Tag Archives: racial justice

Boston’s Reparations Efforts

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March 25, 2024

Last week, sixteen clergy and faith leaders gathered in Roxbury to hold a press conference about their open letter to several churches supporting reparations in our city. The event was hosted by a local activist group, the Boston People’s Reparations Commission.

Are you curious about Boston’s reparations efforts? You may have read that the City of Boston appointed two research teams to continue their work (begun in late 2022). One group brings together researchers of the African American Trail Project at Tufts University and historians at the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford; they will study the history of enslavement from 1620 to 1940. A second group of scholars from Northeastern University will research the history of inequality within the Boston Public Schools, Boston Police Department, Boston Fire Department, and Boston Housing Authority in the era after 1940.

We found the seven-episode podcast series hosted by the WGBH News Equity and Justice Unit to be an excellent introduction to how reparations were championed, and challenged, in our municipal and state government over the years. Entitled “What is Owed?” the broadcast covers the stories of important advocates of reparations, from freedwoman Belinda Sutton, who successfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court in 1783, through the work of Senator Bill Owens, the first Black member of the Massachusetts Senate, and ends with the unfolding story of our current times.

–Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Mary Blocher, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church March 27, 2024

Celebrating Absalom Jones

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Black History Month begins with commemorations in the Episcopal Church honoring Absalom Jones, the first black Episcopal priest in the U.S. whose feast day is February 13th . The Episcopal News Service gives a full listing of dioceses across the country that are holding special programs.

Our diocese has rescheduled its commemoration of Absalom Jones from February 11th to April 7th, at which time Bishop Alan Gates will preside at St. Cyprian’s, Roxbury, and the Reverend James Hairston will preach. For more about Absalom Jones (1746-1818), see the history page hosted by the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia.

Or listen to the sermon preached by The Reverend Yejide Peters Pietersen (Yale Divinity School) at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on February 4, 2024. The Reverend Pietersen talks about how “saint becomes symbol” of faithful resistance and insistence in a post-Reconstruction era. She also honors Pauli Murray and Barbara Harris.

—Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church February 7 & 14, 2024

Interview with Rev. Jarrett-Schell on Church Reparations

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The text used by our vestry for an introduction to church reparations was written by the Reverend Peter Jarrett-Schell, Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, Washington, DC. Entitled Reparations: A Plan for Churches, the book draws upon Jarrett-Schell’s experience with draws on his experience as a member of the Reparations Committee in the Diocese of Washington, DC and as Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, a historically Black church in the diocese.

We discovered an interview with Reverend Jarrett-Schell that was hosted by the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) in their series of monthly virtual talks (scroll down to the last talk): We’re Talking Now: Reparations: A Plan for Churches (November 19, 2023). In it, Jarrett-Schell explains his recommendations for church reparations processes. He tells us that while reluctant to write the book on his own, he decided to do so only with the advice and counsel of prominent Black leaders and in dialogue with them. In this talk, he gives two examples of churches who are moving along in very different approaches to repair and reparations. Continue reading →

Martin Luther King and Prophecy

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“As a young man, with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give myself to something eternal and absolute. Not to those little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow. But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
–Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., chapter 4

As commemorations for Martin Luther King, Jr. take place in various venues this month, we reflect on his prophetic voice, prompted by Pam’s sermon on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. Pam spoke about the work of “connecting the dots” in scripture and sacred stories. By listening closely to the messengers of God who link the human and the divine, we deepen our understanding of these narratives–these “pieces of the fabric of community.” Continue reading →

Pauli Murray’s Legacy

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Following Emmanuel’s July 2023 dedication of the Pauli Murray statue that graces our pulpit, we have some related news from her niece, Rosita Stevens-Holsey, and officially, from the U.S. Mint. The Reverend Dr, Pauli Murray Quarter was released on January 2, 2024 as one of the new set of American Women Quarters. The design and significance of the coin are described here.

We have also learned that Pauli Murray scholarship is continuing apace. A recent
collection has been published, To Speak a Defiant Word: Sermons and Speeches on Justice and Transformation. Edited by Anthony B. Pinn, this work builds on Pinn’s previous research and includes sermons, lectures, and speeches.

Lastly, of interest to us is the growing list of recipients of the annual Pauli Murray Book Prize for the best book in Black intellectual history. Sponsored by the African American Intellectual History Society, and first awarded in 2018, the list of recipients includes authors writing on Black history, Black internationalism and environmental Justice, and Black politics and activism. The winners also write a series of posts on the Society’s blog, Black Perspectives which is a global forum for news and public scholarship.

–Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church Jan. 3, 2024