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What Part of “All God’s Children” Will We Ever Observe?

5/25/2022

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​Editor's Note: Since Libby wrote this piece last week, following the mass murders in Buffalo, we have been horrified to learn of more horrific mass murders at Robb Elem
entary School in Uvalde, Texas.  When will people of faith move beyond "thoughts and prayers" to take substantive action?
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​by Elizabeth Sholes, Director Emerita Public Policy

The mass murder of 10 Black Americans Saturday May 14 was sickening to all people of conscience. The shooter left massive evidence of his deliberate and calculated intent in his car and on his electronic gear. This was not an act of a mentally-ill person but one who carefully and deliberately planned the attack to get rid of as many Black people as possible.
 
We by now have read that he embraced the “replacement theory” propagated by extremists. It is the fear, that has been around since at least the 1960s, that the white race (as if it’s one solid block of people) is being replaced by people of color, especially immigrants.  Why that led the shooter to target Black Americans is unclear, but extremism is rarely rational. 
 
The shooting at a supermarket, TOPS, on the East Side has more than general horror for me. I lived in Buffalo for many years and was the originator of an effort to get a community-owned supermarket into that neighborhood.  “Our Market” was its name.  It did not succeed for a lot of reasons, the TOPS finally came to this food desert area. 
 
I’m glad of that, but the effort to build a community owned store was wonderful; it put me in contact with many community members and especially with the Masden District then-Council Member, David Collins who was a man of extraordinary vision and concern for his constituents.  He had a civil rights legacy second to few, and his actions were always principled and concerned for people and their needs.
 
Thanks to David’s friendship, I was involved in his campaigns, his activism for social justice, and through him met other good people, some of whom became friends. For years they were my “warmth of other suns”, anchors in my city to what was good, righteous, just, and downright fun.  I associate all we did as passionate justice coupled with raucous laughter, hard work followed by dancing, unending campaigning and delicious food.  It just doesn’t get better than that.
 
To have this area the target of such hate is incomprehensible. To have these people, these good, decent, hard-working, and loving people, cut down so disgustingly is almost more than I can bear.
 
How do we end these horrors?  For those of us who are white, where is our voice in all this?  How do our congregations and our voices matter?  
 
When do we make manifest that “All God’s Children” does not have qualifiers?  When we hear a congressional representative say children refugees at the border don’t deserve infant formula, when we read of hate crimes on the rise against everyone but especially Asian Americans blamed for COVID, when we see LGBTQ people targeted for simply being who they are, we see that too many professed Christians have “exception clauses” in their hearts.  When people die for the color of their skin, we have well and truly lost our way. 
 
It is up to us. We have to bear witness against hate.. We cannot be silent.  These are not political issues – these are the most profound values of faith and democracy. It takes courage, no doubt about it, but we will not honor either our faith or our nation is we are silent.  Silence is assent. And it is a moral cowardice we can no longer accept.
 
We have to challenge bias, prejudice, hate rhetoric, and acts of violence. We have to call out our elected officials who engage in such disgusting lies. We need to write to them, we need to challenge the media both locally and nationally to stop promoting “replacement theory” or any other biased and inhumane propaganda that serves to dehumanize anyone.
 
When Asian women were shot to death in Atlanta, the chief of police said the shooter was “having a bad day”.  A bad DAY?  The public outcry led to an apology from the chief and a renewed effort to investigate the hate-based murders.  
 
Here in Sacramento at a public meeting a city council member blamed the meth epidemic on Latin American immigrants. That is absolutely not true; meth is a local “cottage industry” in white communities around the Bay Area per the Department of Justice. I called him out on it for inflaming both anti-immigrant and anti-homeless views here in Sacramento. 
 
Word got back to me that he hates me. Fine. Oddly, I can live with that. Who would I be if that had gone unchallenged?  He can hate me. I bet he never says that again.
 
If we are going to sit in our pews on Sunday, we have to live the Word the remainder of the week. No one will stop this hate but us. We must do it with courage and without returning the hate.  But we must do it. 
 
We can be silent no more.
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We Need Your Voices on Expanding CA Hate Crimes Laws

6/2/2021

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Dear Friends,

California Council of Churches and Church IMPACT have long advocated for effective legislation to fight the scourge of hate crimes.  We are facing another challenge this year.

No one can observe the shocking data on the rise of hate crimes in our state. Who among us has not seen the horrific videos of Asian Americans being brutalized, of rancid assaults on Jews, of increased violence against trans-gendered people, and vicious racism hurled at all people of color.

CCC and CCI represent a highly diverse body of people who can be potential targets of hate. We are thus part of a large coalition seeking to strengthen our hate crimes laws to stop these acts and protect our beloved community. We therefore are part of a 41-group coalition advocating for better and more effective hate crimes law enforcement.

We have been working to strengthen police enforcement of existing laws. We have amendments we wish added to the existing anti-hate crimes bill, AB 57 (Gabriel, D-45). The bill, while good, lacks what we believe are critical requirements that would massively strengthen our ability to stop hate crimes and offer far better justice to victims.

Our coalition is focusing on two things recommended by a recent state audit on hate crimes enforcement: 
-a requirement that every law enforcement agency have a model policy in conformation with that created by California's Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) and 
-that the state Attorney General be empowered to get compliance and reporting from those agencies.

We are inviting you and your congregation to join our coalition to add the weight of your moral voice and advocacy for your members to this petition. If you are willing to join us, please send your congregation's name, address, phone, and contact person's information to our coalition organizer:  Greg deGiere at greg@thearcca.org.  His phone is 916-224-7319.

Every congregation is welcome to become part of this coalition. We are also urging those congregations in San Diego to become involved for the simple reason that it is the home of our President pro tem of the Senate, Toni Atkins.  As AB 57 moves forward and can still be amended to include our requirements, her support needs San Diego area voices in particular.

If you wish to see our amendments and to read the bill itself, please let us know, and I will forward our 10-page fact sheet to you.  

We hope you will make a commitment to join us in this critically-important work.  We don't want just a bill - we want a bill with real ability to halt hate crimes and improve enforcement of our laws. 

 Hate violence and terror have to stop.  We need your help to get that done.
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Thank you!

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Considering white privilege one right at a time

6/10/2020

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Dear Friends,

The following was created by the daughter of a friend. In the midst of our nation's confrontation with the "original sin" of racism, she deliberated on the facts behind the deaths of many Black people. She considered how she, as a young white woman, could easily do what they had done without being murdered. I find it compelling. We wanted to share it with you.

If you click on the highlighted names, it will take you to Facebook pages others have written about these horrid deaths. You don't need a Facebook account to access the pages.



​I have privilege as a White person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it…

 
I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).
I can sell CD’s (#AltonSterling).
I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)
I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
I can go to church (#Charleston9).
I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).
I can be a 10 year old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
I can run (#WalterScott).
I
can breathe (#EricGarner).
I can live (#FreddieGray).
I can ask someone to put a leash on their dog when it is required in the public park we are in (#ChristianCooper).
I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED. #GeorgeFloyd)
 
White privilege is real. Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today and read their stories.
#BlackLivesMatter
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Please share this with others who might either understand - or need to.

Thank you.

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Challenges to being a non-complicit white person in the age of hate

5/27/2020

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Dear Friends:

Three deeply troubling events have occurred recently. There are three very public acts of deeply racist violence we have almost no words.

Ahmaud Avery was gunned down in Georgia, his assailants left free for way too long.

An affluent white female business executive threatened the very life of a Black man who'd told her to leash her dog in Central Park.

A Black man, a possible - POSSIBLE - suspect in a forgery was killed in front of our eyes by the arresting officer who knelt on his throat until he died.

Those of us in the faith community are sickened by such actions in no small part because while they were all recorded on video, the perpetrators acted with impunity, free in their own minds to carry on despite being recorded.  Where does such entitlement and hate come from?

Because we have no words, we are linking you to John Pavolovitz whose essays often do find the words.  

"Prolific Racism Needs Complicit White People" is his post today.  He speaks to us eloquently of how we got to such a place and how we need to challenge it.

Please link to his essay here  

Even in the Age of COVID, we can practice peace, practice justice, practice humanity, practice love.  Let's have these things be our legacy of these hard times.

Thank you.

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    The Rev Dr Rick Schlosser

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