Professor Butler featured as the first guest on a new series with the Religion News Service called "Becoming Less Racist: Lighting the Path to Anti-Racism." Host Simran Jeet Singh describes the idea behind the series like this:
There are moments in history where societies reach breaking points, no longer able to ignore the ills that plague them. We are living in one of those moments currently, and it feels as exciting as it does scary. We have the opportunity to confront our errors and reform our structures, but we better get it right. Collective reckoning does not come around often. [...]
So many people are newly passionate about the cause – and they are welcomed with open arms – but we must also ensure that our movement is firmly planted. Self-education is critical. This is the intervention of our new show, Becoming Less Racist: Lighting the Path to Anti-Racism. We believe that racial justice work is as much about inner excavation as it is about social activism. This show aims to facilitate both.
Professors Butler and Singh spoke for about an hour, talking about race in the context of American religions, what well intentioned non-Black people can do about anti-Black racism, and taking questions from the RNS audience during a live session held on Facebook. You can watch the conversation here: