Below are some community resources and initiatives (listed alphabetically) that are addressing systemic injustice in our community.

Central Virginia Sanctuary Congregation Network
Join the Central Virginia Sanctuary Congregation Network organized by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. This a network of congregations in the Central Virginia region that are providing support and solidarity to neighbors, friends, and family who fear being detained, deported or profiled. … There are many ways to stand with people who are being targeted. Some congregations are hosting people who are at risk of deportation; others are supporting congregations that are hosting; accompanying people to ICE check-ins and legal hearings; holding Defend Your Rights trainings; setting up Rapid Response networks to show up when ICE raids take place; and pressing their cities and states to get ICE out of schools, jails and courts and end all policies that racially-profile and over-incarcerate people of color.

Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund (CCRF)
The Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund, a 501c3 independent community resource created by a multi-racial coalition in Charlottesville, is dedicated to raising and distributing funds to meet the needs of people who face undue hardships imposed upon them due to structural oppression.
Read here for more information or Contact Rev. Brittany Caine-Conley by email to invite her to come to speak to your faith community about it.

Charlottesville/Albemarle Immigration Resource and Advocacy Coalition (CIRAC)
Part of CIRAC's mission is to educate the public about issues related to immigration and particularly our undocumented immigrant neighbors. If your church or community groups is interested in a CIRAC presentation regarding the history and background of immigration and immigration policies in the U.S., please contact:immigrantcoalitioncville@gmail.com

Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice
The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice has published a couple of pocket guides to help protesters and citizens.
"How to Oppose White Supremacists Safely and Effectively"
"Staying  Safe at Protests: How to Respond Non-Violently"

Charlottesville Immigrant Bond Fund
CIRAC is creating a Charlottesville Immigrant Bond Fund to post bail for detained local immigrants in order to reunite them with their families and children while their cases are under review. (Advocates say the fastest way to help immigrants separated from their children is to post their bail.) Their goal is to raise $75,000 in six months.
Information on how individuals and congregations can donate online will be sent out soon! In the meantime, read this document or email immigrantcoalitioncville@gmail.com for more information. Follow CIRAC (Charlottesville-Area Immigrant Resource & Advocacy Coalition) on Facebook or visit their website.

Coming to the T.A.B.L.E. (Taking America Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement)
Coming to the Table is committed to addressing the legacies and aftermaths of slavery through facing history, making connections, healing wounds, and taking action. Coming to the Table is an affiliate organization of the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.

Help Happens Here
Help Happens Here is an information and referral service that connects residents with free and affordable mental health services. The referral line, 434-227-0641, can connect callers with referrals to private therapists offering free, short-term counseling for stress related to last summer’s violence.
They have a Strategies for Personal and Community Resilience webpage that identifies resources to provide counseling, limited financial support, employee assistance program, and wellness services. You can visit their Facebook page or download this flyer about strategies for personal and community resilience at your organization.

Interfaith “Pray for Peace Circle”
Uplifting and calming service with meditation, prayer, & song
Last Wednesday of every month, 7:15 - 8:30 pm
Held monthly at Janis M. Travers Meditation Center, 2823 Hydraulic Road, adjacent to Unity Holistic Healing Center at Unity of Charlottesville.

Locally-Issued Non-Governmental ID Cards
The Welcoming Greater Charlottesville Task Force is promoting the creation of a local program to produce photo ID’s for those who have difficulty getting ID’s, including the elderly, some immigrants, the homeless, people with developmental disabilities or mental health issues, people returning from jail. Typically such ID card programs are run by a trusted non-profit or religious organization. For more information about this program, visit their website and/or download these documents:
Key Points about Locally-Issued ID Cards
Frequently Asked Questions

