wfn.org | United Methodist pastor finds call to action in Jasper tragedy

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

TITLE:United Methodist pastor finds call to action in Jasper tragedy

June 18, 1998        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{368}

NOTE:  This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #369.

By United Methodist News Service

The racially motivated murder of a black man in Jasper, Texas, should be
the trumpet call for all people to examine their own values and to work
for healing, said the Rev. Elijah Stansell, senior pastor at McCabe
Roberts Avenue United Methodist Church in nearby Beaumont.

Stansell has been working to help his community come to terms with the
death of James Byrd Jr., a black man allegedly dragged by the ankles
with a towing chain behind a pickup for nearly three miles early Sunday,
June 7. Byrd's head and right arm were ripped off in the attack.

Three white ex-convicts with links to white supremacist groups have been
arrested and charged in the case.

"When I first heard it (news of the murder), I said to myself, 'I can't
believe that we still have this barbaric, ignorant kind of behavior,' "
Stansell said.

He has listened to the news reports and is concerned about what
journalists are saying.

"What are we saying to people about the need" for guidance to address
issues of race? Stansell asked. "We are the change agent to make the
world a better place. How are we called out? What is the challenge for
us?

"This is a holistic community," he said. "We have to find a way to live
in community. We have to help people understand the dire need to do
that."

Stansell has been an agent for change. In 1995, he led the merger of the
predominantly black McCabe United Methodist Church with the
predominantly white Roberts Avenue United Methodist Church in Beaumont.
The effort presented some challenges and required building bridges.

"Differences can enrich what we're doing and are not a detriment," he
said. "The issue is how we can become a team and work as a people
together. That requires new behaviors and a new concept of seeing
things."

The process involves getting a clear understanding of another ethnic
group and learning about its views.

"When shared, myths disappear," Stansell said. "As a team, we can build
a much stronger body than we can separately. We all have gifts to bring
to the table. We must learn to appreciate those gifts.

"Human reconciliation can only take place when there is a healing of
what people are holding ... what is entangling them from the past, their
baggage," he said. Many people have yet to deal with their baggage.

In news reports, people often say, "I can't believe something like this
would happen in my community," Stansell said.

"That person is saying, 'I am not going to acknowledge the differences
in our community, and I'm not doing anything to get them on the table
and learn to deal with them,' " he said.

People must deal with the challenge daily, not just when there is a
catastrophe.

"Healing is one of the core acts, one of our objectives as a church.
Human reconciliation involves healing," he said. The church must be an
advocate for healing, he said.

Jasper is not the only place in the world where people have such a
mindset and are not working to address differences in their communities
every day, Stansell said.

"That's why this trumpet is important to sound not just at an event
(like the murder) but at all times. Human reconciliation benefits
everybody," he said.

The United Methodist Church has made strides in dealing with racism, and
more must be done, he said.

"We may not be all God called us to be, but we recognize that we need to
be all under the same umbrella. The declaration has been made," Stansell
said. "We have to keep sounding the trumpet in the community of
believers and play a vital role in helping them to care. You can't be
passive. You have to stand on the cutting edge and believe you have a
role."

When people become aware of a distant catastrophe, they must appraise
their immediate community and see where it stands, he said. Such an
appraisal should bring about some kind of arousal to do something, to
bring about justice and healing. People must be teachers to help others
understand what it means to be a part of the body of Christ, he said.

"Start by talking about it and finding out how people feel on your
block," he said. "If you find yourself saying, 'I can't believe it
happened,' you are a perpetuator of the problem."

				# # # 

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/