The Truth Will Set You Free- Rev. Erika Rembert Smith, Pastor Washington Shores Presbyterian Church

image Art in the Christian Tradition: Copyright © 2024 Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, Vanderbilt University

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We all want to be free. The desire to be free motivated the founding fathers of the United States of America to write the Declaration of Independence declaring citizens of this country to be free from British control.  Eventually a national holiday was instituted, and a national anthem was created coining America “the land of the free and the home of the brave” for some, but not all. While the document signed in 1776 states that “all men are created equal,” eighty-nine years would pass before people of African descent would experience freedom from the confines and control of slavery. On June 19, 1865, residents of Galveston, Texas finally learned that slavery had been abolished two years earlier. Upon hearing the news, former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. As it was then, so it is now, June 19th, also known as Juneteenth and Freedom Day, is a day of celebration and commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans.

 
We all want to be free. There are youth who desire to be free from their parents’ control; employees who desire to be free from controlling employers; people who desire to be free from nagging thoughts that just won’t leave them alone. People of Color desire to be free from the realities of racism. Women desire to be free from the effects of sexism. Same gender loving people want to be free from the discrimination as a result of homophobia. Every day, citizens want to be free from the violence we’ve witnessed through recent mass shootings at the medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the school in Uvalde, Texas, and the Taiwanese Church nested at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Southern, CA, and the grocery store in Buffalo, NY; incidents that will no doubt happen again and again and again, until measures are put in place and laws are passed to help ensure the safety of those who live in this land.
 
We all want to be free. Free to go to church, the grocery store, the movies, the doctor’s office, to school, without the fear of losing our lives. Free to enjoy our lives, our families and the gifts God so graciously gives us in peace. In his speech, “I Have a Dream,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of the desire for freedom. He said, “when we let freedom ring, we will be able to cry, “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
 
Jesus lived and died to set us free. He came that we might be freed from the bondage and the consequences of sin. In John 8, Jesus said to those who believed in Him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32).” Learning, accepting and embracing the truth is an important step towards freedom. The word ‘truth’ has become complicated. In this time of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” truth appears to lie in the eye of the beholder. Yet, when we follow the One who is the Truth, we are set free to love unconditionally, to serve with abandon, to be a light that shines through all the darkness of the world.
 
The truth about our common humanity will make us free to treat people – those like us and those different from us – like they are human beings, created in the image of God. The truth about our identity as children of God will make us free to show love, give grace and extend mercy to others as a result of the love we’ve been freely given through Jesus Christ. The truth about our individual and collective history will make us free to build on what is good and to work to rectify what has caused harm. 
 
The truth about our call to be faithful followers of Christ will make us free to do our part to eradicate systemic poverty, to dismantle structural racism and to be and become vital and viable witnesses in our congregations and in our personal lives. Jesus fed the hungry and provided for the needs of the poor. Jesus welcomed those who were disenfranchised and excluded from the resources and gifts of God. Jesus gave light, spoke life and restored hope in the lives of ordinary people. When we live in the truth, we are compelled to do the same.
 
Followers of Jesus Christ understand that true freedom is found through faith in Jesus Christ. Our freedom is divinely and inextricably connected. May we learn, accept and embrace God’s truth, that we may all be free.

Do Not Be Afraid by Cheryl Carson, CFP Associate Executive Presbyter and Anti-Racism Committee Member

 

DO NOT BE AFRAID
By Cheryl Carson, CFP Associate Executive Presbyter and Anti-Racism Committee Member

And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.                                                                        Matthew 28:2-6a
 

As the two Marys approached the tomb, they encountered a messenger of God proclaiming that Jesus Christ had risen. It was clearly an overwhelming experience, but the angel exclaimed, “Do not be afraid.” It seems whenever someone has a direct encounter with a messenger of God they are offered the calming invitation to set aside their fear.

