RLC's April Book Club features guest Greg Jarrell, in conversation with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. We will be spotlighting Greg's latest book, "Our Trespasses: White Churches and the Taking of American Neighborhoods."

"Our Trespasses" uncovers how race, geography, policy, and religion have created haunted landscapes in Charlotte, North Carolina, and throughout the United States. How do we value our lands, livelihoods, and communities? How does our theology inform our capacity--or lack thereof--for memory? What responsibilities do we bear toward those who have been harmed, not just by individuals but by our structures and collective ways of being in the world?

Abram and Annie North, both born enslaved, purchased a home in the historically Black neighborhood of Brooklyn in the years following the Civil War. Today, the site of that home stands tucked beneath a corner of the First Baptist Church property on a site purchased under the favorable terms of Urban Renewal campaigns in the mid-1960s. How did FBC wind up in what used to be Brooklyn--a neighborhood that no longer exists? What happened to the Norths? How might we heal these hauntings? This is an American story with implications far beyond Brooklyn, Charlotte, or even the South. By carefully tracing the intertwined fortunes of First Baptist Church and the formerly enslaved North family, Jarrell opens our eyes to uncomfortable truths with which we all must reckon.

About the Author:
Greg is an author and musician based in Charlotte, NC. He studies and writes about race, place, and faith, with a particular focus on Urban Renewal. Greg works as a cultural organizer in Charlotte with QC Family Tree.

Greg is author of Our Trespasses: White Churches and the Taking of American Neighborhoods, published by Fortress Press (February 2024). For updates on Greg's speaking and jazz performance schedule, see gregjarrell.com.