Barbara Okamoto Bach
I love my church! Through organizing efforts of the anti-racism ministry, backed by Bishop Councell’s faithful support, the Diocese of New Jersey is making progress toward building the Beloved Community. It is a slow journey to affect transformational change, but I feel optimistic at this time that our diocese has the vision, tools, and desire to become an anti-racist church. The anti-racism ministry, comprised of the Anti-Racism Commission and the Anti-Racism Team, organized or sponsored significant events in 2011:
o 2.5-day training seminar on understanding and analyzing systemic racism,
o weekend youth retreat on racism,
o Service of Repentance and Reconciliation consecrating slave graves in Perth Amboy,
o 14-week diocesan “One Book” online book discussion,
o full-day biennial Diocesan Conference led by The Rev. Joseph Barndt, and
o ongoing introductory anti-racism training for parishes in transition.
o Additionally, a group of 21 diocesan priests discussed the book in October, and several parishes plan to read and discuss this book in 2012.
Through these events and Joe’s book, many people learned about issues of institutional racism in the church, and the differences between “individual meanness” (as Joe terms personal race prejudice and bigotry) and institutional racism, multicultural diversity and anti-racist multicultural diversity, stolen stories and an anti-racist gospel. Events in 2011 attracted more advocates and followers of the diocese’s anti-racism activities, and several churches are interested in learning more.
But there also remain churches that won’t join the movement. Our organizing efforts would like to reach a critical mass of New Jersey Episcopalians who understand and will work toward the changes necessary in individual parishes and the diocese to become an anti-racist church. Regrettably maybe your parish and my parish won’t face the sin of racism and the illness in their structures, regrettable because those churches won’t become the houses of worship that they could become.
Thank you to all who read and wrote about and shared this book with others. Please use it and don’t let it gather dust. We titled this book discussion simply and directly “anti-racist church,” because that is our vision and goal. But isn’t it redundant? When we become anti-racist, we will surely be the church.
Noreen Duncan
Joe Barndt ends the book with the fitting exhortation that we must become a “globally interdependent anti-racist church.” At the end of our New Jersey Anti-racism conference in November, he led a session with members of the Anti-racism Commission and Team during which he raised the important issue of immigration, emerging and entrenched racist practices and legal maneuverings all across the country. As a Team and Commission, we have had tentative and cursory discussions of immigration injustice in New Jersey, but we have not put immigration in the forefront of our struggles to make our church an anti-racist institution. This is such a glaring oversight! To recognize the racist manifestations of immigration policies and to fight to ensure that anti-racism work must be part of the struggle does not deny or negate the historical and continuing racist practices that have crippled people of African descent in the USA; in fact, it strengthens and deepens the analysis of racism as an institution in US history and contemporary practice.
Today, January 3rd , is the day on which Republicans in Iowa have gone to the polls to choose their caucus favorites. The run-up to today has kept the talking heads and soothsayers on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and BBC news busy, charting, predicting, covering. But there has not been much analysis, other than “outrage,” at Rick Santorum’s bold plans to “keep the country’s money out of the hands of ‘black people.’” This public scorn and ridicule of African descendants in the USA does not much warrant charges for Santorum to abandon the presidential race by the media pundits. In fact, there was much commentary on his sweater vests. That is how institutional racism works! Santorum has been described as “bold,” “honest,” “edgy,” a “true conservative,” but not a racist. And he by himself, if we are to apply our common definition, is not racist. But the responses to his comments are symptoms of a racist system and culture. As Joe Barndt writes at the end of the book, “Racism is dying, but it is kept alive on institutional life-support systems.” Our church, our Baptismal Covenant, must give us the strength and power to pull the plug on institutional racism.