Presentation on “US Immigration - The Basics”
Alyson Ball <alysonhoweball@gmail.com> is available to give a one-hour presentation at your place of worship (30-40 minutes followed by 20-30 minutes of Q&A) covering these topics:
1. US Immigrants Over Time - Diversity and % of Population
2. US Visas Overview - paths to citizenship and temporary visas
3. US Cabinet Departments and Who does what in the process?  (including courts and detention)
4. Unauthorized Citizens - why do we have them?  statistics
5. Recent immigration topics in the news
6. What’s going on in Virginia?
For more information, read this document.
​
Spread the Vote  
Spread the Vote is a non-partisan 501c3, whose mission is to help anyone register to vote and get a valid ID. Spread the Vote volunteers help people fill out forms, get birth certificates, apply for Social Security cards. They will drive folks to the DMV, advocate for them, pay all the fees, and generally help people who don’t have time, patience, resources, to get their IDs. Contact Kat Maybury by email for more information or for her to give a presentation to your faith community.

OTHER RESOURCES

Podcasts/Recordings/On-line Videos

Seeing White
Scene on Radio A 14-part documentary series exploring whiteness in America- where it came from, what it means and how it works.      
http://podcast.cdsporch.org/seeing-white/

"Voices of the Movement" series
Cape Up podcast by Jonathan Capehart
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/opinions/voices-of-the-movement-podcast/

Where Does it Hurt?
On Being with Ruby Sales
https://onbeing.org/programs/ruby-sales-where-does-it-hurt/
 
Radical Hope is Our Best Answer
On Being with Juno Diaz
https://onbeing.org/programs/junot-diaz-radical-hope-is-our-best-weapon-sep2017/
 
Brene Brown talks about Privilege, Perspective and Power
https://www.facebook.com/brenebrown/videos/1778878652127236/
 
The Actual Voices of Enslaved Black People Recorded from the 1800's (including Fountain Hughes born in Charlottesville, enslaved to Thomas Jefferson; plus a list of African-centered books and movies)
​https://www.unitedblackbooks.org/blogs/news/the-actual-voices-of-black-slaves-recorded-now-revealed
 
Ruby Sales and The Future of Civil Rights Activism
http://virginiahumanities.org/2017/11/ruby-sales-and-the-future-of-civil-rights-activism

Movies

13th 
Explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on a link between the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
 
I Am Not a Racist.. Am I? 
A feature documentary about how this next generation is going to confront racism. 12 teenagers from New York City came together for one school year to talk about race and privilege. Paramount Feb. 28
 
Race: The Power of an Illusion 
PBS documentary (a 3-part series), available on 
http://newsreel.org/video/race-the-power-of-an-illusion
 
Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequality 
Features moving stories from racial justice leaders  
https://crackingthecodes.org
 
The Abolitionists 
PBS documentary highlighting Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Brown.
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/abolitionists/ 
 
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin 
Biography of a civil rights activist. In 1963, Rustin helped organize the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a "brother outsider. On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama named Bayard Rustin a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. http://www.pbs.org/pov/brotheroutsider/
 
I am Not Your Negro 
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.
 
4 Little Girls 
A 1997 American historical documentary film about the 15 September 1963 murder of four African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Tell Them We Are Rising
Premiere: 2/19/2018 | Available until 3/22/2018
The rich history of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the end of slavery, flourished in the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the course of the nation for over 150 years — yet remains largely unknown. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest documentary from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes to life.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/tell-them-we-are-rising/



Articles

Before Charlottesville There Was Jamestown
 http://www.publicseminar.org/2017/08/before-charlottesville-there-was-jamestown/#.Wddr8xOPKTf
 
What I Said When My White Friend Asked For My Black Opinion of White Privilege https://onbeing.org/blog/what-i-said-when-my-white-friend-asked-for-my-black-opinion-on-white-privilege/
 
Peeling the Whitewash From Our Myths: Susan K. Smith and Bill Moyers talk about the Bible, the Constitution and Race
 http://billmoyers.com/story/scraping-whitewash-from-myths-religion-and-politics/
 
Remove the Real Artifacts of the Confederacy 
Opinion piece by Benjamin Campbell, Richmond/VA
http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/benjamin-p-campbell-remove-the-real-artifacts-of-the-confederacy/article_01a268b6-9652-5b14-abaa-c7659cfd0615.html
 
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
 
Black and White Veterans and the GI Bill  
http://sites.dartmouth.edu/censushistory/2016/10/31/black-and-white-veterans-and-the-gi-bill/ 
Shows the unequal access to higher education from the GI bill from WWII to present. A bit dry and analytical, but an important finding.
 
