Saturday, April 19, 2008
Six members of our congregation attended a Unity Rally held at Mifflin Elementary School, the public K-8 School directly across the street from our church. The Rally was called in answer to an incident of vandalism. Swastikas and racial slurs had been graffitied on the mural painted on the walls of the school yard. The school mural had been whitewashed to remove the offensive markings.
There were many dignitaries present including Mayor Nutter and other politicians. What was most noticeable to Redeemer was that there was a row of seats set aside for community leaders. There was a seat with a name for every clergy person in East Falls. Redeemer was absent from this involvement. True, we don't have an official pastor, but we have lay leaders who would have been honored to be part of the this community statement. In fact, our membership's only notice of the event came through other organizations our members were involved in. We surely would have had double the number of representatives if we had received any direct invitation. Ironically, our church is the only significantly integrated church in East Falls. In fact, our membership is predominantly black. So it feels very odd to not have been more included in this event.
Equally ironic was the fact that the gathered crowd was predominantly white, while Mifflin school is predominantly black.
Nevertheless, we were proud that one of our youth was present singing in the school choir.
The highlight of the event was a mural of participants' handprints. Spectators dipped their hands in paint and left their "pawprints" on the whitewashed walls.
It was a good event, a needed event. But the subtleties of the day point that there is a great deal of work to be done in racial equality in the Falls and integration of the whole community into the public school system and vice versa.
