In 2022, the Presbytery of San Francisco (PSF) posted a

Statement Confronting Systemic Racism promising “to do all in

our power to change ourselves, our communities, our churches,

and our Presbytery to liberate ourselves from our own racism and

work towards the full expression and celebration of all peoples for

their uniqueness and diversity, each made in the image of God.”

In 2016, the Presbyterian Church, PC(USA), published their antiracism

policy called Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community.

This document establishes that “because of our biblical understanding of who God is and what God intends for humanity, the PC(USA) must stand against, speak against, and work against racism. Antiracist effort is not optional for Christians. It is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship, without which we fail to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Education is a critical part of our faith journey which is why we host speakers and events through a fund named in honor of late Trinity member, Miguel Mendez, who was Stanford Law School’s first latino professor and an advocate of justice. These events at Trinity have helped shape us:

2017  Rev. Kamal Hassan ~ Pastor at Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church

2018  Soong-Chan Rah ~ Pastor, author, professor at North Park Theological Seminary

2019  Lisa Sharon Harper ~ Author, activist, artist

2020  Robert Chao-Romero ~ Pastor, author, attorney, professor at UCLA

2022  Nymani Music ~ We’ve Come This Far by Faith: Songs from the Black Experience

2024  Bruce Reyes-Chow ~ Pastor, author, podcaster, activist

One of the goals of Justice Advocacy Ministry (JAM) is to listen and learn from people of color and trusted Christian scholars, so we can discern how God is calling us to respond to injustice. Movies help us understand the

insidious roots of white supremacy and how important it is to dismantle its legacy. Books educate us on the harmful realities of this world and show us how to turn the tide on systemic injustice. Here are some resources that have inspired us:

Those in red were speakers at Trinity.

• American’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America

(Jim Wallis)

• Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times (Soong-Chan Rah)

• The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right (Lisa Sharon Harper)

• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Bryan Stevenson)

• “13th” (directed by Ava DuVernay)

• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness (Austin Channing Brown)

• “BlacKKKlansmen” (directed by Spike Lee)

• The Cross and The Lynching Tree (James Cone)

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (Isabel Wilkerson)

• How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey to Racial Justice

(Jemar Tisby)

• The 1619 Project (Nikole Hannah-Jones)

• “A Million Miles Away” (directed by Alejandra Marquez Abella)

• Black in White Space (Elijah Anderson)

• In Defense of Kindness (Bruce Reyes-Chow)

• Christ or Caesar: Church and Nation in Christian Perspective (Allan Harvey & Carl Hofmann)

• Fever in the Heartland: The KKK’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who

Stopped Them (Timothy Egan)

• See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love (Valerie Kaur)

• Made in Asian America: A History for Young People (Erika Lee & Christina Soontornvat)