The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Keep conversation going on Faithbook
Our nation needs to keep this conversation going.
Two Roswell churches, one predominantly black, one predominantly white, spent the past year engaged in a deep, structured and, ultimately, fruitful conversation about race.
The kind that changes people and institutions. The kind that creates new, promising friendships. The kind that, if replicated, could broadly push forward a dialogue that is mostly stagnant. And on most days poisonous.
Recently, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Rosalind Bentley spent months following the story. Bentley told of how a meeting between Lisa Harding, a white metro Atlanta mom, and Lee Jenkins, pastor of predominantly African-American Eagles Nest Church in Roswell, set two congregations on a journey toward mutual understanding and Christian friendship across racial lines.
Bentley’s story, remarkably told, published on page A1 two Sundays ago. It is an unsparing view of a difficult process that began in a moment of chaos and fear.
Last year, our nation was shaken by deadly violence against police officers and deadly violence by police officers against unarmed black suspects.
You remember the stories. Five officers shot and killed in Dallas.
Philando Castile shot and killed in Minnesota while his girlfriend livestreamed his death.
Three officers ambushed and killed in Baton Rouge.
That attack was inspired by what happened in Dallas and purported retribution for the death of Alton Sterling. He was killed by police outside a convenience store where he was selling DVDs. His death, captured on video, showed an escalation of force that turned deadly, an outcome many thought avoidable.
Against this backdrop, Jenkins had been inviting clergy from majority-white congregations to talk about race. He wasn’t having much luck.
In walks Lisa Harding, a white woman who is raising two adopted African sons. She wanted understanding and healing. Jenkins wanted the same. Later, Matt Miller, Harding’s pastor at Roswell Community Church, signed on. A conversation was in motion.
I found the story remarkable for many reasons, one of which is that it raises this essential question: Do people of faith bear a disproportionate burden to facilitate and to shape our national conversation about race?
I say yes.
I think the folks in Roswell have given the faith community a blueprint to follow that can tear down some longstanding and frustrating barriers.
The AJC wants to keep the engagement going through social media: Welcome to AJC Faithbook.
Faithbook is a Facebook group we have launched to continue and expand upon the conversation inspired by the good work of Eagles Nest and Roswell Community Church.
It’s the brainchild of Senior Editor Richard Halicks, who is in charge of the AJC’s RE:Race series.
He is moderating what is a closed Facebook group. That means it’s visible only to those who are invited. And those who are invited agree to abide by rules of conduct and engagement that keep the conversation respectful and productive.
To join the conversation, email us at race@ajc.com.
Our hope is that well-intentioned folks of faith — from all faiths — use this space to challenge each other, inform and inspire.
Hopefully, the conversation will evoke a little more empathy, which seems in short supply nowadays as we fracture along lines of race, class and gender and shout past each other.
Empathy is difficult. Painful even. But it’s also a necessary component of this urgent conversation.
This is how complicated and difficult it is for some to empathize. A prosecutor once told me that some female jurors have a tough time convicting accused rapists. I was shocked by that. But his reasoning made sense. For some women to admit that a woman is a victim is to admit that she, too, is vulnerable in a dark and dangerous world.
To step into her shoes of vulnerability is to confront some hard and scary truths. It pierces one’s bubble of safety when one concludes that there are dangers out there that you don’t invite, maybe lurking around the next corner.
The same thing applies to race. To truly empathize, to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, requires you to see the world as they do and understand their fears and motivations.
As the conversation between the two churches shows us, empathy is hard won. Some of these folks had to admit that they think too little or too much about race. Others had to come to grips with how their upbringing might have imprinted them with prejudices that were still present but rarely acknowledged.
Like that female juror, acknowledging those biases is scary. And it challenges our idea of who we are and our relationship with the larger world.
To get to where we all aspire, where bitterness and resentment are replaced by understanding and dialogue, we need to keep having honest conversations.
Join us on Faithbook.
The AJC wants to keep the engagement going through social media: Welcome to AJC Faithbook.