Black Catholics in the United States are commenting on what they hope will happen in the church and as well as society as a whole as a result of the recent racial unrest and protests.

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."

Our fidelity to Christ and his body the church should have less to do with becoming an aggrieved church of fire damage than becoming a compassionate church of kinship with the broken.

Colson Whitehead's award-winning novel is a timely reflection on who gets to write history...and who gets to erase it.