As Easter people we are called to new life in Christ. I am on a journey to new life by learning and incorporating anti-racist practices into my life. I became especially committed to this effort after the murder of George Floyd drew attention to the horror of a police officer intentionally suffocating a defenseless Black man. It seemed like we white folks might finally see what our siblings of color have been telling us for years. I was hopeful we might muster the conviction to bring about change in our systems of white power. Sadly, it feels like the fervor for justice has waned. When we encounter God’s truth, we need to heed the invitation, “Do not be afraid.”

In my own journey, I’ve had a number of occasions when I’ve been called out for unintentional racially insensitive comments. They were painful, especially since they were in a group setting and I felt embarrassed by the public correction. Rather than approaching it as a learning experience, I approached it with a defensiveness that showed my white fragility in all its glory.

As a result, I find myself overthinking my responses in a multiracial group. And when I stifle my authentic self, what I end up saying sounds ingenuine. Recently, I was a part of a group conversation where some white people expressed similar fears of engaging in courageous conversations around racism. A person of color asked, “What are you afraid of?” I’ve really been pondering that question. My “go to” answer is that I don’t want to say anything offensive or racist. But if I’m truthful I’ve been afraid to experience the discomfort of being called out for saying something offensive. I don’t want to feel shame or embarrassment. When we encounter God’s truth, we need to heed the invitation, “Do not be afraid.”
 
When the Florida legislature recently passed a law that forbids teaching anything that makes a person (and it really means a white person) uncomfortable, it caused me, as a Certified Christian Educator, to think about the role of discomfort in learning. I love this tip from the Harvard Business Review article by Peter Bregman, “When You’re Learning, You Should Feel Uncomfortable.”  It says, “Being a beginner at something can feel awkward and embarrassing, especially if you’re used to being an expert. But those feelings are the inescapable growth pains that come from developing and improving. To get used to the discomfort, know that it’s brave to be a beginner.”1 Most of us who are white are beginners at having to challenge our white supremacy. But let’s be real, the systems upon which our country was built were constructed to benefit wealthy white men.

So, I invite all of you who are white like me to take a risk. The presbytery’s Anti-Racism Committee sponsors opportunities for multiracial conversation, learning and action. Why not participate in one of them? We’ve created a six-session study to go along with our Anti-Racism Statement and are looking for churches ready to have a discussion around race. WARNING: YOU MAY EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT! But rather than run from it, why not sit with it for a while--heed the invitation, “Do not be afraid.”

Our presbytery Book Club is also reading “The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism.” Why not join in reading the book and discussing it together on Thursday, May 5th at 1:30 p.m. in the presbytery office conference room or via zoom? Email me if you’re interested in either opportunity.
I want to close with a note of gratitude to my sisters and brothers of color. It is not up to you to teach me or to help me understand. But I am thankful to have you as partners on this journey. I have learned so much from your stories, our challenging discussions, and our adventures together. Thank you for walking with me in this season of growth. 
​
1 https://hbr.org/tip/2019/09/when-youre-learning-you-should-feel-uncomfortable

The History of the Ocoee Massacre

A History of the Ocoee Massacre Resource Page

The Ocoee massacre was a brutal killing of African Americans and an "unimaginable example of racial hatred".  On Election Day in 1920, Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen attempted to vote in Ocoee and was turned away at the polls.  That evening a mob of white angry armed men came to the home of July Perry looking for Mose, Perry was lynched and the mob proceeded to murder black citizens and burn their homes to the ground ("Yesterday, This Was Home" Orange County Regional History Center Exhibit).  The exact number of those killed remains unknown, all were forced to flee, some had to hide in the alligator infested swamp.  The scares of this event run deep in the black community.  

