wfn.org | Black Episcopalians vow to rebuild a church without racism

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2001-182

Black Episcopalians vow to rebuild a church without racism

by Frankye V. Regis

     (ENS) "Rebuild My Church" was the goal set at the 33rd annual conference of 
the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE), held June 24-29 in Hartford, Connecticut, 
and the majority of speakers spoke on how to eradicate racism in the Episcopal 
Church as a means of accomplishing that goal.

     During her keynote address, UBE's president, the Rev. Sandye Wilson of 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, challenged each local chapter to create a project that 
would significantly transform their communities and come back next year to report 
on their projects. She also reminded the audience that the UBE was formed because 
of racism and oppression. "We have to remember that. The sin of racism is still 
alive. What we are doing on the inside to ourselves is worse than what's on the 
outside." 

     At the General Convention in Denver last year, Wilson said UBE 
representatives reached out and formed coalitions with other Episcopalians of 
color. She encouraged UBE members to go back to their local chapters and build 
similar coalitions.

     "We're stronger together than we are apart," Wilson said. "Rebuilding our 
church must move beyond gathering once a year. It's with us everyday. Nobody is 
immune. We are all in this boat together. We will die in the boat from starvation 
of the spirit unless we recognize this. Why don't we become an organization that 
people want to emulate?" she asked.

Not a melting pot, but a salad

     Coalition building to combat racism was the focus of a meeting Wilson held 
with a Latino caucus during the gathering. The Rev. Butch Naters-Gamarra, 
missioner for multicultural ministries for the Diocese of Los Angeles, said the 
meeting was a follow up to another meeting the two groups had in Denver.

     "We are here today because of the leadership of UBE," said Gamarra, who 
described himself as "Chinese, black, Indian and Latino." "Our black brothers and 
sisters have worked on this since Absalom Jones. The [white] system has always 
been to divide and conquer. We got wise and learned from the black leadership."

     In 2003, Wilson said, UBE will go into General Convention with a mandate for 
change. She said there are almost 8,000 Episcopal congregations in the United 
States and only five black priests who are in charge of white parishes.

     Globally, the Anglican Church is a church of color, Gamarra pointed out. "We 
know that in the next 15 or 20 years, the majority of the population in Los 
Angeles will be people of color. The church needs to be prepared to welcome 
whoever wants to come," he said.

     "We all may have come over in different boats, but we're all in the same 
boat now. Jesus Christ is our banner. It's about God, not about the Episcopal 
Church. It's not about a melting pot; it's about a salad with its own 
ingredients."

Teach the children

     Other black Episcopalians at the meeting discussed the need to educate 
children about their culture and heritage as a way to break down the barriers of 
racism in the church.

     The Rev. Katherine Ward, rector of St. Augustine in Oakland, California, was 
an educator for 40 years and said it is important that all Episcopalians learn 
about and respect each other. "We have for too long allowed people to keep us at 
odds with each other and then they don't have to worry about us," she said. 

     Ward said it's also important that black Episcopalians teach their children 
about their own culture. "It's important that we learn who we are and respect 
each other. For 300 years, the dominant culture taught us to hate ourselves."

     "Children are not the future, they are the present," added Gamarra. "We as 
people of color in this church can be models of the world as its supposed to be."

Resisting assimilation

     Several speakers at the conference addressed ongoing efforts to combat 
racism in the Episcopal Church.

     The Rev. Dr. H. Dean Trulear, visiting professor of urban ministry and 
public policy at Drew University and faculty member at the Center for Urban 
Theological Studies in Philadelphia, coupled his topic, "The Handwriting is on 
the Wall," with the conference's theme of "Rebuild My Church."

     Trulear spoke to the opening plenary from the Book of Daniel and paralleled 
the struggles and enslavement of black people in America with the Jews' 
enslavement centuries ago in Babylon. He said the Babylonians brought in the Jews 
and absorbed them in Babylonian culture so they would forget their own culture.

     "Daniel chose to serve God and God put him in a position of influence, not 
by working with the poor, but by working with people of influence." Trulear said.

Guests in their own church

     The topic of racism and oppression within the Episcopal Church was a theme 
in several workshops. 

     The Rev. Dr. Lynn Collins, staff officer for Black and Urban Ministries, led 
a workshop entitled "How Black is Black?" in which she explained that the word 
"black" has been redefined by people of African descent as a culture, not as a 
color.

     "Being black is a cultural identity," she said. "It includes the Caribbean. 
It is not an ugly color. It is not something negative."

     At the turn of the century, Collins said that black men were not ordained in 
the church because they couldn't attend Episcopal seminaries. She said that black 
Caribbean clergy were trained in Barbados to run black Episcopal churches in 
America. It wasn't until the 1930s that the church allowed black men to attend 
Episcopal seminaries. 

     "The system is so racist, we can't get through the process," Collins said. 

     Although black people have been in the Episcopal church for 400 years, "many 
of us have been treated like we're guests in someone else's church," added the 
Rev. Dr. Joy Browne, assistant professor of Pan-African studies at the University 
of Louisville.

Rebuild with the faith of ancestors

     Throughout the conference, speakers said that slavery and oppression of 
black people is the root of racism in the Church. 

     The Rev. Dr. Barbara Headley, the first woman senior pastor of Faith 
Congregational Church in Hartford, said, "Young people say they are tired of 
hearing about slavery and the past. But I tell them that if you don't know your 
history, you are bound to repeat it. You don't hear the Jews saying they are 
tired of hearing about the Holocaust.

     "People say the civil rights movement didn't accomplish what it should 
have," she went on. "But we took the blessings and ran from the movement. God did 
not allow us to go through the struggle so we could step in the shoes of our 
oppressors. There's something profound about being black and Christian. It's 
something that bound us together."

     Headley said the church in America is in a wilderness, and it needs the eyes 
of a people who have been in the wilderness to bring them out.

     "African Americans have been through struggles and know how to lead the 
church through the wilderness," she said. "We have faith, the testimony. The 
world needs us to tell them that God is a good God. He will not fail you or 
forsake you. This is our purpose. This is why the Diaspora is sprinkled over the 
world. We must stand and say, we will rebuild our church with the faith of our 
ancestors."

Make room for black youth too

     While the adults were focusing on "rebuilding the church," UBE youth focused 
on trying to get the adults to recognize and support them as a viable force in 
the Episcopal Church. They attended workshops on exploring ways of praying, 
thanksgiving, and adoration, and also helped plan and lead a Youth Eucharist 
service at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. 

     "The kids reminded us that Jesus tells us to come and grownups say wait 
until we get this or that, and Jesus doesn't put those limitations on us," said 
the Rev. Ellis Clifton, Jr. of St. Michael's in Milton, Massachusetts, national 
youth advisor for UBE. "I hear young people say that that there is room for old 
people's music, clothes, expressions, and room for theirs too. That's what 
inclusion is all about." 

     The conference was "packed with meat; no one can say that hungry people were 
fed hot air," remarked Wilson. "The Holy Spirit moved among us and served as a 
catalyst to both inspire us, draw us together and challenge us about the work we need 
to do in rebuilding our congregations and transforming our communities."

--Frankye Regis is the editorial assistant for Good News, published by the Diocese 
of Connecticut.