Did You Know?

Did you know? The church has always had topics that threatened to divide it because of differences of opinion or uncertainty of how to work through differences. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to the congregations that he founded. His letters are the earliest writings in the New Testament (written before any of the Gospels) and most of them address a conflict within the Christian community. He used the metaphor of the body to help people realize their interconnectedness in his letter to the Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

How does this passage help you reflect on the topic of reparations? Click here to respond.

Connecticut is one of the most segregated places in the country. The politics and socio-economic practices of the liberal North through legalized (de jure) policies of redlining and predatory lending are hallmarks of the North’s segregation. Read about the history of legal segregation in CT and the political action to change these policies of segregation.

How does redlining in CT affect us all? Answer here

Richard T. Ely is honored with a feast day on the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar, October 8. This choice of the Church seems to be with disregard for Ely’s commitment to eugenics, vocally supporting things such as red-lining. You can read about this in the Journal of American History.

How might the Episcopal Church atone for the sin of dehumanizing African-Americans? Answer Here

Redlining is a discriminatory practice that started in the 1930s where the federal government “red-lined” neighborhoods that included racial & ethnic minorities, excluding these “high risk” neighborhoods from services such as bank loans, mortgages, healthcare, and even food. Some might think that such practices have stopped, but they continue to this very day. In 2019, Liberty Bank settled out of court on a $16 million lawsuit from the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, that alleged that the bank engaged in illegal redlining practices. As a result, Liberty Bank committed time, energy and resources to a wide range of programs for communities that have traditionally had difficulty accessing credit.

What are the redlining practices that are still operating in your region? Answer here.

The Reparations Task Force issued a report to the 237th Convention of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. In it we highlight the complicity of the church in racist systems as well as a timeline of the church’s national effort to address the evil of racism.

What new information did you discover from the report? What do you want to know more about? Answer here.

“Sundown towns” are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods who practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites by some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation, or violence. Entire sundown counties and suburbs were also created by the same process. The term came from signs posted that Black or Brown people had to leave town by sundown. A list of possible sundown towns in Connecticut can be found here.

Do you live in a town that practiced sundowning? What methods were used?

In Connecticut, school funding is tied directly to the town’s tax base? Schools in low-income communities are therefore deprived of important resources compared to schools in wealthier towns.

As you think about your local schools, how have they benefited, or suffered, from this disparity in funding? How do you imagine that impacts student achievement? Attendance/absentee rates? Graduation rates? Opportunities for college admissions? Career opportunities as an adult?

One theme of the lessons from the Fourth Sunday of Advent is God’s kingdom in the world coming to fruition across generations. At $171,000, the net worth of a typical white family in 2016 was nearly ten times greater than that of a Black family ($17,150). Gaps in wealth between Black and white households reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination.

As you think about your own family’s background, how have you benefited from, or been disadvantaged by, opportunities to create generational wealth?

The Reparations Task Force issued a report to the 237th Convention for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. In it we highlight the complicity of the church in racist systems as well as a timeline of the church’s national effort to address the evil of racism.

What new information did you discover from the report? What do you want to know more about?  Answer here.

Many Episcopalians have sought to address the economic and racial fall-out of the end of slavery. Stephanie Spellers introduces some of these people in her book The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for the Beloved Community: John Jay II, Vida Scudder, Jonathan Daniels, and Paul Washington. We can remember them and others as we observe All Saints Day.

What impresses you about one of these people? Who else would you add to this list? Answer here.

July is Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month. The campaign was created to bring attention to the unique experiences of underrepresented people as it relates to mental health. Mental Health touches so many aspects of a person’s life, from the ability to experience joy, to have meaningful relationships, to hold a job, and just simply to survive. On May 29, 2020, the CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), released a statement that pointed out the correlation between the constant stress of racism and mental health. This information is taken from Envision2bWell Inc.

