The July Fourth week of violence in America—the police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minn., and the sniper-attack killing five police officers in Dallas—has elicited numerous debates about the root causes and what we as a country should do next.

Each week, The World and Everything in It features a “Culture Friday” segment, in which Executive Producer Nick Eicher discusses the latest cultural news with John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Here is a summary of this week’s conversation.

In the aftermath of the police shooting deaths of two African-American men and the subsequent attack on Dallas police officers, two conservative leaders gave inspiring messages of hope for racial reconciliation this week.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate’s only black Republican said today that ending racial discord starts with breaking bread together.

“I have experienced what’s possible when the family talks,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Thursday. “I think this is incredibly important that while our problems appear in black and white, our solutions are black and white.”

The shootings of black men by white police officers in Minnesota and Louisiana and the murder of five white Dallas police officers by a black man have widened the gap in our racially divided country. The stereotypes each race holds of the other hardened.

Don’t we already have enough to fear from radical Islamic terrorists? Must we add fear of a race war? We seem to be heading back to the 1960s and are again hearing police officers, who defend black neighborhoods against black predators, called “pigs,” with some shouting they should be dead.

America is currently caught in a social crisis at the intersection of race and violence. White police officers shot two black men this week in St. Paul, Minn., and Baton Rouge, La. In the aftermath, a gunman shot five police officers in Dallas in a race-motivated assassination on law enforcement, a man lured police officer into his Valdosta, Ga., home and murdered him, a man ambushed an officer during a traffic stop in suburban St.

I am not a racist. There, I said it. I am starting to be wearied by the unrelenting pressure to admit to a crime I do not feel guilty of, even though, in a sense, it would be easier at this point to just say I’m a racist and be done with it. That’s what Joseph K. finally does in Kafka’s The Trial. One year after his arrest for a vague capital offense in which no specific charges or hard evidence are ever put forward, the beleaguered banker is so beaten down that he offers no resistance as they drag him off to his execution.

Alana Simmons didn’t intend to speak to Dylann Roof at his bond hearing, two days after he shot and killed nine members of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. But as others began to speak forgiveness, she felt the need to tell about the legacy of love her grandfather, Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74, left behind. The experience changed the direction of her life.

Now, a year after the June 17 massacre, Simmons heads a growing non-profit organization that promotes acts of forgiveness and gives voice to the message that love is stronger than hate.