Strategies for Ending Racism Podcast , Worth Listening to
Click on LINK
Held at OMSC, Great Commission Hall
490 Prospect Street, New Haven
490 Prospect Street, New Haven
Sponsored by OMSC and its Spirituality and Public Affairs Network
The Topic
Despite years of efforts to overcome systemic
discrimination in the United States, the scourge of racism is still
present in our towns, cities, institutions, and churches. Tragedies
such as what transpired recently in Ferguson, Missouri, and in New York
City comprise only the tip of the iceberg that is racism today. Every
day many African-Americans, Latinos, and other minorities encounter
discrimination and marginalization. In both subtle and obtrusive ways,
some of which seem on the surface to be politically correct responses to
social conflicts, discrimination occurs in educational, economic,
religious, and political spheres of society. In this Community
Ministries Forum, OMSC executive director J. Nelson Jennings, the
panel’s moderator, aims to bring together people who have encountered
racism—either by being the focus of rebuke or by trying to fight it
systemically. The forum is planned to facilitate open discussion about
the topic and seek an array of strategies that might combat racism in
all its varied forms.
The Panelists
Enola G. Aird, founder and
president of Community Healing Network is a lawyer, activist, and
mother. She received a law degree from Yale University, where she
chaired the Yale Moot Court of Appeals. After years of corporate law 
practice,
she decided to devote her time to her children and learned first-hand
the extent to which mothering is devalued in American culture. These
experiences gave Aird a new purpose: to “help create a world in which
little Black boys and girls love what they see when they look in the
mirror and are completely free to reach their full potential.” Aird has
served as chair of the Connecticut Commission on Children and worked
for the Children’s Defense Fund, leading its violence prevention
program and serving as acting director of its Black Community Crusade
for Children. She lives in Cheshire, Connecticut, with her children and
husband, Yale Law professor and novelist Stephen L. Carter. The Community Healing Network
describes itself as a “grassroots movement for the emotional
emancipation of Black people” and to “mobilize Black people to overcome
the lie of Black inferiority and the emotional legacies of enslavement
and racism so that we can all reach our full potential.”
completion
of law school, he entered the United States Marine Corps as a Judge
Advocate General (JAG) officer, for which he was awarded a Naval
Achievement Medal by the Secretary of the Navy. He ended active duty
service as a captain and was admitted to practice law in the U.S.
District Court, of Connecticut, and the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals. For more than two decades, King was an assistant United States
attorney for the District of Connecticut. Working in the criminal
division, he prosecuted white-collar and violent crimes and handled
civil rights cases. He spearheaded Project Sentry, which reaches out to
juveniles in an effort to deter juvenile gun crime. King, who
“believes only the power of God can bring about real transformation,”
launched the Clergy Ambassador’s Program to formalize relationships
between clergy and law enforcement, an effort that can reduce crime and
improve the quality of life in the community. He retired from his work
as a prosecutor in 2013 to focus on ministry. 
formation for mission. An Ann Arbor, Michigan, native, he and his wife, Ruth, live as members of Casa Adobe, an intentional Christian community
in Santa Rosa. The community wants to “be good neighbors, and to live
out God’s Kingdom in a concrete way.” Through the Cohort of Missioners,
they serve as catalysts for “the creation and consolidation of a
learning community” of students, professors, administrators, and others
in Latin America who “contextualize a Kingdom worldview, bridge racial
and ethnic divides, and connect with local churches for societal
transformation.” During the apartheid struggles, Padilla DeBorst led a
successful initiative that urged Calvin College to divest its funds in
companies that conducted business with South Africa. Later he served
for a year as assistant director of the Christian Health Association of
Liberia, which put him in touch once again with racial and ethnic
issues. James and Ruth, a noted missions conference speaker who is
currently the resident senior mission scholar at OMSC, are missionaries
with Christian Reformed World Missions.
Comments