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Ohio: Christianity Unites Blacks and Whites to “Fight Racism”

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A GROUP OF local clergy is taking steps to tear down the walls of racial divide and build bridges of reconciliation in Kent, a city Google research data identified as the most racist in Northeast Ohio.

“It is unacceptable for Kent to be identified as the most racist community,” said the Rev. William Meyer (pictured), interim pastor at First Christian Church of Kent (Disciples of Christ). “We need to say that publicly and put our feet and persons into an action that demonstrates that we stand with our African-American brothers and sisters.”

On Sunday, Meyer and members of his congregation will be joined by clergy and lay people from other faith communities in Kent and the Akron area in a symbolic march from First Christian, at 335 W. Main St., to Spelman Chapel A.M.E. Church, at 910 Walnut St. The goal of the walk — about eight-tenths of a mile — is to provide a public witness against racism.

“This will be the first time in the history of Kent that predominantly white congregations will march to a predominantly African-American church to participate in a worship service,” said the Rev. L. Anthony Gatewood, pastor of Spelman Chapel. “This march is the first step of a growing movement in Kent to continue building bridges that already exist, to start building bridges that don’t exist and to tear down the barriers that are keeping us apart.”

The march represents the action component of a two-fold mission of a developing organization, which tentatively is being called the Kent Inter-Faith Alliance on Reconciliation and Justice. The other mission piece is creating a forum for dialogue on issues of reconciliation and social justice.

“We not only want to address issues with our voices. We want to also be doing something,” said Gatewood, convener of the group. “We are still in the formation stages and are working to bring more faith groups to the table. We want this effort to be inclusive.”

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Rev. L. Anthony Gatewood, pastor of Spelman Chapel A.M.E. Church, and the Rev. William Meyer, interim Pastor at First Christian (Disciples of Christ) Church, discus the Plain Dealer article that places Kent at the top of the list of cities with the highest percentages of racially charged Google searches.

So far, the alliance includes representatives from the African Methodist Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Episcopal, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Roman Catholic, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ and United Methodist churches and the Muslim and Jewish communities.

The formation of the group began after Meyer reached out to Gatewood in the wake of the mass shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., that left nine people dead. The gunman reportedly said he was there “to kill black people” before opening fire.

Pinpointing racism

A week before the June 17 shooting, a Google analysis, published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, suggested that Kent ranked first on a list of most racist cities in Northeast Ohio, based on the percentages of racially charged Google searches. The analyst identified Massillon, Medina, Canton, Elyria, Lakewood, Parma, Mansfield, Brecksville, Wooster, Chardon, Akron and Cleveland as second through 13th, in order.

The report used the same research approach pioneered by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz — a data scientist, former quantitative analyst at Google and New York Times Op-Ed contributor — that uses search data to study racist attitudes. In April, a study published in PLOS ONE (and cited in the Washington Post) revealed that the most racist people live in the rural Northeast and the South.

According to the researchers, the most concentrated group of searches for the N-word took place along the base of the Appalachians, from Georgia to New York and southern Vermont. Other hot spots for racist searches were in areas of the Gulf Coast, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a large portion of Ohio.

When Meyer saw the map, he immediately noted that it mirrored “the heartland of the Disciples of Christ Church.” That revelation, coupled with the South Carolina church shootings, moved Meyer to begin inviting other predominantly white congregations to worship and work with predominantly black congregations.

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Mission of reconciliation

The effort to work toward reconciliation and social justice is also in accordance with a resolution passed during the July 18-22 general assembly of the Disciples of Christ in Columbus. The resolution, in response to the Charleston shooting, calls for members of the denomination to continue working toward racial and ethnic reconciliation.

“This march is a public witness that we are willing to step out of our comfort zone and take the good news out into the community,” Meyer said. “We’re going to march through downtown Kent and go to be with our African-American brothers and sisters. I believe it’s important that white people march, because I think the movement needs to be on our end.”

The procession, which is gaining momentum with more congregations — including Harmony Springs Christian (Disciples of Christ) Church in Green, where the morning worship service has been relocated to the march in Kent — will begin at 11 a.m. at First Christian Church of Kent, 335 W. Main St.

The group will walk east on Main, turn south onto Franklin Avenue, go west on Oak Street and turn south onto Walnut to Spelman Chapel, where they will hear a message on reconciliation. Each religious group is asked to bring a symbol of their faith, which will be brought to the front of the church to symbolize solidarity.

“We all express a faith that brings people together and talks about love and working to care for the needs of others,” said Gatewood, who has served as pastor of the church since November. “There is room at the table for everyone and we want to make sure that everyone knows they are welcome.”

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Source: Ohio.com

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Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith
5 August, 2015 12:23 pm

This is why Christianity does not work. It is used in a way to threaten the existence of White People, just like it was in South Africa. White people have nothing to gain by mixing with blacks! NOTHING! I could see why blacks would want to mix because it would be a step up for them to get some white blood in their gene-pool, but for whites mixing would be a permanent step down. I have no problem with being civil towards blacks, but they should be separated from whites and live in their own communities so they wouldn’t continually hinder our racial progress.

Walt Hampton
Walt Hampton
5 August, 2015 2:26 pm

Why am I not surprised by any of this?

Arvin N. Prebost
Arvin N. Prebost
5 August, 2015 6:07 pm

Would you believe some Palestinian day-laborers, or middle-eastern Jewish junkmen, if they told you that their guru floated up in the air, or walked on rays of sunlight, or multiplied one desert cobra into thirty desert cobras? The New Testament events, as reported by ancient Palestinians, are not much different than these. And faith in Christianity depends, not on the Bible, but in having faith in the intelligence and integrity of these ancient Palestinians in reporting events at which they were supposedly eye-witnesses. This is not a dig against people who work with their hands—I think that today they are more reality-based than the professors who believe the modern-day nonsense. But in ancient times, a basic scientific approach was lacking, especially among the working-class, who had not even a third-grade… Read more »

sojournerholmes
sojournerholmes
Reply to  Arvin N. Prebost
28 June, 2020 11:22 pm

Actually the faith of The Way depends entirely on the Eternal Spirit not a book touched by fallible man’s hands which made All things , even the evil for the purification of the spirit by ways of struggling against the evil . For even hitler knew that life without struggle =death

Alex Wells
Alex Wells
1 June, 2019 2:46 pm

Question: In how many “symbolic marches” for “reconciliation and social justice” did Jesus and his apostles participate?