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Steps toward reconciliation, 1969, reel 1.
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- speakerPower is the password in this day and age.
- speakerThe recent return of man from his walk on the moon is adequate testimony that we have
- speakerlearned to harness power to a degree that was unbelievable less than 20 years ago.
- speakerBut there is another kind of power that is being organized in the world today.
- speakerAnd we had better learn how to understand it and deal with it if we expect to be able to
- speakercontinue our pursuit of the glamor and the mystery of the moons and planets.
- speakerThe power we speak of is black power, brown power and red power.
- speakerIt comes in the persons of James Forman, Cesar Chavez and Mel Tom.
- speakerThese phrases and these names, among others, have burst upon the national scene in recent
- speakermonths. They have also entered the offices, assemblies and sanctuaries of churches
- speakerand synagogues, and those who work in the offices attend the assemblies
- speakerand worship in the sanctuaries. People who are predominantly white and predominantly
- speakerChristian are bewildered and confused, and sometimes they are angry.
- speakerIt is an anger, which is a response to anger.
- speakerAnd if you listen carefully, you can hear a silent cry across the land.
- speakerHow do we deal with this dilemma?
- speakerAs Christians? Tentatively, carefully.
- speakerPerhaps inadequately. I'll start has been made.
- speakerThe United Presbyterian Church in the USA is one of several bodies of Christendom
- speakerthat has been directly confronted by the various minority power groups.
- speakerThe church is listening and it has made some decisions.
- speakerTo better understand what the church has heard and how it has reacted.
- speakerLet us take some of the more significant points in the order in which they happen.
- speakerAs the one hundred eighty first General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church
- speakergathered in San Antonio, Texas, in mid-May, commissioners and employees knew
- speakerthat black power demands had been made for reparations from the churches and synagogues
- speakerof the land. They knew that San Antonio is a predominantly Spanish speaking
- speakerarea, and they knew that Indian reservations and mission stations are situated not
- speakerfar away in the southwest United States.
- speakerThey also knew that this General Assembly would deal seriously with programs and concerns
- speakerof all of these fermenting minorities, but they did not know how they would be dealing
- speakerwith them. Decisions became imperative, though, as spokesmen from the black
- speakerand brown communities made their presence known through the occupation of offices of the
- speakerBoard of National Missions in New York and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago,
- speakerlost that part of the body of Jesus Christ, which professes its faith through the United
- speakerPresbyterian Church in the USA, prepared itself to listen to claims, pleas
- speakerand demands that would scorch, intimidate and rage.
- speakerThe Wilga arouse and overwhelm the affluent white membership of this
- speakerparticular denomination.
- speakerThe first official word came in a news conference shortly before the General Assembly
- speakerbegan deliberations arranged by the Office of Information of the Church.
- speakerThose taking part in the news conference were the outgoing moderator, Dr. John Coventry's
- speakerSmith, and the stated clerk, Dr. William P.
- speakerThompson. Here is what they said.
- speakerThe general counsel of the United Presbyterian Church has been
- speakerlooking at how best to bring to the assembly the issues
- speakerthat confront the church and within the context of that consideration,
- speakervoted this morning to invite James Forman
- speakerto come to the assembly and to speak to the
- speakerassembly. We have indication that he will
- speakeraccept and are negotiating a time period.
- speakerWe believe that hearing him is the best way for us to
- speakerjudge the validity of his request and to evaluate
- speakerthem and then to consider them through the proper channels.
- speakerWhen demands of this kind and made upon the church, the thing
- speakerthat we seek to do in the first instance is to engage in dialog
- speakerwith the person making the demands in an effort to understand them
- speakerand to understand the reasons for making the demands in the first place.
- speakerIf Mr. Foreman is willing to do so, we are prepared
- speakerto engage in such dialog with him, the need to listen, and the necessity for thoughtful
- speakerconcern about the desperation behind the demands of games form and where echoed the next
- speakerday by the new moderator of the General Assembly, Dr. Jorge Sweezy.
- speakerWell, I think the fact that he's been invited doesn't imply any recognition either
- speakerof him or of the willingness of the demands, the reasonableness of them families making.
- speakerBut it does mean that he is one of the most trusted figures on the religious
- speakerscene today.
- speakerHe's certainly in the center of the news and his home
- speakerconcerns right now are directed at religious institutions.
- speakerAnd so it's important for this assembly that is to
- speakernobody's getting to heaven on the scene to try
- speakerand understand. And to receive him with a good deal of sympathy.
- speakerBy sympathy, I don't mean sympathizing with his and
- speakerhis demands, but sympathizing with the rage, urgencies
- speakerthat are behind these.
- speakerIn other words, for for us to just pay no attention to him, I think would be infecting
- speakera tremendously important thing that's happened before.
