wfn.org | Pre-Assembly workshop on racism calls commissioners to repentance

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Note #6565 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

9-June-2001
GA01006

Pre-Assembly workshop on racism calls commissioners to repentance

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE, June 9 -- Commissioners to the 113th General Assembly gathered
in the Kentucky International Convention Center on June 9 for a "special
pre-Assembly event" during which they were challenged to "affirm that racism
is a sin, a violation of God's intent for his people," and to work for its
elimination as "a matter of discipleship."

	The four-hour anti-racism workshop was scheduled in response to a call from
the 209th Assembly, in 1997, for "all governing bodies ... to undergo a
program of anti-racism training by the year 2005." The General Assembly,
which meets annually, is the highest-ranking governing body in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

	Mark Koenig, an associate in the Racial/Ethnic Program Area of the National
Ministries Division (NMD), said the event would provide only "a taste" of
anti-racism training, pointing out that recovery from racism "is not a topic
for a one-time event, but the start of a journey of growth and discovery
that lasts a lifetime."

	For context, Koenig presented statistics documenting some of the effects of
racism: the median net worth of whites in the United States is eight times
that of African-Americans and 27 times that of Hispanic-Americans; infant
mortality among blacks is more than twice that of whites, and among
Hispanic-Americans is 1.5 times that of whites; at least 95 percent of
senior managers in Fortune 1500 companies are white.

	Koenig said Presbyterians must go beyond "window-dressing activities" and
"step aside from our privilege," because "Jesus Christ calls us to the hard
work of anti-racism."

	Each of the commissioners received a copy of a report, Facing Racism: a
Vision of the Beloved Community, that was approved by the Assembly in 1999.

	Four Presbyterians spoke briefly of their personal experiences with racism:

*Teresa Chavez Sauceda said she and other Hispanic-Americans, sometimes
described as "half-breeds," are "proudly both, not half of anything, not
mixed ... but a hybrid, a new and beautiful creation."

*Anitra Mariko Cheifetz, a white woman, told her audience: "I live in sin,
because I hold social and economic advantages over people of color," and
pronounced herself guilty of "full participation in the system ...  By not
paying attention," Cheifetz said, "I was doing harm."

* Unzu Lee, a Korean-American, objected to the stereotype of "hardworking
Asian students with respect for authority, Asian-Americans who work hard and
play by the rules ... the model minority." Although they are often told to
"go back to where you came from," Asian-Americans aren't going away, she
said: "We are here to stay. We are home."

* Charles Heyward said he was called such things as "coon" and "ape" when he
was one of 16 African-American students to integrate a North Carolina high
school in the 1960s, but after surviving "three of the most difficult years
of my life," he remained a stubborn "integrationist."
Then, in 1990, Heyward and his wife were victims of housing discrimination,
an experience "so devastating" for his family that it led to a long course
of counseling and therapy. "I'm no longer an integrationist," he concluded.
"And I know a racist when I see one."

A highlight of the event was the showing of part of a video titled "The Eye
of the Storm," made in 1984 and broadcast on ABC. The film is about a class
of white third-graders in Iowa whose teacher divided them into "blue eyes"
and "brown eyes," and conferred power and privilege on one group.
Teacher Jane Elliott said she was astonished to see the "dominant" children,
who had been pleasant and kind, "turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating
little third-graders in the space of 15 minutes." Equally surprising was the
quickness with which the "out-of-favor" children took on the attitudes and
body language of victims.

The final presenter, the Rev. Otis Turner, a former associate for racial
justice policy development in the NMD, said the Assembly "during the 1960s
and '70s was on the leading edge of the campaign for racial justice," and at
that time,
"Some of us thought that the age of racism was coming to its end."

Racism still thrives today, Turner said, because of "the inaction of people
of good will and the action of people of ill will." But he pointed out that
racism is "learned behavior" that can be "deconstructed" in the PC(USA) by
means of anti-racism efforts in seven "areas of engagement":  General
Assembly, synods, presbyteries, congregations, seminaries and other
educational institutions, agencies related to the PC(USA) and the church's
ecumenical partners.

Turner said yesterday's presentation was "just the merest of an introduction
.. to the struggle for racial justice."

"It is a long journey from where we are to the Beloved Community," he
concluded.

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