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Race Relations

Racism
Speakers for the Sept. 16 panel discussion on the theological roots of racism and colonialism are (left to right) the Revs. Mai-Anh Le Tran, Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Willie James Jennings. The United Methodist Church held the livestreamed discussion as part of its Dismantling Racism series. Photos courtesy of Tran, Jennings, and photo of Colón-Emeric by Les Todd; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

Grappling with how racism coexists with faith
Three theologians wrestled with how Christianity can overcome racism at a time when polls show that many white Christians don’t see racial injustice as a problem.
Social Concerns
The Rev. Isaac Collins, a United Methodist pastor, co-leads a Bible study, “Swords into Plowshares: What the Bible says about injustice, idolatry, and repentance,” at the base of the Robert E. Lee statue on Market Street Park, Charlottesville, Va., on June 11, 2020. The steeple of First United Methodist Church is visible over the trees in the background. In 2019, Collins and the Rev. Phil Woodson first offered the Bible study using Confederate statues as sites and subject matter. Photo by Phil Woodson.

Seeing removal of statues as ‘doing no harm’
United Methodists in Virginia and North Carolina are among those calling for Confederate monuments to be moved away from public spaces.
Social Concerns
The Rev. James Lawson says the Black Lives Matter movement is the most important nonviolent campaign since the civil rights movement. 2016 File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Lawson: Black Lives Matter a religious movement
The Rev. James Lawson says the Black Lives Matter movement is the most important nonviolent campaign since the civil rights movement.
Social Concerns
The Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, a retired United Methodist pastor and civil rights activist who marched alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks during a Black Lives Matter rally June 7 in Willingboro, N.J. To Caldwell’s right is his wife, Grace Caldwell. To Caldwell’s left is the Rev. Vanessa Wilson, chairperson of the Greater New Jersey Commission on Race and Religion and pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Willingboro. The protest was one of many taking place in the U.S. in smaller cities and towns involving United Methodists. Photo by Aaron Wilson Watson.

Smaller communities affected by protests
United Methodists have been involved in Black Lives Matter rallies in small towns and midsize cities.

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