- speakerJames Forman could place his views and demands before the General Assembly.
- speakerOh, bad. Lopez appeared in San Antonio representing the Poor People's Coalition of
- speakerChicago, a brown power group that had occupied McCormack seminary facilities
- speakerthe previous week. At another news conference during the General Assembly,
- speakerMr. Lopez was asked whether or not the Chicago occupation had been prompted by
- speakerJames Forman seizure of national mission's offices in New York.
- speakerHe replied in the negative knighting that the actions that were taken by the
- speakerPeople's Foundation in Lincoln Park, where actions that famous
- speakerthat had its own internal explanation.
- speakerWe went to the board of directors of the McCormick Theological Seminary.
- speakerWe attempted to reason with them. We attempted to develop to develop a dialog.
- speakerAnd after we exhausted all possible avenues to
- speakercome to a satisfactory understanding between the
- speakerinstitution and the community, after we exhausted all those avenues,
- speakerwe decided to open the institution in
- speakerits united policy through the section of the Stone
- speakerAdministration building.
- speakerJames Foremans addressed the General Assembly.
- speakerCommissioners' was delayed as he relinquished part of his time to another Brown Power
- speakerspokesman, ElÃas, our riscoe of La Raza, at a news conference immediately
- speakerfollowing that appearance. Mr. Riscoe spoke to reporters about the magnitude of
- speakerthe confrontation between minorities and the church.
- speakerThere's a confrontation that goes deeper than any given amount of money.
- speakerIt wouldn't be difficult for the jurors to allocate five hundred thousand dollars
- speakeror fifty million dollars or a hundred million dollars.
- speakerThe confrontation comes when it didn't challenge.
- speakerHere is the role of the jurors itself.
- speakerWhen you ask the villagers this is its investment or liquidate the
- speakerinvestments. Then the corporate bodies, as finance agents have in South
- speakerAfrica and in Latin America, that that money
- speakeror those holdings be made available to black people.
- speakerPeople of La Raza for community development, economic and otherwise.
- speakerThen you have the confrontation.
- speakerProbably the best known portion of the total confrontation is the demands made by
- speakerJames Forman on behalf of the National Black Economic Development Conference.
- speakerAlthough Mr. Foreman's precise relationship to the NBA, EDC is often confusing
- speakerand frequently disputed by him and others, the basic fact facing the church
- speakerat large is a demand for five hundred million dollars.
- speakerFrom what Mr. Foreman terms, the white racist Christian churches and Jewish synagogues
- speakerof the US payable to the National Black Economic Development Conference.
- speakerMr. Foreman contends that that organization will use the money to fulfill the ambitious
- speakerprogram outlined in the document known as the Black Manifesto.
- speakerYou will recall that these objectives include establishment of a southern land bank for
- speakermajor publishing houses or television centers, a research skill center
- speakerand other projects for the direct benefit of black people in the United States.
- speakerIt is impossible to quote a precise dollar amount for demands made upon the United
- speakerPresbyterian, sure, but it certainly is fair to say that they are substantial.
- speakerPerhaps of greater importance as the indictment placed against the membership by James
- speakerForman and others with similar concerns, again at a General Assembly
- speakernews conference. Mr. Foreman articulated his position in these words.
- speakerWe maintain that the church has been a part of the exploitation as
- speakerthe National Committee of Black Church, and they have pointed out that the membership of
- speakerthe church have been involved in that exploitation.
- speakerThe churches go wealthy through contributions of its membership and its
- speakerinvestment.
- speakerAnd the church cannot be separated as just a religious institution,
- speakeraside from its financial acquisitiveness.
- speakerYou know, the church has tremendous amount of investments today which come from the
- speakeraccumulated wealth since its inception in the United States.
- speakerAnd that means its exploitation.
- speakerNo, certainly black people and the Catholic Church in terms of the people
- speakerof La Raza throughout the world.
- speakerSo that's why I was selected then.
- speakerWe're precisely we're trying to get over the idea in this
- speakercountry today not to see the church solely as some religious institution
- speakerand not engage in commercial activity because it is engaged in commercial activity.
- speakerThey're heavily engaged in commercial activity.
- speakerAnd the Presbyterian Church in particular is very heavily engaged in the commercial
- speakeractivity. Otherwise, we would not be raising the question of liquidating
- speakerthe assets in South Africa.
- speakerJames Forman added another dimension to this position when one of the reporters
- speakerasked him whether or not he is a Christian.
- speakerI'm a humanist.
- speakerI wouldn't consider myself a Christian in the sense that formal Christian religion.
- speakerI think I'm perhaps a little more Christian than many Christians.
- speakerI would say that I would say that I'm certainly more of a Christian than a lot of
- speakerChristians because I take very seriously many of the ethical teachings
- speakerof Jesus in terms of love them, their fellow man as ourselves and what have
- speakeryou, and that these are principles that I have been acting upon and that the brother
- speakerhere from La Raza is, in fact, acting upon.
