Call to Confession: Race, White Privilege, and the Church
Acknowledging, confessing, and interrupting racism and white privilege in the majority-white Church.
An Opening Editorial Yes, you read the title right. I am racist, and so is the majority-white denomination I serve, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I’m not particularly happy to admit this about myself or my Church. True, I have never engaged in explicitly hateful actions based on a person’s race
MoreA Dialogue Between Two Generations of Black Presbyterians This article originally appeared in the May/June 2002 issue of Church & Society (Vol. 92, No. 5) “The Hope and Challenge of Reconciliation Today”. Rev. Curtis A. Jones interviewed Dr. Gayraud S. Wilmore reflecting on the Confession of 1967, 35 years after
MoreIn Zora Neale Hurston’s 1928 essay, “,” she writes about her lived experience as a black woman in the South. She talks about her racial awakening, describing it as “the day I become colored.” She uses many metaphors to talk about race, including calling herself a “brown paper bag” alongside other bags
MoreA Theological Reflection Why can’t white folks in general – and white Christians in particular – be rid of the problems of white privilege and racism? Why can’t a board, a vestry, a session, or pastors and Christian Educators simply do the things necessary to solve the problem of ‘race
MoreRacism kills. It dehumanizes us all, telling some of us we are less than human and rendering others of us incapable of having a decent conversation about it. It takes our best intentions and misshapes them beyond recognition; no matter what we do or what we mean to do, we
MoreDismantling White Privilege in Institutions of Theological Education I have grown weary of liberal racism. I have grown especially weary of Christian liberal racism. White supremacy is insidious. It enables, sheds tears, and delays to deny. This sin is so exhausting. Much time is wasted explaining, returning to the scene
MoreMusic, Black Presbyterians, and Civil Rights Video used with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society, part of the Living History film project. Melva Costen, wife of former general assembly moderator James Costen, is a retired professor of music and worship. Here she discusses her family’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement,
MoreTaking a Stand for Racial Justice in the South Video used with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society, part of the Living History film project. Vernon Broyles wrestled with leadership choices in a congregation fractured over racial tension in the mid-20th century. Edited Transcript: My name is Vernon S. Broyles, III.
More“Color Me Part of the Human Family” Video used with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society, part of the Living History film project. Bettie J. Durrah, church elder, shares her experiences as a leader of Presbyterian and women’s groups, including her work as a choreopoem author. Edited Transcript: I’m Bettie J.
MoreI did not grow up Presbyterian, and I can’t identify as a ‘cradle’ or ‘prenatal’ Presbyterian, or any of the ways that I have heard born-and-bred Presbyterians describe themselves in order to firmly establish their Presbyterian street cred. No, as my longtime Presbyterian pastor once told my Committee on the Preparation
MoreCalled to Ministry on the Upper Sioux Reservation Video used with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society, part of the Living History film project. Fern Cloud shares her perspectives as a Native American Presbyterian Edited Transcript: My name is Fern Cloud. I was born in the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota reservation in
MoreRacism, Belhar, and the Church in South Africa South Africa is a deeply wounded society. More than 340 years of racist colonial and apartheid rule impacted the black majority very negatively. During this period, people of colour were not allowed to live where they wanted. The white minority owned more
MoreAt the end of 2015, with South Africa’s summer and “festive season” in full swing, a real estate agent from Durban took to social media to complain about the crowded and unkempt state of a local beach. The commentator, a middle-aged white woman, expressed her dismay using highly insulting racist
MoreWhite privilege means waking up in the morning with the ability to decide whether or not racism will be a part of your day. Just ask people of color who teach their black sons how to interact with police so that they can stay alive. Or who listen to well-meaning
MoreA Nigerian Presbyterian Reflects on the Global Slave Trade [ezcol_1half]What madness Extreme inhumanity Not accidental Not mere mistake Planned and executed In utter wickedness. Humans turned into goods Packed in tins Stored in darkness Without sunshine Without rain Utter insensitivity. Sorting of sorts The weak and the strong To utilities
MoreIt is most unlikely that Reginald Heber, vicar of the village church of Hodnet, meant to be hostile to or dismissive of the peoples of the world when he penned a hymn urging the church to its missionary task. Heber spoke and wrote often of the need for missionary work
MoreSpecial from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, originally published in the Spring 2016 edition of the PHP Post. The struggle for gender, racial, and economic justice are all parts of the same thread, and deal with similar questions of power and privilege. Rev. Dr. Melanie L. Harris, Associate Professor of Religion
More“We come to the march behind and with those amazingly able leaders of the Negro Americans who, to the shame of almost every white American, have alone and without us mirrored the suffering of the cross of Jesus Christ; they have offered their bodies to arrest and violence, to the
MoreThe author of this article has asked that she and the organization for which she works remain anonymous for the protection of the people who are undocumented with whom she works. The views of the author do not officially represent the organization. A couple of weeks ago, I was supervising
MoreIn October 2014, a group from East Liberty Presbyterian Church, the Community of Reconciliation Church, and the Verona Presbyterian Church toured together the temporary “RACE” exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Following the tour, the group gathered for lunch and a moderated conversation led by the
MoreUnited Methodist Commission on Race. Black Ministries and Latino/Hispanic Ministries – The Episcopal Church. Council for Racial and Ethnic Ministries (COREM) – United Church of Christ. Ethnic Specific and Multicultural Ministries – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries – Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). These are a few
MoreWhite Supremacy and the Church Last week, I once again found myself protesting in the streets of Chicago. Showing up to a demonstration organized by activists of color, I joined them chanting: “White Supremacy is the enemy. Shut it down! Shut it down!” As I pronounced every word, I felt
MoreThis article originally appeared in the May 1992 issue of Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought (http://perspectivesjournal.org.) It is republished her with permission of the author and the journal. I have this vivid memory of the uncertainty I felt sitting in First Presbyterian Church of Chicago at a Presbytery meeting
MoreAntiracism Conversations at the Congregational and Denominational Levels I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot
MoreIt was a typical muggy August day in Chicago when I pulled up to McCormick Seminary in my U-Haul van, trailed by a car full of college guys – my brother and his friends, who had agreed to help me move into my new seminary housing in exchange for some
MoreParticipation of Reformed Churches and Clergy in Demonstrations in Ferguson This essay is an excerpt from Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty’s contribution to Calvinism on the Peripheries: Religion and Civil Society in Europe, ed. by Ábrahám KOVÁCS, co-edited by Béla BARÁTH (Budapest: L’Harmattan, 2009), 295 pp. The events that have unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri,
MoreInterview with Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons As part of the finale to our discussion on race, white privilege, and the church, Rev. Molly Casteel – Assistant Stated Clerk and Manager for Representation, Inclusiveness, and Ruling Elder Training – sat down with Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Gradye Parsons
MoreDog-Whistling and Sin-Talk It happened most recently on a family trip to a museum. This trip was particularly special because the museum had recently accepted my wife’s fiber art piece into one of its shows. I sat outside the gallery on a balcony that overlooked the small theater that was
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