How the GI Bill Left Out African Americans
http://www.demos.org/blog/11/11/13/how-gi-bill-left-out-african-americans
 
Redlining is Alive and Well—and Evolving 
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/09/redlining-is-alive-and-welland-evolving/407497
​Nine recent, high-profile cases show the discriminatory practice of redlining is not a thing of the past. It’s even spread to your Facebook account.

Are Private Schools Immoral? 
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/12/progressives-are-undermining-public-schools/548084/ 
A conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones about race, education, and hypocrisy.

 

​Books

Tears We Cannot Stop​ – Michael Eric Dyson 
Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted. Short, emotional, literary, powerful book. As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. 
 
My First White Friend – Patricia Raybon
Newspaper columnist, writer and NPR commentator Patricia Raybon admits that she hated whites for years. She even tried unsuccessfully to whip up a similar rage in her parents. But anger got her nowhere. Eventually, in the philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, she found an alternative: forgiveness
 
The Blood of Emmett Till – Timothy Tyson
This extraordinary New York Times bestseller reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till—“and demands that we do the one vital thing we aren’t often enough asked to do with history: learn from it” (The Atlantic).
 
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City – Matthew Desmond
From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur "Genius" Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize general non-fiction.
 
I’ve Got the Light of Freedom – Charles M. Payne
This momentous work offers a groundbreaking history of the early civil rights movement in the South with new material that situates the book in the context of subsequent movement literature.
 
Living in the Tension: The Quest for a Spiritualized Racial Justice – Shelly Tochluk 
For many, spiritual and racial justice principles go hand in hand. Yet, although seemingly compatible, tensions often arise when people try to live out their associated values and strategies. Further, there are those who sit solidly on one side of either spirituality or advocacy and fail to see the connection between the two. The author takes a "both/and" approach, exploring how spirituality and racial justice can co-exist and work together.
 
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America – Jim Wallis
“America’s Original Sin is required reading for all who believe in the promises of God, hope for the American democracy, and long to see the power of a justice ethos grounded in love.” - Rev. Wm. Barber
 
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehesi Coates
In a powerful book written as a letter to his teenage son, the author narrates his awakening to the truth about his place as a black man in the world and offers a vision of the way forward.
 
Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race – Debby Irving
The author reveals how waking up to her misguided beliefs about colorblindness and race.
 
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander
The author, a lawyer and professor, argues that by targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control while claiming to be colorblind. She shows how the system has an effect similar to how Jim Crow once operated —relegating millions to a permanent second-class status.
 
Richmond’s Unhealed History  – Rev. Benjamin Campbell
The author traces the legacy of deceit and enslavement from the 1600's to the present. In this detailed look at the history of Richmond, the author examines the contradictions and crises that have formed the city over more than four centuries. Campbell argues that the community of metropolitan Richmond is engaged in a decisive spiritual battle in the coming decade.
 
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism – Edward Baptist
Traces the pivotal role of slavery in spurring the development of United States into a modern, industrial, and capitalist economy.
 
Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II – Douglas Blackmon  
A Pulitzer-prize winning account of the “Age of Neoslavery” that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II. The author reveals how thousands of black people were forced into involuntary servitude after the Emancipation Proclamation until the middle of the 20th century, how companies profited from their labor, and how the legacy of racism continues to reverberate today.
 
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America –  Nancy Isenberg
The intersection of class and race. The book traces the history of class in American from the pre-colonial era into the 21st century. History like you’ve never heard it.
 
The Cross and the Lynching Tree –  James H. Cone
Reconciling the gospel message of liberation with the reality of black oppression and suffering during the lynching era.
 
Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X and M.S. Handler
In this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. His message remains relevant today.
 
Say the Wrong Thing – Amanda Kemp
Part memoir and part social commentary, this short book provides insight and strategies for creating racial justice and a strong sense of shared community. Her voice is vulnerable and personal as she reflects on her own interracial relationship, parenting her Black teen-aged son, and making art in the age of Black Lives Matter.
 
Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation – Beverly Daniel Tatum. 
Reflections by an educationalist on race and schools.
 
The Warmth of Other Suns; The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration –  Isabel Wilkerson
The recipient of multiple awards, the book tells the story of the migration between 1915 and 1970 of six million black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. Deeply researched, movingly told.
 
Harriett Tubman – Catherine Clinton
Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of nineteenth-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman?
 
The Souls of Black Folk – W.E.B. DuBois
Du Bois’ seminal work of sociology, with searing insights into our complex, corrosive relationship with race and the African-American consciousness. Reconsidered for the era of Obama, Trump, and Black Lives Matter, the new edition includes an incisive introduction from rising cultural critic Vann R. Newkirk II and stunning illustrations by the artist Steve Prince. 
 
Race Men – Hazel Carby
​Who are the "race men" standing for black America? It is a question Carby rejects, along with its long-standing assumption: that a particular type of black male can represent the race. A searing critique of definitions of black masculinity at work in American culture, Race Men shows how these defining images play out socially, culturally, and politically for black and white society—and how they exclude women altogether. Carby begins by looking at images of black masculinity in the work of W.E.B. Du Bois. Her analysis of The Souls of Black Folk reveals the narrow and rigid code of masculinity that Du Bois applied to racial achievement and advancement.

Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion - Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, our compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction that undoes the injustices of the past. Wilson-Hartgrove traces his journey from the religion of the slaveholder to the Christianity of Christ. Reconstructing the gospel requires facing the pain of the past and present, from racial blindness to systemic abuses of power. Grappling seriously with troubling history and theology, Wilson-Hartgrove recovers the subversiveness of the gospel that sustained the church through centuries of slavery and oppression, from the civil rights era to the Black Lives Matter movement and beyond.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America - Ibram X. Kendi
​In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis. As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial inequities.

White Picket Fences: Turning toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege ​- Amy Julia Becker
White Picket Fences invites us to respond to privilege with generosity, humility, and hope. It opens us to questions we are afraid to ask, so that we can walk further from fear and closer to love, in all its fragile and mysterious possibilities.

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism ​- Jemar Tisby
The Color of Compromise details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.

Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice - Eric Mason
Dr. Eric Mason calls the evangelical church to a much-needed reckoning. In a time when many feel confused, complacent, or even angry, he challenges the church to: 1) Be Aware – to understand that the issue of justice is not a black issue, it’s a kingdom issue; 2) Be Redemptive – to grieve and lament what we have lost and to regain our prophetic voice, calling the church to remember our gospel imperative to promote justice and mercy; and 3) Be Active – to move beyond polite, safe conversations about reconciliation and begin to set things aright for our soon-coming King, who will be looking for a WOKE CHURCH.

One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race and Love - John M. Perkins 
Dr. Perkins speaks honestly to the church about reconciliation, discipleship, and justice... and what it really takes to live out biblical reconciliation. He offers a call to repentance to both the white church and the black church. He explains how band-aid approaches of the past won't do. And while applauding these starter efforts, he holds that true reconciliation won't happen until we get more intentional and relational. True friendships must happen, and on every level. This will take the whole church, not just the pastors and staff.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism - Robin DiAngelo
Antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’. Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue.




Novels

Homegoing - Yas Gyasi
A NY Times best-selling novel about the impact of slavery as traced through the lives of two half-sisters and their descendants. The book vividly spans three hundred years of history, from the days of slavery to its legacy in the present day.
 
