CONGREGATION + COMMUNITY NEWS
PEOPLES PRESS
Joyfully Defiant for the Sake of a Just World
a congregation of the United Church of Christ, the Alliance of Baptists & the American Baptist Churches
WHAT OUR DENOMINATIONS TEACH — RACE + RACISM
A small group of Peoples people meets monthly to discuss statements our denominations produce or endorse about justice issues.
This month, we looked at two documents, a Joint Statement on Racism in the U. S. (https://t.ly/2jw79) and Ahmaud Arbery: A Call to Outraged Love (https://t.ly/YEp2).
The first document is a joint statement of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Alliance of Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America—Bautistas Por la Paz. We are a member of the Alliance; the others are Baptist organizations which are part of or partners with the Alliance and the American Baptist Churches, of which we are a member.
As Deb pointed out, a joint statement is, by its nature, likely to be on the weak side in order to accommodate varying opinions by those making it. Therefore, the language is not as strong as members of Peoples Church might like it to be. This document, from June 2020, addresses specific events of that time. Because it names particular people, it is clear that document was written in response to those events, not as a broad statement against racism in totality before this time. One might even think the idea of issuing such a statement had never occurred to the members until then.
The writing is not well done, especially when publishing what should be an important and profound document. There are easily correctable minor errors, as well as wording that could be far more powerful and clear. An example of the latter: calling on state and federal governments "to avoid the use of military as a response to quell peaceful protestors" would have far more impact if the call was to prohibit, rather than avoid, such a military response. There is certainly less wiggle room with prohibiting.
Similarly, the end of paragraph two: “The recurring assaults on black people and people of color (POC) prove again and again that these lives are not worthy.” Those assaults might suggest that Black lives are not worthy, but they certainly do not prove that idea.
A second issue was the lack of clarity about what church can and should do.
The 4th bullet point states:
“We call the leadership from all sectors of our society and the state and federal highest leadership to create a national table that starts meaningful dialogues with representa6ves from the grieving black communi6es to engage, united, in a deep, authen6c and sustainable social change to combat and dismantle racism and discrimination in all its forms.”
There is no mention of joining an already existing “table.” The dialogue started long ago, if one cared to learn and listen.
As in previous documents, this one ends with “thoughts and prayers,” just phrased a bit differently: “...it is essen6al to remember that grace and forgiveness heal...” AddiOonally, every potentially actionable bullet point begins “We call...” but there is no suggestion of how we will relay that call to those addressed.
The second statement, regarding the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, is undated, and large sections of it are now immaterial because the actions referenced have been completed. This makes the document confusing if the reader has no idea of the actual timeline involved. Perhaps the only still useful suggestion is the first point, which gives not only an action but the reason for it.
“Do not circulate the video of Mr. Arbery’s shooting. Seeing this video is a traumatic experience no one should be forced or surprised to have. We recognize those who circulated the video did so to call for justice. That purpose has been served.”
The other “calls to action” are not all written as actionable items, but as statements first and, finally, a suggestion for what to do. Again, this is writing that is correctable by simply starting with the appropriate verb:
Call. Contact. Pressure.
This document represent our denomination’s stand on a vital and timely topic. It should sound a clarion call to all members about where we stand and what we intend to do to counteract racism. Instead, it presents more as a “feel good because we have something addressing racism” paper, and is easily overlooked.
After this meeting, my husband, Tom, and I spent time discussing a question I came across in a book. It asked about how far we had looked into organizations that appear to be diverse but might not have actual practices or policies related to BIPOC.
So, I checked the Alliance of Baptists website and found this statement on diversity on their Who We Are page. “We are male and female, laity and clergy, people of diverse sexual orienta6ons, gender identities, theological beliefs, and ministry prac6ces.” While the leadership of of the Alliance is quite diverse, nowhere did I find any specific mention of racial diversity. Neither the joint statement nor the Arbery statement included a call to action by the member organizations to check their own practices; likewise, neither
statement prompted the Alliance even to add a mention of racial diversity in its own self description. There is a page dedicated to THRIVE, “a five-year project to ac6vely confront structures of racism in order to remove a crucial obstacle to congrega6onal thriving.” However, there is no date at all, so I cannot know if this is a recent development or something that is no longer being pursued.
