And I understand the question.

But there’s actually a better question.

The better question is, “What did last night signal?”

What happened last night was more than just a sold-out film premiere.

It was a signal. A shift. A glimpse of what the future of Christian storytelling could be.

This film is the first official production of Tisby Studios.

It’s proof that there is an audience for what I call Transformational faith films—stories that don’t just resolve tension, but channel it into action.

This is not a one-off project.

It’s the beginning of a pipeline.

Take Action

If this reflection with you—if it challenged you, unsettled you, or stayed with you—here are a few ways to take the next step:

1. Become a paid subscriber

Most of the support for this film came from this community.

If you want to see more projects like this—films that tell honest stories about faith, history, and justice—become a paid subscriber to Footnotes. Or upgrade to our FOUNDING TIER.

That’s how we keep building.

👉🏾 JemarTisby.Substack.com

2. Host a screening in your community

This film is meant to be experienced together.

Not alone on a screen, but in a room where people can turn to one another at the end and ask:

“What are we going to do?”

If you want to bring Jesus Was a Migrant to your church, school, or organization, start here:

👉🏾 jesuswasamigrant.com

3. Share this post

If this vision resonates with you, share it.

This is how movements grow—person to person, room to room.

If last night showed us anything, it’s this:

The future of Christian storytelling won’t be safe, simple, or sentimental—it will be truthful, communal, and transformational.

And the question now isn’t what we watched.

It’s: What are we going to do next?

P.S. Mark your calendar for a LIVE ONLINE SCREENING of Jesus Was a Migrant.

April 16, 7:30 pm ET. (registration details forthcoming)

Book a screening: JesusWasAMigrant.com

Support transformational faith films: JemarTisby.Substack.com

We quote King, but we do not live like him. We celebrate him but we don’t imitate him. We love King’s wisdom, but not King’s way.

In this podcast, I talk about what makes King’s way so hard, and why we need to take up the mission despite the difficulty.

What part of King’s vision and legacy do you find most inspiring? What part are we most in need of today? Let us know in the comments!

The best way to support The Justice Briefing is by becoming a paid subscriber to my Substack.

No. I’m not talking about Christmas (that’s wonderful, too).

But if you know me and my former podcast, Pass The Mic, you already know what I mean.

Cultural Artifacts!!!

This is the first Cultural Artifacts episode since PTM ended, so it is only right and fitting that my very first official guest on The Justice Briefing is none other than Rev. G. Tyler Burns!

I honestly can’t imagine a better way to mark this moment.

For longtime PTM listeners, this will feel like slipping into a familiar groove.

As always, the rules remain the same: these artifacts don’t have to be new.

They just have to be consumed this year. The things that steadied us. Challenged us. Made us feel more human in a year that demanded a lot.

This is Part 1 of 2, so consider this your invitation to settle in—and start making your own list.

We’ll be back next Thursday (12/18) for part 2 of Cultural Artifacts.

Catch us right here on Substack Live or on my YouTube page.

What’s on your cultural artifacts list this year? Let us know in the comments.

------

Join the Founding 50—fifty new/upgraded subscribers who invest in scaling Tisby Media and building a legacy institution.

Simply go sign up to be a paid subscriber and select the “Founding Member” level.

JemarTisby.Substack.com

If you’re already a paid subscriber: How to upgrade your subscription.

There is a direct ideological line from the Ku Klux Klan to modern white Christian nationalism.

This is not a clickbait claim. It is a historically grounded conclusion.

Join Me for What Comes Next

Join me this Sunday, December 7 at 4 p.m. ET online for a live Vision Casting Meeting

Register now.

Never Miss an Episode of The Justice Briefing podcast

Recent events in our nation have made a simple fact painfully clear:

There is no redeeming this presidency. And now it’s time to say what millions are thinking but too few are willing to say out loud.

Trump has to go. Legally. Immediately. Without equivocation.

🚨 I’m hosting a Vision Casting Meeting for something I’ve never publicly unveiled until now—TISBY MEDIA.

This is the multimedia ecosystem we’re building together: historically grounded, theologically rooted, and action oriented.

I want to invite you to be part of the founding moment.

The meeting will take place on Sunday, December 7th at 4 pm ET

If you want to help build something meaningful—something rooted in faith, history, justice, and joy—then join me online on December 7th at 4 pm ET.

Register HERE.

The truth matters because it is the truth.

If nothing else, we owe the survivors honesty.

Truth is liberation. Truth is light. Truth is how people wounded in the dark find their way back toward hope.

And future generations will judge us on this.

⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Justice Briefing

Today, I’m officially announcing that the podcast is becoming The Justice Briefing‼️

Welcome to the first episode.

The Justice Briefing brings you the most important issues of the day, and interprets them at the intersection of faith, history, joy, and justice.

It’s designed as a constructive alternative to the far-right Christian media ecosystem, helping people interpret events through truth, not fear.

The Justice Briefing is place where truth is not an accessory to politics but the starting point for liberation.

If we are going to resist culture war chatter and podcasts that play on fear and distortion, then we need clarity not just commentary.

We need a briefing for the brave. And that’s exactly what The Justice Briefing is.

Take Action

* Subscribe on iTunes

* Leave a rating and review on iTunes

* Share the trailer

Your investment fuels the growth of The Justice Briefing. Become a free or paid subscriber today.

