Anti-Racism Work Begins in Southern Province
A racial reconciliation forum was held on February 2, 2009 at Home Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It brought together provincial officials, bishops, lay leaders, and pastors. Organizers were excited by the 35 folks who responded to their invitation and the enthusiasm that surfaced on the topic of dismantling institutional forms of racism in our immediate culture.
The event was sponsored by the Anti-racism Team (ART) of the Southern Province, which was formed by the Provincial Elders’ Conference in response to Resolution 24 of the 2006 Synod. The resolution formerly expressed an apology for the involvement of the Southern Province as an institution in the mechanisms of slavery from the late 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. This story is well documented by the Rev. Dr. C. Daniel Crews in Neither Slave Nor Free (Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, NC: 1998) and Jon Sensbach in A Separate Canaan (UNC Press: 1998).
Resolution 24 also called for the formation and training of an ART to work with the Provincial Elders’ Conference in the task of addressing ways of understanding how the culture of the Southern Province has been affected by institutional racism. The task of the ART is not sensitivity or diversity training, nor addressing racism on a personal or individual level. The goal is to examine how the institutional structures of the Southern Province, like all other institutions in American culture, have been entangled with attitudes and decisions that support and perpetuate racism.
The rationale for this scope of work comes from the discovery that institutional racism is 10-times more powerful than personal prejudice and bigotry. Thus addressing it at this level is far more fruitful. Furthermore, cultural racism, which has the power to injure, diminish, and destroy us all, is 100-times stronger than personal racism. Therefore working to dismantle institutional forms of racism is not just a kind thing to do; it is an active way to prevent further injury and destructive action in the larger society.
The ART believes this work has a clear foundation in the New Testament (e.g., Colossians 3:12-17 and Galatians 3:28) as well as our Moravian Covenant for Christian Living (paragraphs 32-33) and the Ground of the Unity (“Church as a Brotherhood”). It also believes that our province cannot realize its full potential and giftedness until it seeks to be fully open and involved with the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural vision of ministry described in our foundational documents.
Working on the personal level often is short lived and results in token policies that leave everyone disappointed. Addressing racism on an institutional level allows for a more objective effort that yields results that are more likely to be measurable and helpful to all involved.
The ART, which completed six months of intensive training in June 2007, used the forum to express what it has learned about our provincial story in relationship to racism. There are several notable high points and low points. Like most religious structures in our immediate culture, institutionally we have been relatively quiet and indifferent about racism. By supporting the primary state and federal laws (like segregation) racism became deeply entangled in how we grew and developed our congregations and overall ministry. The effort to change our institutional culture to one that is truly anti-racist and multi-cultural begins in thoughtful conversation and shared awareness for where we have been. The forum was a first step.
The forum, with special guest speakers from the Institute to Dismantle Racism (IDR) in Winston-Salem, attempted to open such a conversation between provincial leaders. The Rev. Willard Bass, Director of IDR, led a dialogue around privileges that the general society provides for people while denying the same level of access and openness to people of color. The Rev. Nathan Parish of IDR shared his personal story of how institutional racism plays a dynamic role in shaping identity and ministry in congregations. As a result, the biblical visions of evangelism and mission seem very different from what actually occurs.
The ART was able to conduct a special dialogue before and after the forum with several lay leaders and pastors working in congregations that have taken intentional efforts to engage ministry with two or more cultural groups in their midst. The team is learning how to be a support resource for congregations seeking to do the same.
A key message that evolved from the proceedings is that dismantling institutional racism is “glacial” work. It is slow moving because we often assume it is about fixing someone else rather than owning our own attitudes and patterns. It’s painful to discover how efforts related to ministry may seem heartfelt, but actually work to limit the involvement of people who are different in culture and color.
Another key message is that becoming “color blind” is not an authentic reflection of celebrating the full humanity and giftedness God has provided. To be color blind assumes that color and culture do not matter when they are part of the “tapestry of life” God has intended.
Much excitement and conversation emerged from the event. The ART remains engaged with provincial leaders seeking to fully realize the biblical call for growing into the full stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:11) and the vision of being fully one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
