Day 4- Pastor Laura’s reflections
Allison- a junior from Towson- covered a lot, so I get to write less tonight. But it was a different kind of day today- no museums and less looking back.
Our time at Emmaus House today helped us to step into the now and what realities are for some African-American communities today. And that reality is unfortunately one of poverty. Peoplestown has suffered from the realities of city political decisions like many communities of color and communities of poverty throughout the country. In the 60s, Atlanta purposely chose to put interstates through communities with less political power, which were most often communities of color- a reality that also happened in Baltimore. And Atlanta chose to build the stadium where it did to serve as a buffer between African-American communities and the main business district. (It's actually written in the city documents.) And these types of decisions keep happening. Without political power, Peoplestown faces the threat of not having a say in decisions about its community. It's not a reality exclusive to African-American communities, but common to places without political or economic clout which are too often communities of African-Americans. We also talked about the realities of wealth differences which go back to housing- how African-Americans have lower rates of home ownership which means they often have less wealth to pass down to their children and it becomes a continual cycle. It's a reality which had its roots in redlining and other discriminatory housing practices and is still continuing to happen. The problems are so big that they often seem beyond our ability to change.
The "Life" game that Allison wrote about was incredibly powerful- as I was given an identity as someone without a high school diploma. And I didn't understand the rules of the game and messed up an opportunity I had to "move up in the world" on the first round. And because of one mistake, I had no chance of moving up later. I could just focus on making it by. As I cried out from the shelter (my only chance to get someone to notice my situation,) no one came to help. They offered promises that they broke. They saw me as a charity case. They didn't trust me that I wanted to go to school and make my life better. They saw me as a problem to be ignored as they focused on their own lives. The sense of hopelessness and inevitability was so strong, even though it was just a game. It is sobering and painful to realize that this is life for those living in poverty and that whole communities of people are living this reality. And it is sobering to realize that I am one of those with privileges who too often doesn't do enough to fight the systemic realities that trap my brothers and sisters in these patterns of poverty.
Tonight we hosted folks for dinner and joined in a discussion led by Gene Lewis- a pattern we will continue for the next 2 nights. Tonight we heard each others' stories and the stories of Roxane and Vicki and Howard and John- local folk who have their own experiences of life in Atlanta. And Gene led us in a powerful discussion about our experience of the Alabama State House, about the guilt that those who have white sin bear for the seeming way that other whites glorify our history when it includes such racism. Gene said he wanted to keep those paintings of George Wallace and those depictions of life in Alabama that conveniently ignore the black experience there to make those who are white uncomfortable and to make us some face to face with the realities of our history. To encourage the exact discussions we are having. But I would ask- how do we gain equal space to depict the other realities of our history- the realities of slavery and racism? And how do we celebrate the times that we have walked in the right direction by putting depictions of the civil rights fight and progressive law changes alongside our racist past? How do we show a history that is honest so that we can chart a course to where God intends us to be? These are questions for us as citizens, but they are also questions for us as Christians, since our churches bear some of the same scars of racism and a glorification of a history that oppressed others.
Today the words of MLK, that were written in the Rosa Parks Museum, echo back to me, "The end is reconciliation. The end is redemption. The end is the creation of the beloved community." How do we get there in a society that is so scarred? That is so broken? That is so divided? We will continue to struggle with the question of how, but the why is answered for us already. For this is what God calls us to. "God reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18 )
Tomorrow we journey to the King Center and enter into conversations again. And we pray that God would give us a glimpse of the way forward.