From coast to coast, voters delivered decisive victories that political analysts quickly dubbed a “blue wave.”

But beneath the headlines and hashtags lies a deeper story about race, gender, and education—about who showed up, who shifted, and what these patterns say about the future of democracy in America.

What stands out to you about these results when you look through the data? Let us know in the comments?

Don't miss the next episode: JemarTisby.Substack.com

On November 1, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will no longer have funding.

SNAP helps feed more than 40 million low-income Americans, including children, the elderly, and the disabled.

They are facing food insecurity while the president has used his political office for personal profit.

There’s a word for this kind of malfeasance—Greed.

Never miss an episode: JemarTisby.Substack.com

Watch the replay.

When you’re done, make an investment in the LA Film Studies Center, and help them train the next generation of Christian storytellers.

lafilmstudies.org

My interview guest, Clint Smith, referred to this ‘promissory note’ in our conversation about the new project from The Atlantic—“The Unfinished Revolution.”

Smith helps us how history can be a light guiding us on the path toward a multiracial participatory democracy.

I invite you to listen to our full conversation. If it’s helpful, please share it with others online.

Perhaps a vacuum of power.

Maybe there is confusion and chaos.

Maybe there is jockeying among far right extremists to anoint a successor.

In every transition, there is opportunity.

Hope has become another 4-letter word—something forbidden and distasteful.

Hope seems out of style, hokey, detached from reality, blindly optimistic, historically uninformed, naive.

But what if we has misunderstood hope?

I talk about this and more on this week’s Substack Live.

P.S. I’ve been going live every week. Put a reminder in your phone: Thursdays at 8 pm ET

I talk at-length about the Lost Cause and its relation to what we saw at the Charlie Kirk memorial service.

I also talk about the historical Black church and how it is still the ark of refuge, not only for Black people, but potentially for white people as well.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one, and pass this along to someone who might benefit from it.

JemarTisby.Substack.com

P.S. - You can listen to just the audio and do it at 1.5x speed, just like a podcast. 😊

He was the nation’s first president, of course. He also enslaved human beings.

I ask bestselling author and historian, Alexis Coe this question, and many more.

More than 400 people tuned in live for this conversation. Now you can, too!

Stay in the know, and subscribe at Alexis Coe!

Get the book: You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

I intuitively connected with the Palestinian plight when I lived there.

I could see the similarities between what they were enduring and what Black people endured in the United States.

I had the honor of speaking at the Church at the Crossroads conference organized by Palestinian Christians.

I gave a talk called “God of the Oppressed: A Black Christian Response to the Crisis in Gaza.”

Black people have a pattern recognition for oppression.

Oppression trains the mind to scan for power dynamics, control mechanisms, and dehumanizing narratives—because survival often depends on it.

P.S. I’ll be posting the talk when/if it is available. I’ll also be posting a statement of solidarity with Palestinians that organizers composed for the conference.

You probably wouldn’t say, “God made slavery illegal through a series of white presidents.”

But this preacher did.

Listen to this sermon clip of a preacher "explaining" the end of slavery.

This is why the church needs to learn U.S. history.

P.S. My third book The Spirit of Justice turns one year old this week. Show some love by purchasing the book and/or leaving a review.

There are kids’ books, too. #JusticeForAllGenerations

--The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance

--I Am the Spirit of Justice

--Stories of the Spirit of Justice

If this was helpful to you, spread the word!

Authoritarianism is on the rise. Justice is under attack. And for many Christians, it’s hard to know how to respond without becoming overwhelmed or disillusioned.

But Scripture doesn’t leave us without direction.

In this short clip from my Roadmap to Ruin video study, I reflect on Ephesians 5:8–13, a passage that speaks powerfully to our current crisis.

For the first time in my public ministry, I feel I can speak and write freely. That’s because I have self-determination on this platform. If you appreciate articles like this—faith in conversation with justice—I need your help. Become a paid subscriber today.

JemarTisby.Substack.com

If this video encouraged or challenged you, share it with someone who needs light right now.

I was chatting will a fellow group member, but the marble of the Capitol Building kept me turning my head.

The smoky streaks of grey wafting through the whitish-cream colored stone. The precise lines and stately columns.

The building felt solemn and important. I felt...patriotic?

Suddenly this fierce feeling of protectiveness came over me.

"This is our building. This is our Congress. This is our country. The oligarchs and white Christian nationalists can't have it. Hands off my democracy!"

----

Episode 2 of "Roadmap to Ruin” is out now. It’s called “Architects of Ruin” and it pulls back the curtain on the shadowy network of money, individuals, and institutions behind the dismantling of democracy. Watch the episode and join us Tuesdays at 7 pm ET this month for a live, online video study led by me!

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/3i78gARGRde8hZvI_mOngA

Not with SignalGate. At least not so far.

The truth is vanishing.

But not only the truth. People are vanishing as well.

For the more than 250 Venezuelans deported from the United States to a notorious detention center in El Salvador, their nightmare is only beginning.

A chilling article in TIME, details their arrival.

Then a PhD student at Tufts University was accosted and detained by plainclothes officers, some wearing masks, while she was walking down the street.

Her crime?

Holding the wrong political opinions according to this regime.

These will not be vanishing acts.

Not with our safety, not our people, and not on our watch.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

At the same time as I was learning more about the plight of the Palestinians, I hear of the unlawful detention of Mahmoud Khalil, himself a Palestinian. Then I hear about the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to a super-max prison (essentially a torture camp) in El Salvador.

