Gold (AKA they have Been Gifts from God in my journey)

---

https://shophomeboy.com/collections/shop-merchandise/products/tattoos-on-the-heart-100-100

I just read this book and it WRECKED ME in all the best ways!! It is a game changer for me and honestly feels like a huge hug and deposit of Love from my Creator. 

I am part of a One Parish One Prisoner team through Underground Ministries. I have a new  friend who is currently incarcerated and will be releasing to my community next year. It was through Underground Ministries that I first heard about Jesuit Priest Gregory Boyle and Homeboy Industries which is a gang intervention program  in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

In the preface of this book, Father Boyles writes about the book, "If there is a fundamental challenge within these stories, it is simply to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives.  William Blake wrote, 'We are put on earth for a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.' Turns out this is what we all have in common, gang members and non gang member alike: we're just trying to learn how to bear the beams of love."

So, yeah, I was hooked from the beginning of the book!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!  I am including the link to Homeboy Industries and local Underground Ministries.

https://homeboyindustries.org

https://undergroundministries.org

https://justmercy.eji.org

https://legacysites.eji.org

Just Mercy  by Bryan Stevenson, the founder of Equal Justice Initiative(EJI) was the book that God used to open my eyes, break my heart and begin this journey for me.  I had the privilege to visit EJI's  Legacy Museum and EJI's National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery in person in 2021. Then in 2022 I went back to Montgomery and EJI, this time with my daughter.  This June I had the opportunity to visit and help celebrate the dedication of the newly opened Freedom Monument Sculpture Park.  I could not be more passionate about the work they are doing at Equal Justice Initiative or how it has forever changed me and my family and therefore, our future generations, for the better.

https://jemartisby.com/the-color-of-compromise/

My faith and love of God is core to who I am and so The Color of Compromise book changed my life.  I want to love and serve God and others courageously. By understanding the history of the  white American Christian Church's complicity with racism through history, I am quicker to recognize my own desire to hide and stay quiet and comfortable. And then I go to God and ask for forgiveness  and for courage. I pray He gives me a generous,  active, out loud  kind of love for others that is bigger than my fear. 

This book is underlined and worn from me rereading and flipping back through to remember and reorient myself to having my love for God and others be greater than my fear of discomfort or lack of approval.

*I have had the honor to meet Dr. Tisby in person a couple of  times now and  am so inspired by the way he courageously lives out his own faith. Check out his writing on substack.*

https://jemartisby.substack.com

https://blackeyedstories.substack.com

https://www.marciealviswalker.com/work-1/interiors-tjdhh

Marcie Alvis Walker's powerful, beautiful writing  in her book Everybody Come Alive: A Memoir in Essays by Marcie Alvis Walker and in her Black Eyed Stories Substack strongly support the work God is doing in me as He  expands my heart and understanding.

***PROXIMITY matters. We live in a segregated society whether we want to or not and people are having different experiences than I have had in my life. More than ever we ( people with my skin tone) have to be intentional about breaking out of our bubble - building real relationships with people who have had a very different experience of growing up in our shared country.  Reading and supporting books about Black lives (not just books about racial justice) is one very accessible but powerful way to increase the chances that everyone truly has the chance to live fully and freely as God intended.***

Listen!    If you are local to Oak Harbor or Whidbey Island and you don't know about Unity Fellowship yet I am about to share some life changing news! This is a warm welcoming group of several churches who come together annually to put on community celebrations for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in January, Black History Month in February, Juneteenth in June, and a gathering in July to say thank you to say thank you and build relationships with first responders and our local law enforcement.  Message me immediately if you want more info!

 EVERYONE and I repeat EVERYONE is invited to not only attend but to participate in the celebrations.  There is a Unity Fellowship Choir that comes together to practice a few weeks before each celebration, there are readings and skits and dancing.  I grew up here in Oak Harbor but I didn't know about nor did I attend any of these events until 2021...and let me tell you I was missing out.  I don't want anyone to miss out! Message me or contact these churches if you want more info about or want to be a part of the next community celebration.  

I can't encourage you enough to come check out the events and get involved... you will have so much fun!

Mission Ministry Faith Center led by Elder Randy and Pastor Fannie Dean

https://www.missionministry.org

House of Prayer Oak Harbor led by Bishop Charles and Pastor Effie Boyles

https://www.houseofprayeroh.com/about-us.html

Living Faith Christian Church led by Apostle David and Pastor Linda Jenkins

https://lfccoh.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u

This documentary  which can be found on Netflix looks at the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution which abolished slavery in 1865 and ended forcing people to work for free *except for convicted criminals.*  The film powerfully exposes how  after the Civil War our country criminalized Black Americans and benefited from free labor through the prison system. I watch this film regularly and it still blows my mind each time.  It so clearly shows the systemic racism in our criminal justice system and how the United States with just 5% of the world's population -has over 25 % of the world's incarcerated population today. Racism in our country is a shape shifter and it won't get better without all of us confronting the truth of our history and the current reality. Because this film shows the reality of mass incarceration in my country today,God has used this film to remind me each step any of us can take towards racial justice matters and is urgently needed.

* I had the absolute honor to see and hear Ava DuVernay speak about her films and her work.  She is so brilliant and so brave. Check out all her films and her  multi-platform arts and social impact collective dedicated to narrative change: ARRAY.*

https://arraynow.com

https://jemartisby.com/how-to-fight-racism/

The book How To Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice  gave me the model or lens I use when thinking my racial justice journey.  Dr. Tisby talks about the ARC model:

Awareness

Relationships

Commitment

Growing in awareness and educating myself. Intentionally building genuine relationships with people who have had different racial experiences than I have had in this country. Commitment being the action or I am taking to actually change the systems to make our country more equitable.

All of these aspects of fighting racism are important and needed.  This model helps me do a quick mental scan and shows me if I need to lean into one area of the journey a little more. 

It helps me organize my efforts and stay focused.