Outrage

Cynthia Joe is an elder from Presbyterian Church in Chinatown in San Francisco, CA.  She has served on the board of the Presbyterian, Health and Welfare Association (PHEWA) and Presbyterian Women’s Churchwide Coordinating Committee.

While at the Big Tent, I attended the panel discussion of Racism, Church and Response to Trayvon Martin’s death.. The moderator of the panel posed questions related to racism in the church, and panel members spoke from their respective ethnic and racial perspectives. They did not directly address the George Zimmerman/ Trayvon Martin issue of injustice.

By the time Q&A opened for the attendees, the frustration and pain from individuals imploded on us.  One woman asked why her ethnic group was not represented on the panel; another gentleman spoke about how little the church has served the Puerto Ricans.  Panel member Arlene Gordon responded that such issues needed to be addressed at another platform and reminded us to deal with Trayvon’s death. Unfortunately she had to leave for another event and we were running out of time at 11:50 AM.  One person did ask why the larger church isn’t discussing this issue before the majority of the attendees left at noon.  Before worship some people spoke in anger and left–no dialogue was exchanged.

I was one of only 30 or so attendees who stayed for the closing worship. A choir from an African American church joined us, doubling our numbers. The choir members sat together on one side and the rest of us were scattered around the room.  I was sad that so few of us remained to demonstrate solidarity with the plight of African American boys facing death because of their color.  Preacher Rashell Hunter reminded us that categories that divide or name us are all human-made.

I hope our church will continue to provide opportunities for us all to address racial and social injustices in our world.  We know gun advocates and laws such as “Stand Your Ground” are used by the dominant society to oppress people of color. We must work to change such laws.

At a protest in San Francisco, TV news quoted a young man: “Quarterback Mick Vicks gets 3 years for shooting a dog and George Zimmerman walks free from shooting an African American boy”.

More of us need to be outraged!