- Epworth
Where do we go from here? Epworth Truth and Racial Reckoning
Epworth’s Truth and Racial Reckoning Working group presented its first report to the Church Council on January 24. A summary of that report follows below. The complete document:
We recommended to Church Council that the Epworth community take on truth-seeking and racial reckoning as part of its ongoing church mission, and that the Truth and Racial Reckoning Working Group assist in making that happen. Church Council affirmed their support for our work as we move forward.
Originally formed in response to a call from Pastor Kristin following the George Floyd murder and subsequent widespread protests, the group of 12-15 Epworth folk has convened by Zoom since early August on the first and third Wednesdays from 4-5:30 pm. (Our total email list includes 38 names.) If you would like to join our working group – please contact Greg Downs to be added to the email list for notification.
We convened in order to look at the racial history of Epworth - asking ourselves how we became a predominantly white United Methodist church located in a predominantly white section of an otherwise diverse East Bay. What does our awareness of our racial history require of us now in terms of racial reckoning?
Our group has been in a period of education and reflection that we hope will lead toward concrete action. As part of our self-education, we had two presentations—one on education and one on redlining/housing discrimination/zoning in Berkeley —drawn from the expertise of several Epworth parishioners. We also had a presentation about John Wesley’s anti-slavery position, and one discussing the concept of reparations. Some of us have been looking more directly into the racial history of the United Methodist Church and of Epworth itself. This work is ongoing.
If you would like to review meeting notes or anecdotal records compiled by members of the Truth and Racial Reckoning Working Group, you can access them at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17G_cJlFyEjUhmL7pd4AQgIdD9jgnku21?usp=sharing
In a future update, we will share possible next steps for our working group and for our congregation.
Again, if you would like to join us, please send an email to Greg Downs to be added to the meeting notification list.
Epworth history through a racial justice lens
October 13, 2020 update:
Since July 21, a group of Epworth members have met roughly every two weeks by zoom to discuss racial reparations, what the history of Epworth requires of us, and how we might build an anti-racist church. We convened in the wake of the national and international responses to the brutal killing of George Floyd, and in knowledge of the centuries-long history of white supremacy that preceded that moment.
As the invitation to Epworth participants read, "It is, without doubt, a time of reckoning across the country and the world, and we at Epworth must reckon, as well, and with our own focus close to home. We must determine what role we are to play in the seemingly inevitable social change and upheaval that lies in our immediate future. As members, we pledged to “resist evil and injustice in whatever forms they may present themselves,” so our participation is warranted, perhaps mandated. That means trying to fix the world “out there,” but it also means paying closer to attention to our world close to home. Epworth is an entity, an institution with its own life and history. To properly address what lies before us — our future — we must honestly address what has been lain behind — our past."
Our meetings thus far have drawn between 12-20 members, convened by Michael Martin and Greg Downs but together pursuing the question of how to embed our pursuit of racial justice in the very ground we occupy, the very space that we once inhabited (and hope to inhabit again, once safe and prudent to do so.) In the process we have begun to explore a wide range of questions about the formation of Epworth, the histories of its predecessor churches, the history of Methodism and slavery, the exclusions of African Americans that led to the creation of the AME and CME and AME Zion churches, the segregation of predominantly Black Methodist churches into the Central Jurisdiction, as well as the choices that created predominantly white neighborhoods in the area around Epworth in North Berkeley and Albany.
We also met with representatives from First Church, Cambridge to discuss their extensive, decade-long process of racial reckoning, reparations, and anti-racism. They shared their successes and failures and their lessons learned as they have worked to reckon with the church and region's past and build an anti-racist church going forward.
We are currently discerning our own sense of how engaging with our past can lead us to act, as individuals and as a church. As an ad hoc body, we hope to make recommendations to the broader church as we become more confident in our judgments of our path forward toward justice and truth. All who are interested should contact Michael Martin (bigmikeslaw@gmail.com) or Greg Downs (gregorypdowns@gmail.com). We meet every other Wednesday at 4 p.m.
7/7/2020 Update:
Epworth in a Time of Racial Reckoning
The video recording of George Floyd’s death has become a cultural touchstone. Something about that footage — maybe its graphic nature; maybe the close-up shot of the expressions of George Floyd’s face; maybe the sound of the helpless passers-by begging for his life; maybe the casual manner in which the homicidal policeman’s fellow officers stood by, heading off any possible interference while this life was slowly, permanently tugged away. Whatever it was, it appears that in the airing and viewing of that particular video footage, the soul of a nation was finally touched. And touched it has been.
Protest demonstrations have been taking place in over a hundred cities nationwide, indeed worldwide. They have been accompanied by op-ed pieces, corporate declarations, political pronouncements, and the designation of a holiday in recognition and condemnation of America’s racist past and present. It is, without doubt, a time of reckoning across the country and the world, and we at Epworth must reckon, as well, and with our own focus close to home.
We must determine what role we are to play in the seemingly inevitable social change and upheaval that lies in our immediate future. As members, we pledged to “resist evil and injustice in whatever forms they may present themselves,” so our participation is warranted, perhaps mandated. That means trying to fix the world “out there,” but it also means paying closer to attention to our world close to home. Epworth is an entity, an institution with its own life and history. To properly address what lies before us — our future — we must honestly address what has been lain behind —- our past.
While it is important to ask these questions in the broadest terms, we also need to embed our pursuit of racial justice in the very ground we occupy, the very space that we once inhabited (and hope to inhabit again, once safe and prudent to do so.) How might our understanding of our call be reshaped by asking how Epworth came to be a predominantly white United Methodist Church located in a predominantly white section of the otherwise diverse East Bay, and in proximity to other diverse Methodist churches?
Pastor Kristin has proposed that we, Greg and Michael, head up a committee of willing church members to explore the history of our home church, and its predecessor churches, with regard to race. We know Epworth is a product of many histories. We know that John Wesley was an ardent opponent to slavery. We also know that a rift in the church over slavery created competing predominantly white Methodist denominations; that black Methodists saw the need to found the AME Church in 1816 and the CME Church in 1870; that the church created the all-black Central Jurisdiction in 1939; that the fully-integrated church did not emerge until 1968.
Also, we must explore how and why essentially all-black United Methodist churches like Downs Memorial and Taylor Memorial exist so cozily beside such predominantly white Methodist churches like Epworth and Trinity? And how Epworth developed alongside the growth of AME and CME churches in the East Bay?
And Epworth grew not just within a Methodist world but also a particular neighborhood world of residential segregation in Berkeley. How did the specific red-lining of North Berkeley and the exclusion of black people from jobs on the adjoining Key Route System create the neighborhoods that Epworth and its predecessor churches largely drew upon? What, finally, does our knowledge of the choices and forces that created Epworth require of us as people who voluntarily choose Epworth? Along with its many assets, what debts does Epworth owe, and do we as Epworthians owe? And how would we pay them? Our time of reckoning has come, as well.
Those Epworthians who are interested in being part of an experience that promises to be intellectually edifying, as well as emotionally and spiritually fulfilling, should contact one of us as soon as possible.
Greg Downs
Michael Martin
