The World and Everything in It — May 12, 2020

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The country’s re-opening in stages. And pastors must wrestle with the best way to bring their congregations back to church.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also, what life’s like at the epicenter of the shut down. We’ll talk to our reporter in New York City.

Plus we’ll meet a single dad who found a way to invest in the lives of his kids while doing something they all enjoy.

And our editor in chief recommends some books to help understand race relations in America.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, May 12th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump touts coronavirus testing gains » At the White house on Monday, President Trump and top health officials said the country is on track to provide all the COVID-19 testing needed to reboot the economy. 

TRUMP: In the span of just a few short months, we’ve developed a testing capacity unmatched and unrivaled anywhere in the world. 

The president also announced $11 billion in new funding to states and Native American tribes to pay for testing. 

Assistant Health Secretary Admiral Brett Giroir serves as the administration’s testing czar. He said the country has now produced more than 9-million tests and leads the world by a wide margin, both in the number of total tests and testing per capita. Giroir also said the percentage of positive tests is dropping. 

GIROIR: In 31 states as of last night, the positivity rate is less than 10 percent, which is not a litmus test but is a good idea that we’re doing plenty enough testing that we can enter Phase One for careful reopening. 

But President Trump also faced questions from reporters about whether the White House’s own testing protocols are working after the vice president’s press secretary tested positive. The president and Vice President Pence have since tested negative. 

Pence returned to work at the White House Monday but kept his distance from staffers. Several top health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Robert Redfield are self-isolating for two weeks as a precaution. 

Retail chains begin phased reopening » And as more states reopen, numerous retail chains are working to open up while implementing new safety measures. WORLD’s Leigh Jones reports. 

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: Department stores beginning a phased reopening include Nordstrom, Macy’s, Kohls  and Gap, along with its subsidiaries like Old Navy. And all have announced new measures to safeguard employees and customers. 

Nordstrom plans to clean fitting rooms between each use, and customers can only pay with cards, not cash. 

Both Gap and Kohls will temporarily close all fitting rooms and restrooms, and supply employees with face masks. 

And all of those stores plan to ramp up cleaning and sanitation, install plexiglass barriers at registers and take steps to limit crowds inside their stores.  

Best Buy is also opening some locations this month. Customers can purchase items for curbside pickup and can make appointments for in-store consultations. 

And a select number of Apple stores are reopening in four states. Employees will check customers’ temperatures and limit traffic. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones. 

Uber lays off 3,500 employees amid coronavirus slowdown » Ride sharing company Uber is laying off 3,500 employees as fewer people are taking trips amid COVID-19 lockdowns. 

Uber executive Ruffin Chavaleau delivered the news during a Zoom online teleconference. 

She noted that “right now, the rides business is down by more than half” and she said for now, Uber will have to become a smaller company.

AUDIO: Today will be your last working day with Uber. I know that this is incredibly hard to hear. No one wants to be on a call like this. 

She added—quote—“You will remain on payroll until the date noted in your severance package.”

The cuts affected customer support employees around the world. A company filing last week noted Uber is cutting about 14 percent of its workforce. 

Georgia’s attorney general asks for DOJ’s help investigating Arbery case » Georgia’s attorney general has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the handling of the killing of an African American man. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has that story. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot in the coastal town of Brunswick in February, but no arrests were made until this month. That’s when a video surfaced that appeared to show the shooting. It sparked national outrage. 

Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement, “The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.”

Shortly after the video became public, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son Travis McMichael. They are charged with murder and aggravated assault. 

The father and son said they thought Arbery matched the description of a burglary suspect. And Travis McMichael claims he fired in self-defense. 

The Department of Justice said Monday that it’s weighing possible federal hate crimes charges. Both suspects are white.

It’s also considering a request to investigate how local police and prosecutors handled the case. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

Jerry Stiller dies » Actor and comedian Jerry Stiller has died. Stiller was best known for his roles as the basement-dwelling father-in-law on The King of Queens and as Frank Costanza on the sitcom Seinfeld.

SEINFELD: Many Christmases ago I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him I realized there had to be another way. What happened to the doll? It was destroyed. 

