Recommendations from the editors of America magazine, plus some poetry too!

California Native people prayed at a makeshift altar before activists took down the statue of Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan credited with spreading the Catholic faith but also seen as part of an imperial conquest.

The recent racial unrest has special poignancy for Black Catholics, who wish and work for change not only in American society, but in the Catholic Church as well.

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento has said that toppling statues does not bring about establishing the hard work of justice and "does little to build the future."

During an online discussion on faith and racism sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., said "if we do not know each other...we make it possible for hatred to grow."

If police officers commit crimes while on duty, "the court has put up a number of hurdles to make it difficult to bring injunctive relief against an entire police department."