I never set out to write these stories of professors at Christian universities getting fired for teaching about racial justice, but they are becoming increasingly common and they are ominous harbingers of increasingly repressive cultures in Christian institutions. It’s also becoming apparent that uniformed opinions of my work, especially The Color of Compromise, also tend to figure into these firings. While I lament that Christian administrators are firing their own professors for citing my work, I stand by it and the professors do, too.

Organizers behind the “He Gets Us” campaign are set to spend $20 million in Super Bowl ads alone and $1 BILLION over the next three years. Let’s talk about the (mis)uses of a Christian/evangelical money.
apnews.com/article/religi… Of course these multi-million dollar funds could go to support individuals and organizations already doing good work on a local or national scale. We started The Witness Fellows program to fund Black social entrepreneurs at $100K (‼️) each over two years. thewitnessfoundation.co/fellowship

This is the book Coretta Scott sent to MLK while he was in seminary and before they were married. In a letter he wrote to her:
“By the way (to turn to something more intellectual) I have just completed Bellamy's Looking Backward. It was both stimulating and facinating.”

https://twitter.com/ErikLoomis/status/1614292825029607424

In the letter MLK goes hints at his ideas about an economic agenda for uplift.
“I welcomed the book because much of its content is in line with my basic ideas. I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic.”

The tip-toeing, the coddling, the deliberateness…NO OTHER racial or ethnic group, much less Black people, would be afforded the kind of delicateness authorities and politicians are using with white people who threaten and enact violence against the government. White supremacy doesn’t only look like people marching in robes and hoods (or polo shirts and tiki torches,). It is the privilege, the deference, the innocence with which white people are treated that gives them leeway that no other racial or ethnic group has in this country.

The erasure of the Black church tradition and Black Christians in the current public discourse around religion is *strong*. White Christians in the U.S. and their issues do not comprise the whole of Christianity. A 🧵... For instance, how might the conversation about white Christian Nationalism be changed, shifted, or enhanced by analyzing and learning from a Christian tradition that has explicitly promoted and fought for antiracism and multiracial democracy for centuries?

I was discussing films like "The Help" and "The Blindside" (white savior stories) with some folks and one of the reasons some people love these films is they offer a narrative of redemption, a way out of this racial morass in our nation. Bu there's more... The redemption narrative of these movies ("Green Book", "The Best of Enemies" + more) is highly individualistic and interpersonal--the friendship between two people, the benevolence of a white person. No analysis of systems or circumstances that lead to widespread injustice.

Many conservative Christians fail to see that the *scale* of an issue matters. Whether it’s support services for the poor or caring for babies and children, simple philanthropy isn’t enough. Only state or federal governments have sufficient resources for crises of national scope. As @alisongreene demonstrates—during the Great Depression, the magnitude of the poverty and deprivation eclipsed the ability of churches and nonprofits to address. These very organizations were some of the hardest hit; soon they were fairly begging for aid global.oup.com/academic/produ…

Feeling a ‘lil spicy tonight so here’s a thread on some of my lesser-shared thoughts about race and white evangelicalism…🌶🧵 Do white evangelicals know or care that their presidential hero Ronald Reagan went to Neshoba County in Mississippi, where civil rights workers Goodman, Schwerner, and Cheney were killed, and said “I believe in states’ rights”—a dog whistle for allowing racial terrorism?

The committee at @GroveCtyCollege that generated this report thinks they have defended Christian orthodoxy when in reality they have merely asserted their commitment to a regressive and narrow type of fundamentalism that opposes racial justice.
Report: gcc.edu/Portals/0/Spec… This saga has been ongoing, but I refrained from much public comment until the committee concluded its report. They spent a full page discussing my supposed threat to their mission because I promote what they call "Critical Race Theory." Here are their comments about me.

🚨🚨🚨I’m thrilled to release today a new mini docu-series about the power of symbols, memory, and story through an exploration of Monument Ave. in Richmond, VA.

New episodes drop every day, so be sure to check back for more.

