Until I finished fourth grade, I grew up on Neville Island, located about seven miles down the Ohio River from the Point — the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers forming the Ohio. Until I finished college, I lived all by two years of my life in Western Pennsylvania. If you cut me I bleed black and gold.
It is my great privilege to be in Pittsburgh tonight to participate in an event sponsored by the Amos 5:24 Mission Team of Pittsburgh Presbytery. The mission of Amos 5:24 is to assist Pittsburgh Presbytery, at all levels, to address systemic injustice and discrimination within its bound.
The team has organized a Pittsburgh Presbytery Night at Heinz History Center (PDF) to view an exhibit entitled "Free at Last? Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18th and 19th Century." Members of the team will function as docents as others from the presbytery view the exhibit.
Such acts of remembering the past play a key role as we seek to live into the future God intends for us. I am grateful that I can be present for this evening.