by Beulah Amponsa
Amidst the strings of cases of victims of police brutality and killings of black people there is a lot of outrage, anger and hurt and this is not just a problem for the US, the UK has its problems too. I am hurting and I am exhausted. If I am being honest, I have no words at this moment and I am sure there are some that don’t even know what to say or do as a non-black person because whatever we want to say, we want to be sensitive to what is going on. So I thought I might compile all the resources I have read, watched and some of the ones I have come across in the past few weeks (links down below).
Romans 12:5 says that ‘in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others’. The black brothers and sisters of the church are hurting, the hurt seems chronic, and as one body that pain affects us all.
The Just Love Oxford community have prayed for God to intercede in the racial tension and we should continue to do so, but it shouldn’t stop there. Psalm 22:24 says ‘For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.’ I am assured that God is listening to our prayers. Prayer is where we should go first as the body of Christ and we shouldn’t pursue anything without it. It is meant to spur us to action. James 2:14-16 says ‘What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?’. As I said before, our prayer must lead us into action. I know some of us don’t know what to do, or what to say and so when I saw this Google doc I thought that it needed to be shared. There is certainly a lot more I need to learn and I won’t deny it, so don’t feel like you’re alone.
The Google doc and the other links below have some resources that will enable you to educate yourself, donate and sign petitions related to the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and the UK. Ultimately, it provides you with a means of acting. There is also a link down below for those of you that don’t have money, but want give. It is a Youtube video that you can play, 100% of the proceedings go to Black Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter protestor bail funds. I’ve also linked a fundraiser organised by Oxford students Support of National Lawyers Guild Inc who aim to ‘help to mitigate the harmful and deathly impacts of the criminal justice system against black people and those that stand up to oppressive structures’. In addition to the google doc, there is a sermon below that really put things into perspective for me as well as books with a Christian perspective for you to read. This list is not all you can do, there are so many more resources out there that I am probably unaware of, but it is most definitely somewhere to start.
Google Docs & PDFs:
BLM Fundraiser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgLa25fDHM
Racial Reconciliation – Transformation Church:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tEdZeRRJ7A
Oxford Students in Support of National Lawyers Guild Inc fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1625263847640171/3142635319133383/
How to support the Black Lives Matter movement – Funds and organisations who need your help:
https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/help-black-lives-matter-protests-donate-organisations/
Some books by UK Authors:
- We Need To Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches – Ben Lindsay
- Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Natives – Akala
- Taking up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change – Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi
Beulah is a second year studying Experimental Psychology at Lady Margaret Hall.
Opinions expressed are those of the author, not of Just Love Oxford. Just Love Oxford is not responsible for the content of external links.