THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AND RACIAL JUSTICE

Our Mission: To continue and expand the work of our church’s abolitionist founders by fighting systemic injustice; breaking down walls of separation, advantage or exclusion based on race; and embracing the common humanity of all.

New England Church has a long tradition of breaking down the walls that separate communities into Us and Them. From early work on the Underground Railroad, to more recent ways of welcoming the LGBTQ community, we stand proud in seeking to embrace the common humanity of all. During those same years, the systematic separation and inequity between White America and Black/Brown America has continued unabated, even in our Aurora.

As a committee, we believe the first course of action is to educate ourselves as a congregation to the many facets of the problem: how it formed; what sustained it; why it continues, even after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. What exactly is the experience of those in Black and Brown communities? Did history, as we learned it, miss something important? Where does our congregation fit into all this?

On this webpage you will find a few of the many resources available to us in our pursuit. Check back from time to time as the opportunities to educate ourselves expand, including all-congregation gatherings and choices for you and your family.

Current Suggested Resources:

Books: Click here for recommended reading for all ages from our Committee

Ted Talk – Racism Has a Cost for Everyone, Heather McGhee

Netflix Series – Amend: The Fight for America (available on Netflix or YouTube)

YouTube – Race in America – from The Holy Post

Where does the term “The Beloved Community” come from?

Our Committee chose its name to signal that we all must take a learning posture when it comes to understanding the experiences of others—and what better teacher than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life’s work and philosophy is described at The King Center website:

Dr. King often said, he got his inspiration from Jesus Christ and his techniques from Mohandas K. Gandhi… Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.”

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