These events are neither isolated nor unrelated. Whatever affects one affects all.

The same illegal, anti-democratic and authoritarian tactics they are now using on Palestinians and immigrants is coming for you, too.

This is an attack not only on democracy, but on solidarity as well.

Links and References

* "Across the Divide" podcast (Instagram, YouTube)

* A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians

Subscribe: JemarTisby.Substack.com

Under the Trump regime, we are inundated with disappointing, even devastating developments, but those of us who have been paying attention aren’t necessarily surprised.

That’s how I felt when I heard that the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC was set to be removed.

Crews started the process this week—at a cost of $610,000.

This article is free to read, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t costly. I put a lot of labor into sharing these insights; I could use your help. Become a paid subscriber today.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, under pressure from Trump and GOP officials—authorized its removal.

What gets me…they’re not just painting over it, they are using a jackhammer to completely remove the layer of asphalt that had the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on it.

That’s why I call this episode “Jackhammering Justice.”

This isn’t just about removing painting, it’s part of a larger campaign to suppress Black-led activism and maintain control over the narratives that shape public memory.

The violent, invasive removal of Black Lives Matter Plaza reminds us that progress is not just about making history but about protecting it from being erased.

P.S. I’m out of town on a thrilling Southern civil rights tour/pilgrimage with the Telos Group, so I couldn’t do our regular Office Hours. Can’t wait to tell you all about it. We’ll be back next month!

Do you think removing Black Lives Matter plaza has any deeper significance or is this just a distraction? And do you think the occasional video format is helpful? Let me know in the comments.

I write about Black Lives Matter and contemporary racial justice advocates in the final chapter of The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Religion. Get your copy today!

This was not so much a presidential address as a performance. When we look at Trump we should not primarily see him as an elected official but as an actor playing a role to feed his own insatiable appetite for attention.

I break all of this down in this brief video.

What You’ll Learn

* THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE from Myrlie Evers-Williams

* FAITH from Sr. Thea Bowman

* COURAGE from Fannie Lou Hamer

* IMAGINATION from Charles Hamilton Houston

* RESILIENCE from Charles Morgan, Jr.

How to Use This Video

* Watch the video in conjunction with reading The Spirit of Justice.

* Watch the video with your family and use the #JusticeForAllGenerations books.

* I Am the Spirit of Justice (ages 4-7)

* Stories of the Spirit of Justice (ages 8-12)

* Watch the video with a book club or church group and discuss what it would look like to practices these virtues in your community.

* Watch the video and pray for the virtues to become more evident in your life.

When we recorded this video in January, the high was 20 degrees and the wind chill dropped it down into the single digits.

This video literally gave me the shivers!

But it was well worth it.

Would you do me a favor?

Watch this 75-second video, and if you feel so inclined, please share it on your social networks.

Tell folks…

Jemar Tisby has a new book dropping in less than a week! It’s called “The Spirit of Justice” and here’s a short video about it. Pre-order our copy at TheSpiritofJustice.com

You can also go to my Instagram and Facebook and share it from there.

That’s it!

We’re on the home stretch for the book launch. Your post could be the one that finally persuades someone to actually buy the book.

And if you haven’t pre-ordered your copy, there’s still time! (On Amazon use the code: 3Justice for $3 off)

Thanks so much!

Write the first name of someone (or more than one!) you’ll send this video to or tag in a post. Leave your comments below!

Footnotes by Jemar Tisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Creating it consumes your thoughts, actions, and energy. You pour all of yourself into it because you have a vision.

It’s finally ready. As close to perfect as you can make it.

You release it into the world and…

Nothing.

At least nothing much. The response is disappointing. Not because your work isn’t good or your dream isn’t worthy but because people didn’t know about it.

It is a truism that if there is something you believe in, you have to tell people about it. And keep telling them about it. Again and again and again and again.

So I’m letting you know, once again, The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance is available now for pre-order.

And it’s an important check-in date for distributors, so if you can order TODAY that would really help build momentum.

If you have already pre-ordered, THANK YOU(and be sure to grab your bonuses at the bottom of this page). And please share this video with folks on social media or in your personal contacts.

What is something you are working hard on that you really believe in? Here’s your opportunity to tell us about it. I’ve opened up the comments for everyone. Leave a message below and spread the word about your project!

The last 10 percent of a project can often be the hardest.

That is the time when you need to lean forward, press in, and push through.

That’s what I had to do to get to this point in the book writing process, and I’m happy to say…

Copy edits are done!

They are more than a week late, and I’ve been working nonstop, but I made it.

I normally wouldn’t share an update like this. I don’t want it to seem self-aggrandizing. And the project isn’t done, done. The book still isn’t printed. We could encounter hiccups in the production.

But I ultimately decided to share this moment with you because as paid subscribers to this Substack, you are part of it.

So, in this video are some updates about the book, plus next steps in the publishing process, and some other updates about what I’ve been up to lately.

Here’s how you can support this book project…

You can pre-order The Spirit of Justice now.

Amazon (pre-order price guarantee)

Christian Books (30% off!)

Bookshop

P.S. If there is a bookstore or library where you’d like to see The Spirit of Justice, be sure to tell them about the book!

P.P.S. I’m working on a book tour for the Fall. If you’re interested in hosting me for an event send an email to info@jemartisby.com.