Jerry Stiller also appeared in an assortment of movies, including The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Hairspray.

His son, actor Ben Stiller announced his death Monday. He said his father died of natural causes at the age of 92. 

He added that his father “was a great dad and grandfather and the most dedicated husband” to his wife Anne for more than 60 years.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: the challenges of reopening churches.

Plus, Marvin Olasky offers some reading recommendations.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD: It’s Tuesday the 12th of May, 2020. You’re listening to The World and Everything in It and we’re so glad you are! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up: reopening churches.

As you just heard, more and more states are announcing plans to reopen. That includes restaurants, retail outlets, and churches. But that doesn’t mean Christians will start meeting together again right away.

REICHARD: Pastors must consider the needs of their entire flock, including those at most risk for complications. WORLD reporter Anna Johansen talked to several church leaders across the country about their reopening dilemmas.

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: Georgia was one of the first states to start lifting restrictions on businesses: Bowling alleys, dine-in restaurants, movie theaters. As things started opening back up, John Crotts had one main question: What about churches?

CROTTS: You’ve got different people hearing different things are interpreting things differently. So we have a pretty wide array, even in our own church family, of what they think we should do.

Crotts is the senior pastor of Faith Bible Church just outside Atlanta. As he and the church staff work out strategies to reopen, they’re encouraging members to be gracious to each other.

CROTTS: Some are more eager, of course, to be back together with no restrictions, others they’re very content to sit tight at home for now.

Faith Bible Church is still live-streaming its Sunday services. But the past few weeks, the church has started allowing a few more people into the building: Church members with a last name that starts with A, B, or C, could come the first week. D through G were invited the next. Ushers blocked off rows so families could space out. 

CROTTS: People were very well behaved. They did their best in this difficult time.

The sanctuary seats 500. About 50 people showed up last week. But some people who were invited didn’t come. Crotts says they just didn’t feel comfortable gathering in person, but he thinks that will change.

CROTTS: They kind of see okay, yeah, this is going pretty well. I appreciated what one member of our church said to me this week. She said, Just seeing more people in the video was so encouraging and gave her hope. Yes, we are going to be able to gather again soon. 

But some Georgia pastors say “soon” is too ambitious. Last week, a group of 15 pastors in Macon, Georgia gathered to protest the state’s reopening plans. They wore face masks during interviews with local media outlet 13WMAZ News.

GEORGIA PASTOR: I plead the blood of Jesus. But I also exercise common sense.

They insist it’s irresponsible to reopen churches at this point.

GEORGIA PASTOR: We’d love to go to church. But we actually would like to keep people alive long enough so that we can save their souls.

In California, church gatherings are still banned under the state’s emergency orders. But some evangelical leaders are making plans to hold in-person services anyway.

John Jackson is the president of William Jessup University in Rocklin, California. He says churches should be careful, but that physically gathering together is not optional. 

JACKSON: We have a Biblical mandate to worship, a Biblical mandate to gather.

Jackson put together a set of guidelines he hopes churches will follow as they begin to gather in person. Start with drive-in services. Then move to small groups, maybe 25 percent of the building’s capacity.

JACKSON: We’re not suggesting people be radicals and revolutionaries and you know, disregard government outlines, we’re just saying, look, if the grocery store in your community can operate with protocols, then you can operate in your church with protocols.

Samuel Rodriguez is a California pastor and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He worked with Jackson on those guidelines.

RODRIGUEZ: The spiritual health of a community is equally as important as the physical, mental, and economic health of a community. 

Rodriguez says right now, California Governor Gavin Newsom is lumping churches in with large sporting events and concerts. That means churches wouldn’t be able to open until late July or August. Rodriguez says that’s asking too much. 

RODRIGUEZ: With or without Governor Newsom’s blessing, come the first week of June, we will open up our buildings to a maximum of 25 percent building capacity with every CDC recommendation in place.

He hopes that won’t spark conflict with the government, but it’s a risk he’s willing to take.

RODRIGUEZ: My fear is that if we don’t come back together and wait for governors to give us the green light, we are in essence affirming the idea that churches and the spiritual health of a community is not important when it is essential.

