This weekend is Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr weekend. It is an invitation to revisit racism and systemic racism, to recommit to the work of undoing racism within our hearts and selves, within our institutions, within our systems and governments, and within our society as a whole.
I remember the day I went to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. It was such a powerful experience. I sat on the bus Rosa Parks sat on, next to her statue reflecting upon the courage it took for her to not move in the face of white hatred. I stood in Rev Dr King’s hotel room, the place where he was martyred.
Yet, the most powerful moment came unexpectedly. I turned a corner in the museum, and directly before me was a full sized screen playing water hoses being sprayed at protestors. As I turned the corner the hose was directed at me! There was no person in the video. The water was spraying its full power directly at me. It literally knocked me off center. I stumbled backwards to recover my balance.
Then I stood. I stood there with water spraying at me like a deer in headlights. Tears came to my eyes. I wept. I wept for my black and brown brothers and sisters who are still at the receiving end of oppression and violence.
I wept that they stood strong against this wall of water, and yet it did not bring them full freedom and equity.
I wept that they still, today, have to stand strong against the waters of racism that are sprayed daily at them.
I wept.
My heart was transformed in that moment!
Since that day, I consciously work at my own internalized racism. I confront the stereotypes that have been instilled within me by the culture and society I grew up in.
I encourage those around me to do their own work. I encourage the congregations I pastor to continue to deepen their work as anti-racist allies.
The work is never complete. There is always more for us to do. There are systems of oppression within our congregations that we need to dismantle – systems that we do not always wish to acknowledge.
There are ways we relate to each other that create an invisible boundary to keep people of color from our worshipping communities. It takes work and commitment to consciously acknowledge and address them.
There are the ways we talk about mission and outreach that create an us vs. them mindset – buying into the stereotypes and systems of oppression that privilege white people. It takes conscious work to undo that culturally instilled way of being.
There is so much work to do to create full equity, to transform the systems of oppression into equity for all. Please notice I did not say equality. I wrote equity purposefully. Equity is harder and more challenging to create. Yet equity helps us to create an experience of justice.
This Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr weekend, I invite you to contemplate where you are.
What have you been reading that continues to challenge you to deepen your work of undoing racism within yourself and the communities around you?
What actions are you taking to work for equity between you and your black and brown brothers and sisters?
What is UCCEG doing to advocate for undoing racism in our members and our congregation?
How are you reaching out to advocate for equitable systems and institutions?
What are you doing to protest, to speak out when more black lives are lynched in this country?
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us that “the arc of the moral Universe is long and it points toward justice.”
The Sacred calls us to do the work so that the Universe can point toward justice.
Will you commit to deepening your work this coming year?
Here is a list of wonderful books to engage:
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The Sum of Us By Heather McGhee
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
An Indigenous People’s History of the US by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (or any of her other books)
The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone
Maybe you are looking for some good movies:
I am not your Negro
The Hate We Give
Tell Them We Are Rising
The Black Church documentary (I believe you can find this on YouTube)
13th (About the 13th Amendment on Netflix)
Here is a link to the PSEC Racial Justice Committee
