What Is White? A Greensboro Public Library Series

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Ware Dedication

A message to the Racial Justice & Reconciliation Committee for our support of a Partners in Ministries Habitat for Humanity project that is strengthening interracial relationships within a community:

"With gratitude for your support and your leadership, I pass along these pictures from our dedication service this past Sunday afternoon. I am delighted to report that we have built more than a house this past year; we have built a partnership which has become a template for other churches in Orange County. This coming January, the AME-Episcopal partnership will be joined by two Baptist churches in Chapel Hill who have been in a bi-racial partnership for some time as we start our second house. Binkley Baptist and Barbee’s Chapel Missionary Baptist learned of what we were doing, were excited by the model, and asked to come on board.

We are also planning a cooperative Christmas Program next month."

~Brooks Graebner

Textile exhibit in Durham honors Pauli Murray legacy

STRENGTH FROM ALL MY ROOTS: TEXTILE ARTS HONORING THE LEGACY OF PAULI MURRAY

Opening Reception on Friday, November 19, 2010 from 6-9 p.m.

Quilts and textiles from artists across our community in honor of the legacy of Pauli Murray, a North Carolinian jurist, poet, and activist who was the first African American woman to be ordained priest in the Episcopal Church.

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 403 E. Main Street, Durham

The exhibition is on display for the month of November, Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Sponsored by the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and the Pauli Murray Project with support from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

Why is Haiti so poor? I've spent a lot of time in Haiti over the last couple of years, and I've learned that the answer to this question is NOT that the Haitian people are lazy or unmotivated, etc. In fact, most Haitian people work very hard, but the history and structure of the country make it quite difficult for them to make any progress, either individually or collectively. Click HERE http://www.singingrooster.org/whyishaitipoor.html for an essay that addresses the complexities of the answer to the question of "Why is Haiti so poor?"

And, if you are motivated to help Haiti, I encourage you to contribute to Episcopal Relief and Development www.er-d.org They work through the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti (the largest diocese in The Episcopal Church) to help with education, medical care and development. With churches, schools and development agents throughout the country, they were able to provide aid immediately after the recent earthquake (and earlier hurricanes).

Another option is to buy Haitian coffee, either for your own use or as a fundraiser. Singing Rooster www.singingrooster.org sells excellent coffee -- grown by small farmers from the same plant and in the same conditions as the famous Jamaican blue coffee. Additional The money you pay for the coffee goes directly to these small farmers and also to support mission projects in rural Haiti.

- Committee member Meg McCann

Police Corruption in Greensboro, NC

Ongoing discrimination within the Greensboro Police Department has community activists and local clergy speaking out for reform. To find out more please watch this press conference held at St. Barnabas Episcopal church:

White Clergy Holds Press Conference To Stand Against Corruption and Double Standards in the Greensboro Police Department from Beloved Community Center on Vimeo.

New information regarding corruption in the Greensboro Police Department 9/22/2010

ICE Castles

Did you know there were secret ICE-sponsored detention centers for undocumented immigrants in North Carolina? Yes, today, this week, this month. Things are particularly stringent on this issue in Alamance County, apparently. Those of us who were together for the tour of the new Civil Rights Museum yesterday heard about it --not from the tour, but from one of our committee members--. It turns out that The Nation had an article about this very phenomenon about four months ago. As you will see, it mentions Cary, North Carolina. You can read it here. Read and weep.

Blood Done Sign My Name, the movie, opens this weekend

Many of you probably remember the 2004 book by Timothy Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name, a true and all too recent (1970) story about a racially motivated murder of a Black man named Henry Marrow in Oxford, North Carolina. Marrow's White killers were acquitted by an all-White jury. More violence ensued.

The book has now been made into a movie, in consultation with Tyson (who moved back to NC some years ago and lives and works in the Triangle area, teaching at both Duke and UNCG), and it opens nationwide this weekend around the country. In North Carolina, it will show in theaters in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, and other cities.

You can see the trailer here, or go to the movie's website here. See the website for cities where the movie is showing around the U.S. and check local listings for times.

Further distribution depends largely on opening weekend ticket sales, so do help spread the word.

Bishop Gene Robinson to speak in Greensboro

As many of you already know, the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, will speak at New Garden Friends Meeting in Greensboro tomorrow, Thursday January 28, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. His visit is part of Guilford College's Religious Emphasis Week, as was the visit of Vanessa Julye a few days ago.

The visit was initiated and organized by Guilford students. Bishop Robinson will speak on "Is tolerance possible? Is tolerance enough?", responding to the hate incident that occurred at the college earlier this academic year.

Bishop Robinson was elected and consecrated as the first openly gay and partnered Episcopal and Anglican bishop in 2003. He had been a priest in the Diocese of New Hampshire for many years. Much of his ministry has focused on helping congregations and clergy, especially in times of conflict, utilizing his skills in congregational dynamics, conflict resolution, and mediation.

Quakers and Race: Speaker Monday, January 25, Greensboro

Guilford College, where your friendly blog-keeper teaches, has a glorious history of being a stop on the Underground Railroad, but did you know that it did not integrate until well into the 1960s? Quakers (who founded Guilford and are numerous and varied in this part of North Carolina) have a mixed history regarding race and racism.

This evening, Monday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m., a distinguished and dynamic speaker will address the racial history and present racial practices of Quakers. Vanessa Julye is co-author with Donna McDaniel of the book Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African-Americans and the Myth of Racial Justice.

The lecture is at New Garden Friends Meeting, New Garden Road at Friendly Avenue, Greensboro. Conversation will follow.

Vanessa Julye is Coordinator for the Ministry on Racism for the Friends General Conference. A member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and a graduate of Westtown School and Temple University, she travels in the ministry with a special concern for helping the Religious Society of Friends become a whole blessed community.

Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship reveals that racial segregation has been as pervasive among Friends as among others of European descent.

For more information about Vanessa Julye’s lecture and other Religious Emphasis Week activities, contact Guilford College's Friends Center at 336-316-2445.