Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption
On December 10, 1953, tragedy was visited on a family when Nathaniel Allen was murdered on the Sampit River by his white employer, who lured him into the meeting under the false promise of reconciliation. Allen's death was recorded as an accidental drowning, a deliberate cover-up of the bullet hole seen by more than one witness.

Three generations later, Phil Allen Jr. revisits this harrowing story and recounts the "baton of bitterness" that this murder passed down in his family.

Through interviews, difficult conversations, and deep theological reflection, Allen takes up the challenge of racism today, naming it for what it is and working to chart a path toward reconciliation.

Open Wounds, and the documentary that accompanies it, is a transformative experience of listening and learning as a grandson looks, laments, an ultimately leads his family and his society forward toward a just and reconciled future. It's an essential part of our national reckoning with racism and injustice.

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Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption
On December 10, 1953, tragedy was visited on a family when Nathaniel Allen was murdered on the Sampit River by his white employer, who lured him into the meeting under the false promise of reconciliation. Allen's death was recorded as an accidental drowning, a deliberate cover-up of the bullet hole seen by more than one witness.

Three generations later, Phil Allen Jr. revisits this harrowing story and recounts the "baton of bitterness" that this murder passed down in his family.

Through interviews, difficult conversations, and deep theological reflection, Allen takes up the challenge of racism today, naming it for what it is and working to chart a path toward reconciliation.

Open Wounds, and the documentary that accompanies it, is a transformative experience of listening and learning as a grandson looks, laments, an ultimately leads his family and his society forward toward a just and reconciled future. It's an essential part of our national reckoning with racism and injustice.

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Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption

Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption

by Phil Allen Jr.
Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption

Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma, and Redemption

by Phil Allen Jr.

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Overview

On December 10, 1953, tragedy was visited on a family when Nathaniel Allen was murdered on the Sampit River by his white employer, who lured him into the meeting under the false promise of reconciliation. Allen's death was recorded as an accidental drowning, a deliberate cover-up of the bullet hole seen by more than one witness.

Three generations later, Phil Allen Jr. revisits this harrowing story and recounts the "baton of bitterness" that this murder passed down in his family.

Through interviews, difficult conversations, and deep theological reflection, Allen takes up the challenge of racism today, naming it for what it is and working to chart a path toward reconciliation.

Open Wounds, and the documentary that accompanies it, is a transformative experience of listening and learning as a grandson looks, laments, an ultimately leads his family and his society forward toward a just and reconciled future. It's an essential part of our national reckoning with racism and injustice.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781506469331
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date: 02/09/2021
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Phil Allen Jr. is a pastor, poet, storyteller, filmmaker, and justice advocate. A former All-American NCAA athlete, Phil's call to ministry led him to California, where he is a full-time pastor and a PhD candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Open Wounds (Fortress Press, 2021).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Part 1 Telling Tragedy

Introduction Telling a Tragedy 3

Chapter 1 Before Emmett Till: Nate Allen 13

Chapter 2 "Because There Were Bullet Holes": Rebecca Allen Young 29

Chapter 3 Ever since Then: Phil Allen Sr. 45

Chapter 4 Black Han: Phil Allen Jr. 61

Part 2 Treating Trauma

Chapter 5 "Just Let Them Do Their Thing": On Assimilation and Lament 81

Chapter 6 A New Prescription: On Healing Black Trauma 97

Chapter 7 A New Prescription: On Healing White Trauma 113

Part 3 Reaching Redemption

Chapter 8 Intergenerational Healing 131

Chapter 9 Racial Solidarity 149

Afterword: Where Do We Go from Here? 163

Notes 177

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