I did not have the heart to check the websites of the other organizations.
Respectfully,
Mary Ellen Fox
CREATION JUSTICE
My IRA is helping to destroy the earth!
How about yours?
I have an IRA from AIG.
I donate to several environmental groups.
Are these two statements in conflict? Yes they are!
Imagine my shock when reading a letter from one of the environmental groups to which I donate (Public Citizen) that AIG is one of the world’s largest insurers of coal, oil and gas with billions of dollars in fossil fuel investments. My IRA is fueling the climate crisis!
AIG’s support for the expansion of climate-wrecking fossil fuel production increases the frequency of wildfires, droughts, and other severe natural disasters. The AIG-insured Trans Mountain Pipeline actively harms Indigenous communities.
I was aware that banks lend money to fossil fuel companies, so I use a credit union. However, I was not thinking about insurance companies providing insurance to fossil fuel projects. Now I have to make a change regarding AIG.
Peoples Church has been looking at our investments and made changes. I am suggesting that we members need to look at where we have our money as well.
Let’s keep each other informed about which corporations are the bad actors and which are the good ones so that we can be consistent with our values. We need to make certain that our money is not destroying the earth.
— Leslie Cummings
(Peoples Church made the decision last year to move our investments to funds based on sustainability. You can read about our financial priori6es in our Financial Guiding Principles here: t.ly/Xi3f — ed.)
HOLY WEEK & EASTER WORSHIP
Palm Sunday. Gather at 11 am Sunday to ponder a parade and what it all might mean.
Maundy Thursday & Good Friday. We’ll gather online and in person each night to recount the last hours of Jesus’ life. Join us both nights to hear the whole story.
Easter Sunday. We will be online and in the house celebrating resurrection and considering a resurrected life. We’ll also receive new members and dedicate our new name to them. Bonnets not required.
IN THE COMMUNITY
The 1619 Project. Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, will speak 7pm April 13 at the Capitol Theatre.
The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine marking the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery and helping us learn about race.
The event is free; tickets are available at t.ly/B2B
IN THE CONGREGATION
Links are on the church calendar: t.ly/ALHB.
Need more info? Just ask!
Adult Forum, 9:30 am Sundays, is reading Mariame Kaba's We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Join in by zoom or in person at church. And let us know if you need a book.
Thursday Evening Study Group, Thursdays 7-8:30 pm by Zoom only, is finishing John Dominic Crossan's Resurrecting Easter: How the West Lost and the East Kept the Original Easter Vision. Need a book? We got you. We’ll also be figuring out what’s next. To be part of that conversation, log on!
Vigil for Racial Justice is still gathering 1-2 pm Thursdays on the Genesee Courthouse lawn. But only if the temp is above 20º. New Text Alert System. We have shided to a new text messaging service. If you're in our church directory, you're all set. If you're not, go to t.ly/LQC71 to sign up!
Ministers Discretionary Fund. This fund helps us help folks. Jay Cummings administers this fund, and says it's getting a little low. If you can make a special gift, please do. All the regular ways, just mark it "discretionary fund.”
In transition news, Kendall Brown will be joining Jay in this ministry, for which we are thankful!
Flint Poet Laureate Semaj Brown has invited Peoples Church to read for the Virtual Poetry Gallery/Flint Reads Poetry, an exhibition of era poems read by groups. The recordings will be part of the permanent archives of the Academy of American Poets. (Readings are all pre-recorded, so no worries about needing multiple takes.)
If you could imagine reading a poem for posterity, email Linda Angus.
This is going to be so good!
A Good Goodbye.
We are planning our goodbye for our amazing Pastor Deb. It will be a casual-but-important event following worship May 1. Circle your calendar and look for the invitation. If you would like to contribute to the gifts, food etc. please make your contribution to our Ministers Discretionary Fund. If you would like to participate
in the planning or work at the event, please call: 810 288 9036.
— Karen Eaton