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Racial Justice
The legal exoneration of the man who killed Antwon Rose last summer has sent yet another shock wave through our community. It seemed inconceivable that a man shooting and killing an unarmed boy who was fleeing from him could be found innocent of wrongdoing. Yet that is precisely what the jury determined. It is claimed that their decision hung on a single factor, that the killer was an on-duty police officer. In Pennsylvania, police are legally given discretionary latitude to shoot at anyone they deem to be a danger to themselves or to others. Yet what is “legal” and what is “right” can be very different.
Historically, Presbyterians have contributed to white supremacy culture. But they’ve also done plenty of reparative work in recent years, three Presbyterian officials said during a Friday workshop at the White Privilege Conference.
Ali Michael, an author and the co-founder and director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators, says her main task as a white person working primarily with other white folks toward racial justice is “to find my lane and go as fast as I can — in my lane.”
Dr. Ivory Toldson knows BS when he sees it.To Toldson, one of three Friday keynoters during last week’s White Privilege Conference, BS stands for “bad statistics.” One such statistic that received widespread circulation was the claim there are more black men in prison than in college. That statistic, said Toldson, a professor of counseling psychology at Howard University and president and CEO of the QEM (Quality Education for Minorities) Network, was wrong, even if those who made the claim were “making a legitimate point.”
Thirteen hundred people are gathered in this Eastern Iowa community through Saturday for the 20th White Privilege Conference. Attendees were treated Thursday to a pair of thoughtful keynote addresses and the first of what will be their choice of more than 100 workshops.
Dr. Stephen Nelson, a pediatric hematologist at Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, had some alarming statistics for those attending his Thursday workshop “The Healer’s Power: How Whiteness Kills” at the White Privilege Conference.
To hurt the Earth is to hurt the poor, Gordon Aeschliman wrote in “The Green Bible: Understanding the Bible’s Powerful Message for the Earth.” He added: “It shouldn’t be surprising that creation and justice are inextricably linked” and that to keep the garden, as humans are told to do in Genesis 2, is the same notion as the Numbers 6:24 blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you.
Last week during their first day engaging communities in South Louisiana that were hit hard by natural and human-caused environmental disasters, members of the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee took a bayou boat ride courtesy of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe.
As it meets for the 243rd time March 11-12 in Richmond, Va., Synod of the Mid-Atlantic acknowledges it’s meting “at a precarious time,” according to Warren J. Lesane, Jr., the synod’s Executive and Stated Clerk.
During the coming week a number of varied events will occur at and around Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va., to honor the enduring legacy of the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon.
