We stand with Asian Americans
Wesley United Methodist Church stands with the Asian American community! I serve as pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church here in Bakersfield. We pride ourselves on being a part of a connection of churches serving people throughout the world. Our conference serves northern California and northern Nevada. Throughout our conference there are a number of ethnic churches — Asian, Hispanic and Pacific Islanders, to name a few. Many of my colleagues in ministry have backgrounds that are other than European American. Of course I do not know them all, but those I do know, I am honored to call them friends.
That said, I am saddened and angered by the racism that is running rampant in this country. People who consider themselves better than others based solely on the color of their skin or cultural heritage are sorely mistaken. I pray they spend some time considering and correcting their racist thoughts and behaviors. May God have mercy.
The congregation of the church I serve is predominantly white, and we have made a commitment to become anti-racist by first becoming aware of the systemic racism in our country and understanding how this has resulted in our enjoying “white privilege” even while unaware. Those of us of European descent must remember that our families immigrated to this place at one time. The Bible teaches, “Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God,” (Leviticus 19). We serve a God who teaches us to love above all else, and all the religions of which I am aware teach similar love.
TIME TO START
Another accident the other day at the intersection of Old River Road and White Lane. This one involving four vehicles with speed most likely a factor. Good time to start using BPD motorcycles with radar guns on Old River Road?
I PLAYED BASKETBALL WITH ELGIN BAYLOR
In 1962, my Army Reserve duty was extended because of the Berlin crisis. The 828 Station Hospital Unit out of Fresno was my unit. We were sent to Madigan General Hospital in Washington with orders to set up a field hospital in Berlin. We sat on those orders, never leaving the U.S. because President Kennedy called up thousands of Reservists. We had to process them before they could be deployed. Lines of men seemed endless.
I was doing intake — head down, pounding the typewriter — said “Next.” A body sat down across my desk. “Surname?” Response was “Baylor.”
“First name?”
“Elgin.”
I stopped typing and looked at the man across from me. The Elgin Baylor was sitting at my desk! We were both from Illinois and chatted a few minutes. Beds were in short supply and I was moving off base that day. I called Harvey Hardcastle — also of the 828 — on active duty in Supply. “Harvey, I’m sitting here with Elgin Baylor. Could you get my bed and make it a foot longer?” Elgin had a new home and the longest bed in any barracks.
When that was arranged, I invited Elgin to go to the Enlisted Men’s Club with me for a beer. The beginning of a friendship.
While on duty, Elgin put on clinics for colleges in the Seattle area. At one point he said he was supposed to do a clinic but had been assigned duty. My wife sewed his name badge onto my shirt and on several occasions I did duty as “Baylor.” No one commented on the fact that “Baylor” was white and only 6 feet tall. Even got away with that one Saturday when he was obviously playing elsewhere.
The Lakers came to Seattle to practice with Elgin. He rounded up his friends from the 828 to practice with them. That practice resembled a Globetrotters game, and we were out of our league. But that is how I got to play basketball with the Great Elgin Baylor and the Lakers!
He shall be missed by many.