Seeking Social Justice

For those who missed the recent symposium on race and the criminal justice system at the Carter G. Woodson Institute, here is a link to a podcast for some of what took place including the roundtable on Virginia featuring local leaders.  This link requires i-tunes, which can be downloaded for free: https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/BrowsePrivately/virginia-public.2058928044.02058928051.2063283313?i=1951354405

Upcoming symposium sponsored by the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies - The Problem of Punishment:  Race, Inequality, and Justice on April 16 & 17, 2009.  Keynote address by Angela Y. Davis, all events free and open to the public.

click here for more information http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/woodson/symposium/index.html

Feb. 12, 2009,  Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, the NAACP turned 100 years old — just a few weeks after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States.  In the Spring of 2000 another milestone was celebrated with the publication of the book, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, edited by Julian Bond, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP and Sondra Kathryn Wilson, the executor of James Weldon Johnson’s literary estate in celebration of the 100^th birthday of the song of the same name.   The book is a collection of over 100 essays by prominent African Americans offering their thoughts about the songs’ impact on them.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing”, adopted by the NAACP as “The Negro National Anthem” in 1919, was originally written as a poem.  It was publicly performed in 1900 by 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, FL where James Weldon Johnson — poet, songwriter, and lawyer — was the Principal.  The school was celebrating Lincoln’s birthday and Johnson wrote the words to introduce their honored guest speaker, Booker T. Washington.  Five years later, the poem was set to music by John Rosamond Johnson, James’ brother, and it became a way for African Americans to demonstrate their courage, patriotism, and hope for the future.

James Weldon Johnson’s face was very familiar  at the NY Headquarters of the NAACP in the 1920’s when he was the Executive Secretary.  He worked alongside other well-known African Americans:  W.E.B. DuBois, the editor of the organizations’ Crisis magazine and Langston Hughes, who wrote the first history of the NAACP.  Julian Bond, as a young student, was also a member of the NAACP and led the activist Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.   He returned to the organization in 1998 as the Chairman of the board.

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Sojourners - February 22, 2009

Questions: What does the election of Barack Obama mean to you personally, and how does it challenge our work in racial justice at Sojourners? Are we too “comfortable” at Sojourners, given the fact that we “love’ everybody?

The election of Barack Obama means this to me personally.

HOPE. One of the best-loved campaign pictures, and my favorite, is the one in black and red on which is written, “HOPE.”

Hope for many things-but especially hope for change for the injustices and inequalities experienced by African-Americans since they were first brought here in chains.

As a little girl in racist Alabama, I wondered why we called our maid, “Susie”, instead of Mrs. Kemp. All polite southern children referred to anyone older than they as Mr., Mrs. or Miss.

I wondered why my dad rebuked me for saying, “Yes, Sir” to an elderly dignified man riding by our country home on a mule. Dad said, “Never call an N—– sir.” 

I wondered why my black playmate called me Miss Dell but I referred to her without the “Miss”.

When I went to college in Chicago, I often wrote Susie, and I always addressed the envelopes, “Mrs. Susie Kemp.” Perhaps with the hope that someday she would be treated with the respect of her white peers.

 You can imagine my thrill at being able to say “President Barack Obama” to a partly African-American.

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This poem was read by Allison Linney at Sojourners United Church of Christ on Sunday, February 22^nd.  It was written by her brother, the Reverend George E. Linney, III on January 21, 2009, a day after a watershed moment in our history, the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44^th President of the United States of America.

 A plea to 44 and me

Some said your inaugural words were condescending
I say prophetic
Your words were a call to service
A call to take responsibility
Critics said there was no memorable line,
like
Ask not what your country…
or
We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

But you encapsulated both JFK and FDR when you charged me to fight poverty
I heard you charge me to educate the poor 
Who are the poor?

In my world
they are children
they are boys of color
and while everyone around me wonders when will I arrive
When will George take a Church of his own?  Why?

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Rev. Marcus R. Ingram
February 22, 2009
Sojourners United Church of Christ

Does the election of Barack Obama usher in a new era of race relations, and how is it related to our faith?

The headlines around the world have been stunning - “Change Has Come,” “A New Dawn,” “Obama cambio la historia,” “A Dream Fulfilled,” and “Danke, Mr. President.” Without doubt, the candidacy and election of President Barack Obama has elevated American political consciousness in ways that most of us have never seen in our lifetimes. Our President’s international heritage and Kenyan ancestry invites a larger community into conversation unlike any other leader of the United States.

While history will likely tell the story of a little-known community activist who transferred his organizing skill onto a national political stage, the narrative will be incomplete if it does not chronicle the ways in which our racial consciousness has been unmasked, unnerved, and unsettled. From critiques in the African American community that inquire, “Is this Ivy-League educated, multi-racial politician ‘Black enough’?” to the fear-inducing “You know his pastor is a radical, anti-American Liberation Theologian,” President Barack Obama has at least kindled a discourse on race that has enlightened some, enraged others, and, I believe, enthralled us all.

Never once has our new President referred to himself as the “Black candidate,” yet even the most “progressive” of us have seen him as such. In the same breath that many of us want to celebrate the election of the first African American President of the United States of America, we also want to make this historic election an example of how race has been transcended. While I am not resistant to a “both-and” perspective, this seeming contradiction potentially points to a tendency in American (and Western) culture to be both reductionist and revisionist. It is remarkable to imagine what generations after us will think when they scroll through the photos of our country’s presidents and arrive at the early twenty first century. Astute historians will certainly speak about the powerful intersection of technology with grassroots activism that transitioned from being mocked, to a, if not, the defining factor in the victory of President Obama. But, many more will posture about what it meant for America to elect its first non-white president.

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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.