To date, the Synod has surrendered nearly $435,000 to trusts and organizations directed by Afro American and Indigenous American communities
Story courtesy of Synod of Lakes and Prairies | Special to Presbyterian News Service
Photo by Ryoji Iwata via Unsplash
During its fall meeting this week, the Synod of Lakes and Prairies approved a new policy of restorative actions.
Synod Moderator Jeff Dickinson noted that the Synod — comprised of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and eastern and central Nebraska — pledges to allocate, according to its new policy, “a proportional amount of wealth it receives from future undesignated bequests and property transfers for surrender to Restorative Actions trusts or Afro American and Indigenous organizations benefitting their communities.”
According to its website, Restorative Actions is “a grassroots voluntary initiative for churches, individuals, mid councils and agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as well as other ecumenical partners and interested organizations to take a leadership stance in opposition to racism and racial privilege.” Its premise is that it would be “right and fair for predominantly white churches and affiliated organizations to return benefits that have been accrued to them directly or indirectly from systemic inequities.”
Read about a presentation Restorative Actions made during the 2023 edition of Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ annual Synod School here. Watch an explanatory video here.
“We hope this can serve as a model for other synods, presbyteries and congregations across the PC(USA) to surrender a portion of proceeds from property sales and other bequests to restorative actions,” Dickinson said.
The Synod “acknowledges the racial injustices that have been endured by Afro-Americans and people indigenous to U.S. lands,” the policy states, “along with the growing economic inequalities resulting from their lack of reparations. Recognizing its predominantly white historical composition, the Synod also acknowledges that it has been sheltered from the economic consequences of those injustices.”
To date, the Synod of Lakes and Prairies has surrendered assets totaling $434,919 to trusts and organizations directed by Afro American and Indigenous American communities:
- At its October 2020 Assembly, the Synod agreed to surrender $351,000 to Restorative Actions, which represented 15% of the Synod’s wealth, defined as its undesignated net assets.
- In June 2021, almost $400,000 in Synod wealth, representing the agreed upon amount plus earnings generated by that wealth since the time it was pledged, was transferred to accounts at New Covenant Trust Company for the benefit of Restorative Actions trusts for Afro American and Indigenous American individuals and communities.
- At its April 2024 Assembly, the Synod agreed to transfer ownership of real property within the Fort Peck Reservation (Assiniboine and Sioux tribes) in Wolf Point, Montana, to Dakota Presbytery. The property, which had been carried in the Synod’s books at a value of about $36,000, was transferred on June 26.
The Synod of Lakes and Prairies includes 16 presbyteries, more than 700 churches and about 80,000 members. Learn more here.
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