History teaches us that long after the enslavement of black individuals in America, individuals were denied access to education and literacy. These acts of isolation and discrimination are not only found in our country’s past. Today, school books mentioning Critical Race Theory are being rejected by school boards and books from the 1916 Project and The Anti-Racist Table are being banned throughout the country. Learn more about the Black Banned Booklist at Mahogony Book Stores, where you can learn more about why Black Books Matter.
History also teaches us that on May 6, 1933 the looting and burning of the books in Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sexology was a prelude to the systematic torture, experimentation and extermination of Jewish individuals, people with disabilities, those with sexual and gender diversity and others in the holocaust. Today, more than 50% of the books banned in the United States are LGBTQ themed. In San Francisco you can purchase these books from LGBTQ owned Dog Eared Books and Out and About Bookshop. It is not just books that people seek to destroy, as similar laws seek to ban sexual freedom and gender diversity in over 20 states.
At Glide Memorial Church we believe that all people have sacred stories to share. Listening, learning and reading the stories of others nourishes our faith and compels us to join in the liberating of our most authentic self and in support of our neighbors. Far more people are telling stories about the Tenderloin, then are taking the time to learn, read and support.
Radical love is alive in our words of Celebration, in the songs of our hearts and in the books that have been banned. This August we will continue to be a writers’ church, a listening church, a reading church.