On Easter Sunday we announced the upcoming Race Literacy class at Little Lights which runs virtually from April 22 to July 1, and urged you to sign up - have you done so yet?
If you want more information you may want to chat with the members of our community who have already taken the course (Nancy, Emily D, Connor, Lexi, Leigh, Josie, Katie H and Liz* and more?).
When asked about their participation in the course, Lexi and Connor had this to say,
We took the Race Literacy class with Little Lights in the fall of 2019, when it was held in person in Southeast DC. The class helped expand our vocabulary when talking about race and gave us lots of practice in talking about this often challenging topic with people from a variety of backgrounds. We also appreciated that the class covered the history of race in America as well as invited us to grapple with what Scripture says about Christians’ role in seeking unity and justice. This class is not one where you passively receive information, but a space to actively unlearn, reflect, share, listen, and generally get uncomfortable. We’ve been serving as small group facilitators since the pandemic began last year, and it’s been amazing to see how Little Lights has adapted the format of the class to better suit virtual engagement as well as respond to the many race-related events that have occurred in the past year.
Finally, if you’re curious about why we are encouraging folks to take this course, perhaps check out this article from Anglican bishop and New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright on why addressing racism and injustice is an important way that the church lives into its vocation as the body of Christ and serves as a sign and foretaste of God’s redemption of the world. You can find N.T. Wright’s article here.
As always, please feel free to reach out to one of Incarnation’s pastors if you want to chat about any of this. And then - To register click here!
Warmly,
Katie
(*Note from Liz: I loved this class, after I completed it I went straight back and signed up again, this time I was privileged to be a small group facilitator, and I now sub as often as I can as a facilitator. It was transformative in my understanding of race, and especially of the challenges of the racial issues facing America today. If you can take the class - please do!)
This is what Little Lights say about the class:
This is a 11 session study and discussion group that will meet together weekly to learn and discuss authentically and thoughtfully on the issue of race and racism in an honest yet grace-filled environment. The class includes education on the history of the ideology of race, some scripture study, and times for discussion and dialogue. There will be times of facilitated small group discussion, classroom style learning using slides and multimedia, and some personal sharing.
We will be viewing Race: Power of an Illusion video series (PBS), as well as other materials to learn more about the history and the “science” of race to better educate attendees on what this thing called "race" actually is. The class also seeks to be part of the solution in not only educating people on the issue, but also bringing hope to an issue that has caused so much pain, tension, and division. Participants will learn more deeply about our history of systemic racism and how it helps to shape our present reality.
To make the class accessible, the minimum donation to register is $1. The suggested donation is $150, but we invite attendees to pay what they are able. We do not want finances to be an obstacle for taking the class. Your donation supports Little Lights, the host of this class, which serves underserved youth and families living in public housing in DC. For more information about Little Lights, go to our website: www.littlelights.org.
Those who register will receive a private Zoom link before the first class. For additional questions, please email raceliteracy@littlelights.org.