In Texas, churches were never forced to close. But most chose to anyway.

David Adams is a pastor at First Baptist Church in Pearland, Texas. As his church moves forward with plans to gradually reopen, he wants to be especially mindful of at-risk members.

ADAMS: I think we have to be cautious as pastors not to simply encourage those at risk to stay at home while everyone else gets to come together.

It’s easy for people who are older or who have health issues to feel isolated from the church body. 

ADAMS: If we are encouraging them to stay away from the early services, then it’ll be imperative on the church body that we go above and beyond in reminding them that they are part of the church family not just asking them to tune in online while everybody else gets the joy of being in person.

Pastors everywhere are grappling with how to fulfill spiritual needs, maintain physical safety, and respect state authority all at once. But regardless of when or how, John Crotts says every member of the church body should look forward to being reunited.

CROTTS: I’ve tried to say every week on livestream, this is not the way it’s supposed to be. The church is supposed to be together. We thank God for the technology allowing us to do it over the internet. But we can’t wait to be back together again as a church family.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen.

NICK EICHER: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: life in the epicenter of a pandemic.

Nearly 20 percent of all coronavirus cases in the United States are in New York state. And more than half of those are in New York City. The number of new daily cases has dropped steadily since mid April, but COVID-19 has already exacted a terrible toll: more than 19-thousand people have died.

MARY REICHARD: Efforts to combat the virus brought The City that Never Sleeps to a complete standstill. Restaurants, businesses, and cultural sites closed. Shutdown orders are set to expire at the end of this week, but life in the city is quite different than it was just a few months ago.

Joining us now to talk about how things have changed and what the last few months have been like is Emily Belz. She’s WORLD’s reporter in New York City. Good morning!

EMILY BELZ, GUEST: Morning, Mary!

REICHARD: Tell us a little bit about what daily life is like right now for you and your fellow New Yorkers.

BELZ: Well, in my neighborhood in Manhattan things have started to open up a little. I’m not sure if that’s officially sanctioned since we aren’t technically reopening just yet, but there’s an iPhone repair store around the corner that’s open, the ice cream stand across from my apartment just opened this weekend. So, there’s some good news.  

But a lot of daily life in New York is removed from the devastation of the virus. I mean, I just think about those numbers you just said—I just interviewed a man in Brooklyn whose dad died at the beginning of April. And the crematories in the city have been so overrun with bodies that he wasn’t able to get a date for cremation for his father for an entire month. So, there’s some really awful stories just under the surface, even when you see the ice cream stand opening around the corner. 

REICHARD: You wrote about the great help healthcare workers from other parts of the world have been in fighting this. What about their experience is so beneficial now?

BELZ: Well, I think you can see that in my backyard there’s Samaritan’s Purse field hospital where a lot of the staff and volunteers had worked in Ebola outbreaks and other international crises. So they had some tried and true methods for virus containment and safety that they brought to New York. And, at the field hospital, for example, they had a bleach water system for decontamination that they brought from their experience fighting Ebola. And not a single person working for Samaritan’s Purse got sick in the course of fighting this virus, which is really remarkable when you see numbers from other hospitals. It just goes to show that some of the methods they have are really useful. 

REICHARD: You mentioned Samaritan’s Purse temporary hospital setup in Central Park. Tell us a little bit about the work they did and the status of that effort.

BELZ: Well, Samaritan’s Purse discharged its last patient last week and they’re working on disinfecting their tents and packing up right now. They’re leaving just like the Comfort ship is leaving because a lot of the hospitals are emptying out their special COVID wards. So SP worked under the Mount Sinai hospital system here so they weren’t an independent operation and Mount Sinai had found more space and so they were not needing their services anymore. 

There was a lot of noise from a small group of gay activists who protested their presence in the city. They thought that Samaritan’s Purse would discriminate against gay people and it was a small group, but they had an impact and the city council speaker made all these statements about Samaritan’s Purse and called for investigations into their practices and the mayor sent someone to monitor them and all of this. It was a lot of hot air that didn’t result in anyone actually doing anything. But the city Human Rights Commission did open an investigation into Samaritan’s Purse, but then they just announced that they closed it after finding no evidence of discrimination. 

