Loading...Sermon – September 6, 2015
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Pentecost XV Proper 18, Track 2
Bulletin and Bulletin insert prayer and confession
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:8-9
Please be seated.
I am a racist…. I really hate having to say that. My parents worked for racial justice and taught me that people were all equal, regardless of the color of their skin. My mother integrated the Christmas Float in the 1955 Ft. Smith Arkansas Christmas parade. My parents got up early every Friday morning to drive the ten miles into Harrisburg to help the mothers of Jackson Lick apartments (a low income housing complex, predominantly families who were African-American) feed their children breakfast before school each morning. The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked in a day care center in Harrisburg where I, as a White person was a minority.
I love people and always try to be a good person to others. So, how do I stand before you now and say, “I am a racist.”
It’s because finally as I did more learning and study, I was taught how racism is not about my individual acts of bias or prejudice. Rather, racism is built into our very structure of our life here in the United States. This system goes back to the very beginning of the United States, to a time when people became labeled by the color of their skin. And in that time, people who had “white” skin got more privileges legally than those with “Black” skin.
Laws were passed instituting different penalties for crimes based upon whether you were seen as White or as a Person of Color. White skin was valued and considered the “standard.” Whereas, any other skin color was considered to be outside the norm. A great book on how this all started is In the Matter of Color by Judge Leon Higginbotham.
All sorts of standards were set, that even today are hard for those of us who are White to see, because we think they are “normal.” For instance, recently a club owner in Harrisburg refused to play any hip-hop or Reggae music because he only plays the Top 40. Well, when we look at the Top 40, whose Top 40 is it? Who set that standard? Who decided that is “normal.” That’s just one example of how things associated with those of us perceived as White are considered normal and preferred.
You see, racism is different from prejudice. Yes, prejudice and bias can be awful to experience and maybe some of us have experienced it; however, racism is prejudice plus the power to enforce that prejudice. In the example I gave, music associated with those of us who are White is the bias or prejudice AND creating the Top 40 is the power to enforce that prejudice.
While I try very hard to work on my prejudice, I still, without my consent, even, participate and receive benefits from a racist system. I am a racist, because the racist system gives me benefits and privileges without my consent. I cannot control it and this system affects me every day.
For over 400 years now, racism has permeated our lives. Our nation’s history is filled with people being enslaved, brutally treated and annihilated, as well as subtly attacked every day, being told they are inferior and less than human. We can all point to progress in this regard; yet horrible manifestations of racism continue to happen.
One such manifestation was the June 17 murders at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. On that night, nine people were killed while they attended a Bible study and welcomed a stranger in their midst: The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Depayne Middleton Doctor, The Rev. Daniel Simmons, and Myra Thompson.
Something about this violent act woke White people up in a new way and suddenly, the truth of the Confederate Flag became clearer. Paul Thurmond, a South Carolina State Senator and son of former US Senator Strom Thurmond, said,
I think the time is right and the ground is fertile for us to make progress as a state and to come together and remove the Confederate battle flag from prominent statue outside the Statehouse and put it in the museum. It is time to acknowledge our past, atone for our sins and work towards a better future. That future must be built on symbols of peace, love, and unity. That future cannot be built on symbols of war, hate, and divisiveness.
I am aware of my heritage. But my appreciation for the things that my forebearers accomplished to make my life better doesn’t mean that I must believe that they always made the right decisions and, for the life of me, I will never understand how anyone could fight a civil war based, in part, on the desire to continue the practice of slavery. Think about it for just a second. Our ancestors were literally fighting to continue to keep human beings as slaves and continue the unimaginable acts that occur when someone is held against their will. I am not proud of this heritage. These practices were inhumane and were wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now we have these hate groups and the symbols that they use to remind African Americans that things haven’t changed and that they are still viewed as less than equal human beings. Well, let me tell you: Things have changed.
… I am proud to take a stand and no longer be silent. I am proud to be on the right side of history regarding the removal of this symbol of racism and bigotry from the statehouse. But let it not satisfy us to stop there. Justice by halves is not justice. We must take down the confederate flag, and we must take it down now. But if we stop there, we have cheated ourselves out of an opportunity to start a different conversation about healing in our state. I am ready. Let us start the conversation.
Why do I bring this up? Because when we admit that those of us who are White are racist, we can feel overwhelmed. How do we change this system that is so ingrained? Where do we begin? Well, we’ve already begun. Last spring in Parlor People, some of you watched some excellent videos and had great discussions, educating yourselves about the pervasiveness of racism. We will look at this issue again next spring. In your bulletin today, you’ve received eleven suggestions for being an anti-racist ally.
The best way is to start where we are. And one of the things I’ve noticed in Newport and in our county are some Confederate flags. In fact, one afternoon, I looked out my front door and saw a Confederate flag flying on the front porch of a neighbor across the street. When I saw that flag hanging on the porch across the street, I felt sick and afraid, even, because of what it represents to me. I did go over and introduce myself to the neighbor. I asked why they flew the flag. The wife told me it didn’t mean anything against Black people. I told her the flag “creeped me out” and made me feel very uncomfortable. I told her the flag was a symbol of the Civil War and the South and slavery. She said she’d tell her husband. Fortunately, the next day the flag had come down.
There’s another flag flying on Second Street near Walnut and another flag PLUS some wood painted like the flag on North 4th Street. A vendor at the Perry County Fair was selling the flag.
No less than State Senator Paul Thurmond says the flag is a symbol of white superiority and divisiveness. He said the flag is a symbol that People of Color are less than equal human beings. I wrestled with the issues of private property – shouldn’t we all be able to “decorate” our private property? But I decided when people from the South take the flag down because it is a symbol of hate, I shouldn’t have to look at it anymore either. I also didn’t want my grandchildren to see it, except in a museum.
Is there a way we as a faith community in Newport can work to get those flags removed? How do we do that? How do we respect and love those who fly the flag? This is just one possibility. There are other things I’m sure we can do.
Our readings today are filled with reminders that God releases people from bondage and oppression; that we are to love one another; that the message and miracles of Jesus Christ are for all people, even those considered less than human by the prevailing society. So on this Sunday of Confession, Reconciliation and Commitment to End Racism, what action might you commit to take today to not show partiality and to more fully love your neighbor as yourself?
Amen
