The Justice Briefing with Dr. Jemar Tisby

How do you tell a compelling story about racism, injustice, or social change without making your audience feel like they're listening to a sermon? What separates a story that moves people from one that overwhelms them with its message? And how do you build a creative career telling these stories when there isn't an obvious path forward?In this episode of The Justice Briefing, historian, author, and filmmaker Dr. Jemar Tisby sits down with award-winning writer and director Nick Brooks, director of the new narrative short film What Will We Tell Them.Brooks is the author of Promise Boys, Up in Smoke, and the Ethan Fairmont trilogy. His creative career has taken him from teaching and writing children's books to filmmaking, music, and video game writing.Their conversation explores the craft of storytelling, the relationship between social justice and art, the importance of representation, and the persistence required to create opportunities.In This Episode, You'll LearnWhy justice-centered stories can become preachy. How to build a story around characters. Brooks's three ingredients for a strong story. Why trusting your audience matters. How lived experience shapes creative work. How to pursue opportunities before you feel fully qualified. How to move from inspiration to a finished film. What went into making What Will We Tell Them. About Nick BrooksNick Brooks is an award-winning author, director, and musician whose work spans young adult and middle-grade fiction, film, and music. His writing explores the lives of young people navigating institutions, expectations, and systems of inequality.Learn more about Nick: thenickbrooks.comWhat Will We Tell ThemLearn more about the film "What Will We Tell Them" by subscribing for updates at: jemartisby.substack.comChapters00:00 — Welcome and *What Will We Tell Them* screening announcement  01:45 — Meet Nick Brooks: author, filmmaker, and creative artist  04:47 — Telling stories about justice without preaching  08:30 — Hook, heart, and theme: how Brooks develops stories  11:19 — The influence of hip-hop, books, and Black storytelling  14:47 — How to nurture social awareness in young people  18:20 — Howard University, mentorship, and discovering education  24:09 — Writing children's books and finding a creative purpose  29:15 — Creating opportunities and getting a literary agent  33:56 — Taking risks, handling rejection, and writing for GTA VI  38:15 — How children's books opened doors to a new career  41:11 — *Fruitvale Station*, Ryan Coogler, and becoming a filmmaker  45:30 — Learning filmmaking by getting onto film sets  48:13 — Mistakes to avoid when telling stories about injustice  50:44 — The story behind *What Will We Tell Them*  54:21 — Filmmaking challenges, preparation, and adapting on set  57:29 — Private screening details and ways to support the filmStay ConnectedSubscribe to "Footnotes" for historically grounded analysis, commentary about faith and justice, and updates on new films and educational projects: jemartisby.substack.comInstagram: @JemarTisby 

What do you do when the church, workplace, organization, or community you once called home no longer reflects your values?How do you know when it's time to stop fighting for a seat at someone else's table?And if you decide to leave, how do you figure out what comes next?Maybe you've spent years trying to make an institution better, only to discover that there's a limit to how much change its leaders will tolerate.Maybe your presence is welcomed, but your perspective isn't.Or maybe you have a vision for something different, but you're not sure you have the resources, experience, or courage to build it.This episode of The Justice Briefing will help you think through your next move.Dr. Jemar Tisby shares lessons from his journey out of white evangelical institutions and into building Tisby Media, an independent organization dedicated to truth-telling at the intersection of faith, history, and justice.Drawing on his personal experiences with racial exclusion, institutional resistance, and entrepreneurship, Jemar offers three practical principles for turning dissatisfaction into constructive action.You'll discover how to move beyond simply knowing what you want to leave behind and start identifying what you want to create.And you'll learn why building your own table might not be what you actually need.In this episode, you'll learn:How to recognize when an institution has made space for you without giving you meaningful powerWhy righteous anger can be a powerful starting point for creating positive changeHow to identify the deeper motivation that will sustain you when building something new gets difficultThe three factors that can help you discover a mission uniquely suited to your gifts and convictionsThe surprising difference between building your own table and building your own chairYou'll also hear about Jemar's forthcoming book, Notes from an Evangelical Reject, and get updates on projects from Tisby Media, including the upcoming short film What Will We Tell Them?If you're tired of shrinking yourself to fit someone else's vision—or you have a dream of creating something better but don't know where to begin—this episode will help you see the possibilities in front of you and take your next step with greater clarity.Mentioned in this episodeNotes from an Evangelical Reject — Jemar's forthcoming book, available for preorder. Publication date: January 19, 2027.How to Resist White Christian Nationalism — A self-paced course featuring practical action steps.Jesus Was a Migrant — Watch the trailer and learn about community screenings at https://jesuswasamigrant.com.What Will We Tell Them? — A new narrative short film from Tisby Studios. Book Launch Team — Join Jemar's launch team for exclusive resources, updates, and opportunities to help spread the word about Notes from an Evangelical Reject. Join HERE.Footnotes — Subscribe for historical insights and analysis at the intersection of race, religion, and politics. JemarTisby.Substack.com Episode chapters00:00 – How to Build Your Own Table02:27 – Why So Many People Are Questioning Their Institutions07:48 – Jemar's Journey Through White Evangelicalism12:58 – When You're Given a Seat but Not a Voice17:19 – Principle 1: Identify Your Internal Driver19:59 – How Righteous Anger Can Fuel Constructive Change21:24 – The Vision That Pulls You Forward22:28 – Principle 2: Create a Clear Mission24:09 – Discovering Your Gifts and Learning to Trust Yourself27:33 – Finding Joy and Passion in Your Work29:29 – Identifying the Need Only You Can Address31:09 – Principle 3: Decide What You're Actually Building31:43 – The Difference Between Building a Table and Building a Chair36:21 – How Jemar Built Tisby Media40:03 – The Justice Briefing, Teaching, and the Justice Institute42:40 – Tisby Studios and the Power of Film44:10 – What Will We Tell Them? and the Legacy We're Creating46:16 – Notes from an Evangelical Reject and the Book Launch Team54:02 – Upcoming Projects and New Developments58:04 – Why We Need New and Truer InstitutionsFollow Jemar TisbyYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JTisbyAbout The Justice BriefingThe Justice Briefing is your weekly guide to current events at the intersection of faith, history, and justice.#TheJusticeBriefing #JemarTisby #EvangelicalReject

