Anti-Racism

  • Jars of soil from the sites where Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas were lynched. Behind them, a noose hanging from a lamppost and the Alexandria City Hall are visible through a window

    Documentary Film Debut Resolved: Never Again

     

    Saturday, Sept. 21

    7 – 8:30 PM

    George Washington Masonic Memorial


    Get tickets: $5 students, $10 general admission

    Fundraising reception tickets also available


    The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) will debut Resolved: Never Again, a documentary by filmmaker Robin Hamilton. The film explores the port city’s involvement in slavery and the domestic slave trade until the Civil War, an era followed by decades of racial terror when the lynchings of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas took place.


    The evening opens at 5:30 PM with a fundraising reception. The film begins at 7 PM, followed by a panel discussion.


    Questions? Contact Corinne Baker

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  • Jim Wallis gestures while giving a talk. The cover of his book, The False White Gospel is superimposed to the right

    Conversation on Faith & Democracy with Author Jim Wallis

     

    Thursday, Sept. 26

    7 – 9 PM

    Virginia Theological Seminary

    Lettie Pate Evans Multi Purpose Room

    3630 Bishop Walker Circle, Alexandria


    Free registration required


    In the tradition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anti-Nazi German Lutheran pastor who wrote about Christianity’s role in the secular world, Wallis’ latest book, The False White Gospel, details the assault on, and endangerment of U.S. institutions, voting rights, and people from minorities groups. Wallis provides examples of ways that people of faith can protect democracy and our neighbors.


    Questions? Contact Pastor Kate

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  • The vibrant Now and Forever stained glass windows at the Washington National Cathedral

    Now and Forever Windows

     

    Date TBA

    Washington National Cathedral


    We’re planning a visit to see the Now and Forever stained glass windows that were dedicated at the National Cathedral in September. The windows were created by acclaimed artist Kerry James Marshall and are accompanied by a poem written by Elizabeth Alexander. The Now and Forever windows replaced the Lee-Jackson windows that were removed after a deliberative process by the Cathedral.


    Stay tuned for more details!


    Questions? Contact Corinne Baker

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  • Learn, Reflect, Pray, Act

     

    Go to resources for:


    Kids & Talking with Kids


    Older Youth & Adults

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Resources

We share the information and resources below as a part of our journey to learn and grapple with America's racial past and present. We seek to be an intentional part of building racial equity and justice that leads at last to the beloved community.

For Kids & Talking with Kids

Social Story for George Floyd (for pre-K/kindergarten students)

GSLC member, Dora Cottrol, created this video for her students and their parents that introduces the social story shared online after George Floyd was murdered in May 2020.


Talking About Race and Racism with Children

A collection of resources from Christine V. Hides’ website, Weaving Faith into Everyday Life, shared by our education coordinator, Denise Steene.


Racial Justice Resources: Justice for Black Lives

A variety of resources curated by the NEA EdJustice, a program of the National Education Association.


Alexandria Black History Museum

This local museum offers a variety of ongoing and periodic exhibitions, events and programming for kids, youth and adults with a focus on Alexandria’s local Black history. In particular, look for Storytime with Young Historians in upcoming events, regularly held on Saturday mornings.

Sesame Street Townhall on Racism


EmbraceRace: Raising a Brave Generation

Subscribe to their emails

Talking Kids & Race webinars + online resources & articles organized around four goals to meet the challenge of raising children in a world where race matters:

  • Nurture resilience in children of color
  • Nurture inclusive, empathetic children of all stripes
  • Raise kids who think critically about racial inequity
  • Support a movement of kid and adult racial justice advocates for all children

Talking About Race Web Portal

Resources for educators, parents/caregiver and people committed to equity curated by the National Museum of African American History & Culture

For Older Youth & Adults

 

Watch/Videos

A Vigil for Healing & Understanding

Journeying into Holy Week: This 24-hour online vigil, hosted in April 2022 by the Metro DC ELCA Synod Racial Equity Team, focused on healing, understanding and celebration of the multitude of cultures of our church.

Part One || Part Two || Part Three


A Prophetic Call to the Church

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s call to action to the Church and fellow clergy the 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail is grievously and regrettably relevant over 50 years later. In honor of Dr. King’s dedication to reforming the Church and American culture, listen to the African American voices of rostered leaders of the ELCA once again asserting a call for action to the Church by reading his prophetic call.


Emanuel documentary film, June 2019

Emanuel Film Discussion Guide


Young, Gifted and Black in the ELCA


Do Black Churches Matter in the ELCA? by Pastor Lenny Duncan Part I | Part II


Sermon by guest preacher Rev. Lamont Wells

Feb. 25, 2018: Educational forum, unity service with Rev. Lamont Wells, Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Evangelical Mission at the Metropolitan NY Synod and President of the African Descent Lutheran Association


A Conversation on Juneteenth
ASALH featuring Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed


Color Blind or Color Brave?

TED Talk by Mellody Hobson


Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise

PBS Series - watch full episodes online

Book covers: I'm Still Here, My Grandmother's Hands, Dear Church, The Underground Railroad

Read/Book, Articles

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown


My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. by Pastor Lenny Duncan


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead


The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Racial injustices in the United States penal system


Multiethnic Conversations: An eight-week journey toward unity in your church by Mark DeYmaz and Oneya Fennell Okuwobi


Synod Council Letter: Racial reckoning. Lament. Recommitment

Oct. 7, 2020

Reflections/Faith Talks

Learn About Juneteenth

The people behind the integration of Alexandria Public Schools by Jim McElhatton  

Article Discussions - 2018

Crisis in Black Education - Black History Theme 2017   

Implicit bias test


Letter to My Son, adapted from Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic

About

Guided by GSLC's August 2015 resolution, Our Response to Racism and the Murders at the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, SC, Good Shepherd’s Anti-Racism Team provides intentional forums to:

  • Learn about the experiences, tragedies and triumphs of our African American siblings through history and to today.
  • Explore and prayerfully reflect on racism, white privilege and unconscious bias.
  • Stand with those who face discrimination.
  • Act to end racism.

GSLC Anti-Racism Team annual reports (pdf)

Have questions or want to get involved?

Contact Corinne Berkseth Baker, Anti-Racism Team Chair

  • Banner Dedication

    We Believe That Black Lives Matter


    Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8


    We invite you to join us every day as we work to live into this declaration.

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  • Dedication of

    Jesus of the People by Janet McKenzie

    In the mystery and wonder of God, we are each created unique and in the image of God. Jesus of the People is a reminder that envisioning God is like looking in a mirror and seeing all of God's children in our reflection.

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  • Resolution

    Our Response to Racism

    Good Shepherd adopted this statement and began an intentional anti-racism journey in 2015 in response to the murders of 9 African Americans in their church by a White man, confirmed in the ELCA, who stated he wanted to start a race war.

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Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Malachi 2:10