While we run this race

the long version

In this challenging, ultimately hopeful book, Nibs Stroupe, the white pastor of multi-cultural Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia, grapples with this question: why, so long after the Civil Rights movement has become part of American history, does racism still pervade society? Race, writes Stroupe, represents a social and political chasm that continues to divide and entrap all Americans. He steadfastly maintains that acknowledging the power of the system of race throughout society - in our schools, courts, prisons, and housing - is the necessary first step to dismantling it. Stroupe convinces us that although racism is powerful, it is not inexorable. It can be overcome. Adding her voice is Inez Fleming, a black elder at Oakhurst, who tells the story of tears and laughter within the congregation as blacks and whites struggle together, creating an extraordinary church family.