Issues of mental health have long been ignored, particularly for BIPOC (Black Indigenous and other People of Color). What are your thoughts about this? Answer here

In 2019 the national rate of home ownership among Black families was 42%, the lowest since 1970, while home ownership among White families was a record high 73%? (Source: National Community Reinvestment Coalition)

As you think about your own housing situation, how has owning your own home (or not owning your own home) affected the quality of your life? Did your parents own their own home? How did that reality impact your own life?

When the federal government first developed housing for civilians working in naval shipyards and munitions plants during World War I, eighty-three projects in twenty six states housed 170,000 white workers and their families (including one in Bridgeport, CT), while African Americans were excluded.  Source: The Color of Law, p. 18

How do you think the availability of housing affected the ability of people of color to get and maintain their employment in those areas?

The United Nations “describes five formal categories of reparations: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.” You can find their full definition here. These formal categories have guided numerous nations in addressing past crimes against humanity. The United Nations has weighed in on the United States’ need to address chattel slavery and its aftermath for its Black citizens. Read more at United Nations News.

Which of the Five Formal Categories of Reparations feels most accessible? Answer Here.

On January 9 we observed the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. Many of us renewed our baptismal vows to “persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord,” to “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

When it comes to issues of racial justice, White supremacy and anti-Black bias, where have you fallen short of our baptismal promises? What can you do in the days ahead to fulfill our promises? 

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

To understand Juneteenth is to begin to understand the history of this country through the lens of justice or the lack thereof. Two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger led a group of Union soldiers to Galveston, Texas to proclaim the end of the Civil War and the enslaved were free. This happened on June 19, 1865. June 19th was coined Juneteenth and continues to be celebrated to this day. (Adapted from Juneteenth.com)

What sticks in your mind about Juneteenth? Answer Here. 

Healing and Reparations are connected. The quote below is from The Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Leadership.

“Where we need to get to is the healing and reconciliation. Because the anti-racism piece is just the awareness that it exists and talking about ways to stop it from happening. But that doesn’t speak to the healing and reconciliation so that going forward we don’t just get back to where we were. So it’s going to take some education of people, how to reconcile. How to heal. There has to be reparations that repair before we can have healing. In order to make progress you have to play the game so to speak.”
– Person of Color, Churchwide Leader

How would you describe the relationship between healing and reparations? Answer Here.  

Black entrepreneurs and other racial minorities historically have had limited access to traditional sources of financing for start-up ventures and business expansion? There is now a way to identify and support small Black-owned businesses in your area. Check out shopblackct.com for a listing of Black-owned businesses in your area.

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Christmas begins with these words: O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity,…

As you look back at 2021, how have you personally experienced the dignity of human nature in your own life? Can you think of people who may not have experienced human dignity as you have? As you look ahead to 2022, what might you do, personally, to promote the God-given dignity of every human being?

Did you know? Work on reparations is not new. The first demands for reparations were made by enslaved people before the Civil War. Several Episcopal Dioceses have already taken up the work of reparations: Maryland, New York, and Massachusetts. Below is the Diocese of New York’s definition for reparations.

Reparations is the process to remember, repair, restore, reconcile, and make amends for wrongs that can never be singularly reducible to monetary terms. The process of reparations is “a historical reckoning involving acknowledgement that an offense against humanity was committed and that the victims have not received justice.*”

*Passage in quotes offered by Bernice Powell Jackson, Executive Minister for Justice Ministry, The United Church of Christ.

What do you notice in this definition of Reparations? Click here to respond.

One of the first successful individual petitions for reparations was made by Belinda Sutton in 1783. She sought reparations for her 40 years of enslavement and won. Read about her in this brief “History of Reparations Demands in the United States.”

Learning about the suffering of Black Americans in their own country is heartbreaking. How do you stay encouraged? Answer here.

Did you know that the House of Bishops recently has released a paper on the theology of reparations? It’s entitled “Reparations and Beloved Community.” Read the full report.

Reflection: Do you think that making a plan for reparations is an important aspect of making the Episcopal Church the Beloved Community that Jesus envisioned? Why or why not?

The Advent Lessons & Carols Bidding Prayer and the Collect for the First Sunday of Advent remind us, “it is our responsibility and joy to prepare ourselves to hear once more the message of the Angels” and to “cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.”

As we prepare ourselves to hear the message of the Angels on that first Christmas, we invite you to reflect on how the sins of racism, white supremacy, and anti-Black bias are evidence of our continued rebellion against God. Consider how they impact your life, your soul, and your relationship with God and with others.

Did you know two of the nation’s 106 Historically Black Colleges and University’s (HBCU’s) are Episcopal Schools. Saint Augustine’s in Raleigh, North Carolina and Voorhees, in Denmark, South Carolina are the only two of the original 10 institutions founded by The Episcopal Church after the Civil War that remain.

Do you think Episcopal dioceses should be doing more to support Episcopal HBCU’s? Take a moment and respond.

White people are characterized by race also. The definition of Race from The Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Leadership reads “Race is a made-up social construct, and not an actual biological fact. Race designations have changed over time. Some groups that are considered “white” in the United States today were considered “non-white” in previous eras, in U.S. Census data and in mass media and popular culture… The way in which racial categorizations are enforced (the shape of racism) has also changed over time. For example, the racial designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander changed four times in the 19th century. That is, they were defined at times as white and at other times as not white.”

See the research from Pew Research Center on the “changing categories the US has used to measure race” here.

What historical fact do you know about why there was the need to determine who was “white?” Answer here.

In 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 13th and 14th Amendments do not empower Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals in public accommodations. This decision would not be overturned with respect to the 13th Amendment until 1968, in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer. See Civil Rights Cases 109 U.S. 3 (1883).

Do you think the course of American history would have changed if the 1875 law had not been overturned? How might it have been changed? What might American society look like today? Answer here.

Did you know the House of Bishops Theology Committee has issued a Report on Reparations for the House of Bishops. In it they say the following, “Faith is possible because God has acted in human history, thus initiating a relationship with human beings… Faith reflects the human resolve to partner with God in mending an unjust earth. In this regard, people of faith are by definition accountable to God’s promised future. They are essentially compelled to lead the way in repairing the breach between an unjust present and a just future. This brings us to reparations.”

Where in scripture does it talk about “repairing the breach”? Answer here.

The Episcopal Urban Caucus met in Washington D.C. from October 6-9. They discussed Reparations, outlining 4 steps in the process.  Stephanie Spellers posted on her Facebook: 1. Truth-telling, 2. Racial Justice Today, 3. Pray and Discern, and 4. “What would repair and healing of whole communities and dismantling of systems that continue to wound some while benefiting others look like?”

Starting with “truth-telling” (defined as “telling about the many ways your institution has participated in and benefited from the oppression and domination of communities of color, not just ‘who owned slaves when’”), what truth needs to be told? Answer here.

“…Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent—and often even vocal—sanction of things as they are.”

How do Dr. King’s words from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” speak to you in 2022? How do they speak to your worshipping community? What is the Spirit is saying to God’s people?

The Prophet Zephaniah, featured in this past Sunday’s readings, warns Israel that it will face destruction if the nation does not repent for its transgressions against God’s law. If they return faithfully to God’s teaching, God will turn away the nation’s enemies and God’s people will be able to “rejoice and exult” with all their heart.

In what ways have our church and our nation, turned away from God’s teachings in matters of racial justice and equity? What changes do we need to make, as a church and as a society, that would cause God to “rejoice and exult?”

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent asks God to “give us the grace to heed the warnings of the prophets to preach repentance and forsake our sins, (so) that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.” We are reminded that repentance is not a single act but an ongoing responsiveness to the will of God. During this second week of Advent, we invite you to reflect on how you have participated in the sins of racism, racial supremacy, and anti-Black bias.

What can you offer to God, and to your neighbor, on your path to reconciliation?