This is a book for all those who are weary and heavy-laden. It encourages you by telling the true stories of people who found reservoirs of strength—what I call the spirit of justice—to resist oppression and keep on keeping on.

If you pre-order the book you get several bonuses.

You get exclusive access to the first chapter of the book. You get access to my keynote message from “The Color of Compromise 5-Year Anniversary Event” where I give a talk titled: Three Characteristics of Historical Truth-Seekers. Finally, you get 30% off when you order from ChristianBook.com or the guaranteed lowest price when you order from Amazon.

Plus, pre-orders help put the book on the radar for other bookstores so it can be distributed widely, and they are a huge part of helping a book get on bestseller lists.

So tell everyone! Tell you local library, indie bookstore, church, seminary, college, and more to get copies of the book.

Share this message on social media and with your friends.

Pre-orders are now OPEN!!!

What excites or intrigues you about The Spirit of Justice?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

Our journey to Northern Ireland focused on Christian peacemaking in the context of “The Troubles.”

The Troubles lasted about 30 years from 1968-1998 between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

What began with attempts at peaceful protests during the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s descended into decades of sectarian violence between paramilitary groups on both sides.

More than 3,500 people were killed and many thousands more injured in The Troubles.

The violent portion of the conflict finally came to an end with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

I went to Northern Ireland as part of an endeavor hosted by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and the Telos Group.

We were looking at justice and peacemaking in the context of worship.

To that end we visited places such as Corrymeela, Derry, Giant’s Causeway, Clonard Monastery, and Stormont just to name a few.

In this very special episode of Footnotes, I offer some of my reflections about the trip. The journey deeply impacted me, and I hope this is not my last journey to Northern Ireland.

If you’d like to hear more about my trip to Northern Ireland as well as about race, justice, and faith, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to Footnotes.

Takeaways:

* Religion can be used as justification for violence, it can also be the impetus for peace.

* Conflicts are seldom proportional. There are not “two equal sides.” Usually one side has the money, political power, and military/law enforcement and is trying to keep or expand power. The other side consists of the “disinherited” who have been disempowered and are seeking civil and human rights.

* Intergenerational trauma is real. The impact of The Troubles on generations of people is poignantly expressed in their words, their silence, and their emotions. Violence leaves its mark not only on the people directly involved but those who live long after them.

* The struggle for justice, peace, and human dignity is universal. Although I had no context for Northern Ireland’s history coming into the trip, I quickly saw the parallels with the civil rights movement in the United States. All human beings want to live freely and with the respect due to them as bearers of God’s image.

What other questions or reactions do you have about this journey to Northern Ireland or peacemaking? Share your comments below!

Admittedly, I haven’t been as active in the comment section as I’d like, but this week is different.

I want you to Ask Me Anything (AMA).

Submit a question in the comment section of this article, and I’ll record a video answering your questions once I’ve had a little time to think about it. Then I’ll share the video in this week’s edition of Tisbits.

You’ve got until Friday evening.

Questions can be about anything (hence: AMA)—teaching at an HBCU, how my next book is coming, how I like Louisville, what am I up to next, what do I think about a current event, what am I listening to or reading right now?

Whatever is on your mind, I’m here for it.

This special editions of Footnotes where I answer your questions is only for paid subscribers. It’s one of the ways I want to show appreciation for your support.

If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can become one today and submit your questions right now.

So there’s just one more question to ask—Do you have any questions? Ask me anything…

Series Description

White Christian Nationalism is the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today. From the January 6, 2021 attempted insurrection to efforts to label teachings about racial justice as Critical Race Theory, people across the nation have mobilized to oppose democracy and diverse religious expressions.

"White Nation Under God" is a podcast mini-seres that explores White Christian Nationalism--the beliefs that characterize it, the actions it leads to, and what must be done about it.

The host, Dr. Jemar Tisby, interviews experts on White Christian Nationalism and this series equips you to understand and take action to preserve democracy and represent religion in a way that promotes liberty and justice for all. 

Listen to the theme music put together by our very own producer, Beau York of Podastery.

The first episode comes out Wednesday (11/16). Be sure to subscribe to my podcast and YouTube pages to be notified as soon new episodes drop!

How should we think about the Fourth of July, a day dedicated to celebrating independence and freedom, in light of the unfreedom of race-based chattel slavery?

What do we do about the fact that of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence 41 of them held slaves?

Do those noble words of the Declaration stating that “all men are created equal” apply to anyone other than wealthy white men?

Frederick Douglass, the formerly enslaved 19th century abolitionist, has something to say.

We take his speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” as our primary text for exploring the tension between liberty and bondage in U.S. history.

The video replay is posted on my YouTube channel (apologies for the fuzziness!). I have posted the audio here in case you prefer to listen—just bear in mind I occasionally respond to comments from live listeners. :-)

Feel free to SHARE this post widely with friends, family, co-workers, church members, legislators, and more.

If you appreciated this teach-in (and the one on Juneteenth before it), please consider becoming a subscriber today!

P.S. I start getting really fired up at about the halfway point. Fair warning! LOL

WHAT OTHER TOPICS SHOULD I ADDRESS AT FUTURE TEACH-INS? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!!!

I recently hopped on Instagram Live to talk about the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) and their president’s letter to leaders at Concordia Wisconsin.

In case you missed it, this post provides both video and audio links to the conversation.

