Exploring the intersections of race and criminal in/justice

Exploring the intersections of race and criminal in/justice

One warm summer day in the 1950s, when I was about four years old, our family drove the 25 miles from our small East Tennessee town to shop at the Sears Roebuck store in Knoxville. My most vivid memory from that “big city” excursion was seeing the two drinking fountains in Sears: a refrigerated one with a big “whites only” sign and a smaller, non-refrigerated bubbler labeled “coloreds.” I am grateful for my parents’ efforts so many years ago to help their very young child comprehend this injustice.

Many decades later Ryan and I witnessed another, much more pernicious, form of racism when visiting a friend serving time in prison. The incarcerated male population there was overwhelming African-American. Partly in response to that experience, and once we initiated Holy Trinity’s prison book ministry in 2013, I have been studying the intersections of race and the criminal justice system in the United States. I have been heartened by the anti-racism efforts of our synod and our congregation, which enriches the lives of prisoners by sending books and supplies the state does not provide.

Each year at the June Printer’s Row Lit Fest, our church’s booth includes a resource handout with blurbs about such important books as The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010) by Michelle Alexander and Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017) by James Forman Jr. Especially compelling is Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014), by Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson. There’s a free study guide at https://justmercy.eji.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/just-mercy-discussion-guide.pdf. The newly-released film version about one man wrongly placed on death row is reviewed at https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/just-mercy-movie-review-michael-b-jordan-930607/, and you can see the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVQbeG5yW78.

Educating yourself on the issues is one great way to participate in Holy Trinity’s prison ministry. Here are a few more:

• Donate used books to this year's drive on Saturday-Sunday April 25-26 and May 2-3. See full book donation guidelines at http://www.holytrinitychicago.org/ministries/prison.

• Make a monetary donation to the loose offerings at designated services to help cover the costs of materials for packing and postage for shipping dozens of boxes of books to several Illinois prisons.

• Sign up for a shift at the Holy Trinity booth at Printer's Row Lit Fest on June 6-7, 2020, and share information about this ministry. Previous experience with the prison ministry is not necessary.

• Continue bringing good condition women's clothing, shoes, purses, coats, etc., for use by women entering the labor market from the Fox Valley Transition Center in Aurora. Please deposit items (clearly marked and in a paper or plastic bag) in the basket marked "Fox Valley" in the HT Lakeview narthex or give them to Pr. Ben Adams at HTLoop.

Carol LaHurd cslahurd@comcast.net

Intersections

Intersections can be risky and dangerous. Whether on foot, on a bike, or in a car, extra caution is needed when approaching an intersection.

Recently I was a behind a car turning left and was already in the intersection. The other turned car so late that by the time I followed, a red-light camera got a picture of my car and license plate and I got a very expensive ticket!

At Holy Trinity we make connections between church and world—how our baptismal calling intersects with the way we live, work, vote, serve, volunteer, and pray. Holy Trinity has a long commitment to bringing our faith into the public sphere. For many this intersection is reflected in the radical welcome we announce in worship.

Our community began to work on inclusivity in the early 1990s when gays and lesbians were publicly welcomed into every aspect of parish life. This passion for justice naturally leads to others. In fact, intersectionality is the way that many describe forms of discrimination (racism, sexism, homophobia, classism) that overlap. Our commitment to environmental justice is another example as climate change usually affects the most vulnerable in society.

Holy Trinity’s commitment to antiracism work has grown gradually over the past 15 years. At least 24 persons have attended a 2.5 antiracism training event. We have had several council and congregational retreats focused on racial justice. A number of books have been read and discussed. A passionate antiracism team has guided this work.

The weekend of September 28-29 will mark the beginning of Holy Trinity's two-year partnership with the Antiracism Team of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA. Through this partnership, Holy Trinity will work with a leader from the Synod Team to discern and enact a plan for the future. What does it mean to do the work of dismantling institutional racism in our church? The Synod Team describes the process as follows: "Challenging racism requires us to look beyond individual acts of prejudice towards the systemic barriers that marginalize members of our family; barriers embedded in our policies and procedures, in our faith tradition, practices and beliefs."

We ask that you join us for an important forum this weekend: following HTLoop worship this coming weekend on Saturday, September 28 and HTLakeview worship on Sunday, September 29.

We will make a commitment as a congregation to this work on Reformation Sunday, October 26/27. The church’s call to continuing Reformation is an intersection worth our reflection and response!

News from the Holy Trinity Anti-Racism Team

This past year has been an important one for our Holy Trinity Anti-Racism Team and our church. For one, we became members of the Emmaus Collective Pilot Group, joining churches “on the way to, or working on, dismantling white supremacy in their church culture. We are not saying they are done or totally safe, we are saying these are churches who are naming and claiming they that are doing the work.” https://emmauscollective.org/

Secondly, we have agreed to begin a two-year covenant with the Metropolitan Chicago Synod Anti-Racism team so that as we do this work we have support and accountability.  Stay tuned for a kick-off event in the fall to mark the beginning of this two-year process! 

In the meantime, we invite you to join the team in reading Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. by ELCA Pastor and Executive Director of the Emmaus Collective, Lenny Duncan. You can pre-order the book here, or join the team on July 8 to meet Pastor Lenny in Chicago on his book tour! You can purchase tickets for that event here.

We then plan to read Dear Church in July and discuss it at our next Anti-Racism meeting on August 4th following the 9:30am service at HTLakeview. The team will be meeting upstairs in the St. Mark’s Room and newcomers are always welcome to join us!

If you can’t make it to these events but would like to get involved, please contact Pastor Ben.  In closing, below is a reflection from a team member who recently took part in an anti-racism workshop, along with an update and invitation from the Synod Team:

In her June 2nd sermon, Pastor Michelle spoke of Jesus’ ascension as being the beginning of a new journey.  To me, the 2 ½ day CROAR Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism workshop is like that.  As intensive as it is, it is only the beginning of the journey for anyone who has attended and now knows that one cannot go back to an origin of ignorance; ignorance in the systemic use of power to control resources that create and sustain an inequitable existence for people, based on their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental health or age. I couldn’t check off a box for this workshop and move on to something else. It is the benchmark, birth, beginning of a new journey, focusing on the work I need to do in my life to root out the systemic racism in my everyday life and the pebbles I will need to drop to invite others to join me to be fellow disrupters in systems around us throughout this country.

by Kris Hiepler-Hartwig

Another Pebble, the Metro Chicago Synod's Antiracism Team, is now in covenant with several churches to work on transforming their congregations. The Synod’s team is focusing on congregational work as well as providing access to various types of training. On July 20, a 1-day Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism workshop will be held at St Luke's Lutheran Church, Logan Square. This is being offered FOR FREE, other than a $10 cost for meals. For more information and to register, go to ABAR Workshop  This workshop is designed for educators; those who work in schools and Sunday School teachers are especially encouraged to attend.

by Barbara Wahler, Co-Leader, MCS Antiracism Team