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November/December 2006 |
Bishop White returns to kick-off a new racial justice endowment fund named for him
By Daniel R. Gangler
"We need to learn how to live together, to respect, learn and grow."
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INDIANAPOLIS - Bishop Woodie W. White, former bishop of the Indiana Area, currently retired and living in Atlanta, returned to Indianapolis in mid-October to help kick off a new endowment fund established in his name.
The Woodie W. White Fund for Racial Justice was introduced to the North Central Jurisdiction Commission on Religion and Race meeting in Indianapolis Oct. 20-22. White spoke to 100 participants attending an endowment fundraising banquet given in his honor. He became the first General Secretary of Religion and Race in 1968, and shepherded its development and efforts to bring about racial equality for 14 years.
Reflecting on the past 40 years since the General Commission of Religion and Race was established, White noted that even in the 1960s people of color could only eat publicly in Washington, D.C. at the United Methodist Building cafeteria, because all other public restaurants were off limits for them.
He said, "It's almost inconceivable now the way our own denomination treated people of color. In the 1960s, people were turned away from churches because of the color of their skin."
White related how he and two other church leaders from Detroit were arrested in a Methodist Church in the South and spent four days in jail before they could raise the $6,000 needed to release them.
He then interjected that today, "the Judicial Council (of The United Methodist Church) apparently ruled that Article IV (Inclusiveness of the Church, Division One of the church's Constitution) does not apply to all people. It's hard to imagine people can read the same Bible and cannot come out with the same meaning."
Pentecost, said White, is about the gathering of people from different nations, races and cultures who transcended their differences. God took a diverse gathering of people to form the church, not a homogeneous gathering. They were multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-racial. That's what God wanted the church to look like.
"God knew the sinful nature of causes and groups that define their groups as the best," he said. "We need to learn how to live together, to respect, learn and grow."
White interwove stories about his white seminary roommate at Boston University, who was outcast by the then-segregated Mississippi Conference, and about his mother making soup on Mondays with the leftovers from the previous week. He said something happened when all the different ingredients were cooked together all day.
"People get trapped in their particularities," White said. Black is beautiful, but so is red, brown, yellow and white.
"How boring the world would look if everybody looked and did and ate the same," he said. "God said, I'm going to spice things up."
White then reminded participants in the commission, "We gather in this place to make a difference in The United Methodist Church. I remember what it looked like 40 years ago. Evil won't miss a meal. As long as evil is around, there will be racism and classicism. We will always need (the Commission on) Religion and Race, but we have evidence that the church and world can be better," he said.
Following White's address, Dr. Frank Moore of Indianapolis, chairperson of the South Indiana Conference on Religion and Race, introduced the Woodie W. White Endowment Fund for Racial Justice. This permanent fund, established last year, will support future racial justice ministries.
According to the General Commission on Religion and Race, the endowment fund is intended to help the Commission expand its support for local programs across the nation that foster racial justice and reconciliation, economic opportunities, local church outreach programs and solutions to social problems facing racial ethnic communities. The agency has provided support through grants to church and community-based programs since 1970.
The Commission's main responsibility is to monitor and advocate for racial justice and inclusiveness throughout The United Methodist Church, especially in the denomination's policies, procedures and governing bodies.
The Life After Prison program of Honolulu's Pacific Islander United Methodist Church was an example of such a funded ministry. LAP helps paroled prisoners find their place as productive citizens in society through a structured program which includes Bible study, worship and addiction counseling.
Endowment leaders envision a national permanent fund of $1 million.
Those wishing to give to the Woodie W. White Endowment Fund for Racial Justice can do so by sending contributions to The United Methodist Church Foundation, P.O. Box 340029, Nashville, TN 37203-0029. For more information, log on to www.umcfoundation.org and click on "Giving Opportunities" or e-mail UMCF@umcfoundation.org.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008