I think overall the city was really receptive to Samaritan’s Purse. When I talked to their staff, they hadn’t paid for a meal since they arrived and I would go over there and see food trucks lined up to give them pizzas and catering companies bringing them dinner. And I saw people put flowers on the fence around the hospital. And then when Samaritan’s Purse packed up, Mount Sinai did a thank you video for them and was really supportive of the help they brought to overwhelmed hospitals at this terrible moment.

REICHARD: Over the course of your time as a reporter you’ve reported on a lot of big stories. What about this time stands out the most to you right now?

BELZ: I think it’s the drawn out nature of this crisis. I covered Hurricane Sandy back in 2012 and the actual disaster was over in a few days, but this is so slow moving. And a lot of the devastation goes unseen. But I’m hopeful just from watching how in my own church a culture of prayer has really taken off. So I pray that when a seed falls to the ground and dies it will produce a good fruit. And I’m praying that we see that in New York City.

REICHARD: Emily Belz is WORLD’s reporter in New York. You can read all of her fantastic coverage at wng.org. We’ll link to the stories we’ve talked about in the transcript of today’s show. Thanks so much for joining us today!

BELZ: Thanks for having me, Mary.

NICK EICHER: A strange four-legged creature is on the loose in a park in Singapore. It’s yellow, it looks a little like a dog — about the size of a pitbull, but it has no head! 

If you listen closely, you can hear its footsteps.

AUDIO: [Steps]

The headless dog has a name: Spot. And where it’s head ought to be? There’s a camera instead. 

Spot is a mechanical dog created by Boston Dynamics. As it clanks through the park, it counts the number of people there at any given time, and this dog—let’s just say you come when it calls:

AUDIO: Let’s keep Singapore healthy. For your own safety, and for those around you, please stand at least 1 meter apart. Thank you.

It’s part of a two-week trial, and if it’s a success, Spot could be coming to a park near you. 

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER: Today is Tuesday, May 12th. We’re grateful you’ve turned to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. What’s a dad to do? Especially a single dad like Bryon Potter. He’s got two athletic teenagers who want to add two more sports to the family’s schedule! One dad. Two kids. Four sports.

EICHER: The math just didn’t work.

So, he took into consideration his kids’ interests, drew from his own experiences, and found a compromise they all could agree on. 

WORLD reporter Bonnie Pritchett found the family at a competition that put their newfound skills to the test.

AUDIO: [HORSE HOOVES CLOPPING]

BONNIE PRITCHETT, REPORTER: A few years ago, Bryon Potter retired to take up full-time parenting and part-time ranching on the family’s 40-acres in rural Bellville, Texas. Like many of their neighbors, the single dad and his teenage children raise horses, cattle, and the occasional goats and chickens.

LUKE POTTER WITH JOSEY: [LUKE] It just gets so hectic cuz, ya know, there’s at least one game a week and half the time it’s partially on the weekend… 

Sixteen-year-old Luke and 13-year-old Josephine—she goes by Josey—attend a private Christian school where Luke plays basketball and Josey manages the team. She is also on the school’s volleyball team.

A couple of years ago they asked dad if they could take up two more sports.

POTTER: The way it came about is Luke was always interested in competitive shooting. And he is a competitive shooter in small bore. And Josephine always wanted to barrel race…

Bryon tried to wrangle a compromise—something that would suit both interests.

ANNOUNCER: Ok. We’re going to go to Josephine Potter. You’re going to be up next. Then Bryon Potter….

AUDIO: [GUNSHOTS AND ANNOUNCER]

But what activity incorporates fast horse riding and firearms? Preferably one that does not include bank robbers and posses. 

ANNOUNCER: Well, folks, come on in. And get you a seat. This is Cowboy Mounted Shooting. One of the fastest sports on dirt… 

In Cowboy Mounted Shooting competitors ride fast horses. And shoot things. Josey and Luke agree it’s a great compromise. In March, days before city officials shut down the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo the Potters competed in the Cowboy Mounted Shooting contest.

