If anything, the first half of 2020 has reminded us of the importance of community – caring about the people around us and working together to navigate these ever-changing and challenging times.
While a global pandemic, in and of itself, might be enough to remind us of this, we must also look deeper at what it means to live in community with one another. From the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on diverse and economically disadvantaged communities to attacks on people of color to protests denouncing injustice across our country, it is imperative that we consider how our neighbors, brothers, sisters and friends experience community – as well as if, how and why their experiences may differ from our own.
As Everence President and CEO Ken Hochstetler stated in his June 2 message of lament, recent events “prompt us to acknowledge the systemic biases that impact people of color and other marginalized communities, whether manifested in violence and weaponized racism or in unequal access to resources such as financial services, education, employment, housing and health care. We have a responsibility to consider our own behaviors, attitudes and biases; to take steps to learn; and to stand in solidarity with our colleagues, neighbors and communities most impacted by injustice.”
To help all of us step up to this responsibility, our Faith, Race and Money reading list might help you and/or your group learn more about issues of race, faith, money and injustice – how they came to be, intersect, and continue to impact communities of color yet today. The reading list is divided into two categories:
- Faith-oriented: These books speak on race as it relates to personal faith, congregational discernment and how we, as the church in the U.S., arrived to where we are today. While not focused on finances and economics directly, these readings provide a crucial understanding of how our faith and race are shaped today.
- Finances-oriented: These books focus on racism’s historical and continued impact on our society’s wealth gap, providing an intersection on the topics of American history and financial systems, local banking and national economic policies, access to credit/capital, as well as overt and hidden discriminatory practices.
While not an exhaustive list, we hope these books offer valuable insights on current challenges surrounding race, faith, money and justice and how we respond – individually and corporately – as people of faith.