Becoming an Active Racial Justice Congregation – by Tricia Lloyd-Sidle

May 4, 2017May 14, 2017 Cynthia Holder Rich

Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC), Louisville, KY is a predominantly white congregation characterized by its progressive stance on social & economic justice issues. CHPC values “the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic diversity of the congregation,”[i] even while acknowledging that it is very white, both ethnically and culturally. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that congregational conversations about how best to respond to racism often include suggestions for partnering with an African-American congregation, developing a relationship with a mosque or working harder to become more racially diverse as a faith community.

As hate groups and gun sales proliferated and the rhetoric of white supremacy emerged from the shadows; as Michele Alexander’s The New Jim Crow became part of the national conversation; and as videos of black and brown bodies being gunned down by police went viral on social media, concerns about structural racism acquired more urgency at CHPC.

A “racial justice catalyst group” was convened in early 2016 to help move the congregation forward in its witness against racism. By spring there was a core group and a list of possible activities. About the same time, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)[ii] publicized information about a pilot project “for white people in congregations to participate in actions for racial justice and deepen learning, experience, and relationships.” CHPC became a participant congregation in the 6-9 month project. A limited time-frame effectively took suggestions for forming partnerships or strategies to become more ethnically diverse off the table for the time-being. Activities were planned to fit within the SURJ pilot’s three-part structure: [iii]

Activities

Reflection/study: activities that help white people to understand white supremacy, how it operates within us and our communities, and our role in dismantling it.

Two workshops for youth and adults were held that interspersed input via video and participatory exercises with periods of conversation around tables. In order to maximize attendance, these took place on Sundays immediately after worship and included lunch. Two adults and one high school student shared leadership responsibilities.

The youth group went to a Thomas Merton museum exhibit that included a photographic display of our city’s civil rights movement. Annotated web links to pertinent articles, videos, and interactive websites were sent out via congregation-wide newsletters.

External action: public witness to disrupt white supremacy and move toward a more racially just world.

In order to “test the waters,” the catalyst group proposed that a “Blessed Ramadan” sign be placed in the church yard. This public gesture was approved by the church’s governing body “as a way to challenge bigotry and hatefulness.”

Encouraged by the lack of push-back or vandalism, there is now a Black Lives Matter sign in the church yard, as well as a welcome sign in Spanish, Arabic and English.

Ritual/celebration: including racial justice in your community’s common life, in ways that are authentic and within your practice and theology.

Throughout the summer, members of the racial justice catalyst group shared prayer concerns in weekly worship. Some were sparked by current events, such as the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Other focused on local individuals or groups impacted by racist policies and structures.

The congregation selected the local chapter of Black Lives Matter to receive a special offering in October. In preparation for the offering, information about Black Lives Matter was presented in the context of worship on two Sundays.

As the Holy Spirit would have it, a church book group read Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debbie Irving, three excellent racial justice sermons were delivered by three preachers, and at least a dozen church folks joined a street action protesting police violence against black men. None of this was initiated by the catalyst group or other church leaders. Nor was the election of three strong racial justice advocates to top denominational leadership anticipated – elections that brought hope and encouragement to many in the congregation.

REFLECTION

The SURJ faith project envisions faith communities becoming “active racial justice communities.” It is a vision that points beyond events, programs or actions – however bold and transformative they may be — to the “DNA” of the congregation. Becoming a “racial justice faith community” is about identity: a public commitment to do the work of countering institutional racism and an on-going journey that will involve considerable discomfort and is certain to provoke backlash.

Embarking on the journey requires vulnerability and a willingness to change. Staying on the journey is even harder according to activist and educator Joan Olsson.

For white people living in North America learning to be anti-racist is a re-education process. I must unlearn the thorough racist conditioning to re-educate and re-condition myself as an anti-racist. I need knowledge, guidance and experience to avoid the detours and traps waiting for me on this journey.[iv]

Olsson identifies twenty-six “attitudes or behaviors” that function as detours from the “anti-racist journey of re-education.” What she calls the “Help Us, Teach Us” detour assumes that whites cannot become anti-racists without help from people of color.

That assumption continues to emerge in conversations at CHPC. There was significant energy around the idea of forming a partnership with people of color at a recent event. One quiet voice spoke up to question to assumption. She recounted what had occurred when white attendees at a screening and discussion of I Am Not Your Negro asked African American panelists, “What should we do?” The response was, “You need to be working against racism in your own families and communities. We do not have a black problem in this country, we have a white problem.”

After the same event, an Email exchange took place:

Person 1: We talked about forming a partnership of listening and cooperation with other congregations. This could include churches with majority black, Asian, or Latinx congregants (as well as other faiths). This suggestion stood out to me because it has come up a few times in conversations. . . .

Person 2: Let’s be careful about rushing out to seek a differently-cultured congregation to teach us, to do the labor for a predominantly white congregation like CHPC. Examining motives is important.

Person 1: Maybe a much looser idea of partnership–not really with the goal of being taught (and certainly not with the intention of putting any kind of teaching burden on any already marginalized community), but more of an equal level accompaniment kind of thing?

Person 2: Even then we need to be aware that the impact on/assumptions by others may not match our intention.

Daniel José Camacho raises a deeper question about ethnically diverse congregations or cross-cultural ministries as an anti-racism strategy. “What,” he asks, “if this strategy is not only ineffective but actually exacerbates the problem?” Citing several sources and reflecting on his own experience, Camacho concludes that “most multicultural churches—in spite of the best intentions—still center white experiences and require people of color to make bigger sacrifices in adjusting themselves to white norms.” Even more troubling, a 2015 study, United by Faith? Race/Ethnicity, Congregational Diversity, and Explanations of Racial Inequality,[v] concludes that “multicultural churches have been better at making people of color approximate white attitudes and perspectives on race than challenging Whiteness itself.”[vi]

It is a mistake, Camacho argues, is to view “racial separation and lack of diversity as the heart of racism when these, in fact, are symptoms.” He quotes Jennifer Harvey, who writes that “togetherness is certainly no solution. Separateness is merely a symptom. The real problem is what our differences represent, how they came to be historically, and what they mean materially and structurally still.[vii]

SURJ makes it clear “that the framework of this project is not one of “helping” People of Color or “reconciling” cultural differences. Rather, our framework is one of finding active ways to disrupt and dismantle power that devalues some lives in favor of others.”[viii]

White congregations that hope to incorporate anti-racism into their DNA will face many challenges. Perhaps most challenging of all is the recognition that racism is not someone else’s sickness. It is ours.

The Rev. Tricia Lloyd-Sidle is on the expanded leadership team for the Louisville chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice. She worships with Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church.

[i] Vision 2020 Themes, edited 9/12/16, Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church.

[ii] https://www.facebook.com/ShowingUpForRacialJusticesurj/

[iii] Building Racial Justice Spiritual Communities: Resource Guide, Showing Up for Racial Justice.

[v]https://www.academia.edu/6009010/United_by_Faith_Race_Ethnicity_Congregational_Diversity_and_Explanations_of_Racial_Inequality

[vi] http://www.danieljosecamacho.com/blog/2016/2/9/do-multicultural-churches-reinforce-racism

[vii]Dear White Christians, Jennifer Harvey.

[viii] Building Racial Justice Spiritual Communities: Resource Guide, Showing Up for Racial Justice.