A Christian Take on Race in America

Aug 17, 2017 at 10:25 am

Friars of St. John the Baptist ProvinceA Statement from the Friars of St. John the Baptist Province

“As Franciscans, we must be people of peace. We must strive to live the Gospel and respect all our sisters and brothers, regardless of race, religion and gender.”

A man holds a Confederate flag outside the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, July 9, hours before Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill to remove the flag from Statehouse grounds. (CNS photo/Jason Miczek, Reuters)Stars, Bars, and Scars

In August of 2017, the nation is embroiled in the debate again, this time after a riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, that killed Heather Heyer, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates, after a “Unite the Right” activist allegedly intentionally drove his car into a crowd of anti-right activists. It was all over the removal of a Confederate memorial.

 

People in Chicago demonstrate July 11 after a string of nationwide police shootings of African-Americans and the slaying of police officers in Dallas. Around the country, Catholic organizations, parishes, clergy and laity are taking action and bolstering efforts to build peace and battle racism, following a summer of violence. (CNS photo/Tannen Maury, EPA) See WASHINGTON-LETTER-ELECTION-RACE Aug. 25, 2016.Minding What Matters: A Look at Justice in the United States

The US Department of Justice reports that one in three black American men can expect to go to prison in his lifetime. One in three: the same proportion as suffer hair loss or weight gain.

The same ratio as those who have insomnia or develop diabetes. One in three. It’s hard to imagine that this stark fact is a fluke rather than a symptom of a larger problem.

A monument of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan in Lexington, Ky., stands encased in protective scaffolding Aug. 15. (CNS photo/Bryan Woolston, Reuters) See WHITE-NATIONALIST-RALLY-REACTION Aug. 16, 2017.Catholic leaders urge all Americans to confront ‘sin of racism’

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Franciscan Action Network called on all Americans, “especially ourselves and those who have benefited from white privilege,” to look within themselves “and confront America’s original sin — the sin of racism.”

“White Americans must no longer stand silent as we continue to benefit from the attitudes and structures that put us ahead of African-Americans and other minority groups,” the organization said in an Aug. 14 statement issued in reaction to a chaotic and hate-filled weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 11 and 12.

Two people comfort Joseph Culver of Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12 as he kneels at a late night vigil to pay his respects for a friend injured in a car attack on counter-protesters rallying against white nationalists. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the violence and hatred and offered prayers for the family and loved ones of the person who was killed, and for all those who were injured. (CNS photo/Jim Bourg, Reuters) See WHITE-NATIONALISTS-RALLY-VIRGINIA Aug. 12, 2017.Bishops ask for peace after white nationalist rally turns deadly

In the aftermath of a chaos- and hate-filled weekend in Virginia, Catholic bishops and groups throughout the nation called for peace after three people died and several others were injured following clashes between pacifists, protesters and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 11 and 12.

Additional Resources

Gregory on Charlottesville: Bishops must speak, because silence is approval, via Crux

LCWR Condemns Racism in All Forms, via the Leadership Conference of Women Religious 

 

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Canonical link: A Christian Take on Race in America