wfn.org | Cleveland's baseball mascot draws fire from racial monitoring

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Sept. 30, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
{556}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #557.

ARLINGTON, Va. (UMNS) - A United Methodist agency is asking that the
denomination's top legislative body not meet in Cleveland in the year
2000 because of depictions of Native Americans by the Indians baseball
team.

The Commission on Religion and Race, which monitors racial inclusiveness
in the church, is asking that the denomination's 2000 General Conference
be held in another city. The commission is taking that stand in response
to a request by Native Americans in the agency.

Two more related decisions were made by the commission on the final day
of its Sept. 24-27 meeting in response to its Native American Concerns
Committee.

The agency's voting members agreed to ask the Commission on the General
Conference "to denounce the Cleveland baseball team's abuse of  Native
American names" in letters to city and state officials and the team
owner, and to remove from the General Conference site-selection process
any city that has professional sports teams with Native American
nicknames, mascots and symbols unless the team is willing to talk about
changing them.

Commission member Becky Thompson of Tulsa, Okla., said such depictions
were "demeaning" to Native Americans. Attempts to substitute or amend
the request to move the 2000 General Conference - made by people
concerned with whether a relocation was possible at this point -- were
defeated. The other recommendations passed with little discussion.

The Commission on Religion and Race agreed to support continuation of
the churchwide observance of  Native American Awareness Sunday, seeing
it is an opportunity to increase attention to American Indians in the
church and society.

The 43-member commission dealt with a transition in leadership by naming
the Rev. Chester R. Jones its nominee for the position of  general
secretary. (See UMNS #550.) Pending election by the General Council of
Ministries at its October meeting, he is expected to take office Jan. 1.

The Rev. Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz, one of the commission's associate general
secretaries, was named acting general secretary for the next three
months. Barbara Ricks Thompson, the current general secretary who
retires Oct. 2 after 13 years, was honored at a banquet Sept. 26.

In continuing to explore global racism, the commission heard a
presentation about the "Filipino Face of Racism" from Bishop Daniel C.
Arichea Jr. of the Baguio Area. Filipinos do not think they have racism,
he said, but it is present in the way the government ignores the high
rate of kidnapping against Chinese Filipinos and the attitudes of
dismissal toward indigenous Filipinos. Filipinos in other countries are
more aware of racism because they frequently are victims of it, Arichea
said.

In other business, the commission awarded $703,900 from its Minority
Group Self-Determination Fund in grants to 39 projects - a substantial
increase in the amounts available. Grant distributions in recent years
have averaged about $400,000 semi-annually or $800,000 a year, according
to the Rev. Kenneth J. Deere, the associate general secretary who works
with the fund.

The committee also terminated four projects for failure to submit
progress reports, restoring $35,000 to the fund. The commission had
decided earlier to move about $50,000 in administrative costs from the
fund budget to that of the agency, further increasing the money
available for grants.

Much of the increase in the fund stemmed from a decision at the
commission's February meeting to transfer a $209,744 surplus to the fund
so that it could be used for grants. The money had accumulated over a
number of years through stringent budgeting and an increase in
churchwide giving. Before the surplus was moved to the fund, operating
reserves were brought to 25 percent of annual operating costs, the level
required by the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA).

These changes and other decisions made by the commission are part of its
efforts to bring spending, staff time and members' activities into
direct relationship with the priorities expressed in the commission's
vision statement, adopted last year. For example, the first goal is to
be in "partnership ministry" with annual conferences, and the first of
several objectives under that goal is the development of trained
leaders, including youth and young adults, as effective agents against
racism.

As the various committees worked at developing strategies for meeting
the goals, funding resources and program efforts rose substantially. The
members have decided they could do more of the commission's work, so
additional money was needed to cover their expenses.

In addition, the commission has committed itself to an evaluation of
staff salaries, and it has allocated money to help catch up with amounts
paid to the staff of other agencies and for increases for support staff.

Expected increases in office rent, health insurance and other areas
resulted in a 1999 budget that could require going back into reserves
for up to $249,597. As one of her last duties as general secretary,
Thompson reminded the members that although the reserves are sufficient
to handle such a shortfall this year, there would not be enough left to
sustain such an increase the following year. GCFA must approve all
budgets before they go into effect. 

In other action, the commission:

*	decided to urge annual conferences to include people of European
descent on conference commissions on religion and race or comparable
bodies. The Book of Discipline urges that a majority of conference
commission membership be racial and ethnic minority people, the
commission noted, but it expects white people to be included. 

*	voted to affirm the work with immigrants being done by the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and urged continuing
conversations with that agency and the Board of Church and Society to
develop a unified approach to "the plight of immigrants." This issue has
become a concern of the commission because it is seen as having racial
overtones.

*	approved reports from on-site reviews of the Alaska Missionary,
Central Texas and New England annual conferences. Such reviews are
continuing as part of the commission's monitoring of the denomination.
For the first time, the agency and the Commission on the Status and Role
of Women will work with the University Senate's Commission on
Theological Education in reviewing a United Methodist seminary. The
review will be Nov. 8-10 at Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

*	launched a yearlong observance of its 30 years of ministry for
racial justice in the church. Former board and staff members spoke at a
kickoff luncheon. They included Rhett Jackson, a commission member from
1968 to 1978. Donald Hayashi, who was a youth commission member during
the commission's second decade, and Evelyn Fitzgerald, former associate
general secretary, spoke about the years 1978-88. General Secretary
Thompson and Bishop Elias Galvan, vice president, spoke about the agency
in the last 10 years. Bishop Woodie W. White, the commission's first
general secretary, also addressed the group via videotape.

The executive committee is expected to meet in March. The commission's
next full meeting will be in September 1999.
# # #

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