Prior to the night of the massacre the KKK held parades around the state to intimidate black voters.  It is believed that between 30-80 black citizens were killed that night.  What is known is that 255 black residents lived in Ocoee according to the 1920 census, and after that night, only 2 remained and from 1930-1970 no black citizens lived in Ocoee (The Truth Laid Bare: UCF Magazine).  It is heartbreaking that this history has been for too long ignored, stifled and denied.  We know these hateful events can never be forgotten.  It is important to educate ourselves and others about the fruit of the poison of white supremacy.  The videos below are documentary evidence recounted of the terrible events of that night.  May we never repeat the sins and evil of our past.  

The Truth Laid Bare Video: UCF on Ocoee Massacre 

Watch video links below for the history of the Ocoee Massacre in Florida. 

New 9 Report on Ocoee Massacre

100th Anniversary of Ocoee Masacre

Robert Hickey, grandson of Ocoee Massacre survivors

To learn more about the Ocoee massacre click on the video links above, or download the pdf provided by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability titled "Ocoee Election Day Violence- November 1920.  That link is provided below: 

Ocoee Election Day Violence

History of Ocoee Massacre UCF Pegasus Project

Isaiah 58:6-8

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,to undo the thongs of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

How and Why the Church Fuels White Supremacy

 

Photo by Jon Tyson via Unsplash

An ecumenical panel explores the extent of that sin and how the church can heal

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — People recruiting for a white supremacist cause on a Sunday morning will find more success at their local church than at their local coffee shop.

That’s what research revealed for Dr. Robert P. Jones’ most recent book, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” and it’s a fact he shared Saturday during the White Supremacy and American Christianity webinar attended by about 2,500 people. Jones, the CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, joined Fr. Bryan Massingale, the author of “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church” and the Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Ethics as well as the Senior Ethics Fellow at Fordham University’s Center for Ethics Education. Dr. Marcia Chatelain, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History for her book “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America” and a professor of history and African American Studies at Georgetown University, answered Jones’ and Massingale’s presentations with her own critique.

The NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice sponsored the online conference, with help from organizations including the Center for Faith, Justice & Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary.

Massingale said when he read that statement in Jones’ book, “it jumped out at me. There is something about Christianity that inclines white people to be more racist. I want those participating to pause and let that sink in.”

Fr. Bryan Massingale

“We have this idea of people who marched with torches in Charlottesville or those who stormed the Capitol in January of last year,” Massingale said. “But what we are talking about is people in church, that white Christianity itself incubates a sense of white superiority … I remember the first time I saw an image of a Black Christ. A part of me said, ‘what?’ I had been malformed and deformed. God and Jesus being white is the image I got.”

“If you believe a white person rules in the heavens, you believe they should rule here on Earth,” Massingale said. “The idea of representation isn’t idle. These things have real political impact and create a culture of white Christian nationalism.”

Which is why the faith of former President Barack Obama was attacked, Jones said. “It seemed out of place for this Black Christian,” Jones said. “If we can make him other than Christian, that’s why he faced this attack of being Muslim. White Americans made him ‘other.’”

For many people, just the term “white supremacy” is hard to hear, Jones said. “We think of old photos of people burning a cross. It’s a convenient way to think about white supremacy because we don’t know anybody like that.”

But in “any city we go to” there’s a history of redlining, a “straight-up expression of white supremacy,” Jones said. In many communities, churches were seen as institutions protecting the neighborhood from non-white people entering them. Jones’ own grandfather was a deacon in his church. It was his job to stand outside the church before worship “to make sure no non-white person entered the sanctuary. That history is very near to us and is certainly very present with us in many ways.”

Massingale remembers as a seventh grader the first time attending Mass in a new community. Members of the congregation “told us you would be more comfortable attending your former church.” Their message, he said, is “this church belongs to white people.”

When Massingale presents on racism and white supremacy, “People ask, ‘How can I talk about this in my parish and not make white people uncomfortable?’ I turn it around: ‘Why is it the only group that is never supposed to feel uncomfortable talking about race is white people?’”

In January, Jones published a piece called “The Sacred Work of White Discomfort.” He wonders: What kind of growth do we get without discomfort?