Background

The anti-CRT/anti-racial justice efforts are spreading throughout Christian colleges and institutions.This time it’s the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), and their advice to “consider the example of Grove City College.”In this IG Live, I talk about some context for a newsletter article I wrote about the situation,

AND!!!

I’m joined by special guest, Rev. Matthew Ryan González (@pg3_trinitybx) of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx. He’s also one of the leaders of Lutherans for Racial Justice (@l4racialjustice).Pastor G. gives us helpful context about what’s going on in the LCMS as well as some biblical justification for why Christians should be at the forefront of racial justice efforts (cf. Philippians 2:3; Matthew 6:10).

Listen or watch and let me know what you think in the comments!

I write to you with a heavy heart and with hope. I am heavy-hearted because I was dismayed to learn of your decision to officially accept and adopt the "Report and Recommendation of the Special Committee" generated by your sub-committee concerning supposed "mission drift" at the school because of racial justice education.

With your vote, that report has now become the official stance of the Board of Trustees of Grove City College; I am thus compelled to issue this response.

Yet I am hopeful because while we yet breathe we still have the chance to change. My prayerful ambition is that this letter will provide additional encouragement for you as leaders of Grove City College to rescind the report and take meaningful action in support of racial justice.

Background of the Issue

In October 2020, I traveled from my home on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi Delta to Grove City College. At the invitation of some faculty and staff, I gave a chapel presentation, met with students of color, met with the now defunct Advisory Council on Diversity (with the college's president in attendance), and gave a talk in the evening about my book The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism.

Throughout my time on campus, I found the students respectful, engaging, and inquisitive. Although some, it was clear, did not agree with my statements about racism, they did not seem to harbor any animosity while I was present.

Imagine my surprise when over a year later a group of concerned “parents and former students" wrote a petition entitled "Save GCC from CRT" and named my chapel presentation as one of the instances of mission drift and the promulgation of Critical Race Theory.

You call the creation of this sub-committee and its report "extraordinary." Indeed it is extraordinary in the attempt to officially and comprehensively impede racial reconciliation and racial justice at the school.

Three Preliminary Notes

First, I have never written an open letter to a college's leaders. I am used to receiving criticism. Unfortunately, when the topic is racial justice, there are always those who push back and prefer to ignore or underplay the crisis of racism in the church and the nation. Typically, however, such disagreement comes from individuals. It is rare that resistance to my stances on racial justice rise to an institutional level.

In the case of Grove City College, President McNulty chose to publicly respond to the initial petition, and you, the Board of Trustees, appointed a sub-committee to look into the matter of allegations of teaching what you labeled Critical Race Theory at the school. Since you took a public stand against me and my work, I have chosen to take a public stance in my defense.

Second, I am not a critical race theorist. I say that out of respect for the scholars and experts who have devoted years of their professional study to learning about and developing this theory utilized most often in legal studies.

I am a historian. My assessments of race in the United States come from long hours in the archives searching primary sources, reading hundreds of books on the subject, and writing hundreds of thousands of words about racism and how we can promote racial justice.

Third, I write this letter in the spirit of open dialogue and from a desire to see a Christian institution disrupt the sordid history of racism in the U.S. church. I harbor no animosity toward any individual, but I see the need and opportunity for institutional change in order to honor the dignity of people from every racial and ethnic background. My words are intended to "speak the truth in love" that the Body of Christ might grow (Ephesians 4:15).

Some Problems with the Report

I will not go point-by-point through all of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies of the report. It did trouble me, however, that you cite my chapel presentation as problematic and called it a "mistake" to invite me to speak on that occasion.

Yet in the report you reference not a single word or sentence from my 21-minute message. Your silence on the matter leaves the impression that the real issue for you is not how I spoke about racism but that I spoke about it at all.

In the absence of any definitive evidence of my supposed un-Christian views, a public apology for misrepresenting me is in order. The injunction from the Ten Commandments about bearing false witness requires that any misrepresentation--whether intended or unintentional--be publicly corrected (Exodus 20:16).

Far beyond the personal attacks on the integrity of my work, your report, sets a harmful example for your students and other Christian colleges and universities.

By adopting this report you imply that honest dialogue about race and earnest efforts to promote racial justice are somehow un-Christian. You curtail the dialogue and learning that is essential to addressing one of the most pressing church and social issues of our day. 

As I write this letter, only a few days have passed since a white supremacist targeted a supermarket in a majority Black community and killed 10 people, all of them Black, in a racial terrorist attack.

At the very moment when people should be fighting against racism, you are making it harder for them to acquire the knowledge to do so.

With this report and its recommendations you send the message that only the most superficial and vague statements about race are acceptable, and you leave your students under-equipped to fight against the present and violent scourge of racism in the land.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

Justice takes sides. If you claim to be on the side of Jesus then you must be on the side of  justice.

We can differ as to means and tactics, but what should not be up for debate is the dignity of people of all races and ethnicities as those made in the image of God.

I expect you will agree in principle that we all have equal dignity, but your actions belie your stated beliefs.

James says "faith without works is dead." In the same way, rhetoric without action is bluster.

In the section titled "Remedial Actions" you make every attempt to undermine any campus efforts to promote racial progress.

You replace a class on diversity and advocacy and require professors to justify their courses based on alignment with the school's mission and vision. You require all resident assistant training materials to be reviewed under an unspecified process. You describe the Advisory Council on Diversity started in 2020 to help with minority recruitment and retention as "having served its limited purpose" and is now "defunct."

