Racism, Environment, Immigration, and Youth Focused Springfield Advocacy Day
About 40 United Methodists from across Illinois gathered at the state Capitol on April 15 for an advocacy day organized by the Northern Illinois Con…
A Blueprint for Racial Healing Showings and Converations
CA2BC hosted discussions about the TedTalk, A Blueprint for Racial Healing.
A Blueprint for Racial Healing is a 22-minute TED Talk that explores the journey of a Southern white man learning about and confronting his slave-holding and KKK ancestry before meeting Black descendants of people his family enslaved and terrorized.
What happens when you find your ancestors on the wrong side of history? Spenser Simrill Jr was teaching an ancestry course at the University of Georgia when he discovered a horrible truth: his great-great-grandfather belonged to the Ku Klux Klan in York County, South Carolina. Around the same time, Spenser received a “friend suggestion” for Michael Simril, a black man his age whose ancestors had been enslaved by Spenser’s. Would Spenser abandon the project or would he reach out to Michael and his relatives? And if so, would Michael answer his letters or take his call? (Description taken from the YouTube video.)
Watch A Blueprint for Racial Healing on YouTube
Click here to listen to the Audible podcast with family members discussing the racial healing for the two families.
Individual groups held discussions during August 2025.
- Sun., Aug. 17 at 1 p.m.: Our Saviour’s United Methodist Church, 701 E Schaumburg Rd, Schaumburg.
- Sun., Aug. 24 at 10:45 a.m.: United Methodist Church of Libertyville, 429 Brainerd Ave, Libertyville
- Sun., Aug. 24 at 2 p.m.: 95th Street Library, 3015 Cedar Glade Drive, Naperville., Hosted by IL Citizens for Race Amity.
- Tues., Aug. 26, at 7:30 pm.: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 393 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn