Uprooting Racism Workshop
to be held in the wake of Church’s Apology for Slavery
PHILADELPHIA – On Saturday, February 25, 2006, People Organized Working to Eradicate Racism (POWER) will hold an "Uprooting Racism in the Church and Society" workshop in Sewell, NJ. This event coincides with an historic announcement made earlier this month by The Church of England. According to a BBC News report published February 8, 2006, "The Church of England has voted to apologise to the descendants of victims of the slave trade. An amendment ‘recognising the damage done’ to those enslaved was backed overwhelmingly by the General Synod. Debating the motion, Rev Simon Bessant, from Pleckgate, Blackburn, described the Church’s involvement in the trade, saying: ‘We were at the heart of it.’" The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and is sanctioned by the British crown. It is from the Church of England that all Protestant denominations emerge.
Ewuare Osayande, facilitator for the Uprooting Racism workshop and director of POWER states, "We began organizing this event before the news of the Church of England’s apology. Without question, an apology is insufficient to cover the damage done to African people. If they are serious they will back that apology up with reparations. As is stated in the BBC report, when those Africans in the British colonies were emancipated, the Church did not provide for them; in fact the Church provided for and paid the white men who owned them! Surely the Church can do more than apologize today."
The workshop, which will take place at 274 Delsea Drive, Sewell, NJ (The Waters). Doors open at 9 am. The workshop is scheduled to begin at 10 am and conclude at 5 pm. The registration fee is $25. The fee increases to $35 at the door. Checks and money orders should be made payable to Talking Drum Communications and sent to: P.O. Box 42634, Philadelphia, PA 19101. Lunch will be provided. All are welcome to attend.
This workshop will be an opportunity for all lovers of Justice to come together to learn, reflect and consider how we can continue to pursue justice for the oppressed in our world today. For more information call (609) 792-8913 or email
OsayandeSpeaks@hotmail.com.
"It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock Sunday morning."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1964)
It has been over forty years since Dr. King uttered these words, yet the scourge of racism remains. Although progress has been made, the Church remains reluctant to effectively address the reality of racism in American life.
This workshop will do that.
What you will learn:
1. What "Race" is and how it functions today
2. The origins of racism in the United States
3. The Church's role in the history of racism
4. What the Bible says about justice
5. How the Church has been used to justify oppression
6. Why the color of Jesus does matter
7. What you can do to resist racism
and much more
The Facilitator: Ewuare Osayande
Ewuare Osayande is co-founder and facilitator of POWER. For more than a decade Osayande has conducted workshops in churches and universities throughout the U.S. Since 1997 he has been a visiting lecturer at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. In November 2004 he was a featured presenter at The 13th Annual National Christian Multicultural Student Leadership Conference in Seattle, WA. Also, he was the keynote speaker at the Damascus Road Anti-Racism Conference in April 2005. His published work includes Crucifixions in the Street: Race, Rap and Religion.
Ewuare Osayande
Author of Blood Luxury
www.osayande.org
Author