You "reconstitute" the Office of Multicultural Education and Initiatives (an office of just one person) and strip it of any meaningful power. You subject the selection of chapel speakers to "increased scrutiny." And you encourage the college president to address any perceived mission misalignment among faculty (who labor under one-year contracts) to take "appropriate actions."

All of these actions serve to block the progress of racial justice on campus and create a climate of fear and suspicion of any ideas deemed insufficiently "conservative."

"Conservative" Or Christian?

You also recommend reinserting the word "conservative" into your mission statement. This, even though you originally deleted the word because of "concern about the allegedly shifting meaning of ‘conservative’ in contemporary American political discourse."

Do the political connotations of conservative no longer trouble you? In today's political climate "conservatives" openly promote the "great replacement" theory, they support the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and they play to racial resentment and fear in an attempt to garner votes and attention.

Despite the connotations of the word "conservative" you proudly stand "athwart the increasingly progressive higher-education environment."

It is, perhaps, instructive that you use the word "conservative" 19 times in the report, but the word "Christian" is used only 10 times.

You say you want to be "conservative", but just as we should not adopt certain positions simply because they are new, we should not preserve patterns simply because they are familiar. When it comes to patterns and  policies as they relate to race, we should ask the question: What is worth conserving?

Addressing regressive racist stances necessarily implies adopting "progressive" stances in order to make positive change. What many Christians have done in the past to address racism simply has not worked. We need to try something different. We need new wineskins for new wine (Mark 2:22).

By adopting this letter, Board of Trustees at Grove City College, you have chosen to engage in an act of performative political piety to assert your "conservative" bona fides to those who hold a certain type of power.

The Civil Rights Movement of Our Day

I have often said that we are in the civil rights movement of our day. The same way we now look back on the movement of the 1950s and 1960s we might one day look back on the movement of the 2010s and 2020s.

People today say, "If I were alive during the civil rights movement I would have marched, I would have picketed, I would have protested, I would have taken a stance against racism."

What you are doing now is exactly what you would have done then.

Now I speak directly to your Board chairperson, Ed Breen. Mr. Breen you have given this report your approval. Yet in your role as CEO of DuPont you stated, “For too long, systemic racism has prevented Black-led business owners and entrepreneurs from participating fairly and fully in our economy.”

You also say, “DuPont stands together to strongly condemn the racism, injustice & violence in our society which present a daily burden for those in the African American community.”

Mr. Breen, what are your employees to make of your support of a report that seems to contradict your stated commitment to diversity and inclusivity at your company?

The Board of Trustees at Grove City College must respond to what Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now." The time is already long past to take decisive steps to oppose racism and promote dignity and equity on your campus and in the nation.

Too often in the centuries-long history of the Christian church in the United States, believers have chosen the path of compromise and complicity with racism. From the Virginia Assembly--a group of Anglican men--deciding in 1667 that baptism would not emancipate an enslaved person, to proslavery theologians promoting the "Curse of Ham" as biblical justification for race-based chattel slavery, to pro-segregation pastors barring interracial groups from worshiping at their churches, to Christian colleges and universities outlawing interracial dating on their campuses--Christians have been tragically timid in the face of racial injustice.

Courageous Christianity

You have the opportunity to choose a different path. You have the chance to practice courageous Christianity.

Courageous Christianity does not compromise with racism, it confronts it. Courageous Christianity does not fear human beings, it fears God and acts accordingly. Courageous Christianity is willing to lose funding and donations to stand for the dignity of all people. Courageous Christianity does what is right, not what is popular with a particular constituency.

Courageous Christianity would reject a report that denigrates a college's own staff and faculty in an effort to score political points with conservatives.

Courageous Christianity honors truth above misinformation and mischaracterization.

The Way of Jesus

Above all, courageous Christianity follows the way of Jesus who says "blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of God" (Matthew 5:10). It follows the way of Jesus who announced his public ministry by proclaiming "good news to the poor" and "liberty to the oppressed" (Luke 4:18).

If you take a stand for racial justice and reject this report, I cannot promise you more money or more students. I cannot say that you will not suffer setbacks and lose standing with certain people.

I can promise that as you pursue justice you will get more of Jesus.

The promise of Jesus' presence is made real in times of persecution. Taking a stand for racial justice and protecting the most vulnerable among you may seem like walking through "the valley of the shadow of death" right now (Psalm 23:4). But in that shadow you will see the light of Christ.

I urge you to reject this report, and embrace the cause of racial justice in a manner worthy of your calling in Christ.

Sincerely,

Jemar Tisby, PhD

Historian | Author | Speaker

I’m a historian, and I particularly study the history of social movements. The record of the past tells us that the places where racism is hardest to uproot tend to change only when there is outside pressure or scrutiny.

When Grove City College released its anti-CRT report, I’m sure the Board of Trustees hoped few would ever know about it much less read it.

But when that report accuses me and others of sewing division and promoting beliefs that are incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ, then I must respond.

In this audio recording of an Instagram Live video I recorded on April 25, 2022, you can learn more of the context behind my response and hear new information that makes this report appear even more misguided.

Be sure to go back and read my original post about the Grove City College report HERE.

What stood out to you or what will you ponder from this message? Please share in the comments below.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1983. After nearly 40 years of annual commemoration, what more is there to say?

