wfn.org | Bishop writes annual letter to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Nov. 28, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-31-71BP{535}

NOTE:  A photo of Bishop Woodie White is available for use with this story.

By United Methodist News Service

Each year, United Methodist Bishop Woodie W. White writes a letter to his
friend and colleague, the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in advance of
King's Jan. 15 birthday. White, 65, was the first staff executive for the
denomination's Commission on Religion and Race, where he served from 1969 to
1984. He was elected a bishop in 1984 and led the church's Illinois Area for
eight years. He was appointed to the Indiana Area in 1992. This year's
letter from White to the civil rights leader follows:

Dear Martin,

Well, now there can be no dispute, we are now in a new century - the 21st!
The beginning of my annual letter to you contains a sad note. Hosea Williams
died a few weeks ago. His passing signals a recognition of the Civil Rights
Movement that produced a core of leaders now nearing their sunset years.
Hosea was a unique leader among leaders. 
 
Hosea had a special identification with those at the bottom of the economic
ladder. His passion for the poor was as great as his passion to oppose
racial segregation and discrimination. His forceful personality and "in your
face" style made even his colleagues a bit uncomfortable at times. As he
moved to the respected role of state legislator, his fiery style only
slightly modified.

What never modified, however, was his passion for the poor, for the "common"
man or woman, for the homeless, for those whom the current economic
prosperity still has not touched. His annual Thanksgiving dinner, where more
than 30,000 men, women and children were fed, who might have otherwise not
enjoyed such a meal, will remain a lasting legacy in the Atlanta community.

Hosea was truly one of a kind. Only time will tell how much he will be
missed and the void his death leaves.

Martin, we have just witnessed the end of the Bill Clinton presidency.
However flawed, he included African Americans more significantly in his
administration and government than any other U.S. president in history. He
had a genuine concern for the African-American community and those still
marginalized in U.S. society and related to them with ease. Many will miss
this champion of social justice! 

Martin, you might find of interest two issues that have emerged with some
prominence: racial profiling and reparations.

Many still have no idea of the daily encounters with racism experienced by
people of color, especially African Americans, in American life - personal
expressions of racism in every day transactions to more serious systemic
encounters of an institutional nature.

DWB, Driving While Black, is a recent issue being identified and confronted.
Black Americans, especially men, are routinely stopped by law enforcement
officials, local and state, because they are black. The problem has now been
confirmed as a result of several investigations and studies conferring that
African Americans are not overly sensitive in this matter or merely
paranoid. In fact, Martin, the issue has had some attention in the recent
presidential campaign.

Perhaps the highlighting of this issue will help the nation become more
sensitive to the continuing presence of racism in American life.

Several political leaders and others are challenging the United States to
consider financial compensation (reparations) to the heirs of the thousands
of slaves who gave years of "free" labor to the emerging nation, thereby
providing a source of economic advantage, as well as causing negative impact
on the black community and especially the black family. While the matter
does not seem to yet have broad interest or support in the black community,
it could emerge as one of the most controversial race issues of this new
century. 

As one who knew and experienced the "raw" expressions of racism of the
1940s, '50s, and '60s lynchings, "Jim Crow" laws and segregation in almost
every facet of American life, I never minimize either the gains made in race
relations, or the witness and sacrifice of white persons and persons of
color who made those gains possible. Today hardly a field of endeavor in our
national life is absent of persons of color! That against the backdrop of
only 40 years ago is a significant accomplishment. It is a beginning!!

Martin, I dare not close this letter without sharing my great joy in the
election of three African American women to the episcopacy in the United
Methodist Church in July 2000, and you would delight as well, I'm sure, in
the historic election of the first woman as bishop in the A.M.E. (African
Methodist Episcopal) Church.

While racism remains a constant challenge in American life, not a day passes
without some barrier falling, some door opening, or some heart changing.  So
I take courage in this new century and continue to believe -- We Shall
Overcome!

Happy birthday, Martin.

Woodie W. White 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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