And, no, the riders don’t shoot bullets.

ANNOUNCER: Real guns. They are using brass with black powder. Now its going to be loud….

Riders are divided by sex but everyone rides the same course, one at a time, in the dirt arena. There are three rounds and the course changes each time.

Red-white-and-blue barrels and tall, bright orange pylons mark the track. Ten of the pylons hold one balloon each—five blue, five red. As competitors ride the course, they must shoot—and pop—five balloons of one color before dispatching the remaining five. Each pistol holds only five rounds.

LUKE POTTER: And, so, you have two guns, you know, and you do it with the same hand. You’ll holster it once you’re done with that gun and then you’ll grab the other one…

The rider with the fastest run wins the round. But miss a balloon, knock over a barrel, or drop your hat or pistol and judges add time penalties to the run.

From the 19th century-styled pistols to the clothes they wear, Cowboy Mounted Shooting emulates life in the old American West. For Bryon Potter, it draws from his real-life experiences as an agent with the mounted division of the U.S. Border Patrol on the Texas—Mexico border.

BRYON POTTER: In the Border Patrol, when we were doing mounted shooting it was to prepare for a lethal encounter while you’re on horseback. Typically we would try to dismount and sometimes use the horse for cover to be able to return fire…Yeh. We were fired upon fairly regularly from the other side of the border even then. In the 80s.

ANNOUNCER: Thank you for your service Mr. Bryon Potter…He was one of the cowboys that patrolled the Rio Grande Valley…

He could have easily just coached his kids in their new sport. But Bryon Potter wasn’t content driving them to competitions in Texas and Oklahoma and cheering them on from the bleachers. So, Dad got back in the saddle.

POTTER: Well, I thought it was important, you know, to show them the ropes and teach them what I did know. And this sport is especially very family oriented. And it was set up in a way where parents can really lead their kids in the sport. 

Josey and Luke agree their competitors seem more like family.

JOSEY POTTER: Everyone you meet here is really, really nice and they all take you in like family at every sport.

LUKE POTTER: And there are a lot of people here, that whenever there’s someone new they’ll lend you anything. They’ll help you out. They’ll give you anything you need to get into it. They’ll give you your gun, their gun, their holster. A horse. A place to sleep…

And what family doesn’t take good-natured pot-shots at each other?

JOSEY POTTER: Even though we’re in different categories, I still want to get faster than him, even if it doesn’t count on the ranking score. If I get faster than him or I shoot a clean one and he doesn’t, I still like to mess with him about it just being my brother. Or even my dad, if I get a clean and he misses, like three, I’ll mess with him and ask ‘How does it feel that your daughter’s better than you.’

LUKE POTTER: I’d say the same thing. But not as aggressive (laughs)…

A little family competition spurs improvement.

LUKE POTTER: If your sister, if your little sister, is doing way better than you, you’re not going to feel too good about that, so, yeah…

Seated between his rivaling teenagers, Bryon Potter grins at the exchange. He can laugh because he’s watched them mature and take seriously their responsibilities at home and on the sometimes hectic road schedule.

BRYON POTTER: And then they’re interacting with a lot of adults, you know, and they’re being given guidance and coaching from everybody. So, to watch them, your goal as a parent is always for them to be better than you. You know, really, you want to see them do better. And so, when you see them start to smooth out and start to do things good, it’s like, yeh, that’s what you want.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

NICK EICHER: Next up on The World and Everything in It: an excerpt from the latest edition of The Olasky Interview podcast available today. This week, WORLD editor in chief Marvin Olasky’s conversation with author and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.

MARY REICHARD: Douthat is a devout Catholic who writes about politics, religion, and higher education from a conservative viewpoint. In this excerpt of their conversation from 2011, Olasky asks Douthat about what the Republican Party gets right, and what it gets wrong.

ROSS DOUTHAT: I think conservatives are in—were in and remain in—a certain amount of denial about, um, the chall-, that sort of nature of the challenges facing, um, the middle and working classes in the United States. 

