Anti-Racism education has been an important component of our working for justice. Together we’re confronting our innate biases and learning more about the history of the United States that was founded on the near genocide of one group of people and then the enslavement of another.
Here are some of our past topics and events:
October 2024 – Cindy Fey, Whiteness is a Culture: Working at Allyship
August 2024 – Laurice Bell, Executive Director, The Shorefront Legacy Center, Evanston
“My Home, Our Story”
June 2024 – Guest Musician, Val Gilmer
Reknown soloist, composer, and director, is the original organizer and director of the 80 member Bahá’í Gospel Choir
November 2023 – Group Tour to Mitchell Museum
May of 2023 – Group Drama Outing to Lifeline Theatre Production of
Special Tour for Immanuel Members
A Site of Struggle: American Art against Anti-Black Violence, Wednesday, June 29, 2022 The Block Museum, Northwestern U. campus
A one-hour tour for this highly praised exhibit was arranged for church members and friends by Immanuel’s Anti-Racism Committee. The exhibit explores how artists through works created between 1895 and 2013 have engaged with America’s centuries-long history of anti-Black violence. Themes range from slavery and lynching to suppression of civil rights struggles, contemporary mob violence, and police brutality.
Following the tour participants sat at nearby picnic tables to share thoughts and reflections and enjoy some simple refreshments.
Feeding Our Faith (Sunday Morning Adult Discussion)
October 16, 2022 – History of Reparations (PBS, 12/20) Plus, a June 2021 ABC News Report on Virginia Theological Seminary, which was built by slave labor, making reparations
PBS -History of Reparations on YouTube ABC News on Virginia Theological Seminary ReparationsSeptember 25, 2022 – Lisa Sharon Harper on patriarchy, reparations, and orthodoxy.
Watch Lisa Sharon Harper interview on YoutubeSeptember 11 & 18/22 – A Christian Case for Reparations & Dismantling White Supremacy – Duke L. Kwon & Gregory Thompson, co-authors of Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair
Watch interview of the authors on YoutubeOctober 10 & 17, 2021 – Dr. James Cone on The Cross and the Lynching Tree via Bill Moyers Journal (2006) 
October 24, 2021 – Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | Sermon: The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery
January 16, 2022 – Austin Channing Brown TheoEd talk: The Double Sided Pursuit of Racial Justice
Discussion of the Documentary 13th
(click on image to watch the documentary, presentation link is below)
On October 5th, New Trier’s Social Studies teacher and Historian, Todd Maxman, discussed Ava Durvernay’s award winning documentary, “13th.”
A must-see film if one is to understand how and why mass incarceration is one of the central components of systemic racism in America.
Todd was born and raised in Evanston and graduated ETHS in 1986. Therefore, he was able to give us a curated account of Evanston’s history that was both factual and personal. He brought us specific ways in which to fully en- gage in difficult conversations concerning race and related topics. Todd ensures that his students are seen and heard, regardless of how they identify. Click to watch the recording of the presentation and discussion.
We are Still Here: Native Peoples in the United States
A two part presentation led by Dr. Stephanie Perdew covered significant moments in history for tribal people and nations in the United States; current native concerns and challenges; and the question of what non-Native people can do to learn about, advocate for, and ally with Native communities. October 14 & 28, 2021. See flyer
ELCA Declaration to American Indian and Alaska Native People
Montgomery Travelers Presentation
In June 2021 we hosted a powerful online presentation of 5 people telling their transformational stories from their inter-racial pilgrimage trip with a larger group to Montgomery, Alabama.
Other Resources to go deeper:
Black Perspectives is the award-winning blog of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS). As engaged scholars, we are deeply committed to producing and disseminating cutting-edge research that is accessible to the public and is oriented towards advancing the lives of people of African descent and humanity. It serves as a medium to advance these critical goals.
Rooting out RacismThis 10-day, pray-at-your-own-pace online retreat is made up of daily streaming audio reflections and prayer prompts that invite white people to search their souls, understand how we got here, and prayerfully consider how we find our way forward.
Sign the ELCA Anti-Racism PledgeCommit to becoming more anti-racist through ongoing learning and action
The Anti-Racism task force has been holding book and movie discussions and a variety of presentations as we support each other on our spiritual journey of working for justice. Together we’re confronting our innate biases and learning more about the history of the United States that was founded on the near genocide of one group of people and then the enslavement of another.
Here are some of the topics and events that we’ve been engaged in: