williams
It was Jesus who touched the outcasts and welcomed all varieties of sinners to join him at his table. It was Jesus who leveled the playing field by calling all people to repentance, teaching that no one is a greater or worse sinner than others, and that no sinner is beyond his mercy. By examining the gospels and considering the narrative story of the Bible, a clear picture of how Jesus responds to LGBTQ people emerges.
MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS
13TH
A Film by Ava DuVernay
Available on Netflix
DISCLOSURE
A Film by Sam Feder
Available on Netflix
WHEN THEY SEE US
A Film by Ava DuVernay
Available on Netflix
AMEND: THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA
A Film by Reinaldo Marcus Green and Kenny Leon
Available on Netflix
CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION
A Film by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham
Available on Netflix
PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it’s an old story.
Why? Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?
Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into these questions, along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017. The series editor is Loretta Williams.
Uncivil brings you stories that were left out of the official history of the Civil War, ransacks America's past, and takes on the history you grew up with. We bring you untold stories about resistance, covert operations, corruption, mutiny, counterfeiting, antebellum drones, and so much more. And we connect these forgotten struggles to the political battlefield we’re living on right now. The story of the Civil War — the story of slavery, confederate monuments, racism — is the story of America.
Bringing the voices of LGBTQ history to life through intimate conversations with champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.
LOCAL POC/LGBTQ BUSINESSES
Core Values:
As Christ’s church, we value our common humanity and our differences. Our unity is a celebration of our diversity. We are made stronger through our differences. We recognize and will challenge dynamics of power and privilege that create barriers to participation and equity in this church and in the world.
Vision Goals:
Develop educational and systematic practices and changes in our ministries to: become fully inclusive to ALL people; advocate for justice for disenfranchised and oppressed individuals and groups; and work for equity in our church, community, and the world.
Reflecting Jesus’ calling, we, the community of St. Andrew, proclaim that the gifts of God are for all, so we welcome and advocate for equity and justice for… All abilities and disabilities, All believers and unbelievers, All races and ethnicities, All religions and creeds, All gender identities and expressions, All countries of origin, All sexual orientations, All immigrants and refugees, All economic levels, All spoken and signed languages, All…no exceptions!
Please complete the communication form with your contact information if you would like to speak with a member of the St Andrew Lutheran EIJ Task Force or would like to suggest a resource to be added to this page. Members of the St Andrew Lutheran EIJ Task Force will review and may reach out for additional information before posting.