Racial Justice:
What would Jesus want us to do?

Video of a presentation on The History of African American Catholics in Southern Maryland, February 17, 2024

• Part 1: Some History. European settlers did not land on the shores of a land inhabited by savages. Native tribes had deep culture and spirituality as well as advanced systems of governance.
  • Highlighted selection: (8 min) The Iroquois Confederacy: America’s First Democracy
  • (13 min) How the Land Was Stolen: The Indian Problem:
  • (13:41 min) How the US Stole Native Children: Boarding Schools and Adoption
• Part 2: The Piscataway. In these videos, people whose ancestors lived here in Maryland, DC and Virginia, long before European and African people came, talk about their land and their cultural and religious heritage.
  • Highlighted selection: (6:24 min) Acknowledging the Indigenous Lands Surrounding Washington D.C.
  • (up to 6:30) To be Friends with Piscataway Indians, Learn the Culture First
• Part 3: Some Consequences. Discrimination and the concept of "blood quantum," as well as the legacy of the taking of land and children and the "reservation system," left enduring scars on Native Americans.
  • (2:52 min) What Is Blood Quantum?
  • Highlighted selection: (6:23 min) Conversation with Native Americans on Race
  • (8:24 min) Indigenous People Review Native American Characters In Film & TV
  • (15 min) Lakota in America
• Part 4: Native American Contributions. Despite all that Native Americans have endured as peoples and as individuals, they have made tremendous contributions to art, culture, and society.
  • See, for example, the PBS series: Highlighted selection: Native America
  • Native American prayers can be found in The Chinook Psalter and in the "Allegiance to Gratitude" chapter of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book "Braiding Sweetgrass" (the Onondaga Thanksgiving Prayer).

• Highlighted selection: Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History Code Switch | NPR, 2018
• Highlighted selection: How We're Priming Some Kids for College — and Others for Prison Alice Goffman, TED2015
• Highlighted selection: Allyship is the Key to Social Justice Whitney Parnell, TEDxHerndon 2017
• Highlighted selection: The Catholic Church and Black Lives Matter Fr. Al Ezeonyeka, 2020 (start at minute 4:59)

• The History of Slavery in the US
• Highlighted selection: Free Talk on Wednesday, February 24 by Jeffery Robinson, Founder of the Who We Are Project, which produces podcasts and a documentary film
• Highlighted selection: How America's public schools keep kids in poverty by Kandice Sumner, TEDxBeaconStreet, 2016
• Did you ever wonder why people object to "The Star Spangled Banner"? Read the lyrics of the 3rd verse and learn something of the life of Francis Scott Key.
• Slavery is an institution recognized in the U.S. Constitution:
  • Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 (the 3/5 clause)
  • Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 (slave trade)
  • Article 4, Section 3, Clause 3 (the fugitive slave clause)
• The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Rashawn Ray, Testimony before the Maryland House of Delegates
• The History of Black People and the Long Struggle for Educational Options in America
• History of Black Americans from Day 1 (Animation)
• Implicit Bias -- How It Effects Us and How We Push Through Melanie Funchess, TEDxFlourCity
• Educational Inequality in the US
• Highlighted selection: How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty, Kandice Sumner TED Talk 2016
• Tale of Two Teachers, Melissa Crum, TEDx Talk 2015
• Education Gaps: The Root of Inequality, Harvard video 2016
• Schools & Social Inequality Crash Course Sociology #41, 2018
• History of Boyds Negro School in Montgomery County, MD, 2016
• Panel Discussion on Black Education in America, SXSW EDU 2018

• Highlighted selection: Holy Post: Race In America, Phil Vischer, 2020
• Highlighted selection: How Lynching Still Affects American Politics | The Economist, Jhacova Williams and Carol Anderson, 2020 (Minutes 3:37-4:32)
• Highlighted selection: Let's Get to the Root of Racial Injustice, Megan Ming Francis, TEDx Talk, 2016 (Minutes 0:22-2:32 and 8:52-11:55)
• Highlighted selection: Just Mercy: Race and the Criminal Justice System, Bryan Stevenson, Stanford University seminar, 2017 (Minutes 13:30-17:01 and 24:07-25:01)
• Highlighted selection: Policing the Bridge, Tim McMillan, TEDx Talk, 2017 (Minutes 2:07-4:40)
• Highlighted selection: What If We Ended the Injustice of Bail? Robin Steinberg, TED2018

• Highlighted selection: Top 5 Lessons from the 2018 Pastoral Letter Against Racism, 2019 (Minutes 0:00-1:41)
• Highlighted selection: Responding to Racism: Understanding, Conversion, Action, Fr. Scott Woods, St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, St. Inigoes, MD, 2020 (Minutes 23:51 – 24:45; 36:50-43:50)
• Highlighted selection: Black Faith Matters,, Office of Black Catholic Ministries, Archdiocese of New Orleans, 2020 (Minutes 1:43-3:17; 5:50-8:08)
• Highlighted selection: Racial Divide in the United States, Bishop Edward Braxton, 2017 (Minutes 1:01:02-1:04:21)

• Highlighted selection: James Corden Gets a Lesson on White Privilege, 2020
• Highlighted selection: Systemic racism: What is it exactly, and how do we fight it? | USA TODAY - YouTube, 2020

• Examination of Conscience in Light of Catholic Social Teaching (US Council of Catholic Bishops)
• Highlighted selection: Archdiocese of Washington Anti-racism Initiative
• Catholic Social Thought by Fred Kammer, SJ
• Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, A Pastoral Letter Against Racism

• Let's Get to the Root of Racial Injustice (2016 TEDxSeattle) by Megan Ming Francis
• How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them (2014 TEDxBeaconStreet) by Verna Myers
• What If White People Led the Charge to End Racism? Nita Mosby Tyler, TECxMileHigh

• Highlighted selection: The Racial Divide in the United States (2015) by Bishop Edward K. Braxton. This is an excellent study guide, oriented to understanding and reconciliation.
• A collection of quotes from Catholic social teaching from Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis
• How to be anti-racist: Speak out in your own circles (2020) by Kristen Rogers
• Who gets to be afraid in America? (2020) by Ibram X. Kendi

• Highlighted selection: Follow the program at Justice in June to build your awareness.

If you have access to the Washington Post online, read Michelle Singletary's 10-part series "Sincerely, Michelle", about common misconceptions about race and economic inequality.

• Yes, I was hired because I was Black. But that's not the only reason.
• Stop telling Black people we could close the wealth gap if we valued education more
• The legacy of slavery made my grandmother fear investing
• Credit scores are supposed to be race-neutral. That's impossible.
• Being Black lowers the value of my home: The legacy of redlining
• Yes, Black Americans are entitled to reparations. We've earned them.
• Systemic racism, not $200 Air Jordans, suppresses Black wealth
• Black businesses are fighting for their lives. We can't afford to lose them.
• Racial microaggressions take a major toll on Black Americans
• Black Americans donate a higher share of their wealth than Whites

If you have access to the New York Times online, check out the 1619 project. It is a 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on racism in the US. Although it has been criticized for a small number of inacurracies, several of the articles have a lot of insight:

• The Idea of America by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• A Broken Health Care System by Jeneen Interlandi
• Traffic by Kevin M. Kruse
• Mass Incarceration by Bryan Stevenson
• The Wealth Gap by Trymaine Lee

Please follow these links to find out more about racism in the U.S. and what we can do to combat it: