On Tuesday we had Rev. Keith Daniel and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove share with us about the importance of Black history for the church. We were reminded about the ways in which individuals within the Black community have contributed to our society, but have often gone unnoticed. Keith Daniel shared the striking example of how it wasn't until his junior year of college at Duke University that he discovered that Duke Chapel was designed by an African American architect, Julian Abele.
And so we discussed how we go about remembering African Americans - how we pay special attention, and how we honor the story of Black people as part of the story we all share. A key part of our conversation was the role the Church plays in this - how has the Church (both the black church and white church) formed us about how to understand our God and what it means to be Christian, and how do we discover new ways of seeing that make us more like Jesus, that recognize everyone as made in the image of God, and that bring us together as sisters and brothers.
Below are some quotes from the evening. Also, see the video below!
From Keith Daniel:
“[There is] this dual
identity that the African American had to persist in, this sense of not
belonging, or not being human, or not being valued, or not being created in the
image of God. And those seeds are long
and deep in the roots of our history. So it’s important for members of our community
to take time to reflect that we are indeed we are the people of God. We make up
God’s beautiful kingdom here on this earth. How else will our children know
that? How else will our communities come
to embrace that identity, even in light of the persistent opposition and
obstacles our community continues to face?”
“There’s still too much dehumanization going on in our
communities in the ways we understand and interpret our narratives, and so
Black history gives us occasion to hopefully reframe and refocus on that significance.”
“Clearly it’s not a
matter of a month of reflection, it’s a matter of how communities are shaped
and how we see each other. We do a real good job in our country to still make
people invisible.”
From Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove:
“Racism
isn’t just about some laws that we used to have in this country that thankfully
we did away with, with the Civil Rights movement. Racism isn’t just about a
sort of bigotry that some nasty people have, and we all think those people are
either dead or pushed back in the mountains or something. Racism, rather is a
way of seeing the world, and it has deeply shaped the way our society works.
And it has deeply shaped our forms of Christianity…Part of my discipleship, part
of my continued conversion was going to require me to be in fellowship with
people who were Christian in black skin.”
“I think that the history that we’re talking about, Black history, includes something that Dr. Vincent Harding calls the ‘Black-led freedom movement.’ And the Black-led freedom movement, it seems to me, is the best way to learn the history and why it matters, because the same movement is happening today. And the best way to join the Black-led freedom movement as a white person like me is get on in behind some leaders who are raising these issues.”
Thanks to Keith and Jonathan, and to everyone else who came out!
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