Jenny Booth Potter - Doing Nothing Is No Longer an Option: One Womans Journey Into Everyday Antiracism

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400 | Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

2022 by Jenny Booth Potter

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InterVarsity Press is a resource publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. For more information, visit intervarsity.org.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

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Cover design and image composite: David Fassett

ISBN 978-1-5140-0001-4 (digital)

ISBN 978-1-5140-0000-7 (print)

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To my parents Ed and Becky

And for my boys John, Elliot, and Milo

I HAVE SPENT NEARLY TWENTY YEARS as a professional storyteller. At the start of my career, I served at nonprofits and helped craft stories of change and hope that could be shared in grant proposals, marketing materials, and at annual galas. Later, as a video producer for a large suburban megachurch, I conveyed beautiful and sometimes dramatic stories of redemption that played on huge screens in the churchs main auditorium or showed up as social media posts across the small screen of someones phone. And now I am one of the cofounders for Herself Media, a company dedicated to producing stories of Black girl/womanhood with joy and dignity. We are convinced that the story is queen and it is our job to serve the queen.

I believe in the power of storythat if you want to create a space for connection, an opportunity for empathy, or the chance to change a mind or heart, you set aside the statistics and data for a moment and find the story of a person. I could easily tell you about the poor water conditions in a community in the Dominican Republic, but how much better is it to hear about a pastor named Maria who saw this problem and decided to open a water purification tank serving her neighborhood? Hearing Marias story allows you to hear about the families whose children no longer get sick from dirty water or the young man who is able to pay for his education through the money he makes transporting the water.

It was at the megachurch job where I learned not only about the power of story but also the rhythm needed to tell a good storythe elements that alone are isolated but when threaded together create a narrative with highs and lows, challenges and overcomings. In his screenwriting book Save The Cat!, author Blake Snyder outlines the story beats or moments that move a story forward to create a compelling structure in many of the films and books we love. The beginning of every story (say, The Wizard of Oz) using this blueprint includes a scene that shows a before of the main character/hero (Dorothy on her familys farm in Kansas), then states the theme (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), sets up the problem (a tornado takes Dorothy out of Kansas), and explores the catalyst for change and what direction the hero will take next (Dorothy decides to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City). It is usually after the hero moves in a new direction that she meets a new character who serves as a guide or an expert (Dorothy meets the Scarecrow) to help the hero learn a lesson.

I can see this order of scenes as I reflect back on my own story: a long time of a life lived before, a clear catalyst for change, and companions and guides on my journey. You see, Im a storyteller, but Ive often preferred to tell other peoples stories for mainly one reason: I am not an expert. And perhaps a second: I am no ones hero. Much of my work as a White woman pursuing antiracism in my own life has been to remove myself from the center of things as much as I possibly can. I have repeated to myself, Your story (i.e., the story of White people) has been told over and over again. So how is it that you are holding this book in your hands?