I must confess, I did not intend to say or write anything publicly this MLK day. I have already written about the topic in years past. What I’ve said before is still relevant today.

In addition, I often think MLK day should be a day OFF for activists and advocates rather than a day ON.

We daily strive to raise awareness about racism and alter the attitudes and structures that leave it in place. On MLK day we are expected to give talks, make appearances, volunteer, and explain to a still unwilling nation why we must conquer hate with love. It’s exhausting.

Perhaps the best way for those of who regularly engage in the struggle for racial justice to commemorate the MLK day holiday is to take a break and rest for a moment.

But in talking with my friend Tyler Burns with whom I co-host the Pass The Mic podcast, a few thoughts stirred in me.

Why does MLK’s often (misused) dream remain so elusive? Why are we still fighting so many of the same battles—including the fight for voting rights—today as King and others fought half a century ago?

Here’s why: We have the words of King but not his walk.

We quote King, but we do not live like him. We celebrate him but we don’t imitate him. We love King’s wisdom, but not King’s way.

In this podcast, I talk about what makes King’s way so hard, and why we need to take up the mission despite the difficulty.

What part of King’s vision and legacy do you find most inspiring? What part are we most in need of today? Let us know in the comments!

Let me tell you, though, it is WORK.

I literally have to remain silent for most of the day to preserve my voice (I’m sure my friends and family are grateful for this!). I drink endless cups of hot water with lemon. I have to remember to exercise leading up to the recording because speaking for 3-4 hours a day in your “speaking voice” is physically exhausting as well. Not to mention trying to get the pacing and intonation right and the re-cords, and on and on…

It’s all fun and games until you have to read 60,000+ words slowly and clearly in a 3-day span.

But this isn’t about me—I just thought you might be interested in the process—it’s about you and your young ones.

Maybe your child, like mine, isn’t big reader yet. Perhaps they have some challenges that make reading especially difficult. For some children, if you hand them a book it can be a demoralizing and frustrating experience.

But all kids (and adults!) love stories, and listening to a book is a great way to access all kinds of stories.

Would you consider listening to this chapter from How to Fight Racism, Young Readers Edition the young people in your life?

It’s about 15 minutes long, so it’s great for a commute to school, or to the store, or maybe just before bedtime.

I’ve packed the young readers version with all kinds of stories from my middle grade years. You’ll hear never-before-revealed information about my terrible days riding the bench on the 5th grade basketball team. You’ll learn how a video arcade taught me about race and policing. You’ll hear about the ARC of Racial Justice and why kids need to be involved in the fight against racism, too.

Please listen and let me know your reflections.. Also, be sure to share this post with whoever—kids, adults, teachers, etc.—you think might be interested. This is the ONLY place online where you can find this free preview. But you can always buy the audiobook version.

Thanks so much for tuning in, and I hope it’s helpful!

P.S. If you’d like to see more content about the journey from racial apathy to advocacy, subscribe to this newsletter!

P.P.S. - SAVE THE DATE!!! The official book launch event for How to Fight Racism Young Readers Edition happens on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at 7 pm CST on YouTube.

I’ve had helpful therapists and not so helpful ones, but over the years all those conversations have taught me that focusing on myself isn’t self-absorbed, it’s an essential practice to love myself well so that I can love others.

In the Bible someone asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is. He responds with a brilliantly memorable and infinitely wise saying:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ~ Matthew 22:37-38

We tend to focus on the first two parts—love God and love neighbor—but we neglect the last part—“as yourself.”

How can we love others well if we don’t love ourselves? If you can’t love yourself in your brokenness, how can you love others in theirs?

Loving yourself well starts with knowing yourself well. That’s what all those hours of therapy—along with prayer, conversation with trusted friends, journaling, and cultivating silence—have taught me.

Spend some time getting to know you. Self-knowledge is one of the hardest disciplines to practice because you’ll find parts of yourself and your actions that wish were different.

Maybe you struggle with addiction, or you've hurt someone else, or you've made some bad decisions in money or relationships. Maybe you have a hard time making friends, or keeping up with family. Maybe the people who were supposed to love and protect you as a child made you a victim somehow.

Whatever it is, we all tend to see the worst in ourselves and this makes it hard to love ourselves well.

But in God's kingdom, the way up is down. And the only way to truly love yourself is to explore both your beauty and your brokenness.

The question is not if you are wounded but how you are wounded. And what are you willing to do about it?

If we ignore the ways we’ve been harmed then it is likely we will harm others, too. If we have not learned how to embrace being an imperfect human being who is “in process” we won’t be able to love other “in process” people either.

I’m not saying subject yourself to toxic people or relationships. Part of loving yourself well is to set boundaries. But there are people in our lives who we should maintain contact with, but we can’t do that in a healthy way if we haven’t grasped how to love imperfect people starting with ourselves.

If you are willing to patiently tend to your wounds so that they start to heal, then you can be patient with others as well.

But the only way to truly love your neighbor as yourself is to realize that you are already loved.

God is pleased with you right now simply because you are you. It’s not because of what you’ve done or haven’t done. God is not waiting to love the better or perfect version of you. You are loved and lovable today.

Embrace the truth that you are already loved and you can begin loving your neighbor as yourself.

To hear more you can listen to this sermon I preached on the topic of loving your neighbor as yourself.

What other advice do you have for learning how to love yourself well? Share in the comments.

