In recent years, a growing awareness of the unfinished work of racial justice has prompted our congregation to become more deeply engaged in this important cause.
In 2017, in partnership with Boulder’s Second Baptist Church, we helped establish the Boulder Chapter of the NAACP. Since then, members of our congregation have played active roles in every facet of this vital civic organization, serving on the executive board and on committees focused on education, criminal justice, climate justice, religious affairs, and legislative advocacy with Coloradans for the Common Good. We regularly support the NAACP’s Freedom Fund and Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations through financial contributions, promotional efforts, and volunteer participation, ensuring broad involvement from our congregation.
In 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, 89 members of our congregation immediately enrolled in an intensive six-week small group series on White Privilege. For many, it was an eye-opening experience that proved life-changing for both individuals and our church as a whole. As a natural next step, our Racial Justice Ministry was born, further deepening our commitment to this vital work.
Education
Our efforts to educate ourselves and the wider community remain a central focus. Groups within the church have read and discussed several important books, including The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. We also hosted a screening of This is (Not) Who We Are, a documentary that explores the gap between Boulder’s self-image and the more complex lived experiences – both historical and contemporary – of its Black citizens.
We have encouraged the congregation to visit exhibits such as Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History at the Museum of Boulder, and The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever at the History Colorado Center in Denver. Our Sunday morning forums have provided opportunities to learn about the work of Right Relationship Boulder with Colorado’s indigenous tribes and the history of the Japanese American community in Colorado.
The Racial Justice Ministry also maintains a calendar of community events related to racial justice, which is shared with a large email network. Our worship on Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday serves as a time to renew our commitment to racial justice.
Partnerships
We are committed to building relationships with individuals and organizations of color to broaden our congregation’s experience of diversity and to partner with others working toward the creation of the Beloved Community. We hosted a concert by the Denver Spirituals Choir, supported two refugee families from Afghanistan, facilitate conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in Gaza, and enjoy a long-term relationship with Burke and Vivian Burbank, leaders of a Navajo community in Arizona. We send financial gifts and support members of our congregation who have relationships with Empakasi Primary School in Kenya and Noor El-Salam, a school in Lebanon.
We joined several Boulder congregations in supporting a family in Sanctuary and are engaged in helping recent immigrants find their footing in Colorado. In addition to being a member congregation of the NAACP, we partner with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and Together Colorado, two advocacy organizations focused on racial and economic justice. We have hosted events in collaboration with the Islamic Center of Boulder and Bonai Shalom, one of Boulder’s Jewish congregations. We share cherished bonds with leaders and members of Boulder’s Second Baptist Church, a predominantly African American congregation.
Pilgrimage
Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative speaks about the power of proximity – how getting close to people and places where exclusion and suffering occur can profoundly change us. For this reason, pilgrimage has become an important practice for our congregation.
Several groups from our church have visited Denver’s Five Points neighborhood to learn more about Colorado’s Black history. More recently, forty of us traveled to southeast Colorado to visit sites including Amache, a Japanese American internment camp during WWII, and the site of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, the same year our church was founded.
We are now planning our third pilgrimage to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, where we will meet Foot Soldiers from the Civil Rights Movement, walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and reflect on Bloody Sunday and the struggle for voting rights.
In Montgomery, we will visit the Legacy Museum, which tells the story of slavery in America and its ongoing impact; the Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to the thousands of Black Americans who were victims of lynching; and the Freedom Sculpture Park, which honors the courage and resilience of the 10 million Black people who were enslaved in America.
The Racial Justice Ministry meets monthly and invites interested newcomers.