“Do we want to be comfortable, or do we want to be free?” Jones said during Saturday’s webinar. Do we want to keep the status quo, “or work out our salvation with fear and trembling? This commitment to white supremacy is the air we breathe and the water we swim in,” Jones said. “We don’t see how it has distorted the gospel and affected our ability to love one another.”

“If we want to hand down the faith to our kids, we need to think about the work that has to be done,” Jones said. “I can try to find a comfortable faithfulness of my ancestors or I can be faithful to my kids — but I cannot do both.”

What’s needed, Massingale said, is a “racial metanoia” — a “profoundly and radically different path.” For Catholics, the Sacrament of Penance is a five-step process:

• An examination of conscience, or honest truth-telling.
• Contrition, or “the genuine remorse and lament that we haven’t seen” from those holding on to the legacy of white supremacy, Massingale said.
• Confession, a public acknowledgement so there’s “some kind of ownership” to the sin, Massingale said.
• Purpose of amendment, or “taking concrete actions to heal the harm done,” such as making reparations.
• Proclamation of praise, the “resolution for a new beginning and walking together,” Massingale said.

“That’s a roadmap for what we need to,” Massingale said. “The question is, do we have the will and the courage it takes to transfer our convictions into action?”

Dr. Marcia Chatelain

Chatelain identified three issues “to help us get to the core of the way white supremacy operates in American religious communities.”

• “It’s not just about the preservation of ideas of identity,” Chatelain said. “It’s the hording of resources, the exploiting of people and the planet to multiply resources.” Churches have a real opportunity to think about and act upon exclusion and redlining in the neighborhoods where they’re located, Chatelain said.
• Misogyny, especially how “masculinity hinges on protecting white women.” Misogyny is not only a way of controlling women — it’s a “justification for racial violence.” What would it mean, Chatelain wondered, for clergy — particularly male clergy — to speak out against misogyny.
• The role Christians play in civic life. “The anti-death penalty movement is not as strong as the anti-abortion movement. That tells us something powerful,” Chatelain said. “It’s often about backlash rather than creating policy that moves people forward.”

Chatelain has two prescriptions for people of faith. The first is not to disengage from the community. “When I teach students, they hesitate because they think this will alienate themselves from several generations of their family,” Chatelain said. Secondly, can we imagine a world “where the church takes seriously releasing its power to show that another path is possible?”

“We have a lot of difficult work before us,” Chatelain said. “But I am heartened there are people who make this choice and are strengthened by these acts rather than degraded by them.”

“This truth-telling is what we need this Lent as we move into Holy Week,” said Mary J. Novak, executive director of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, a journey that invokes “emerging from death to life, toward freedom by action and by reparatory justice.”

Presbyterian News Service April 12, 2022

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License and is re-printed here with permission.  Click on above link to be directed to the original story. 

Nurturing Emotionally Healthy Relationships

 

image Art in the Christian Tradition: Copyright © 2024 Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, Vanderbilt University

used Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial use

Nurturing Emotionally Healthy Relationships

Recently, a sermon series at Maitland Presbyterian Church in Maitland Florida, highlighted the topic of emotionally healthy relationships.  The series highlights aspects of maintaining emotionally healthy relationships.  This is not a summary of that series but rather some of my thoughts on this topic. I recommend the series and will include the link below.

An emotionally healthy relationship is one that is defined by mutual respect, trust, a healthy interdependence (not enmeshed or overly dependent) a sense of boundaries, honest communication, emotional understanding, empathy, and compassion.  How do we go about nurturing and sustaining these relationships?  The following are a few suggestions. 

First, it is important to be cautious around assumptions about the other person's motives when discussing an action or behavior pattern having a negative impact on that relationship.  Too often we are quick to make assumptions in relationships with negative implications.  For example, imagine that there is someone who has been perpetually late in the past.  The person arrives to a scheduled meeting late as they often do.  We respond by saying, "you are always late, that is your pattern, it is selfish and inconsiderate of you."  Now, also imagine that unknown to us, this person has actually been dramatically improving, and now has begun to arrive early to appointments and is improving.  In this case however, even though ample time was allotted, an unforeseen traffic blockage prevented them from arriving.  

