wfn.org | United Methodist Publishing House repents for racism

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 26, 2002	News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-31-71B{432}

NOTE: For more coverage of the United Methodist Publishing House, see UMNS
#433.

By Tim Tanton*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Publishing House, once known
for its resistance to promoting minorities, formally repented for its racism
during a worship service that brought out the injustices of four decades
ago.

The repentance service, held in an African-American United Methodist church
in north Nashville, was marked by testimonials from people of different
races, as well as a "sign of confession" that jolted the 100 or so people
gathered. Acknowledging the painful past, the group also set its vision on a
better future.

"We are not what we ought to be, but thank God we are not what we used to
be," said the Rev. John Corry, the first black district superintendent in
the Tennessee Annual (regional) Conference and current president of the
United Methodist Judicial Council. "And by the grace of God, we are not yet
what we shall be."

The Publishing House's board of directors, along with other participants,
filled the sanctuary of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church on Sept. 24,
at the end of the first day of a two-day fall meeting. The "Service of
Renewed Covenant, Repentance and Reconciliation" was steeped in a rich,
African-American worship style, with an organ-driven ensemble and a choir of
13 people who sounded like 50.

Board Chairperson Myron McCoy took the group back 42 years to the 1960s,
when the civil rights movement was changing the nation and the church.

"In dealing with any kind of wound, you have to get into the infection,"
said McCoy, a Chicago pastor and the first African American to lead the
board.

Throughout that decade, the Publishing House resisted pressure to place
blacks in management positions. Moreover, it ignored a request from the 1968
General Conference, the church's top legislative assembly, that all general
agencies participate in the Project Equality program, designed to ensure
fair hiring and promotion practices.
 
Throughout the 1960s, Publishing House President Lovick Pierce insisted that
his agency didn't discriminate and that it was looking for black candidates
for administrative positions. "And the board went along," McCoy said.
Together, the president and the board perpetuated a history of not being
inclusive, he said.

Corry and others held protests in 1967 over the lack of African-American
executives at the Publishing House. Two years later, the United Methodist
Board of Church and Society's Engage magazine ran an expose on the
Publishing House's lack of progress in advancing minorities, noting that the
agency still hadn't joined Project Equality, despite the General Conference
resolution. Members of Black Methodists for Church Renewal began boycotting
the Publishing House's headquarters and distribution centers around the
country. Finally, in fall 1969, the agency joined Project Equality. 

The Rev. W.T. Handy - later a bishop - broke new ground by joining the
Publishing House in 1968 as the "publisher's representative" and eventually
becoming vice president of personnel services, the first African American to
hold an executive post. His widow, Ruth Handy, described how the Publishing
House began hiring more minorities and launched a mentoring and management
training program for African Americans.

Other speakers at the repentance service shared their personal experiences
with racism, and when the testimonials were over, the Rev. Fred Allen rose
to give a sign of confession and repentance. Allen, an African American, is
the Publishing House's new executive director of communications and
strategic projects.

He said he had tried to think of an appropriate sign for expressing
confession and repentance, then he shocked his listeners by thrusting out
his fist with a raised middle finger - the "bird." He shot the bird at those
in the pews, then at the people behind him in the choir loft. Afterward,
throwing his hands down to his side, he exclaimed that he felt "so good."
But, he added, "feeling good doesn't make it."

The "bird" had to be taken to the Lord in prayer, he said. "So as I make my
confession and throw you the bird in a posture of prayer, somehow this sign
becomes that of a candle." He asked everyone to stand up and "give the
bird," then he went into the pews and touched his middle finger with those
of others, as if sharing light from one candle to another. "There is power
in the touch," he said.

Allen explained after the service that the bird was a "symbolic sign for
everybody there," a means of releasing anger and clearing the way for
calmness and genuine confession. The flame, he said, symbolized hope. "We're
going to share light in ways that we've never done before, both black and
white," he said.

A diverse group of whites, blacks and an Asian American gave the
testimonials.

The Rev. Bettye Lewis, superintendent of Tennessee's Pulaski District, has
been the first black clergywoman in positions she has held. One of those, an
appointment to a 650-member white church, brought swift expressions of
prejudice. "The members began to panic; some even left before I arrived,"
she said. Members couldn't accept the fact that she was black and a woman,
and treated her as an invisible person in meetings. "Needless to say, the
devastating effects of racism and sexism numbed my spirit," she said. 

However, people across the conference prayed for the church, and gradually
the walls of intolerance came down, she said. "As a result, healing and
reconciliation began to take root." Later, when she returned as guest
preacher, members lined up to embrace her.

Harriett Olson, a white who serves as a senior vice president at the
Publishing House, told how her assumptions about the church were challenged
when she learned that some viewed the denomination as oppressive. She
learned that what might seem "value-neutral" to her wasn't always so for
others.

Board member Stephen McAlilly, a white from Mississippi, described the
ostracism he experienced as a young person for having black friends, and the
difficulty he had faced in working with an African American who seemed to
see issues only in black and white. McAlilly stressed the importance of
healthy relationships in the church. "If the whole is not healthy, the
individual is diminished."

"This reconciliation (for) repentance begins with the individual," said the
Rev. Dal Joon Won, the Publishing House's director of Korean- and Spanish-
language resources. "We can make a better world if we are really sincere
about this service."
 
Neil Alexander, president of the Publishing House, told those present that
they came together as the inheritors of a great mission with great
challenges as well as great failures, missed opportunities and sin. "But we
come together," he said, drawing sounds of approval from the congregation.

Allen said later that the Publishing House is developing new resources in an
effort to become an "indispensable partner" for African-American audiences.
Those include "Plenty Good Room," a Bible study built around spirituals and
stressing God's interaction with oppressed people, and "Young Lions," a
resource for building mentoring relationships between adults and inner-city
youth. The agency also is testing a vacation Bible school program
emphasizing themes of liberation and jubilee.

Of the agency's 1,066 employees, 243 - or 23 percent - are racial-ethnic
minorities.  Fifty-one people from minority backgrounds have administrative
roles - about 16 percent of the agency's total in such positions.

God is calling the Publishing House to be a model of inclusiveness, McCoy
said at the service. "I thank God that we're in this church in this city,
confessing our sins and saying that we don't ever want to go back where we
were."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org