In our last newsletter, we looked at Pastor Scott Dudley's model for personal reconciliation, GAPS, and we applied it to racial reconciliation. Today, let's flesh out that first step. The G in GAPS stands for "Go to the person you're in conflict with." In the context of racial reconciliation, this means we need to be in relationship with people of races and ethnicities different from our own. Let's look first at why this is important and then at how to do it.
It's that time of year. The Pumpkin Spice Latte returns to Starbucks and suddenly pumpkin spice products are popping up everywhere you turn. This year, you can even find Pumpkin Spice Mac & Cheese. Last year at this time, my son Erik was attending Confirmation Class at BelPres. His favorite week was when Anthony Ballard came to talk to the group about justice. Anthony was sharing that racial reconciliation is a popular term and it feels really good, but a lot of people don't really understand all that it involves. We tend to want to jump ahead to the part at the end where we all get along and skip all the work it takes to get there. At which point Erik coined the term "Pumpkin Spice Reconciliation." It's ubiquitous and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but it's fleeting and there's not a lot of substance.
King 5 is currently airing a series called "Facing Race" on Sunday evenings at 9:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to learn more and see connections to our local community. You can use these episodes as a springboard to have conversations with your family, friends, and neighbors. Here's the description from King 5 along with some links to the episodes that have already aired.
"As America grapples with racial injustice and inequity, we're talking about race. In the series 'Facing Race,' we are having brutally honest conversations and answering questions you may be too embarrassed to ask. In episode 1, we examine how we arrived at this point in American history and explain why race and white privilege matter. 'Facing Race' is a 13-week series that airs on Sundays at 9:30 p.m. Pacific on KING 5 in Seattle. See more coverage here: Facing Race on KING5
By Patricia Barnes-Cannon
When you make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ you never know where He will guide you. Many years ago, I worked as a Juvenile Probation officer in Maricopa County, AZ. On the Justice team, I began to hear His call to serve the King County Youth Chaplaincy association after the study of the book Just Mercy and the Equal Justice Initiative. I began to learn more of His mercy and grace and His purpose for me. I thank you, Jesus Christ, the Justice Team, and BelPres Church where He placed me to be a member of the body to serve you and our community.
Since 2009, King County Youth Chaplaincy has been ministering in the King County Juvenile Detention Center through chapel services, one-on-one chaplaincy with youth in the center and supporting young people through their journey in the justice process.
Listed below are a few of the newer publications on diversity, issues of racial injustice, enslavement, criminal system, immigration, poverty, and the Christian church. Our Library collection contains more than 90 resources (books & DVDs, as well as children resources) on these topics.
Visit our Library website and search by SUBJECT, using either Justice, Reconciliation, or Diversity to bring up the majority of resources for this topic. Place a "hold request" by completing the request form, and a Library volunteer will contact you for availability and curbside pickup. Questions? Contact us at
by Heather Hedlund
Has this ever happened to you? You wake up early in the morning and realize that you made a mistake on some work you've submitted, and it's too late to change it. That's what happened to me the morning our last J&RR newsletter went out. As I was thinking about the blog I wrote on Talking about Race, I realized that I made a classic white person mistake. In social justice terminology, it's called "centering whiteness" but here's what it means in plain English. In the United States, whiteness is considered normal. It's the default. If a writer or speaker hasn't explicitly mentioned a person's race, we generally picture the character as white. I wrote that whole article on talking about race without ever noticing that I was only talking about and for white people. Yes, I see the irony. I should have noted that as a white person I was raised to be colorblind and that it feels awkward for white people to talk about race because we're out of practice. Families who aren't white usually talk about race a lot, not because they necessarily want to, but because they have to. I apologize for writing about my experience as though it's universal, when it certainly is not.
by Heather Hedlund
Do you find it awkward or difficult to talk about race? It may be that you haven't had much practice. Many of us were raised in an environment that aspired to be "colorblind." We thought that the best way to end racism was to be colorblind: to not take race into consideration at all. We tried to not even notice race. While this concept was well-intentioned, it turned out to be not possible, not helpful, and most importantly, not biblical. One of the outcomes of the colorblind philosophy was that we avoided talking about race at all. Since we weren't supposed to notice it, we didn't mention it. Now it feels uncomfortable to talk about race because we're out of practice.
Yesterday marked the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. For a very brief period after the Civil War, Black Americans eagerly participated in our democracy by voting and holding elected office. However, in many parts of the country, particularly the areas that had seceded from the Union, violent intimidation of Black people and the passage of laws making it more difficult for them to vote quickly stripped those rights away.
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