My assumption turned out to be incorrect.  Furthermore, I was prevented from seeing or discovering the truth because I was not willing to revisit my basic assumptions about this person.  This demonstrates two other important elements.  There is a difference between facts and the interpretation of those facts.  One fact is that this person has a bad habit of being late in the past, it was also a fact that the person couldn't have done anything to be early in this case.  Although I had some of the facts correct, I had the wrong interpretation, and came to the wrong conclusion.  Second, the way I responded automatically puts the person on the defensive, and doesn't give them a chance to even explain.  It is a recipe for an argument that will escalate.  

How to avoid the mistake of making assumptions. 

One way to avoid the mistake cited above is to use "I" statements.  Use an "I" statement to communicate clearly, reduce defensiveness, and prevent incorrect assumptions.  So, instead of operating on a false assumption, it is better to say how that person's actions make you feel.  "You are always late, you are very inconsiderate"  Try saying this instead: "when you show up late, I feel worried about you."  Not only is this a better way to communicate, it lets the friend know the behavior and how it is impacting them.  It also avoids making a false assumption.  Often, when we are late to an appointment, we of course know whether we are at fault or not, but we don't extend the same courtesy to others. Using "I" statements can help begin the conversation.  

In a healthy relationship people cannot use manipulation or coercion to force others to do what we want them to do.  At times, people will use power when they want to force someone to comply with their wishes regardless of how the other person feels or thinks.  A person may not even have come to a decision on their own.  Why do we do this in relationships?  Sometimes it may be a deep fear or anxiety working in us, or perhaps it may be a desire to "win" over the other person, we may even have what we think is best in mind for the other person.  Guilt, blackmail, coercion, constant nagging, threats, and anger, can all be forms of coercion.  A healthy relationship is built on mutual trust and respect, and while anger is a normal human emotion, using that anger or turning that anger against someone to get them to do something we want them to do undermines any kind of mutuality.  It is tempting to use anger or nagging to make the person whose tardiness is impacting us negatively to change.  Although the goal may be admirable, this way of handling the situation isn't.  

Another rule to keep in mind is simple, people should always speak for themselves.  Even at a young age, we should allow children to begin speaking for themselves.  Sometimes an adult might speak for a child assuming what a child thinks or wants.  Supposing there are apples and oranges available and the adult may say, "here, you like apples don't you" while handing the child an apple. The child may be confused as she or he does not recall thinking this way, they would prefer to eat the orange.  Sometimes we speak on behalf of others, at a public meeting saying, "we believe that the government has lost the trust of the people."  

Using an "I" statement would be appropriate here, it is better to say, "I believe the government has lost my trust." We should not volunteer for others, make commitment for others, or attempt to influence, bully or suppress the opinions of others.  If we want to have a healthy relationship with others, we have to have mutual respect, and thinking we can tell others how they feel is not mutually respectful. "I" statements also follow the rule of letting people speak for themselves.  

Last, it is important to remember that we while we are individuals, we are also part of a community, and therefore, in relationships that depend on one another.  In many cases, we have to make collective decisions.  Having healthy relationships is even more crucial.  We can make better decisions often as a group when we collectively listen to each other.  Making "I" statements does not mean that we ignore the advice and opinions of others.  In fact, it makes their opinions even more important.   Even when we have to make decisions that are our own personal decisions it is important to take the advice and consent of others.  Ultimately, we are responsible for those decision that are under our control.  We cannot make decisions for others, nor can we ask others to make decisions that are our responsibility.  We engage advice and wisdom to make the best possible decision whether in a group or as an individual. 

