“IF NOT US, WHO? IF NOT NOW, WHEN?”
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted in 2019 to make June 17 a day of commemoration of the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine of Charleston, South Carolina. In light of that commemoration and recent events, we offer up this sampling of resources for your consideration, many of which facilitate communication within families. https://www.elca.org/emanuelnine
BOOKS:
https://socialjusticebooks.org This is a good starting point for researching titles for children and young adults. A few non-fiction award-winning books that might especially resonate with young people are: The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles (Ruby was 6 years old when she integrated schools in New Orleans)*; This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality, by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy (geared towards middle school); and Warriors Don't Cry, by Melba Patillo Beals (Melba was one of the Central High School students. The title comes from something her grandmother said to her when she found Melba crying after school, “You are a warrior for Christ, and warriors don't cry.”)
MUSEUMS:
https://nmaahc.si.edu/ The National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian. They have a portal to encourage discussion, “Talking About Race.”
https://www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm The Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Museum has links to oral histories.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/six-civil-rights-museums-_b_9351576 Links to museums, that, according to the article, “your children will never forget.”
WEBSITES:
https://eji.org/ The Equal Justice Initiative has gained attention recently because of the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (on website), and it's founder's book, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. The motion picture based on the book is streaming free on Amazon this month.
https://www.tolerance.org/moment/racism-and-police-violence The Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. While it is designed for educators, there are numerous thought-provoking articles.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/06/06/entire-june-6-cnn-sesame-street-racism-town-hall-part-1-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/entire-cnn-sesame-street-coming-together-town-hall/ --Sesame Street addresses racism*There is a motion picture based on her experience, “Ruby Bridges, A Real American Hero” streaming on the Disney Channel.
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