[blockquote type=”left”]”America should not have white neighborhoods or black neighborhoods. It should just have neighborhoods. People who live in interracial neighborhoods and towns have taken an important stand in favor of better race relations. Integration is no panacea, but there is no substitute…Integrated towns and suburbs are a necessary first step to integrated hearts and minds. Until we solve the problem of sundown neighborhoods and towns, we do not have a chance of solving America’s race problem.” (450)[/blockquote]

It’s easy to say “I’m not racist” or “I’ve never worn Klan robes, therefore I’m not a white supremacist,” but unless we dig down and examine the racial beliefs and actions we’ve grown up on, our claims are nothing more than a resounding gong.

What I find hopeful about this book is the fact that race relations were created. They were created, they briefly got better, and then they became worse. Which means they can get better again. If bad race relations were created, then it’s possible for good race relations to be created. It won’t be easy or quick. But it is possible.

Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.
Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground
Underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls
Freely upon it after the darkness of the nights
And the darkness of our ignorance and madness.
Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,
Which is the light of imagination.

-Wendell Berry, A Poem on Hope

Wendell Berry Reads A Poem on Hope

Wendell Berry, one of America’s most influential writers, reads one of his most revered poems “A Poem on Hope” for Moyers & Company. This week on Moyers & Company, in a rare television interview, Wendell Berry discusses a sensible, but no-compromise plan to save the Earth.

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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
Part 13 – City Schools, Suburb Schools
Part 14 – What Are You Supporting With Your Way of Life?
Part 15 – Living In Fear
Part 16 – An Historical Comparison
Part 17 – Hidden Fault Lines
Part 18 – Reputations Are Important
Part 19 – Until We Solve the Problem of Sundown Neighborhoods…
Part 20 – The TL;DR Version

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