Reflections from CWACM Black Historical Summit

As an institution committed to breaking down all walls of oppression, including racism, I share these reflections using excerpts from our Anti-Racism statement as framework for the CWACM October Black Historical Summit to Alabama.

The Church Within A Church Movement is committed to inclusion and community, considering any attempts at oppression to be inconsistent with the basic tenets of our organization and our mutual spiritual journey. It is in this spirit that we acknowledge and address the deep and lasting damage that is caused by racism in our society.

Part of any healing process is the acknowledgement that real harm has been done and to work incessantly and with intentionality to dismantle and disrupt any false narrative that is at the root of that harm. Addressing racism by seeking truth and healing was the motivation behind this Summit meeting in Alabama. The support of an all Black group to address the injustices this nation was built on, is essential for true justice seekers as CWACM continues to strive to be.

Our itinerary included:

• Remembering Bloody Sunday as we crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
• Paying tribute to the Black bodies lynched in the U.S. as we painfully went through The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Celebrating the voices of our ancestors past and present as we visited the 16^th Street Baptist Church and Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama.

This summit has helped us, as a Movement, to connect the dots between all the isms – racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia and all the “sins” of “othering” we inflict on each other. As I go to vote in Michigan’s mid-term elections this week, the way in which I will engage our political institution has been shaped by my justice work with CWACM. I end with these statements, also from our Anti-Racism Statement:

Because of institutionalized racism, laws, customs, traditions, and practices have been put into place in every institution in this country, systematically fostering inequalities and enforcing white privilege; and

Racism ultimately enslaves everyone in its path, including both white people and people of color, clouding everyone’s perceptions and making the journey to anti-racist multiculturalism especially difficult to navigate.

We are on this journey together and our very lives are at stake. We can change our society to a more inclusive and just place to live, however, it will take ALL of us to recognize the need and the roles we play both in the oppression and in the healing.

The 2022 Black Historical Summit was indeed groundbreaking for CWACM… we will continue to do this work and look forward to joining with other justice-minded folks whose hope is that freedom truly will ring out. As freedom rings, we envision justice rolling down all over our world.

Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Vernice Thorn, CWACM Clergy