Never Forget - Breonna Taylor
One of the Dismantling Racism resources from the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference features Breonna Taylor, killed in a "no-knock" police raid on her home in Louisville, Ky., earlier this year. (Baltimore-Washington Conference Graphic)
Coronavirus gets top headlines these days, but there are movements related to issues of importance to United Methodists, according to recent justice notes from all over.
Food insecurity represents one of the worsening crises that cuts across issues of public health, race and economics. For examples, the Texas Tribune reported Dec. 7 that food banks across the state – second only to California in the number of coronavirus infections –are projecting food shortages in coming months due to the end of three key federal and state programs that have helped them respond to high demand during the coronavirus pandemic and its accompanying recession,” writes Juan Pablo Garnham.
Mr. Garnham quotes Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, which coordinates the 21 food banks in the state: “Food insecurity is twice as high as before the pandemic. We’ve had a lot of federal aid and that’s all going away at the end of the year. We are facing a kind of a food cliff and we are worried of how long we are going to be able to keep up with demand without the help of the federal government.”
He continues: “According to a November survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 2.5 million households in Texas either sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat in the week prior to the poll. And 66% of these households were either Hispanic or Black.
“… Feeding Texas is currently gathering data from food banks across the state, and Cole is concerned by what she is hearing so far. The Houston Food Bank, the largest in Texas, estimates that in the next three to six months it will need to distribute 20 million pounds of food monthly, but that they will be 5 million short. In El Paso, an area that is currently experiencing a devastating outbreak of COVID-19 cases, the gap could be 11 million pounds of food each month.”
Families who have before needed a food bank’s help before or folks who didn’t have enough assets to weather a stretch of unemployment are coming in, Ms. Cole told the Texas Tribune.
Communicators key to dismantling racism
Church communicators’ crucial roles in dismantling racism will be featured at 1 p.m. (Eastern Time) Wednesday, Dec. 9 in a webinar sponsored by the United Methodist Association of Communicators. Panelists include Bishop Cynthia Moore Koikoi of the Western Pennsylvania Conference; Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton of the New York Conference; Garlinda Burton, Interim General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, and Teresa Faust, Senior Manager of Research and Metrics for United Methodist Communications. Register.
Baltimore-Washington sets up Racial Justice Social Media Kit
Looking for ways to promote racial justice? Then check out The Baltimore-Washington Conference’s set of strategic resources called “We Rise United” that are available “to support people and churches in their continual efforts to promote awareness, speak out against hate, and call for justice now because every life is sacred, worthy, equal, and #blacklivesmatter,” according to the conference website. (See the sample at the top of this article)
“BWC is also journeying through this work and will continue developing social media tools to keep the message at the forefront of our hearts, minds, and souls. We Rise United because this is not a moment, this is a movement that requires more than a few social media posts. We are committed to doing our part,” says the conference website.
Researcher condemns rejection of critical race theory
From Public Religion Research Institute: “Last Monday, the presidents of all six Southern Baptist seminaries condemned critical race theory. ‘Critical race theory (CRT) is a lens through which some academics seek to understand how racism operates and continues to affect people of color. The theory grapples with the pervasiveness of white supremacy and white privilege in society,’ writes Carol Kuruvilla at HuffPost. According to PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones, the move to reject CRT is wrong, and indicative of larger problems in these institutions. ‘You might expect a facile use of the term from someone like [President Donald] Trump who is not an academic, but such intellectual clumsiness is shocking coming from presidents of academic institutions,’ Jones says. ‘It is the clearest and most appalling case I’ve seen for how fealty to Trump is molding not just white evangelical politics but even theology and the training of a new generation of clergy in his image’”
Virginia UMC to honor graves of people of color
Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Hillsboro, Va., and its mission partner, the Winchester UMC Board of Missions, has committed some $40,000 to construct a memorial to 73 people in unmarked graces at the Arnold Grove Cemetery, established in 1847 as the final resting place of “Freed African Americans and Slaves, Mulattoes, Native Americans and Europeans,” according to a recent open letter from Hillsboro UMC.
“In 1835, the Arnold Grove Methodist Church was constructed and established by abolitionists with the Reverend William D. Wicks presiding. The African American community was invited to worship in the church and to bury their dead in the East Cemetery. The graves were identified in April 2018 following the hiring of a geologic consultant who used special equipment to view underground. A commemorative sign has been placed at the area.
“The memorial will have a 65-foot long and four-foot high stone wall, placed on a solid foundation. In the center of the wall, on mounted aluminum letters, will be the following scripture from John 1:12 ‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of GOD.’ In addition, each resting place will have a commemorative stone measuring six inches by six inches by nine inches, with a cross. There will be stone steps to enter a memorial garden as well as cornerstones and an engraved cross.”
Media Mentions as of Dec. 7, 2020
White Evangelicals Made a Deal With the Devil. Now What? – New York Magazine
Religious right eyes Biden warily after Trump’s good favor – The Associated Press
Drive-thru live Nativities are tailor-made for a COVID-19 Christmas – Religion News Service
Covid-19: Entrepreneurs Turn To Chickens – New Zimbabwe.com
Michigan pastor tells congregation to catch virus, 'get it over with' – WDIV ClickOnDetroit
'Blessing Box' continues Bedford church ministry while practicing social distance – WSLS 10
Firewood Ministry provides warmth, faith and hope in Haywood County, NC – ABC17News.com
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.