Clergyman to rally: ‘I’m addicted to whiteness’
Religious leaders apologize for silence, vow changes
The Rev. Dale Grandfield, a canon at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, introduced himself to about 100 people, many of them fellow clergy, at an Allentown rally Thursday and confessed that he’s “addicted to whiteness.”
“I love it and I have swam in it my whole life,” he said. “It has been treasured and nurtured in me and by me.”
He acknowledged that the white culture he loved — his lineage, values, the architecture, homes and museums — came from a history of oppression and slavery. He called on others to recognize their own privilege and dedicate their lives to ending injustice.
“Put your skin in this work. Put your privilege on the line. Put our power on the line. Put yourself into it,” he said. “Sacrifice whatever it takes, that’s what our Lord has taught us, for this work of disrupting and dismantling this culture of white supremacy that we inhibit and benefit from and yet holds us numb and addicted, which costs the lives of our black siblings.”
Grandfield joined dozens of clergy for a march from the Resurrected Life Community Church at Ninth and Turner streets to Zion’s United Church of Christ at Sixth and Hamilton streets. There, he and several other religious leaders told the crowd about how they benefited from being white and urged them to take up the fight against racial injustice. They
then marched through Allentown neighborhoods, stopping at spots where black lives were lost. The peaceful demonstration followed weeks of daily protests across the country after a Minneapolis police officer was caught on camera with his knee pressed for nearly nine minutes on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, killing him.
Since then, protesters have pressured local officials to reduce police budgets, reform police practices and even abolishing police departments. Businesses, churches, media and America’s major institutions are undergoing a reckoning as people of color share stories of discrimination and racism.
At the Thursday demonstration, those confessions from white clergy were met with both gratitude and skepticism as black church leaders challenged their white allies to do more and take action, such as filming scenes of police brutality and advocating for more funding for programs for the black community.
“We’re holding you accountable,” said the Rev. Benjamin Hailey, of Union Baptist Church in Allentown. “We’re holding the white churches accountable.”
“Will you go from marching to fighting for significant change?” he asked.
Hashann Baats, executive director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, said white churches shirked their responsibility to speak out against white violence toward people of color throughout history, from slavery to police brutality to advocating for communities of color.
It’s not just police brutality that leads to the death of black Americans, he said, but also politicians who don’t invest enough in education and community programs that can save black youth from the violence in the streets.
“Our legislators are killing us with their budgets,” he said.
Three women held postersize photos of their sons who died in gun violence as he spoke: Johnathan Williams, George Concepcion and Kareem Fedd.
White church leaders apologized for staying silent and leaving black church leaders to shoulder the burden.
The Rev. Becky Sausser, of New Bethel Church in Kempton, said she’s part of the problem because she’s stayed silent as teachers discriminated against a young black boy, labeling him a “problem child.”
Christians need to shift the focus from charity to justice, said the Rev. Beth Reed from the Bethlehem Episcopal Diocese.
“Charity gives a person a meal today but justice would ask why do they need to be at a food pantry,” she said. “Why don’t they have enough?”
While protests and public denunciations of institutional racism are promising, Allentown resident Michael Richardson, who is black, said they must be constant and not occur only after a tragedy if they are going to lead to change.