Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘Black Lives Matter’
St. Paul’s won’t hide vandalism of banner
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at the corner of East Avenue and Dickson Street is highly visible — both geographically and in its role in the community of Fayetteville. So it was no surprise to see a banner go up along the East Avenue fence June 10 that read “Black Lives Matter.”
“I greatly appreciate everything St. Paul’s does to promote and support equity, diversity and inclusion in our city,” says Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan. “St. Paul’s is an important part of this community.”
“St. Paul’s supports the Black Lives Matter movement unequivocally,” says the Rev. Evan Garner, rector at St. Paul’s. “Hanging up a Black Lives Matter banner was a way to let the members of our parish and the wider community know that we believe that black lives matter — that the lives of people of color have equal value. The senseless and horrible murder of black people is a crisis in this country. It is a product of systemic racism. Jesus stood up for the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. As followers of Jesus, we must stand up for them, too, and, in 21st century America, that means standing up for black lives.”
What did surprise both the church and the community was getting word from a parishioner June 15 that the banner had been vandalized.
“That kind of behavior is not acceptable nor representative of our community,” says Jordan.
“We consider St. Paul’s a sister congregation and stand in solidarity with them and with BLM,” says the Rev. Clint Schnekloth, lead pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville. “We have a Black Lives Matter banner hanging at Good Shepherd, [and] our denomination has also been clear in its support of BLM.”
“I do not think it is an accident that the person who vandalized the banner cut out the word ‘Black,’ leaving behind ‘Lives Matter,’” says Garner. “Literally, physically, whoever did this cut black people out of the statement that we were making, explicitly declaring that, in that person’s mind, black lives don’t matter.
“That is precisely the reason that the sign and the movement matter, and it is also why I think it is essential for our congregation and for all people of faith, particularly Christians, to support it,” Garner goes on. “Of course we believe that all lives matter. We believe that we are called to respect the dignity of every human being. But violence is being perpetrated against people of color. That targeted violence has plagued our nation for its entire history. It is woven into the fabric and foundation of our country. The statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ is not a repudiation of the value of all human life. It is a repudiation of the historic and present-day treatment of black people as less than human.”
Garner says within a few hours of the discovery that the banner had been mutilated, several people offered to pay for a replacement. “I think that speaks not only to their generosity but also to their sense that this banner really matters and that it matters to them that St. Paul’s has displayed it,” Garner says. But he had a different idea.
“We did not want to cover up the truth that there are still individuals in our community who would rather cut black people out of our valuation of human life,” he explains. “So we made a second, smaller banner to hang in the space created by the cutout in order that the word ‘Black’ could be restored without obscuring the vandalism.
“We wanted people to know that we still stand with the Black Lives Matter movement without hiding the presence of racism in our community,” Garner adds. “The adversity that our church has experienced is minuscule when compared with the struggle that black people have endured, but we wanted to show our solidarity with them.”
“It is very important that congregations make their own public commitment,” says the Rev. Dr. Leslie Smith Belden of Fayetteville, who is stated clerk with the Presbytery of Arkansas. “The Presbyterian Church (USA) is encouraging all congregations and regional jurisdictions to become ‘Matthew 25’ congregations and presbyteries. One of the three foci of the Matthew 25 commitment is ‘dismantling structural racism.’ The PC (USA) is strongly supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement, and urges congregations to take a stand and work toward justice for all — which means a special emphasis on justice for those denied justice within our racist society.
“Sermons must be preached on the subject, the issue of justice for people of color must be raised in the context of prayer, and study groups can be formed to allow members to understand more about the issue of white privilege and learn what it means to be supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Belden adds.
“Change is hard,” Garner admits. “People don’t like giving up power or privilege. When a group that has been in control for generations is asked to yield some of that power to other people, the response is often anger, violence and systemic resistance. That is human nature. That is sin. And it is the same force of evil that crucified Jesus.
“The vandalism of our banner is a small and superficial sign of a deeper and more dangerous brokenness in our community,” he goes on. “We want to bear witness to God’s love for all people, and we want to work for the cause of love in this community by standing up against racism.”
Garner says a recent portrayal of a well-known Bible story put the situation into perspective for him.
“In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son,” he explains. “After betraying his father and squandering his inheritance, a wayward son returns home to find the surprising love and forgiveness of his father. Imagine, then, that, as the son runs toward the house, he sees his father holding up a sign that says, ‘Prodigal Sons Matter.’ His older brother resents the father’s sign and generosity and says, ‘Don’t all sons matter?’ to which the father replies, ‘Yes, my child, all sons matter, but this moment isn’t about you.’
“This moment is about valuing the lives of those people of color whom we have undervalued for centuries — undervalued to the point that a black life or, more specifically a black death, has come to mean less to us than its white counterpart. Our church believes that that is unacceptable, and we want to be a part of the change that makes it right.”