I first heard about Latasha Morrison’s Be the Bridge program when it was featured at IF: Gathering several years ago. I remember thinking back then that it was an apt time to introduce a racial unity discussion campaign. Black Lives Matter had taken off, and white Christians had begun to consider racial violence more seriously in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in particular.

I naively saw her groups and curricula as tied to the current events that brought the issue of racial justice to the mainstream. The opening of our review of Latasha’s new Be the Bridge book proves that this issue is more real and relevant than ever.

Anne Kennedy writes that as she sat down to review the book, “my newsfeed overflowed with the appalling account of a young black medical student who was innocently playing video games in her own bedroom with her 8-year-old nephew when a white police officer shot her through the window.”

The kinds of incidents that Black Lives Matter brought to the forefront have sadly continued into the present day. And, as Dante Stewart reminded me in a recent essay, they date back centuries:

I’ve heard it said that history is a “dangerous” memory. It never lets us go until we attest to the wounds and commit to healing. It presses upon us that piercing but powerful word: love, love, love.

Still, it is hard to see how society might change, how such healing might finally come about. Rarely does the one who injures another have the moral imagination to do right unless forced to. Even spiritual awakening, religious education, and visionary declarations have often bore bad fruit. Plenty of promises of peace and freedom only brought on further oppression.

Latasha too chronicles African Americans’ painful past as a way to show how it lingers into our present. “The author wants to remind us that racism is found not just in the dramatic history of slavery and Jim Crow oppression but everywhere,” Anne wrote in the review. “It colors our lives in ways we cannot imagine.”

Recognizing this history ultimately builds empathy and makes way for forgiveness. This process is long, and on a societal level, unending. It’s always a good time to address racial reconciliation. And despite the heightened awareness, Latasha of all people knows the church has a long way to go.

In previous interviews, she has discussed how she sees the body of Christ as “the only place that is equipped to do this well and do this right.”

“Reconciliation is … the essence of who God is. He is the God of justice. He is the God of righteousness. If we are the outward expression of his character, his heart, and his words, then we have to reflect this reconciling part of who he is,” Latasha said. “Racial reconciliation is not some kind of agenda—it’s a gospel message. It’s discipleship.”

Thanks for reading,

Kate

P. S. – Thank you to all the readers who emailed me to let me know that I mistakenly referred to A. W. Tozer as A. Z. Tozer last week. Sorry for the error!