wfn.org | NCC Racism Conference in Columbia S.C.

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC 10/30/96 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Frank talk characterizes "emergency conference on racism 

     COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct.26---- Frank talk about racism and a wide
range of views on how 1.0 deal with it characterized the Oct. 24-26
'"Emergency" Conference on Racism," which was initiated by the
National Council of Churches (NCC) and drew religious and other
community leaders from across South Carolina and beyond.

     Hate-motivated attacks on African American churches and other
houses of worship served as the starting point for discussions that
went on to explore tenacious racial disparities in economic wealth,
employment, health, quality of education and treatment by the criminal
justice system; attacks on affirmative action and government-funded
entitlements, and a rise in violent white supremacist activity.

     "Churches are burning declared the NCC's General Secretary, the
Rev Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, New York, in her address. "Racism is real
and has plagued us all of our nation's life. As long as we 'manage' it
and don't address it, we won't solve it" 

     Dr. Campbell spoke to the theological underpinnings for work
against racism. 'We are not involved in this program for sociological
reasons," she said, "but because we see in the Burning of these
churches the broken body of Christ. We are all one family, related by
the blood of Jesus. We are blood relatives That leaves no room
racism," 

     Dr. Campbell encouraged participants not to shrink from
discussing what she acknowledged can be an uncomfortable subject.
Rather, she urged people to "risk discussing racism in a way that
might change the behavior of us all." 

     Similarly, the Rev. Joe Darby, an African Methodist Episcopal
pastor who was among local planners, challenged people to "be brave
enough to face up to racism in our nation. and develop some
strategies. We need not just to build new churches but also new
relationships."

     "We are here because we want to do something about racism,"
declared the Rev. Gail Holness of Columbia, Chair of the South
Carolina Local Organizing Committee for the conference. "We are
serious about eradicating racism in our state, our city, our society."
Conference co-sponsors, along with the NCC and the local committee,
were the Center for Democratic Renewal, Atlanta, and Center for
Constitutional Rights, New York. 

      Participants illustrated the persistence of racism, including
stories:

     * about two Chattanooga, Term., black civil rights activists, one
of them a pastor, whose homes were firebombed earlier this year;

      * about hate literature in circulation that says blacks are
"cursed" and whites are "God's chosen;"

     * about a young black prisoner turned Christian whose white
guards urinated on his Bible,

     * about physical attacks on Jews, blacks, Asians, Latinos Native
Americans, gays and lesbians, and their property;

     * about a white building contractor who keeps making excuses for
why he has hired no black subcontractors for a major project. 

     Proposed solutions (see sidebar) ranged from exchanges between
black and white congregations to reparations like those the U.S.
government paid to Japanese American internees from World War II,
Several participants pled for bold, immediate, nonviolent action
against racism before more militant groups black and white, take
action. 

     "We're all over the map" on how best to fight racism, the Rev.
Dr. L. Wayne Bryan, Executive Minister of the South Carolina Christian
Action Council, said of conference participants. He led a litany
celebrating a variety of strategies - public demonstrations, cross
racial vacation Bible schools, work to rebuild burned. churches,
public policy advocacy and more "Somehow we need to bless each other
and say we're in the same band," he said. 

     South Carolina's Republican governor, David Beasley, speaking to
the conference Oct.25, acknowledged that in some black church arson in
South Carolina, "nothing less than pure hatred struck the match" - the
first time he has said so in a major address, reported the Columbia,
S.C. State newspaper. He presented a proclamation to Dr. Campbell
declaring that "racism is a social ill that must be recognized and
dismantled" and calling the conference an "integral part of our effort
to combat racism in all its forms." 

     Some 15 pastors from burned churches were given a special
welcome. "These pastors have been victims of racist violence," noted
the Rev, Dr. Mac Charles Jones, a Kansas City, Mo., Baptist pastor,
NCC Associate to the General Secretary for Racial Justice, and
Director, NCC Burned Churches Project.

     Those pastors joined the other 200-plus participants, first in a
special "by invitation" session for religious and other community
leaders and then in plenaries and workshops open to a wider public to
take an inventory of racism in the United States. 

     In one plenary, Ron Daniels, Executive Director of the Center for
Constitutional Rights;, charted the evolution of racism from the
nation's beginning to the present, defining racism as "the power to
impose your prejudices through Systems and institutions." 

     Rose Johnson, Coordinator of the Center for Democratic Renewal,
and two colleagues took their listeners "inside" white supremacy's
strategy of "leaderless resistance" and the devastation that one- to
five-person cells are creating in communities nationwide. In his
conference address, The Rev. Dr. Calvin 0. Buns, Pastor of Abyssinian
Baptist Church New York, cited the hypocrisy of those who say they
don't hate black people but oppose "all those policies that grant
black people the ability to live in dignity in America." 

     Two distinctions led the NCC to hold the emergency conference in
South Carolina. First the epidemic of church burnings has hit South
Carolina especially hard. The Center for Democratic Renewal, which
researches hate crimes, is investigating suspected racial motivation
in 30 South Carolina fires between Jan.1990 and Sept.1996, a
significant proportion of the nationwide tally of 124.

     Second, South Carolina is the only state that flies the
Confederate flag atop its State Rouse - and that by official decree
reversible only by the state legislature, Conference participants
became the latest group to call for the flag to come down. They
forwarded their petition to Governor Beasley, who according to the
State supports flying the flag and who had addressed the conference a
few hours earlier.

     Asserted Attorney Tom Turnipseed of Columbia, "The Confederate
flag is the flag of white supremacy. That's all it is." Former
campaign manager for George Wallace, Mr. Turnipseed is now a racial
justice activist and CDR board member, 

     While church burnings and other manifestations of racism, in
South Carolina were a major focus understandable, given that most
participants were state residents - conference leaders did not let the
rest of the nation off the hook. "South Carolina doesn't stand alone,"
said Dr. Jones of the NCC. "What we see here is happening all over the
country. We also see a community that wants to stand up and call the
nation to accountability for racism everywhere. It's the nation's sin
that must be addressed," 

     Furthermore, he asserted, racism is nonpartisan and hurts
everyone "whether you are black, white, red or other." Dr. Jones
called on people to confess their complicity and collaboration with.
racism, turn away from 'the politics of division and exclusion," take
steps toward repairing the damage racism has inflicted, and seek
reconciliation, "not simply integration but learning to live together
and know we are all children of God." 

     Dr Campbell declared the conference - the first in a nationwide
series - "a small -beginning on a large problem," She said the NCC
stands ready to help local anti-racism initiatives if asked. The
Council also can serve as a "megaphone" to bring local problems and
initiatives to national attention, she said, noting the Council's role
in reporting that arson attacks,; on African American churches were on
the increase and followed a pattern. 

     -end-