In a rare guest interview, Dr. Jemar Tisby sits down with Dr. Matthew D. Taylor, author of the new book Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists.They discuss Christian supremacy, Christendom, and imperialism. Going deeper, they explore how Jesus displayed and taught about power, and why the tyrants who claim his name avoid those teachings with surgical precision.They also talk about the cost of this work. Dr. Taylor lost his job for writing this book.You'll come away with a theological case for defying tyrants and a picture of what that looks like in the church, in politics, and in everyday life.Get Defying Tyrants wherever you get your books.Topics AddressedPete Hegseth's speech and the new Office of Religious AffairsConstantine's conversion and the merging of church and empireChristian supremacy as the ideology beneath Christian nationalismWhy "antichrists" in 1 and 2 John refers to Christians who harm others in Jesus' nameThe parable of the wheat and the taresThe cost of speaking out against authoritarianismSupport conversations like this one by becoming a paid subscriber at JemarTisby.Substack.com.Resources ReferencedMatthew D. Taylor, Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists (Broadleaf, 2026)Matthew D. Taylor, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy (2024)Matthew D. Taylor's Reckonings (Substack)Scripture: Mark 10:42-45; 1 John 2:18-19; Matthew 13:24-30

Get the course. Gain the confidence: How to Resist White Christian NationalismWhite Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today. Most people who follow this work already know that. So why don't we have more confidence to confront it? In this back-to-basics episode of The Justice Briefing, Dr. Jemar Tisby names five obstacles to confidence: 1. leaving out the "white," 2. calling every conservative Christian a Christian nationalist, 3. leading with facts alone, 4. stopping at 'it isn't really Christian," 5. mistaking understanding for resistance. Along the way, he brings the receipts, from PRRI's newest data showing that nearly two-thirds of Americans resist Christian nationalism to Gorski and Perry's "deep story" of a Christian America that was supposedly stolen and must be taken back.The episode builds toward a revelation Dr. Tisby had live on the show: what people need most to resist white Christian nationalism is confidence. The truth is on our side. To move from understanding to action, Dr. Tisby introduces his new self-paced course, How to Resist White Christian Nationalism.Topics AddressedHow the plantation's paternalistic hierarchy mirrors the white Christian nationalist visionTokenism: why people of color in the movement are useful but never central, and why tokens get spentNew PRRI data: nearly two-thirds of Americans resist Christian nationalism, with Arkansas and Mississippi the least resistant statesThe "deep story" of white Christian nationalism and why we must meet a bad story with a truer storyThe third commandment, the no true Scotsman fallacy, and the responsibility of Christians to resistThe ARC of Racial Justice and the gap between understanding and actionResources Referenced1. How to Resist White Christian Nationalism (self-paced course), Dr. Jemar Tisby2. PRRI, New Report Analyzes the Two-Thirds of Americans Who Resist Christian Nationalism (September 24, 2026)3. Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2022)4. Dr. Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise (2019)5. Dr. Jemar Tisby, How to Fight Racism (2021), source of the ARC of Racial Justice6. Scripture: Exodus 20:7; Isaiah 6:8Support the ShowFewer than 5% of subscribers make this truth-telling at the intersection of faith, history, and justice possible. For $7 a month, or $5.83 a month on the annual plan (less than a gallon of gas in LA), you can help keep The Justice Briefing going. Become a paid subscriber at JemarTisby.Substack.com.Stay informed. Stay faithful. Stay in the fight.

For decades, the religious right told Christians that abortion was the one issue that outweighed every other. Yet ICE recorded at least 18 miscarriages in its custody from January through September 2025, then lost count, and the movement's loudest voices have barely said a word.In this episode of The Justice Briefing, Dr. Tisby asks why an unborn child's life should matter less because their mother is an immigrant, and how race shaped the religious right from the start.In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention backed laws allowing abortion in cases including rape, incest, and likely harm to a mother's emotional health, then reaffirmed that stance after Roe v. Wade. Historian Randall Balmer argues in Bad Faith that what first mobilized conservative Christians politically was the IRS denying tax exemptions to racially discriminatory Christian schools like Bob Jones University.So was it ever about life in the womb, or was it about power?Support the podcast:Is this kind of information worthwhile? That's the only question you need to answer. If yes, become a paid subscriber at JemarTisby.Substack.com For $5.83 a month on an annual subscription, you fund the research behind every episode, along with Tisby Media's new course and films.