Conclusion

Creating emotionally healthy relationships is the only way to ensure a long term sustainable relationship.  Using "I" statements, allowing others to speak for themselves, checking our assumptions or exceptions of others, wisely consulting others while taking personal responsibility for our decisions, all are foundational to mutual respect. In the book of Philippians we read "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." When we want to speak the truth to others, we can do that in a spirit of humility that values the other individual and gives them the respect to hear us and make their own decisions.  

To learn more about healthy emotional relationships check out the special sermon series below: 

Maitland Presbyterian Church Youtube Page

Sabbath as Resistance - Walter Brueggemann

Self Care for Clergy

The Emotionally Healthy Series (Leader, Spirituality, Church)

Racial Discrimination in Orlando as told by Nina Wilson Jones

 

Racial segregation and discrimination in Orlando?
That was a long time ago…or was it?

by Nina Wilson Jones, Member, CFP Anti-Racism Committee and Washington Shores Presbyterian

On May 25, 2020, in plain view of the world via a Facebook post about 10 minutes long, a man was tortured to death by police, and no one could look away. Not least of all Black America, nor our co-workers, associates, and acquaintances among BIPOC. Our centuries old shame and unbelieved truth of domestic terror became front page news for the world to see - a Black man was lynched that day. And regularly dismissed claims of injustice, disadvantage, and unfairness – even life or death threats – were finally believed. But we’re lucky here; we live in Orlando, home of the “Happiest Place on Earth.” Nothing like that awful strife happening in the world ever happens here. And if it did, it was a long time ago, right?
 
The attached image of the precocious little girl in the Easter dress and stockings is a comfortable reminder that in the recent past, especially in Orlando, things are different. The fact that she grew up here is proof. That photo isn’t that old; she’s had a nice, comfortable family life. She’s dressed for Easter and even went to a local Presbyterian church. Orlando isn’t like what we’ve seen on the news recently. And even if it ever was, that was a long time ago, right?
 
Would it surprise you to know that the little girl in the picture isn’t 60 years old? How about that she got that Easter dress from Ivey’s department store in downtown Orlando (a local predecessor to today’s Dillard’s), where her Mother told her not to look any white adults in the eye, touch anything in the store and never leave her Mother’s side. She had to wear one of her Polly Flinder dresses to go to this fancy store, where the elevators were operated by nice Black people in uniforms who pushed the buttons for you once you told them which floor you wanted to visit to shop in the store.
 
They had to go to the back of the Children’s department, where a different Black lady measured her and selected dresses in her size for her mother, who couldn’t browse freely in the store. They were not allowed to try the dress on in one of the fitting rooms that the white Mothers and daughters were using. And as her mother paid for her dress, she was reminded that it couldn’t be returned if it didn’t fit well. Her Mother sewed so she was grateful that her little girl would look extra nice for Easter Sunday and an upcoming photo appointment. And as they left the store, she overheard white sales representatives say how pretty she was for a little Black girl. There are such nice people in Orlando, right?
 
How about the nice home that little girl enjoyed? Sure, it was a stable, two-parent household in a neighborhood safe enough that neighbors walked into each other’s unlocked homes to borrow a cup of sugar for a cake they were baking for dinner, despite there was a public housing project right across the street. The little girl had a hand-me-down bicycle from her older sister and lots of dolls and toys to play with her friends. She walked to Sunday School most weeks because the Presbyterian church was at the other end of the street from her home. She didn’t know anything about redlined, racially segregated neighborhoods, with racially segregated public schools that were deemed inferior to the other public schools in town. Her parents were educators in those same neighborhood schools and her parents knew all her principals and teachers. She and her sister were definitely going to college because their parents were first generation college graduates. It was going to be a continuation of a proud legacy that her parents began at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Their neighbors were business owners, physicians, attorneys, policemen, ministers, and other teachers. They all lived in one community because they wanted to; she didn’t know that they were legally required to live west of Division Street in Orlando. Or that her father had to be nice to the President of the small bank in her neighborhood because that was the only bank he could get a mortgage for their home or a loan for a car. Her father kept the 1930 Model A Ford he got from his father because it was a classic car. It wasn’t because he couldn’t get a second car loan, even on two teachers’ salaries.
 
