Special Resource: Racial Equity Glossary
- Racial Equity Glossary"...even the most frequently used words in any discussion on race can easily cause confusion, which leads to controversy and hostility. It is essential to achieve some degree of shared understanding" -- this quick-reference glossary from Racial Equity Tools provides common terms, definitions, and sources to help cultivate clearer communication
Training Programs
- Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training
"Crossroads acts as an outside partner to the institution providing capacity building and technical assistance, tailored to the unique makeup of the variety of constituents in the organization." - Inclusion Institute
Provided by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, formerly known as the Institute for Healing Racism, the Inclusion Institute "is an opportunity to start this dialogue by bringing racism to the forefront of discussions and examining it as both a personal and societal problem." - Center for the Study of White American Culture workshops
Founded in 1995 by an interracial couple dedicated to racial justice and equity, "The founders envisioned an organization that would raise consciousness about the roles whiteness and white American culture occupy in the racial structure of United States society."
Church-based Programs
- Race Relations: Resourcing Your Congregation as You Dismantle Racism (CRCNA)Reinforcing that “To be in Christ is to be reconciled with one another as a community of racially and ethnically diverse people of God,” for over fifty years the office of "Race Relations has resourced Christian Reformed members and congregations as you dismantle the causes and effects of racism within the body of believers and throughout the world."
- Dismantling Racism in the RCACommitted to working toward a multiracial and multicultural future freed from racism, dismantling racism is central to one of the RCA’s doctrinal Standards, the Belhar Confession. Believe racism is sinful, we are actively working to uncover and dismantle racism in ourselves and the systems we’re part of.
- Sacred Conversations To End Racism (UCC)Sacred Conversations to End Racism (SC2ER) is a Restorative Racial Justice Journey curriculum created to address and dismantle racism within the Christian Church and society. The study guide and resources offer lessons to dispel myths of white skin and dominant culture supremacy.
- How to have helpful conversations about race in the church (ELCA)"We know some of the hazards of having conversations about race. We know far too many conversations about race fail to be helpful...The cornerstone of a conversation about race is who we are and whose we are. We gather as community before a forgiving and loving God. As a church, we have made certain commitments of faith to God and with each other. It is within such commitments and such graces that we are able to have helpful conversations about race."
- Church of the Servant (CRCNA) Anti-racism ResourcesThe Church of the Servant Antiracism and Reconciliation Team maintains a list of curated resources to help their congregation understand and engage in the work of becoming an antiracist church.
- Anti-Racism Resources for White-Majority Churches"Faith communities have a vital role in cultural transformation. Churches are a source for many of us to discern God’s hopes for humanity, to align our desire with God’s, and to reorient ourselves towards the pursuit of that vision."
- Communities Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE) - Grand Rapids"Communities Organizing for Racial Equity exists to empower and equip churches and other Christian organizations in west Michigan to organize and disciple their members to be agents for life-long biblical racial justice."
Educational Experiences
- Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives
Established in 2015 following a Kellogg Foundation grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, The Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives (GRAAMA) began its work recording oral histories with older African Americans in Grand Rapids and West Michigan. - Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia (Big Rapids, MI)
"The Jim Crow Museum uses objects of intolerance to teach tolerance." Contains over 9,000 anti-black and segregation artifacts created between the 1870s and the 1960s (the Jim Crow era), all documenting the pervasiveness of racist ideas and anti-black images in American culture. - Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI)
Exploring and celebrating the rich cultural legacy of African Americans, The Wright is home to the Blanche Coggin Underground Railroad Collection and the Harriet Tubman Museum Collection, as well as more than 35,000 artifacts pertaining to the African American experience.