Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary Podcast: Racism and the Catholic Church

Wednesday, August 30, 2023 8:00 am EST

The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist.’ What’s the difference?
One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an antiracist. One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an antiracist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of ‘not racist.’
Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist

The Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights presents Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary, a podcast from the lecture series and associated course presenting preeminent scholars, thought leaders, and public intellectuals to guide our community through topics necessary to an understanding of systemic racism and racial justice. The series is self-consciously an entry point, designed to provide intellectual and moral building blocks to begin the transformative work of anti-racism in our students, on our campus, and in our broader communities.

In the first installment released on ThinkND, Fr. Bryan Massingale explores the Church’s response to racism. Fr. Massingale holds the James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham University, and is the author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church.