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Allendale Protest2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Members of Allendale United Methodist Church take part of a demonstration on May 31 protesting the police killing of George Floyd and racism in the U.S. criminal justice system. (Facebook Photo Courtesy of Allendale UMC)
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Allendale Protest1
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Members of Allendale United Methodist Church staged a peace demonstration against the police killing of George Floyd of Minneapolis. (Facebook Photo)
A United Methodist Insight Column
Over my three decades as a United Methodist communicator, it has been my good fortune to develop friendships with many Black church leaders. One of them is the Rev. Dawn M. Hand, superintendent of the Pittsburgh District of the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference.
Dawn and I have known one another for more than 20 years, ever since we served together as officers of the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC). I think we became friends because we’re a lot alike: we’re strong-minded, forthright women who get things done; we know we can rely on one another.
Dawn gave me a tremendous gift on the last Sunday of May: she invited me to sit in on a Facebook Live session featuring a conversation among people who had joined her in the mostly peaceful demonstration against racism and police brutality in Pittsburgh. The conversation was not an official conference or district event; it was Dawn being the kind of direct, thoughtful, inclusive leader she has always been.
What I learned from that conversation was both thrilling and disturbing. I learned:
- A lot more peaceful demonstrations took place over the May 30-31 weekend than did violent disruptions (see list at end). In Pittsburgh, the people on Dawn’s ZOOM call reported, an outbreak of violence didn’t occur until nearly the end of the demonstration, and many Black marchers begged the disruptors to stop.
- “Culture, context and climate” are key to any interracial encounter, whether it be a public demonstration, a church service, or a conversation. White folks are going to have the hardest time adapting to this reality, because like the fish who didn’t know what “water” was, we swim in a culture of whiteness so ingrained in our psyches that we don’t recognize we’re forcing people of color to conform to our ways. We urgently need to think about the effect we could have on others before we act.
- We white folks have to do our own hard work of educating ourselves about white privilege, white supremacy, and institutional racism in both American society and The United Methodist Church. We can’t keep asking our colleagues of color to be our educators; they’re tired of it, and rightfully so.
- White folks need to be talking frankly with other white folks about becoming anti-racists, because if we think we’re not part of the problem otherwise, we’re wrong.
Our Black friends are especially weary right now. We need to give them our love and our prayers as people, not merely as representatives of the Black race. Many of our Black colleagues, friends, and families are likely suffering the effects of what mental health counselors call Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. C-PTSD’s symptoms of anxiety, anger, depression, fear, and hypervigilance result from having lived with ongoing trauma for a long time.
Think of it this way, white folks: How would you feel if you feared that every time your loved ones – especially young men – stepped out of the door they might not come back? How would you feel if you were followed whenever you went into a store? How would you feel if you went to the park to pursue your peaceful hobby of bird watching and someone called the cops on you?
We’re all frightened by the chaos we’re seeing across America. Yes, our neighbors of color are as frightened as we white folks are – perhaps more so, because even the most peaceful among them, simply because of their skin color, could be made scapegoats for the despicable actions of true agitators. However, I came across something encouraging in a newsletter from historian Heather Cox Richardson, who has become one of my go-to resources in our currently trying time:
“Chaos does not have to destroy us. The leaders creating it are doing so precisely because they know they are not in control, and the same uncertainty they are trying to leverage can just as easily be used by their opponents. At this crazy, frightening, chaotic moment, it is possible to reach across old lines and create new alliances, to reemphasize that most Americans really do share the same values of economic fairness and equality before the law, and to rebuild a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’.”
Between the racially disproportionate damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the outrageous deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, it’s obvious to many of us that, as Professor Richardson puts it, “The old world is certainly dying, but the shape of the new world struggling to be born is not yet determined.” We Christians in particular have power to shape the new world, because we know that we have been redeemed by the Risen Christ for just that purpose: to create the grace-filled kin-dom that Jesus taught, the world that theologian Howard Thurman termed “the beloved community.”
It’s going to be hard. We’re going to make mistakes, and we’re going to be hurt. To make an equitable society, including in The United Methodist Church, we white folks must give up our seats of power and our sense of entitlement. We must risk feeling as vulnerable as our neighbors of color feel most of the time.
Yet we have before us the best example we could have in Jesus, the Christ. Jesus gave up godly power to become human and rejected human power to show God’s love for the world. He bequeathed his mission of repentance, reconciliation, and selfless love to us. Whatever shape that mission must take wherever we are, let’s get on with it.
Peaceful Demonstrations over May 30-31
Columbia, SC: The first protest in Columbia, SC was completely peaceful at the State House on May 30, according to observers.
Meadville, PA: A peaceful protest on May 30.
St. Petersburg, FL: A non-violent demonstration staged by Allendale United Methodist Church.
Hartford, CT: A peaceful demonstration; no details.
Mesquite, TX: Mesquite Tri-East NAACP rallied at City Hall to commend local police for banning “prone restraint” arrest practice.
Rochester, NY: Volunteers came out to help clean up May 30 after violence.
Minneapolis, MN: Volunteers came out to help clean up May 30 after violence.
Camden, NJ: Police Officers Marched Peacefully With Protesters, Even BBQ’d Together
Fostoria, OH: Police officers joined Black Lives Matter in prayer.
Coral Gables, FL: Police Join Demonstrators In Prayer At Coral Gables Protest
Lexington, KY: Lexington police join protesters in prayer
Queens, NY: Police officers kneel with protesters
Watertown, NY: Peaceful demonstration
Schenectady, NY: A peaceful protest that included discussions with chief of police, praying together, consoling each other, and marching together.
Spokane, WA: Officers kneel with protesters during non-violent demonstration.
NBC News Round-up: Some police step out to show support for George Floyd protesters.
Sunday Today: After nights of protest, volunteers help clean up cities
Share your peaceful demonstrations with United Methodist Insight.
READ MORE: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change by former President Barack Obama
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.