She had no idea that she was already a baby in her parent’s arms, well into their mid-thirties, before they could vote in this country. Her parents were the exact same age as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and grew up knowing that despite being hard-working, law-abiding citizens of Orlando, they were deemed second-class by federal, state, and local law. They entered public buildings through back entrances, if at all. They did not go anywhere further than the high school or church after dark, not just because there wasn’t anything else to do in Orlando; they couldn’t go anywhere else safely in Orlando after dark. And when her big sister wanted to see if the water in the public drinking fountain downtown that had a “White Only” sign over it tasted different than the one that had a “Black” sign, she didn’t know why her sister got scolded for even mentioning it. No Orlando policeman would ever arrest or shoot a teenage girl, not even a Black one! The stories on the news back then about growling police dogs, open fire hoses on kids, church bombings and why her grandparents didn’t allow them to cross certain fields in the Seminole County country where they lived didn’t seem to be so scary because none of that happened here, right? Dr. King wanted non-violence; but why did they shoot him? He always knelt and prayed wherever he went, even to the PC US General Assembly. His wife and daughter looked so sad in the funeral pictures; they sat in church just like she and her Mother did on Sundays in Orlando, with her head in her Mother’s lap, rubbing her head softly.
 
How about when she won all those academic college scholarships, yet chose to go to the family’s alma mater, and her white high school counselor told her that she was wasting her education now that there was integration? The counselor was just looking out for her, right? And even after she completed college with high academic honors, rose through the ranks of one of the top three banks in the country, and came home from Texas to lead a business development team at a national conference for affluent minority professionals, she shouldn’t feel slighted when the regional executive at the Orlando downtown bank refused to meet with her, despite corporate protocols. It was just a scheduling mix-up with his secretary, right? It had nothing to do with the call to headquarters she had to make that they in turn, informed him that his calendar was in fact clear, to meet with the national business development executive who was in town to bring banking business to his Orlando office. He just couldn’t seem to remember how to make the small talk courtesies of welcoming home a fellow banker, a native daughter, reminiscing about intercity rivalries with her high school, that he could see from his corner office.
 
How about her neighborhood Presbyterian church? Wasn’t it full of family friends and traditions like Women’s circle meetings, church picnics, choir practices, Vacation Bible School, Easter egg hunts, Youth lock-ins and summer camp away from home? She attended Communicants classes at age twelve and they learned Robert’s Rules of Order so they could follow the congregational meetings with their parents. That was certainly a safe haven from the rest of Orlando beyond Division Street, right? Did it really matter that her church was established because the First Presbyterian Church downtown didn’t want Black members in the 1950’s? Despite what it says in the Bible about everyone being equal in God’s eyes (Revelations 7:9), those good Presbyterians couldn’t contradict the segregation laws in the South (even if the Orlando Mayor was a Ruling Elder of the church). That was too risky for any church leaders; not worth the risk for even for the Black community leaders in her congregation who were certified trade professionals, multi-degreed legitimate heirs of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ Talented Tenth, members of the Divine Nine sororities and fraternities, and Jack and Jill of America, Inc. A separate but equal church for them was better, fair, and just, right?
 

Except that all this fondness for nostalgia right now is willfully blind to the harsh reality that the good old days weren’t always good for everyone. And maybe not even all that good. Don’t be deceived that because people comply with ‘the way things have always been’ doesn’t mean that suffering isn’t occurring, injustice isn’t prevalent and that you as a Christian, don’t need to personally get involved with changing things right here in Central Florida.

