This section of the website contains essays, book reviews, and links to material that discusses the ‘science’ of racism as it relates specifically to structures of American society.

The pages encourage discussion that is helpful in understanding how structures like the laws, regulations, court decisions, and the Constitution support and preserve American racism.

A Day of Hope

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was a famous abolitionist and a great orator. In one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” he shared his frustration about our nation. “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” What does Independence Day mean? Why should we celebrate?

The Declaration of Independence

John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Fourth of July holiday is often seen as a time for feasting and celebrating. Considering the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Declaration of Independence calls us to make the holiday a time for remembering and reflecting. It is also a time to be inspired by the 56 men who took bold action and "mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor" to create the future. Would that we might have the same courage to commit to creating a multicultural nation without racism.

Find Your Purpose Inc. - An Unusual Approach to Breaking Through Barriers

kids and adults with hands raised in celebration

From his disadvantaged childhood spent on the “have-not side” of Westminster, through trials and tragedies of his teen years, and on to his rise as a celebrity and influencer who is accepted and appreciated on both sides of the city, Billy Lyve’s life was a search for purpose. He’s now in a place where he is able to facilitate connecting across the barriers that have separated people. Ironically, he found his purpose in helping others find theirs.

June Is a Good Month to Read “On Juneteenth”

Book cover of “On Juneteenth” and photo of author, Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is a history professor at Harvard University who has written a book that every American should read, and it should be required reading in every high school. Her special gift as a historian is to describe the complexity of past events so that they reveal the people who made them. Then, as a social commentator, she shows how Texans and Americans are products of history by sharing stories about her family and herself.

MORE2 Pursues Racial Equity in the Kansas City Area

Kansas City Skyline at dusk

MORE2 religious leaders meet monthly to “maintain a moral lens” on the organization’s equity work and shape the vision of congregational-based organizing within MORE2,  and provide a “theologically prophetic perspective that drives the work. Monthly clergy caucuses meet separately in both Missouri and Kansas, and welcome religious leaders of all traditions who seek to further racial and economic equity.

I Am Not a Coward

Brenda Girton-Mitchell

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's words are true: our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. I choose to become a part of End Racism USA because race matters in this nation.