Tuesday, September 22, 2020

A Pathway to Right Relations

 




The senseless murder of a Black man, George Floyd, in the United States resulted in protests across the country and around the world. These protests brought to light many other deaths of Black men and women and raised the profile of the Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd's death and the subsequent  protests also prompted widespread discussion of systemic racism in America and other countries, including Canada. Some politicians here, as well as the head of the RCMP, suggested that systemic racism didn't exist here, only to step back from those assertions. 

The acronym BIPOC came into common use to describe racism. It stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. In Canada we do have a longstanding history of racism and while it may be different that in the United States it is real just the same. Our history with Indigenous peoples is a shameful one, including the complicity of Christian churches  in the subjugation and cultural genocide of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples. While our United Church of Canada has issued formal apologies, paid reparations and created a healing fund, and participated in the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we still have work to do.



                          Lee Maracle  

One of my former congregations, St. Paul's United Church in Bowmanville, Ontario, will begin a month of online events with the title Pathways to awareness, understanding & right relations. There will be concerts and speakers through the weeks, including author Lee Maracle, Senator Murray Sinclair, and author Jesse Thistle.

I am impressed by this initiative and hope that I'll be able to connect with some of these events. Congratulations to those who've been involved in making it happen, and may it further the work of reconciliation and the phrase "all my relations" which is part of our United Church crest. 


                                          Jesse Thistle 

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/indigenous-event-pathways-to-awareness-understanding-right-relations-tickets-117274359767


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2 comments:

  1. RoseElaine10:22 PM

    Thank you, David. We're excited about the weekend events and webinar series and pray that we can help to bring awareness and understanding of what reconciliation means and what needs to be done. As you point out, we still have a long way to go on this journey toward reconciliation. We appreciate your support.

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  2. David Mundy7:51 AM

    And thanks for responding to my blog entry. We have a commitment Saturday we made back in August. Will the Saturday morning dialogue be available at some other time? I'm really sorry that we'll miss it.

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