On Monday, I attended a Racial Reconciliation Workshop at Peace Haven Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC.  This is the first workshop borne out of a few years of work from the CBFNC Racial Reconciliation Task Force, a group that began out of concerns identified in our 2007-2008 Strategic Plan.  The workshop was a dialogue led by a panel of African-American and Caucasian ministers who are in a spiritual formation group together that have built trust and friendship over a few years of bible study and prayer.

We began by agreeing to a learning covenant to respect one another and be honest, had a dialogue about why each of us was in attendance, and viewed parts of the video, “Beneath the Skin: Baptists & Racism” (available at www.ethicsdaily.com).  Panelists shared some of their experiences and asked the attendees to reflect and answer questions.  Perhaps the most compelling portion of the day was a presentation by Dr. Tim Monroe from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Health Department on the health inequities between black and white residents.  According to his data, African-American babies were three times more likely to die before their first birthday than Caucasian babies.  An African-American in Forsyth County is 30% more likely to die in an average year than a Caucasian person.  This is because of many reasons, including lack of care, differences in treatment, and overall higher levels of stress.  The highest risk of lead exposure and almost all of the abandoned and contaminated industrial sites are located in the predominantly black communities.  Because this city was originally segregated by the government and no significant steps have been taken by our government to undo this problem, it is still segregated.  Dr. Monroe stressed that this is not simply a Winston-Salem issue, but a problem across the state and country, especially in the South.  In the end, we all realized that building relationships and awareness was the first and best step to confronting these issues.

This is the start of what we hope will be many more discussions that will begin the process of racial reconciliation in our churches.  As Rev. Nathan Parrish, a panelist, stated, “What diminishes the humanity in one of us diminishes the humanity in all of us.” If you are in the area, please join us at our Racial Reconciliation Workshop happening at Greystone Baptist in Raleigh, NC, on July 13.  Register at www.cbfnc.org.  For more information on CBFNC’s Racial Reconciliation Task Force, visit http://www.cbfnc.org/zonedisplay.asp?ZoneID=197.