Here’s the first one. Let me know what you think! In part 2 of this mini docuseries we look at the Robert E. Lee monument and how such statues helped create a narrative of white supremacy in the Jim Crow era.
#History #CivilWar #Monuments

In the latest reveal from the Jan. 6 Committee, Ginni Thomas, spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, exchanged over two dozen text messages w/ Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Their messages reveal White Christian Nationalism. Here's why...
washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/… The excerpt below shows White Christian Nationalism (WCN) at work. It's not unusual for Christians to ask God for prayer, especially regarding significant life events. The issue is the content and goal of those prayers...
washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

“White Christian nationalists believe that the country is divinely favored and has been given the mission to spread religion, freedom, and civilization.” @GorskiPhilip

https://twitter.com/gorskiphilip/status/1507001352756633603

“They see this mission and the values they cherish as under threat from the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and immigrants in the United States.”
news.yale.edu/2022/03/15/yal…

This is an important point. Recent books about evangelical history (including my work) elicit strong and pointed opposition from a certain (fundamentalist, far-right) faction of Christians. Here’s what seems to irk them the most…
🧵

https://twitter.com/daviddzimianski/status/1506321948288159756

They don’t seem to have a problem with the veracity of historical facts prior to 20th century. The issue is questioning the role of slavery and white supremacy in the U.S. founding. They hate disrupting the narrative of inevitable racial and human rights progress.

It’s simple. Not all kids like reading. But all kids like to learn, no matter how they try to hide it. Adults have to figure out the best ways to help kids learn, and that might include more than just words on a page.
jemartisby.substack.com/p/introducing-… That’s why I’m thrilled to share with you the How to Fight Racism Young Readers package!

This suite of products geared for kids 8-years old and up consists of three items…
jemartisby.substack.com/p/introducing-…

Not only was I not exposed to James Cone or Black theology in seminary (except in the most negative light), to my recollection, we didn’t even read MLK. Not “I Have a Dream” or “Letter from Birmingham Jail” or “Where Do We Go from Here” not even in ethics classes. Nothing. It’s not that a seminary education has to include assigned readings from each and every major Black or PoC theologian, it’s that the under-representation of such individuals usually means the over-representation of others, namely white men in a Western context.

If there was any doubt about how much this anti-CRT campaign is about bald politicking and not actually what's best for kids, let this letter from an organization representing 133 school superintendents in Virginia dispel them.
virginiamercury.com/2022/03/10/va-… The school superintendents wrote a letter to Youngkin's state Department of Education and its leaders objecting to the administration's actions to curtail teaching "divisive concepts." One major issue, the admin didn't consult local education leaders!
virginiamercury.com/2022/03/10/va-…

The percentage of multiracial churches has increased over the last 20 years from 6 percent to 19 percent. That could be a sign of greater interracial understanding among Christians. BUT… …that growth is because Black people and people of color are going to predominantly white churches. White people aren’t going to churches where PoC are the majority. The shift has been almost entirely one-way.

Phew! When you end up in @Newsweek because a group of conservative Christian parents and college students allege that you’re a stark, raving Critical Race Theory apologist! 😱 Fam, I’m a historian, and history has America’s many racist receipts.
newsweek.com/angry-debate-o… I was invited to speak and preach at this college a month before the 2020 presidential election. 2020!!! This controversy has been going on for almost a year and a half!
newsweek.com/angry-debate-o…

In my first-ever piece for @BlkPerspectives (🙌🏾), I talk about the continuing importance of the Black Church juxtaposed with the ways Black Christians have always moved across the ecclesiastical color line.
aaihs.org/crossing-the-e… According to @pewresearch overall, 60 percent of Black churchgoers attend Black churches…Thirteen percent attend a church that is predominantly white/other, and 25 percent attend a multiracial church where “no single race makes up a majority of attendees”
aaihs.org/crossing-the-e…

The swirl of thoughts and emotions surrounding the one year anniversary of an #insurrection have been difficult for me to sort out. I'm sure many of you feel the same. So here are some related but distinct items I'm reflecting on concerning the assault on our democracy...🧵 White evangelicals, who are all wrapped up in this thing because of Christian Nationalism (more on that in a moment) spend tons of time arguing about whether women can stand in the pulpit, but hardly a word from conservatives on the crumbling of the democratic process.

As hard as fundraising is, in general, it’s even harder for Black-led nonprofits. Here’s why… 🧵
#GivingTuesday
jemartisby.substack.com/p/why-its-so-h… Racism grew and endured in the United States because it was attached to a financial system—race-based chattel slavery…For centuries, enslaved Black people literally built the wealth of this nation and they were compensated not a bit.
jemartisby.substack.com/p/why-its-so-h…