Following Jesus means proclaiming and living the gospel. The gospel is good news to the poor. The gospel calls us to repent, to change our minds. 

As a nation, we collectively need to honestly admit to and repent of the invasion of the continent, stealing land from indigenous people who had lived here for 10,000 years, the genocide of Native Americans, the breaking of treaties, and the forced relocation of first nation peoples. 

As a nation, we collectively need to honestly admit to and repent of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, terrorism (lynching, KKK), convict leasing, redlining, voter disenfranchisement, mass incarceration, and all forms of discrimination.

As a nation, we collectively need to honestly admit to and repent of our history of racism, militarism, consumerism, greed, and violence.

In order to help build a more just and equitable society, we need to individually learn from and listen to black voices with humility and teachable hearts, lament, fast, pray, cry out to God, teach a biblical gospel that includes social justice, and:

1. Partner with and support black-owned businesses. Buy stuff from them & invest in them.
2. Reform police departments. Ban chokeholds, make training less militaristic, demilitarize, change policies about lethal force, add more minority officers.
3. Reform the justice system. End mass incarceration, end cash bail, emphasize reform, provide more quality mental health and addiction treatment, find ways other than incarceration to deal with nonviolent offenders, promote return to society transition programs, allow previous offenders full voting and citizenship rights.
4. Pay reparations for slavery to even the playing field by providing housing (like Habitat for Humanity), and by providing no-cost vocational training, college tuition, and initial internships to Native and African Americans living in poverty.
5. Reform the educational system; raise teacher salaries, lower class sizes, remove school cops, raise funding to all school districts, make predominantly black schools as good as predominantly white ones. Make college and postgraduate education affordable and accessible to everyone without massive debt being incurred. 
6. Stop profiling and strengthen affirmative action in government, business, and education for marginalized people groups. 
7. Promote economic inclusion in bank lending practices.
8. Universal healthcare. High quality. Free. For everyone.
9. Permit voting by mail everywhere.
10. Work for environmental justice. The air and water quality in poor urban areas is even worse than it is elsewhere.
11. Recruit and give jobs, mentorships, and internships to black talent. Integrate the C-suites, administrations, faculties, pulpits, and pews.
12. Crack down on neo-Nazi, white supremacy domestic terrorists who threaten violence (and any other group that uses violent terrorist tactics to intimidate others).
13. Legislate common sense gun control, such as required background checks and training.
14. Remove monuments to those who fought to preserve slavery. Rename parks, streets, squares, military bases, etc.

And, we need to vote for people who will do the above. 

Then, we need to pray some more.