Books & Media for Beginning Conversations on Race & Diversity

Books

I recently sat down with some friends for two different conversations on race & diversity – especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. In both of our conversations, we talked about different books, shows and resources out there to not only educate ourselves, but to also spark conversation. I love a good book club, but what I love even more are podcasts, videos, television shows and movies. They are great conversation starters and are sometimes more accessible for people than books.

The first conversation I had was with Cindy Fiala and Gina McClain on their newly launched vodcast/YouTube Channel, There’s That. I was also joined by another friend, Paula Danielle. I met all three of these amazing women, in person, at the beginning of the year at a Next Generation leaders conference put on by Orange (who creates curriculum, books and all sorts of other great resources to equip churches to partner with families). I was already a fan of Gina through the Orange Kids Podcast, but only heard her voice, so it was a thrill to meet her in person! Cindy and Gina are both incredible coaches and leaders in the Next Generation (think babies, kids, youth, college kids, young adults…) field. I was introduced to Paula (Well, I also probably creeped her out a little because I went up to her the day she wore Kobe Bryant’s jersey and said something that I can’t remember because I was still trying to process my own grief over that!) by Gina and I find out that she is also a coach and leader in this field. I love that I was surrounded by strong WOMEN who were leaders in the same field that I was in! What a jackpot!

I was thrilled to join on the conversation about racism and diversity as it is a deep passion and calling in my personal life, but also because it came on the heels of the lynching death of Ahmaud Arbery and in the midst of the anti-Asian American racism happening because of COVID-19. Click below to watch our conversation.

The second conversation I ended up having was a little bit on accident. I was watching the amazing Paula and Lisette Fraser, who is a pastor at Fellowship Church in California, having a conversation on “Making Diversity Normal.” Paula invited me to hop in on the conversation through the magic of technology and I felt so grateful. You can watch and listen to the conversation below. We need to have these conversations be regular in our churches and I am thankful for the both of them for highlighting and talking about it!

I would love for you to join in on these conversations and to hear your thoughts on this. Here are the books that I recommended – it’s a mix of books for kids and adults (most of the links go to the author’s site and in some instances they go to Amazon, but they are not affiliate links):

In addition to these books, take a look at these sites:

And here are movies/television shows to watch:

This list, of course, is not everything! But it’s a start. I hope that these will stir some conversations and will also help us to not only move our progress forward, but for us to understand our history, and the why behind what’s going on today.

If you are part of the ECC (a denomination that my church happens to be a part of), there is a great ministry called Love Mercy Do Justice that has some great resources.
2 Comments
  1. May 21, 2020
    • May 21, 2020

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