October 31 was the publication date for See Me, Believe Me: A Guide to Deepen Allyship with Congregational Leaders of Color by Rev. Dr. Yolanda Denson-Byers.
It was also the one-year book birthday of the first two Mouth House books: Ashes to Action: Finding Myself at the Interaction of the Minneapolis Uprising and Call to Allyship: Preparing Your Congregation for Leaders of Color.
Read more about the connections between Ashes to Action author Shari Seifert and the other Mouth House contributors.
Augsburg Fortress: Shari, How do you know your fellow authors?
Shari: I am glad and blessed to say that Rev. Dr. Yolanda Denson-Byers and Rev. Angela !Khabeb are both close friends of mine that I will go to the mat for. I met Yolanda after a mutual friend was deeply harmed by a church institution and a group of us gathered over dinner at my house for this friend’s last night in the Twin Cities. Yolanda and I became fast friends and traveled together to the historic installation of Bishop Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld, the first African American woman to be installed as a synodical bishop in the ELCA. I quickly invited Yolanda to preach and teach at Calvary Lutheran, my home congregation.
The adult education session she led was so impactful that she invited me to write an article with her so that we could share about our learnings and experience. Writing with Yolanda taught me how to write with my authentic voice. She would have me read sections aloud and ask “Does that sound like you?” If it didn’t sound like me, the words needed to change. We found that we had a lot to say in conversation with one another. After our first joint article was published in Living Lutheran magazine, we received other invitations to write together. Chances are high that we will write together again.
I also met Angela !Khabeb at a dinner gathering at my house—this one was for Multicultural Youth Leadership Experience (MYLE) leaders. If you have met Angela or heard her speak, you know that she is FUNNY! My stomach usually hurts after I talk with her because we have laughed so hard. I discovered that Angela and I were neighbors, so it was easy to go to lunch, or the movies, or hang out with friends together. I was blessed to serve as realtor for the family when they purchased a home in Minneapolis. In addition to fun and real estate, our friendship has a serious side too. We navigated the aftermath of the lynching of George Floyd together, and I journeyed with her when she was experiencing racism and harm from her congregation and in other places she shows up within the broader church. Angela is always there with a “yes” when I invite her to preach at Calvary, speak at a protest vigil, show up for a joint book event or sit together on her front porch.
Augsburg Fortress: What gifts do you see them and their books offering the broader church?
Shari: Pastor Yolanda and Pastor Angela are both prophetic truth tellers that call on white folks to take up the holy work of becoming actively anti-racist and dismantling white supremacy. They both name the urgent need for change and provide a blueprint for how to achieve that change. They also both include voices of other BIPOC leaders which I think can help make the case that it isn’t only Yolanda and Angela that are experiencing problematic behaviors. I am confident that if people read either of these books with an open heart, the spirit will move, and positive change WILL happen.
Augsburg Fortress: What have you been hearing from folks who have read Ashes to Action? What is changing?
Shari: Most local Twin Cities people that I have heard from share that the book brought them back to the time of the uprising and helped them remember their own experiences. Some have shared that it took them a long time to read the book, because the experiences were so painful. People further away say that the book helped them understand the experience of being in the Twin Cities during the uprising far better than any news accounts they previously saw. One of the most gratifying things has been hearing people say that the book “invites people in instead of shaming people out.” This is important to me because I want the book to be accessible to people.
More importantly, I have heard that my book has inspired people to take concrete action and to continue and deepen their antiracism journey. I am eager for more people to read Ashes to Action and to engage in more conversation. Doing anti racism work and work on dismantling white supremacy isn’t an academic exercise or an abstraction for me. Real harm is done to my friends, and many others, on a regular basis. I want to do what I can to do harm reduction—the need is urgent and has been around for at least 400 years. I think Ashes to Action, Call to Allyship and See Me, Believe Me can all have a positive impact.
Click here to order Shari’s book Ashes to Action.
Click here to order Pastor Yolanda’s book See Me, Believe Me.