Nina Jones is a member of Washington Shores Presbyterian Church and a member of the Central Florida Presbytery Anti-Racism Committee.  This article was published in the Central Florida Presbytery Website in February of 2022 and is reprinted on this blog by permission

Central Florida Presbytery Anti-Racism Committee

Bartolomé de las Casas: An Early Voice for Justice

By Rev. Omar Gonzalez, Member of the Presbytery's Anti-Racism Committee (ARC) Central Florida Presbytery

When we see injustices in society, we are faced with a choice.  Often this choice comes with a cost.  A similar choice faced Bartolomé de las Casas, a young landowner living in the so called ‘new world’, born in the fifteenth century in Spain.  He was an eye witness to a turning point in history.  His father and two uncles accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493.  He also witnessed the return of Christopher Columbus in April 1493 parading through the streets of Seville with great pageantry accompanied by native Tainos.  He eventually departed for the Santo Domingo with his father looking forward to a life of adventure and fortune. 

 
His life would forever be change when he arrived.  Bartolomé would become an eyewitness to atrocities and injustices committed against the indigenous people and would become an outspoken advocate for indigenous rights.  This was a gradual conversion that did not happen overnight.  The governor of Hispaniola gave Bartolomé an encomienda, a royal colonial right to forced labor from the Indigenous inhabitants.  He farmed and lived a prosperous life.  He was also an ordained priest, and continued celebrating mass.  Yet he began to be influenced by the preaching of Dominican friars who pointed out the unethical gains made by forced slavery.
 
Finally, when reading the text of Sirach 34:21–22, 25-26 for a sermon he was going to preach on Pentecost Sunday, he experienced a conversion. The text reads, ‘The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; who deprives them of it is a man of blood. To take away a neighbor's living is to murder him; to deprive a laborer of his wages is to shed blood'. 1  This was the start of his advocacy, lobby, and preaching to bring to light the injustices of the encomienda system and for new laws that would protect the rights of the native indigenous people.  He went on to preach the sermon on August 15, 1514, where he told his audience he was giving up his encomienda.  He returned to Spain where he began his work on behalf of the indigenous people.
 
Las Casas would go on to have many highs and lows in his efforts to bring to the attention of people the injustices that were being committed.  His published works include the Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies  and In Defense of the Indians.  Part of his challenge was to convince colonists, governors, and administrators of the need to treat the indigenous people with dignity. He also understood the need to end the forced conversion to Christianity of the native peoples.
 
Las Casas also pointed out the root of the problem, he was critical of Christopher Columbus' policies that began the use of slave labor and the encomienda system in order to make the journeys to these territories profitable.  He wrote, “The Indians were to serve the Spaniards, using every man, woman, child for their maintenance and for other personal services.  From that originated the plague of repartimiento and encomienda ––  assigning and controlling Indians –– a plague which has devastated, consumed the Indians entirely.  Slaves were the primary sources of income for the Admiral.  With that income, he intended to repay the money the Kings were spending in support of Spaniards on the Island. Then provide profit and income to the Kings.” 2
 
Las Casas was vilified by many.  He was considered a traitor to his country.  He was accused of exaggerating the conditions of the native people, and he continued to face resistance for most of his life.  Yet his words are as powerful today as they were when he first penned them.  He forcefully argued that it was not the natives that were in need of conversion but rather the Spaniards. He wrote of the need to repent of “… that recent blindness of understanding which for the last seventy years has proceeded to shock and scandalize and rob and kill those people overseas.”3  What injustices today do we as Christians continue to perpetuate?  In what ways do we stay silent and continue to place gold above God?  These are questions las Casas words still prompt us to ask. 
 
Christ did not come into the world to die for gold-  Bartolomé de las Casas
 
Sources:
 
1.  Sirach quote from United States Conference Catholic Bishops https://bible.usccb.org/bible/sirach/34
 
2.         Bartolomé de las Casas, Indian Freedom: The Cause of Bartolomé de Las Casas 1484-1566 A Reader. Trans. Francis Patrick Sullivan. (Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1955) 60.
 
3.         Ibid. 8-9