I don’t talk about it much, but my first career was as an educator. I joined Teach For America out of college and I became a 6th grade science and social studies teacher in the Mississippi Delta on the Arkansas side. After that I became a middle school principal for grades 5-8.

Throughout my time as an educator, my constant and first concern was the safety of my students. Students cannot learn if they do not feel safe.

Safety includes emotional safety. That’s why any act of bullying was a “drop everything” moment in my classes. No matter what was happening, I stopped all the action so we could focus our attention on why bullying was so damaging and why it was absolutely not okay in our class or school.

No name calling, no excluding people just because you didn’t like them or what they looked like. We’re a team and bullying sabotages our success.

Beyond emotional safety, we first had to ensure the physical safety of our students. That’s why we were so careful at drop off and dismissal and during field trips. We had to ensure the bodily integrity of our students.

But in a pandemic, one that has become overtly politicized, how can educators attend to the safety of their students?

The anxiety of educators (and parents, guardians, and students) in a pandemic where wearing masks and getting a vaccine may not be an option either legally or medically can be overwhelming.

In this podcast, I reflect on my experiences as an educator and why I think safety is an educator’s first responsibility. I also share some thoughts on how we need to treat one another in an era of intense stress and anxiety.

Are you a parent, guardian, student or educator? How are you feeling right now?

I hesitated. I was already slated to moderate another panel and that, too, was unexpected. I also have other work to do in my job at the Center for Antiracist Research, the organization hosting the book festival. And I had a dissertation to write (still do!), plus preparation would require reading two books in two days.

But everyone is busy. So when we couldn’t find an alternate, I volunteered.

I am glad I did.

I moderated the panel with Heather McGhee, author of the best-selling book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. The other guest was Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. who wrote Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.

You should buy both of these books.

Actually. You should buy both of these books and you should read them together.

They are both explorations of hope. In acknowledging the truth—that this nation is in love with the lie of white supremacy and it has caused horrendous harm not just to Black folks and people of color but to white people as well—we have the opportunity to craft a better, truer nation.

So much of the disaster of this nation and its potential are wrapped up in story. Glaude demonstrates that James Baldwin tried—through story—to tell white people, Black people, and this country about ourselves. That the problem is not Black people. The problem is white supremacy and the people who believe it.

White people must examine why they need the lie of white supremacy to define themselves. Black people must learn how to define themselves in the midst of a white supremacy that seeks to diminish and destroy their humanity.

Heather McGhee reminds us that too many white people have believed the lie that if Black people gain, white people must lose. That is why, as she explains, white people would rather drain the community swimming pool and fill it up with cement (true story) than share it with Black people.

McGhee starkly answers the question that opens her book, “Why can’t we have nice things?” Because of racism.

Yet the reader is not left merely holding the heavy weight of truth. Hope helps lift the burden.

Glaude’s story tells the reader that in order to confront the world, you must confront yourself first. His book is a gift of himself that we do not deserve. He chose to write about his pain, even his own father wounds, in public that we might benefit from his journey as he journeyed with Baldwin.

McGhee dares to hope that there is the possibility of cooperation and relationship with white people. She empowers us to tell a new story—that the game is not zero-sum; when one wins we all win.

She looks for signs of hope not in legislation or policy, per se, but on the human level, on the relational plane.

Hope is found in loving your neighbor as yourself.

Read in tandem these books communicate that we can, indeed, begin again but it will take the sum of us.

————————-

I recorded more of my reflections in this podcast episode. I apologize for the constant pop and crackle. If you can stand the annoyance, I think you’ll find my reflections at least interesting, and perhaps even helpful.

Unfortunately, the recording for this session will only be available to all-access ticket holders. But make plans to join us for the third annual Antiracist Book Festival in 2022.

Birth of a Nation was directed by D.W. Griffith and based on a book called The Clansman by Thomas Dixon. In a word—Birth of a Nation is a white supremacist propaganda film. It glorifies the Ku Klux Kan and promotes the idea that life was better before the Civil War and emancipation.

I posted a Twitter thread about the film, but I was so fascinated by the history of it that I had to share it with you all.

Here are some links I mention in the podcast:

Booker T. Washington’s Statement

No matter how many other artistic and historic features the play may have, its ultimate result will be to intensify race prejudice and thereby do great and lasting harm to both races.

Learn more about Birth of a Nation and the founding of the KKK in chapter six of TheColorofCompromise.com

Be part of the solution: HowToFightRacism.com

The main reason is that we’re going to take action.

This isn’t just about filling up our heads with more information, it’s about changing the world around us…and changing ourselves, too.

You’ll have to listen to the audio podcast to get the other three reasons!

Get started below. The study begins on February 1, so act fast!

* Buy the book.

* Request access.

* Invite people.

P.S. Check out the HTFR video study on Amazon Prime Video!

In this podcast, the first such episode I am recording on the Substack platform, I share some of my initial thoughts about the terroristic actions at the Capitol.

I discuss how I’m processing this event on three levels: emotional, historical, and spiritual.

These are unique times that call for a unique response. I hope to put my specific suggestions in a forthcoming written post.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves. We are going to need every ounce of health, strength, and energy for the days ahead.

P.S. If you’re thinking about getting a copy of my newly released book, How to Fight Racism, please do so before January 11. The first week of book sales are crucial, especially for getting on best seller lists. Visit: HowToFightRacism.com.