And I think Republicans are, in reacting against the sort of Democrats, like, you know, it’s all the fault of the rich, tax the rich and so on. In reacting against that, I think Republicans are swung too far in the opposite direction where they’re sort of unwilling to talk about those, the sort of, the struggles, the struggles of, you know, sort of what you might call lower middle America.

Um, when the subject turns to culture and there, and a lot of those challenges are cultural and they’re rooted in the decline of marriage and sort of decline of church-going among the working class and so on. And that, there, I think conservatives have it right. 

But there’s an unwillingness to talk about the economic component and there’s a tendency to, I mean, I think conservatives have sold themselves on a narrative where, you know, well, it’s lower middle America keeps voting for bigger government because they aren’t paying any income taxes anymore, so they don’t have a stake in the government. So they just vote for bigger government. And so we need to, you know, make them pay a little bit more in income taxes so they’ll have more of a stake in government and so on. 

I think that that’s basically crazy. I don’t think it addresses the real challenges.

NICK EICHER: That’s Ross Douthat. To hear his suggestions on where to go from here, listen to this week’s edition of The Olasky Interview anywhere you get your podcasts.

NICK EICHER: Today is Tuesday, May 12th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. WORLD editor in chief Marvin Olasky now has some book recommendations on racial history in America. We’ll link to each one in the transcript at worldandeverything.org. Just click on the book title.

MARVIN OLASKY, EDITOR IN CHIEF: The tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery, shot while jogging in Georgia, is once more spotlighting our racial divide—but maybe we can use this time of social distancing to decrease rather than increase racial distancing. 

For the many serious readers among us, I’ll run through 15 books that can increase understanding. I’ll note five about the period before the Civil War, five about the era from 1865 to 1950, and five about current dilemmas and constructive things we can do. 

I won’t include books about the history of the civil rights movement, because that is familiar to many of us, but the most memorable Bible studies I’ve seen and heard in person came from the great John Perkins, so I do want to mention his 1976 memoir, Let Justice Roll Down.

And now, here are my 5-5-5 recommendations. We’ll show them all on The World and Everything in It website. First, books about the pre-Civil-War era: Ned and Constance Sublette’s The American Slave Coast is a painful history of the slave-breeding industry. Nicholas Guyatt’s Bind Us Apart shows how supposedly “enlightened” Americans invented racial segregation. Sven Beckert’s Empire of Cotton shows how slavery profited not just slaveowners but northern and British merchants. Manisha Sinha’s The Slave’s Cause is a history of the abolitionists who fought the evil institution.  

I’ll linger for a moment over the fifth book, Joel McDurmon’s The Problem of Slavery in Christian America, because it comes down hard on evangelical churches and corrects some Gone With the Wind romanticism about supposedly happy slaves. McDurmon quotes Memphis preacher R.C. Grundy: “The southern rebel church… is worth more to Jeff Davis than an army of 100,000.”

Next, some books about the Jim Crow era. Matthew Harper’s The End of Days shows how Christian understanding helped newly emancipated African Americans transcend a slave mentality. Sadly, many whites backlashed: Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery by Another Name describes the virtual re-enslavement of sharecroppers. David Oshinsky’s Worse Than Slavery spotlights legal injustice. Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up From Slavery, is deservedly a classic of perseverance under pressure. Gene Dattel’s Reckoning With Race starts in the 19th century and shows the Great Migration north during the 20th century—and the urban ghettos that resulted. 

Now, turning to recent times: James McBride’s The Color of Water is an African American man’s tribute to his white mother. Two books by Jason Riley, Please Stop Helping Us and False Black Power? explain “how liberals make it harder for blacks to succeed.” Walter Wangerin Jr.’s Father and Son tells of the Indiana pastor-author and his black adopted son. Ismael Hernandez’s Not Tragically Colored rises above materialist determinism and victimhood. 

There are many more, but that’s enough for now. I’m Marvin Olasky.

NICK EICHER: Tomorrow: WORLD senior editor Mindy Belz joins us for Washington Wednesday.

And, we’ll hear about creative ways farmers are taking their produce directly to customers. 

That and more tomorrow. 

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Apostle Paul taught the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Thanks for listening, and go now in grace and peace.

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