The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd
This historical novel inspired by the life of Sarah Grimke, born into a slave owning household in South Carolina who became a Quaker abolitionist.
 
The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
Young adult book. By the time she’s 16, Starr Carter, the protagonist of the book, has lost two of her childhood friends to gun violence: one by a gang drive-by, and one by a cop.



Human Resources

Charlene Green, Manager, Human Rights Commission, City of Charlottesville. Expertise in history of race in Charlottesville, facilitating dialogues on race. Contact: 434-970-3115
 
Gayle J. White, Community Engagement Officer, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.  Expertise in building bridges between diverse communities and institutions of historical significance.  Contact: gjwhite@monticello.org

RACIAL EQUITY RESOURCES FOR HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNITIES - https://www.fastonlinemasters.com/affordable/nursing/healthcare-equity-resources/

Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community - https://www.sunshinebehavioralhealth.com/mental-health-issues-facing-the-black-community/
Resources on the struggle against police brutality
Read our Statement on the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor

Last Week Tonight (June 7, 2020)- As nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are met with police brutality, John Oliver discusses how the histories of policing and white supremacy are intertwined, the roadblocks to fixing things, and some potential paths forward.

​
TAKE ACTION
The following links are taken from Claire Lampen’s article “How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality.”

​Direct aid for victims’ families:
  • George Floyd’s family has started a GoFundMe to cover funeral and burial costs; counseling services; legal fees; and continued care for his children. There’s also a GoFundMe to provide for his 6-year-old daughter, Gianna Floyd, and a GoFundMe to support “peace and healing” for Darnella Frazier, the woman who filmed Floyd’s death.
  • Another GoFundMe is raising money for Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, donations to which will similarly fund the family’s legal battle.
  • There’s a GoFundMe for Breonna Taylor’s family, to help with legal fees and offer extra support.
  • There’s a GoFundMe for David McAtee’s mother and family: McAtee was fatally shot just after midnight on June 1, after police officers and National Guard members fired into a crowd of people who were not taking part in the evening’s protests.

Bail funds: ActBlue has a page that will let you split your donation between 38 community bail funds, or if you’d like to focus your donation directly, here are some options.
  • The Bail Project, a nonprofit that aims to mitigate incarceration rates through bail reform.
  • The National Bail Fund Network also has a directory of community bail funds to which you can donate, along with a COVID-19 rapid response fund.
  • Another list of bail funds is available here, and another list of bail funds by city.

Support for protesters:
  • A Gas Mask Fund for black youth activists in Minneapolis is raising money to buy gas masks for demonstrators who’ve faced tear gas during protests.
  • The Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund is raising money for physical resources, bail, and medical care for black, transgender protesters, which will be redistributed to black, trans-led organizations “in the event these funds don’t need to be used.”
  • The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which supports racial justice through advocacy, litigation, and education.
  • The Legal Rights Center is a non-profit law firm based in Minneapolis, offering legal defense, educational, and advocacy services.
  • Black Visions Collective, a black, trans, and queer-led social justice organization and legal fund based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
  • The Know Your Rights Camp, an organization founded by Colin Kaepernick that provides education and training in black and brown communities, set up a legal fund for Minneapolis protestors.
  • Organizations working against mass-incarceration and police abuse:
  • Communities United for Police Reform is an initiative to end discriminatory policing in New York, helping to educate people on their rights and document police abuse.
  • Showing Up for Racial Justice works to educate white people about anti-racism and organizes actions to support the fight for racial justice and undermine white supremacy.
  • Communities United Against Police Brutality, which operates a crisis hotline where people can report abuse; offers legal, medical, and psychological resource referrals; and engages in political action against police brutality.
  • No New Jails NYC aims to keep the city from constructing new jails, and to instead divert funds that currently go toward the police and incarceration toward housing, ending homelessness, mental health, and other community support systems.


Tangible Ways to Support Black Lives