Moving Beyond Racism: Old Memories, Transformations, New Conversations
During the spring of 2008, one of the media’s feeding frenzies involved a United
Church of Christ congregation in Chicago, pastored by the Reverend Dr.
Jeremiah Wright. For days and weeks, all one could see on every news channel
were a few very short clips, absent of context, of Reverend Wright’s sermons
preached some time ago. What followed outraged many on both sides of the
political fence. The sound bites lent themselves to commentators’ easy, negative
analysis of the sermons. In the traditional media, commentators offered an interpretation,
couched in the language of patriotism, that Wright was too angry, that
he overstated the problem of racism in America today.
While some were extremely frustrated at this nearly universal take on
Wright’s sermons and felt it served to mask the continuing reality of racial
oppression, others saw a positive side, in that racism had resurfaced as a topic of
conversation in homes across America. Nearly forty years after the Civil Rights
Movement had “fixed everything,” people started talking, discussing, and even
arguing about racism in the United States. Was racism still with us? If so, how
could that be after such a long period of time? Or had racism just changed from
blatant, in-your-face discrimination to a new, post-affirmative action, “colorblind”
racism.
—from the introduction to Moving Beyond Racism
Meet the twenty-one authors of Moving Beyond Racism who were moved
to share their compelling personal memories and the events that inspired
their reassessment of the complexities of race relations in 21st century
America. You’ll nod in recognition, shake your head in disbelief, and
bear witness to the courage and self-knowledge that comes from bravely
facing the place that racial attitudes play in our everyday lives.
Make no mistake, the people you are about to meet are your neighbors,
your co-workers, and your friends. Moving Beyond Racism is about
all of us.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Heather Powers Albanesi is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado
at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Carole Ann Camp is a retired United Church
of Christ pastor and has written and published on a variety of topics, including
Praying at Every Turn: Meditations for Walking the Labyrinth.
visit www.caroleanncampsite.com
Authors are available for conversation and autographs.
Reaffirming Our Commitment
We stand on very solid tradition. First Church and its members have repeatedly led the way on social issues in our community. In recent years these issues have played a somewhat less prominent role in the life of our congregation and we have played a less prominent role in our community. We live in times when finding ways to engage in action for social justice is more challenging than it has been at some times in the past. Unfortunately, the issue of racism in the United States is still very much with us. We believe it is time to revitalize our commitment to being an anti-racist church. While the lack of racial justice in our nation is nothing new, we have been given a wake-up call by the events and responses surrounding The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and the call by the United Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches for holy conversations on race.
The time is now. Mordecai said to Esther, “How do we know that we haven’t been chosen for such a time as this?” (Esther 5:12-14). Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Micah are also talking to us. They are calling us to act now.
If you would like to join the Anti-Racism Ministry Team and/or if you have ideas, visions, suggestions, questions for us, or want more information please call or email
Eric Allen ericallen30@yahoo.com
Carole Ann Camp caroleann.camp@gmail.com
Charlie Camp ccamp@psych.umass.edu
Ellen Dibble pppegp@verizon.net
Ruthie Killough-Hill wkilloughhill@rcn.com
Lydia Vernon-Jones lvernonjones@gmail.com
Russ Vernon-Jones russvj@gmail.com
Dusty Miller dustymiller1@gmail.com
Mary Lou Sullivan msullivan@wmtcinfo.org
Vicki Kemper, Pastor pastor_firstchurch_amherst@comcast.net
Rank ordering of suggestions made at church potluck on racism.
code: value
green top - now 3
pink middle 2
yellow less 1
Votes # votes score
8 g, 5p, 1y, 14 59 Interact with black church seeking to learn and be connected. Intentional, open respectful of other traditions
6 g, 1 , 6 y 13 44 Draft Covenant on social/racial justice
2 g, 3 p, 1y, 6 13 Address economic inequities - locally in Springfield/Holyoke
3g, 1p 4 11 Iraqi family coming
3 p, 1y, 4 10 Sharing with group - Hispanic church that meets here
1 g, 3 p, 4 9 Send a team to calls action event - social/economic justice
2 g, 1 p 3 8 Do more self-awareness and self study
1 p, 6 y 2 8 Apply for missionary from another part of the world to be here.
3p, 1 y 2 7 Partner with another church
1g, 1p, 1y 3 6 Month of January - sermons, education etc. the MLK support student at Andover Newton. Host follow
up to MLK breakfast black/other racial groups.
1 p, 3y 4 5 Accountability - support individual action
1y 1 1 Talk to Amherst survival enter about emerging groups here
1y 1 1 Adopt/ support student from ABC
Bible study with another church
Immigration - undocumented people, political action, become aware
Inequities in school systems based on property taxes
Have delegation mission work do a service here
Involved in political campaigns
Have pot luck with black church and talk about action toward racial justice.