Racial-ethnic schools ‘more critical now than they’ve ever been’

Says Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson, II who received education at Johnson C. Smith University

by Paul Seebeck | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE – In a newly published video message, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Stated Clerk the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II says the mission of PC(USA) related racial-ethnic schools and colleges “are more critical now, than they’ve ever been.”

Reflecting on “the society and world that we’re living in today,” where “rancor and discord are leading our political forces,” Nelson recalled how important and valuable the education he received at Johnson C. Smith University, was for him personally.

“These Presbyterian supported schools and colleges have an ethos grounded in spirituality and religious education,” he says, “that invites rigorous dialogue and exchange and disagreement.”

At Johnson C. Smith, Nelson learned “in so many ways” what cross cultural and cross racial relationships meant—which helped him grow and prepare himself for the world—and is what these racial-ethnic schools and colleges continue to do.

“How do people see that we are bonded together, and in relationship with one another, just by the linking of the Creator of our lives?” asks Nelson. “As the world shifts and goes in another direction, these schools remain very much focused on the historical role of mission of cultivating the whole person.”

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