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racism
Calling it “a step toward transforming policing in America,” the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., is urging support of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020.
Has there ever been a more challenging Fourth of July? With a worldwide pandemic, COVID-19 deaths well above 100,000, and a new realization that our nation remains a flawed and racist society, one can understand why we may not want to celebrate the red, white and blue this year.
“Racism … is an essential part of economic injustice and hierarchical visions that deny that all human beings were created in the image and likeness of God.”
What should predominantly white churches do to help their communities address racial disparity and systemic racialized oppression?
A panel convened by two Union Presbyterian Seminary organizations — the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership and the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation — had some ideas Tuesday during an hour-long webinar.
In a very real sense during the colossal challenges of coronavirus and civil protest, God is calling the church out, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II said during a Vital Congregations webinar Wednesday.
The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, released this statement Wednesday about the deep pain and anger that’s led to demonstrations and violence in cities across the county since the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police:
“My soul is troubled. With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, killing over 106,000 people in this country and disproportionately impacting communities of color, and with the slayings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and just this week David McAtee, my cup runneth over with despair.
The National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is grieved and angered along with our African American sisters and brothers because of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others. As a Middle Eastern community, we stand in solidarity with all people of color seeking justice through actions, not just words and promises.
Every year since 1865, there has been one day that most Black people have held as a celebratory occurrence. On June 19, 1865, the last of the Black Americans who were in the condition of chattel servitude were freed. Texas, the last state to hold out on the edict of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years prior, had finally been forced into compliance. And so, it is this date in June that many Black Americans consider to be Independence Day and thus a cause for annual jubilation that we have titled Juneteenth.
When African American activist James Forman presented The Black Manifesto in 1969, calling for $500 million in reparations for injustices against black people, he made it clear that he thought Christian churches were partly to blame for the oppression of his people.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exploited wounds we never healed.
