Seeking Social Justice

The Ojola Group met three times in 2008 (in June, August and December). On March 30, the congregation viewed a slide show presentation after church to learn more about OCP. In June, the Service and Missions Committee contributed $300 for food, which Cindy, the group leader, hand-delivered when she traveled to Kenya in July. During her stay, Cindy visited with many Ojola children, who were thrilled with the outfits and art supplies sent by their Sojourners friends. The Ojola Group also collected headscarves which were presented to five very appreciative widows. In August, Gloria created a large poster that included drawings, thank-you notes and photos of the Ojola children; the poster has been on display in the church foyer.

The Ojola community presented Cindy with several proposals for modest income-generating projects, such as tailoring or raising chickens, which the group discussed at their August meeting. The group decided that its first priority was to maintain its current level of educational support, but would consider the additional proposals as funds become available. In December, Kate sold Christmas ornaments made by her husband and donated the proceeds to OCP.

In 2008, money was wired to Ojola in three major installments which coincided with the start of each new school term. The payments included school fees for six secondary school children and one primary school child, tuition for two older students doing diploma courses, money for uniforms, medicine, books, and assistance for widows. A substantial portion of the money was spent on food, as the cost of basic staples skyrocketed in the second half of the year.

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY CELEBRATION
Remarks made by Jim Bundy at the celebration of January 18, 2009

I have been part of the Martin Luther King Day Celebration committee since coming to Charlottesville nine years ago.  I’m happy to have contributed in a small way to keeping this event going for the last nine years, grateful to those who have seen to it for 25 years, and glad to be able to contribute a few words on this 25^th annual celebration in Charlottesville.

The committee chose a quotation from Dr. King to go on the poster advertising this year’s celebration, and therefore maybe to be one of the themes for today.  It says, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  And so I want to build my remarks around that thought: “things that matter.”  Things that matter.

One thing that matters is that we are here today. It matters of course because Dr. King is worthy of being remembered and honored, because he touched people’s hearts and changed people’s lives, because of his eloquence and his courage and his importance to our history, because of what he stood for.  It matters that we lift up such a person so that he can continue to offer us inspiration. 

There are lots of other reasons why it matters that we are here today.  Let me speak of one that occurs to me as a white person.  Those of you who are African American are welcome to listen in, but let me speak just for a moment as a white person and direct my words particularly to white people.  There is a phrase that has come into more and more use in recent years, the notion of white privilege.  It’s a concept that hadn’t begun to really sink in for me until about a dozen years ago.  It basically says that there are some privileges that white people enjoy in this society merely because they are white and that they may not be fully conscious of.  It is not just that African Americans have been deprived of many rights.  That’s certainly true and the civil rights movement has been largely about correcting those injustices. 

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If you are interested in following current legislation go to www.vacure.org , then to the links on the left side – 2009 Legislative Agenda and position papers.  Virginia C.U.R.E. is a non-profit corporation whose focus is on the Virginia criminal justice and prison system and the inmates, families, and friends whose lives are impacted by these systems.