In the winter of 2023, a team of archivists at the Presbyterian Historical Society began the process of reparative description on the records of Tucson Indian Training School. Over the next six months, they worked not only to remove outdated and harmful language, but to enhance the descriptions of students so that their full names, tribal affiliations and experiences are better represented in the collection.
Born in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, Restorative Actions describes itself as “a grassroots voluntary initiative for churches, individuals, mid councils and agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as well as ecumenical partners and interested organizations, to take a leadership stance in opposed to racism and racial privilege” by allowing “U.S. Americans who benefit from institutional racism to provide a credible witness for justice by surrendering ill-gotten gains toward the establishment of just relationships with Afro-Americans and Indigenous communities.”
Late last month dozens of white clergy from churches and mid councils, elected officials and other leaders in Lansing, Michigan, gathered at the Reachout Christian Center Church to apologize to the African American community for slavery and its aftermath. Among the participants was the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, director of the PC(USA)’s Center for the Repair of Historic Harms.
“A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” turned its attention last week to the repair of historic harms, including reparations. The guest of the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong was the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, named last year to direct the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Center for the Repair of Historic Harms. Listen to their conversation, which is about 50 minutes, by going here. Ross-Allam comes in during the 20th minute.
The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness was part of a virtual Town Hall Wednesday aimed at getting federal reparations legislation to a congressional vote in the next few weeks.
The Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt and Ruling Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator of the 216th General Assembly (2004) and the former co-director of Stony Point Center are pleased to announce the founding of the Center for Jubilee Practice with the Presbytery of Utica and Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary.
There’s no doubt that the Tulsa race massacre was one of the most reprehensible moments in the history of the nation. Known as America’s “Black Wall Street,” the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma was burned to the ground in the Tulsa race massacre on May 31 and June 1, 1921, in which white residents massacred as many as 300 Black residents, injuring hundreds more, and leaving 5,000 people homeless. As the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of the massacre this week, the situation begs the question: Were was the church and what was the church’s role in the ensuing events?
