The church’s task in each country

is to make of each country’s individual history

a history of salvation.

-Romero, The Violence of Love

[blockquote type=”left”]”Since affluent sundown suburbs are not politically connected to nearby inner-city neighborhoods, the system of white supremacy that makes them so much nicer is not obvious.” (375)[/blockquote]

Listen to This American Life – Not It, Acts One and Three – “stories where people are facing something difficult, and they declare, no, someone else can handle it. We’ll just send this one elsewhere. This is not my problem, not right now.”

[blockquote type=”left”]”Elite sundown suburbs offer no facilities to house, treat, or comfort such people – no halfway houses for the mentally ill or ex-criminals, no residential drug treatment facilities, no public housing, often not even assisted-living complexes for the elderly or persons with disabilities. This is no accident…The result, nationally, is that cities provide 49% of all homeless assistance programs, suburbs 19%, and rural areas 32%. Yet suburbs have more people than cities and rural areas combined….These social problems burden cities twice. First, cities provide some of the ..shelters…Second, cities can tax neither their own agencies nor the nonprofit institutions…even though they use police, fire…and other city services.” (367)[/blockquote]

What are some of the social agencies in your area? Where are they located? How can we advocate for the public good without gentrifying?

“Given our situation, I’m inevitably left asking: does God love suburbs? Or, more importantly, does God love people more than property? Does God love the people priced out of Brooklyn? By no means do I think the solution is to simply shift attention from cities back exclusively to suburbs. And I definitely don’t want to downplay the poverty, injustices, and need for ministry within inner cities. The problem is how missiological visions remain—even unconsciously—locked within logics of property, development, and community-planning that don’t prioritize the well-being of more vulnerable neighbors.” – Daniel José Camacho

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This series is available in a handy 40 page pdf that includes journaling space for the personal questions.

Buy now

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An Integrated Life

a series studying the book Sundown Towns by James Loewen

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Part 1 – A Series
Part 2 – Our Racist Foundations
Part 3 – What Are We Taught Is Normal?
Part 4 – All Whites Are Responsible
Part 5 – What Are You Known For Supporting
Part 6 – What Makes You Stay Silent?
Part 7 – Gravitating Towards the Comfortable
Part 8 – Social Exclusion
Part 9 – Restrictive Covenants and Governments
Part 10 – Do You Live in a Sundown Town? Before You Say No…
Part 11 – Still Forming Sundown Towns Today
Part 12 – Sundown Suburbs = NIMBY

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