A Vital, Challenging Week of Racial Justice Programs at FBCD

You could have been at First Baptist Decatur almost every night this week.* Had you been, like many of us were, you would have encountered challenging public presentations and dynamic dialogues about the Black experience in America.  Each had its own, distinct character. And each had in common the critical need for the communities of our nation to listen to one another, learn together, and especially for majority White communities, to move more deeply into our history and then more crucially beyond ourselves. From these encounters, we have been called to see with new eyes and to hear with new ears. 

The clear, calm, and carefully descriptive accounts of African-American experience in our nation evoked a variety of responses. I pray that our church over this last week has truly been a sanctuary of sacred space to hear uncomfortable truths, a safe space to field uncomfortable reactions, and a brave space to discover redemptive ways forward. 

The Evolving Week: Tuesday evening, we hosted a full house in the sanctuary for the live audience recording of WABE's "Buried Truths" podcast.  Focused on the 1958 beating execution by local police of a Black man in Terrell County, Georgia, two daughters of the victim as well as the granddaughter of the murderer were present. In the end, they sat side by side.  It was a powerful evening, capped by the eloquent closing reflection by Emory's Dr. Robert Franklin.*  

Then in Carreker Hall on Wednesday evening we hosted award-winning CNN journalist John Blake for his memoir of faith about growing up Black, in search of the white mother he never knew. I had the pleasure of introducing him to our audience. In preparation for doing so by reading his book and articles, I found myself further convicted of our corporate need to continue to repent of our past and to repair our present. 

Back in the sanctuary on Thursday evening, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, the young Black author of Chain Gang All-Stars, was in animated and vital conversation with Emory's Tayari Jones. Here is a New York Times critique of what we got exposed to:

“Chain-Gang All-Stars” is honest about the inhumanity of incarceration and the increasingly elaborate mechanisms we build in place of forgiveness and rehabilitation. As the plot careens forward, Adjei-Brenyah uses footnotes as tethers between fiction and reality, reminding us that his gladiatorial farce is just a little tragicomic leap from an extant American horror. 

We are truly blessed to be the community gathering spot for these crucial events for our time. I am particularly thankful for the multitude of volunteers, coordinators, AV teams and hospitality folks who allowed us to be a welcoming and highly competent venue. Bless you all and let us continue to work together for the good of our community and beyond.

Love, 

David

*I am indebted to our own Mickey Goodsen, who along with Debra Pyron, helped to orchestrate these vital community events ; it was also a good bit of his writing and his research that I relied upon for a large portion of this recap of our busy and amazing week. Thanks Mickey!