Racism Hearings Could Be a Wake-up Call for American Churches

Episcopal News Service. October 27, 1994 [94171]

Episcopalians contributed to the findings of an international nine-person team of "eminent persons" which has declared that "gross and consistent" patterns of racism continue throughout the United States.

After concluding a week of hearings in October, the team concluded that many of the acts of racism described in the hearings "constitute apparent violations of fundamental human rights as set out in international law."

The hearings, said the Rev. Tom Van Culin, an indigenous Hawaiian who serves in the Diocese of Hawaii, could serve "as a wakeup call for the church, helping us to move toward a willingness to stand firmly planted on the root of our baptismal vows, standing with those who are in trouble or hurting -- and taking those steps necessary to create a just society."

The Rev. Earl Neil, canon missioner at the Washington National Cathedral, said that the hearings proved that, while many would like to think that "racism is dead, it's very much alive in the United States."

The hearings, held Oct. 8-15, were conducted by a team of noted international human rights authorities and religious leaders. The team heard testimony from Americans of African, Asian and Latino heritage, along with Native Americans.

The team was brought together by the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches as part of a campaign called "Racism as a Violation of Human Rights," which aims to investigate racism within the United States and to put in the larger context of international human rights violations.

In its preliminary findings, released Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C., the team called on the United Nations to monitor the U.S. government's record on racism and racist practices.

Violations continue

Among those contributing to the Oklahoma hearings was Dr. C. Blue Clark, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and a long-time member of Episcopal Council on Indian Ministry.

In written testimony, Clark, who serves as executive vice president of Oklahoma City University and is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City, told the panel that the historic legacy of human rights violations against Native Peoples has not ended.

"Historic issues of land loss, poverty, lack of employment opportunities, chronic poor health, discrimination, loss of identity, violations of religious freedoms, denial of religious liberty, desecration of cemeteries and of Indian burial sites, willful destruction of Indian homelands and burial sites for hydroelectric and other construction projects continue today," he said.

Others testified about environmental racism -- in which non-white communities have been seemingly singled out as sites for toxic dumping and the siting of hazardous industries -- and of continued police brutality, particularly against Indian youth.

Clark said while it's early to say what effect the hearings could have in the long run, it did offer "those with grievances an opportunity to come forth." And since the team's recommendations could garner national and international attention, it "has a much greater potential impact than a 'local flapping of the jaw.'

"I don't think the hearings will change the behavior of those county sheriffs who continue to harm Indian prisoners in their jails," Clark said. "But at least they're being put on notice that such behavior is known, and is known in a larger context."

Carol Hampton, Episcopal Church staff officer in Indian Ministry, said that the hearings were an opportunity for both Christian Indians and non-Christian Indians to come together and begin a much-needed dialogue. "We've begun to hear each other, and that is something we can carry on."

The challenge now, she said, will be to get local churches more involved in combatting the deep-seated problems of racism.

One among many countries

The human rights investigators took note of that problem, criticizing American church inaction on racism. "We found that in many areas, with some notable exceptions, concerns about racism were limited largely to the black churches," the team said in its report. "This constitutes a denial of the prophetic role of the church in combating racism as a sin."

Van Culin, who attended the hearing in Oakland, agreed with that assessment. "The church cannot stand on the edge of these concerns," he said. "It must move to the center, providing a voice for those who are voiceless, and giving them their own voice."

The WCC/NCC campaign is not intended to compare the human rights record of the United States with that of other countries. Rather, it is meant to compare it with the ideals as set forth in the various international human rights declarations and covenants signed by the United States.

"The United States is part of the community of nations," said Kempton Makamure, professor of law at the University of Zimbabwe and one of the investigators. "It is not the first country where the focus on human rights has been spotlighted. It is one among many countries."

"So there should be no problem in terms of us coming here, investigating, making inspections and making the kind of recommendations that we have made," he said. "We know that this is a democracy and in a democracy this opens up a whole process of democratic discussion within the United States and within the government."

Besides Makamure, members of the team included Donald Woods, the South African journalist; Aaron Tolen, a political scientist from the Cameroon and a WCC president; Mohideen Abdul Kader, a prominent Malaysian human rights lawyer; Federico Pagura, a bishop in the Methodist Church in Argentina; and Doreen Boyd, deputy general secretary of the World Young Women's Christian Association.

Hearings were held in seven sites: New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, El Paso, Oakland, Birmingham, and Okmulgee, Oklahoma.