wfn.org | New Endowment For Racial Justice Is Renamed

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

3-June-1997 
97225 
 
                New Endowment For Racial Justice   
              Is Renamed After Hawkins And Buchanan 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--A unique new $1 million permanent endowment to be formally 
announced during the Moderator's Conference on Racial Justice and 
Reconciliation, June 6-7 in Charlotte, N.C., has been renamed the 
"Hawkins-Buchanan Fund for Racial Justice," a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
official here said May 30. 
 
     The endowment is named in honor of the late Rev. Edler Garnet Hawkins 
(1908-1977) and the Rev. John M. Buchanan, both noted Presbyterian 
ecumenists, civic and community leaders. In 1958, Hawkins was elected as 
the first African-American moderator of the Presbytery of New York City. In 
1964, he was elected as the first African-American moderator of the General 
Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Hawkins also 
served as chair of the Commission on Religion and Race, the Council of 
Church and Race of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the 
Presbyterian Economic Development Corporation and the Witherspoon 
Development Corporation. 
 
     Buchanan, in his first official visit as moderator of the 208th 
General Assembly (1996), traveled to Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church 
in Charlotte, N.C., after it was torched by an arsonist last summer and had 
conversations with clergy and laity on antiracism initiatives and racial 
reconciliation.  He also visited Mt. Zoar and Little Zion Baptist churches 
in Boligee, Ala., where he reaffirmed the denomination's historic 
commitment to racial justice and its commitment to turn tragedy into a 
source of good. Buchanan is also pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in 
Chicago, which for decades has conducted ministries that benefit residents 
of Cabrini Green, the nation's oldest and largest public housing project. 
 
     The endowment was originally named after the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake 
(1906-1985), a noted Presbyterian ecumenist who championed peace and civil 
rights. However, PC(USA) leaders were unaware at the time that the World 
Council of Churches (WCC) and National Council of Churches (NCC) had been 
working since Blake's death to establish their own endowment, the "Eugene 
Carson Blake Endowment for Ecumenical Leadership Development Advancement." 
That endowment will be officially announced during the 209th General 
Assembly (1997), according to the Rev. John B. Lindner, director of the 
Ecumenical Development Initiative of the WCC and NCC. 
 
     "We did not realize another fund named after Blake had been 
established," said the Rev. Otis Turner, associate for racial justice in 
the National Ministries Division. "However, we believe it's fitting that 
the endowment be named after Hawkins and Buchanan, since both are 
ecumenists and champions of justice." 
 
     Under the terms of the endowment, which is managed by the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, once the total principal and interest of the 
fund has reached $1 million, 90 percent of the income will be paid to the 
Racial Justice Program Area of the National Ministries Division (NMD) or 
its successor and the remaining 10 percent will be reinvested in 
perpetuity. 
 
     The NMD's Racial Justice Program Area will use the income from the 
fund to support programs of racial justice, reconciliation and healing in 
the church and society. These programs include antiracism training, 
resource development for racial justice ministries, racial justice policy 
development, community organizing ministries, cultural exchanges and racial 
conflict resolution. 
 
     "The idea here is to institutionalize [Hawkins' and Buchanan's] 
emphasis on racial justice and reconciliation through an endowment fund 
that will continue this emphasis and in the long run create a financial 
vehicle that will not be susceptible to budget fluctuations," Turner said. 
"It will be a significant symbol that this church cares enough about this 
issue to make it a permanent institutional fixture and not something that 
we do until the next budget cut comes along." 
 
     In addition to Turner and Buchanan, the endowment founders include the 
Rev. Curtis A. Kearns, Jr., NMD director; the Rev. Helen Locklear, NMD 
associate for racial ethnic leadership; Sara Lisherness, associate for the 
Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in the Congregational Ministries Division; 
and the Rev. Jovelino P. Ramos, NMD associate director. 
 
     Susan A. Gray, client services representative for the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, said as of April 30 that $651.44 had been 
placed in the fund. Presbyterians wanting to give to the endowment can mail 
their gifts to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, 200 E. Twelfth 
Street, Jeffersonville, IN 47130. The account number for the endowment is 
58409. 

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