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 Black churches have long history of activism
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The
shooting of Sgt. Cornel Young Jr.
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2.7.2000
Black churches have long history of activism
 The church has always been pivotal in the black community, a place where members have gathered to effect social change since Colonial times.
By RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal
Religion Writer
PROVIDENCE —- They come in a variety of sizes and styles, from small storefront congregations whose members dance in the aisles to big stone edifices with two or three choirs.
Whatever the individual tales of each of Rhode Island's black churches, they share a common story. Baptist, Methodist, Church of God in Christ, A.M.E., and A.M.E. Zion -- theirs is a story of people seeking God in a world tarnished by racism.
Given the view that each of their churches can be a reservoir of strength and healing, it should come as no surprise that members of the predominantly black Ministers Alliance of Rhode Island were particularly busy last week.
The funeral for Sgt. Cornel Young Jr., the black police officer who was gunned down by two of his fellow officers, had hardly finished when members of the clergy group, representing some two dozen churches around the state, were meeting privately to map out a strategy for dealing with the anger and concern rampant in the community without giving in to the anger themselves.
By midweek, the efforts appeared to be paying off. Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who originally said he saw no evidence of race being a factor in the shooting, backtracked. And Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse seemed more willing to heed their demands for an independent investigator.
Though such high-profile lobbying may seem a bit unusual for a group of pastors, the clergy say that it is no different from the pressure that preachers, church women, and Sunday-school children provided to bring about the social changes of the '50s and '60s.
Their lobbying also reflects a commitment to social activism that has been part of the black church experience at least as far back as 1787, when Richard Allen, a former slave who had converted to Methodism, founded the Free African Society. An ugly racial incident that year at St. George Methodist Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia, led to Allen and his followers walking out to form a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
"When it comes to social activism, it's our church that started it," said the Rev. Marlowe V. N. Washington, pastor for the last two and a half years of the Allen A. M. E. Church, on Bellevue Avenue.
The Rev. Virgil Wood, pastor of Pond Street Baptist Church and a preacher for 52 years, said that there are still lots of people who seem to think the black churches' struggle for social justice began only in the 1950s and 1960s, under the tutelage of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Not so, said Mr. Wood, the Alliance's president, who marched side by side with the slain civil-rights leader and was involved in desegregation efforts in Boston and Lynchburg, Va. "The tradition started was long before King," he said. "It was born out of a response to the plight of the black people and became a force for their liberation and education."
The Rev. Robert E. Farrow, 39, pastor of the Holy Cross Church of God in Christ United, on Broad Street, and the soon-to-be-installed bishop for the Ocean State region, said that the black church still stands as the one institution in America that has been truly owned and controlled by blacks. This institution, he said, has had tremendous impact on the black community, as a place of political power and self-esteem.
Given all the suffering and torture that African-Americans went through, he said, it's no surprise that black Americans are much more likely to believe, as opinion polls suggest, that religion is very important to their lives.
As he put it: "We are very into our faith because we realize that if it wasn't for God, it would be impossible for us to stand and to overcome the problems today."
Not that all of Rhode Island's black ministers are totally behind the Alliance's current efforts.
The Rev. H. Lincoln Oliver, the 76-year-old pastor of Olney Street Baptist Church, said that he wishes the group were a bit more cautious, lest it stir up people's emotions.
"My feeling is that we need to let things unfold on their own, the way they are supposed to," said the minister. "The legal procedures should be given a chance."
But Mr. Wood, Mr. Washington, and other ministers said that the Alliance has no choice but to stand up for victims and the oppressed.
"I think the black church loses its authority if it doesn't stand with the people and for the people and try to go instead with its own internal maintenance program," Mr. Wood declared. "The black church gains authority when it stands with the people in the deepest part of their agony."
Mr. Washington said that the current campaign may help the black churches reclaim authority that, he believes, got lost in the wake of the King assassination.
"When King died, that [killed] the dream, or . . . the energy behind the dream," he said. "And for a while, they weren't powerful anymore. Secular groups came into existence because the churches abdicated their throne."
But now all that's changing again, in Mr. Washington's view. He points to ministers such as the Rev. Jeffrey Hill, new pastor of Hood Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church and one of a new breed of black ministers who believe that the churches are directed by the teachings of Jesus to make sure justice is done.
Even so, Bishop Farrow said that it would be wrong to suggest that the Ministers Alliance, now nearly 40 years old, had ever wavered in its commitment to social justice.
A REVIEW
of the last two decades suggests that the Ministers Alliance has been ready to take stands.
Those range from its effort to persuade Governor Almond that a four-year-old black-Hispanic child should go to its first cousin instead of a white foster couple, to its attempt three years earlier to break a "cycle of violence" that had led to three shooting deaths. (Almond said he would review the adoption case, but the child ended up going to the foster parents anyway.)
Among the alliance's other campaigns: a 1995 effort to support then-Police Chief Bernard E. Gannon after he suspended a rookie officer who had been captured on videotape kicking a man during a disturbance outside The Strand nightclub; its successful attempt at getting a new trial for Willie R. Scurry, a man the ministers felt might have been wrongly accused of abduction and rape; and a campaign to get former-Sen. Claiborne Pell to introduce legislation to stop the deportation of Haitian refugees.
In 1988, the ministers called on Providence College to punish students responsible for an alleged rape of a black student.
And what do the ministers do now?
For the past few days, some of the clergy have had to wrestle with the realization that some in the community are angry and think that the ministers' careful, step-by step approach is too timid.
But Leslie R.F. Papp II, an expert on nonviolence and a member of the Allen A.M.E. Church, said that the approach they have embarked upon is modeled closely on the nonviolent principles espoused by Mr. King.
For that reason, Papp said, the ministers tried to put some distance between themselves and a demonstration staged at City Hall by members of a group called Direct Action for Racial Equality.
"Is what they did a form of direct action? Yes. But some of it was negative. Name-calling is not the way Dr. King approached nonviolence," said Papp.
"Can sit-ins be an effective tool? Most certainly," he said. "You may see us do it at some point, but not until we've met and negotiated with all parties concerned -- the mayor, the Police Department, and AG's office -- and all those things fail."
Mr. Washington said that he feels optimistic.
"Rather than dividing the community, I see this as bridging the community," he said. "It can be a win-win situation for everybody. To do that, we have to defuse situations so we can think with a clear head and a clear heart, not be angry or come out with hate. It's a healing process."
Bishop Farrow, too, is optimistic.
"There are a lot of concerns out there, from education and employment to the whole issue of driving while black, 'Providence Plantations,"' Bishop Farrow said. "Now we have this incident. But I believe God can turn this into something good. If we can pull together and not let ignorance take control, if we let the love of God into our hearts and minds, we have the opportunity of Rhode Island becoming a role model for the rest of the country."
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