epiScope

The race conversation

Group urges ways to heal racial rift
By Ashley Tusan Joyner
Macon (GA) Telegraph
Mar. 19, 2008

Don't allow racist comments to go unchallenged. Establish a community-wide Sunday once a month to visit a church of different racial makeup. Form an advocacy group for 3- and 4-year-old prekindergarten education.

Of the many ideas for breaking down racial barriers in Macon, these were the most popular among the participants of The Center for Racial Understanding's recent project on race.

More than 100 people took part in the six-week project, where groups met weekly to talk about the effects of racism on individuals, the community and institutions.

A forum to assess the project took place Tuesday night at Christ Episcopal Church on Walnut Street.

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For the least of these

Toms River should fund its affordable housing, not Lakewood's
By THE REV. JOAN ANDERS and MONSIGNOR SEAN FLYNN
Asbury Park (NJ) Press
March 19, 2008

In December, the Press reported on an agreement between Toms River and Lakewood in which, for $5.8 million, Lakewood would assume part of Toms River's state-mandated affordable housing obligation. Several days later, the Press editorialized that Toms River was using this regional contribution agreement (RCA) "to shirk its affordable housing responsibilities by . . . paying Lakewood $5.8 million to provide them."

In a Jan. 2 op-ed piece in the Press, Jay Lynch, Toms River's township planner, took issue with the characterization of the RCA as an effort by Toms River "to shirk its responsibility." He offered "comments and perspectives" to explain and defend Toms River's affordable housing efforts.

The Clergy and People of Conscience for Workforce Housing in Toms River agree with the Press editorial. The need for workforce housing in Toms River is so obvious as to make the proposed RCA with Lakewood — which would use the money to build a 72-unit complex and rehabilitate 72 others for low- and moderate-income residents — indefensible from an economic, civic and moral perspective. And it also will serve to perpetuate the unfortunate economic and racial segregation that permeates so much of New Jersey and Ocean County.

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Wells remembered

'Great Debater' Wells remembered as spiritual, passionate
By JOHN PORRETTO
Associated Press
March 16, 2008

HOUSTON — Henrietta Bell Wells, the only woman on the 1930 Wiley College team that took part in the nation's first interracial collegiate debate, was remembered Sunday as a deeply spiritual person whose presence moved others to be quiet and listen.

Wells died Feb. 27 in Baytown. She was 95.

Wells was the last surviving member of the team portrayed in last year's movie, "The Great Debaters."

The movie, starring Denzel Washington, focused on Melvin Tolson's success leading an underdog debate team at a small, southern, historically black college in the mid-1930s. Founded in 1873, Wiley is in east Texas, about 40 miles from Shreveport, La.

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Misjudged

Diversity issue a casualty of proxy fiasco
Daniel Lee
Indianapolis (IN) Star
March 10, 2008

A photo and short company bio don't reveal much about a person.

The U.S. Episcopal Church and its pension fund, both based in New York, received an embarrassing reminder of that when they attempted to target Zimmer Holdings with a dose of shareholder activism.

The recent proxy filing by Zimmer, a Warsaw-based orthopedics company, included a shareholder proposal from the church asking the company to take more steps to diversify its board of directors, "all of whom are white males." The church pointed to the "cozy clubbiness" that too often has characterized U.S. corporate boards.
There was just one problem.

Dr. Augustus White, a member of Zimmer's board since 2001 and a noted spine surgeon, is black -- a fact Zimmer pointed out right below the church's proposal.

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Sharing

Churches offer a joint black history lesson
By Vanessa Colón
The Fresno Bee
02/24/08 22:00:17

The small Holy Family Episcopal Church in northeast Fresno opened its doors Sunday to a slice of black history few of its members seemed to know.

The mostly white church partnered with Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, a black congregation in west Fresno, to share a service of hymns, a poem and performances highlighting black history. It's the third year the Episcopal church has sponsored the Black History Month program.

"It's a way to understand each other's way of life. It is a way of fostering race relations," the Rev. John Sims of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church said.

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