- speakerAnd also, I think that it doesn't matter.
- speakerYou see, you know what a man says he is, according to the Bible.
- speakerI mean, people according to Jesus, the question of what of his deeds, what does he, in
- speakerfact, do? And that's what we're saying, is that many people who go around saying that
- speakerthey are Christians and many people who have said that they were Christians in the past
- speakerand still owned slaves and still exploded, our people were not, in fact,
- speakerChristians, and that it's been this kind of degeneracy in the church, which has
- speakermade many, many people skeptical of the church, including myself.
- speakerBut that doesn't make the moral force which we're trying to generate upon the church
- speakerany less significant.
- speakerSo the churches listen carefully and often during the course of the one hundred eighty
- speakerfirst General Assembly. Now, what has been its response?
- speakerThe first formal reaction. The essence of which has prevailed ever since, came in a
- speakerreport to the General Assembly from the General Council, which had been charged by
- speakercommissioners to prepare a response after the addresses by James Forman ElÃas,
- speakerour Riscoe and OBD Lopez.
- speakerThe statement of the general counsel was delivered by Dr. John Coventry's Smith, serving
- speakeras chairman of that body.
- speakerHere is the bulk of that message as it was given over the public address system to the
- speakerone hundred eighty first General Assembly.
- speakerAs a church, we have seldom in history been more aware of our involvement
- speakerin and with the world.
- speakerAnd during this General Assembly in Jesus Christ, we have come
- speakerinto confrontation with God by the cross of Christ.
- speakerWe are called to respond in faith, love and service.
- speakerIt is in this context that the general counsel invited the representatives
- speakerof La Raza and the National Black Economic Development Conference to speak
- speakerto us. We have listened to them and have heard their demands.
- speakerWe thank them for sharing with us their frustrations and their desires.
- speakerWe are not negotiating.
- speakerBut we assure them that we will continue to listen and be
- speakeropen to communication and conversation.
- speakerAs a church, we have a responsibility to be sensitive to human need
- speakerand frustration, such as we have heard expressed in and
- speakerbehind these statements.
- speakerThe general counsel reaffirms the importance of emphasis by this assembly
- speakeron the Chicanos and on Hispanic America, America as
- speakera whole.
- speakerIn our careful consideration of these issues, we respond
- speakerin concern and respect.
- speakerOther recommendations have been and will be considered by boards
- speakerand agencies.
- speakerEffective use of land held by the boards and now not actively involved in program
- speakerhas already been under consideration.
- speakerCertainly, it is important that we continue to strive for
- speakera full response to the mandate of the 180 of the General Assembly in 1968
- speakerconcerning the investment of unrestricted capital funds of boards and agencies,
- speakerincluding seminaries and church colleges in ghetto housing and economic
- speakerdevelopment.
- speakerWe repeat the recommendations of the one hundred and 80th General Assembly urging
- speakerthe congregations of our denomination to join in this effort.
- speakerInvesting a portion of their capital funds in similar projects through
- speakerthe established channels of the church, specifically PETKO.
- speakerWe believe our action and the spirit of our action
- speakermust be, first of all, in obedience to Christ.
- speakerAnd not in response to demands from outside the church
- speakeror alienation within.
- speakerLet us continue to be open to the spirit of God in whatever ways he speaks
- speakerto us. Repentance and obedience to God must be the
- speakerway of the Christian church in every crisis in life.
- speakerThe response you have just heard was accepted by commissioners, but they wanted it to be
- speakerexpanded upon and subjected to additional critical deliberation.
- speakerThat's a special committee of 15 commissioners was appointed to refine this statement
- speakerin consultation with members of the general council.
- speakerThey in turn brought back another statement in response to the complaints and demands
- speakerissued earlier. The statement of the Committee of Fifteen was also essentially received,
- speakerbut it was strengthened during floor debate with inclusion of an amendment spelling out
- speakerspecifically that the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA
- speakerdoes not condone the use of violence in the settlement of domestic problems, nor does it
- speakerapprove of those who advocate the violent overthrow of the government.
- speakerIn a letter to pastors of the church mailed from San Antonio by the new moderator,
- speakerDr. George Sweezy said The fact is that no church money is being
- speakerput into funds which are under the control of Mr. Foremans group.
- speakerThe assembly did what it did through its own channels and in its own way.
- speakerThe General Assembly also took some specific actions that can be translated into a
- speakerprogram and help it charged a new council on troop support to prepare
- speakera plan to be reported to the next General Assembly, calling for the raising of at least
- speaker50 million dollars in new funds to aid the poor of this nation.
- speakerThe Board of Christian Education was directed to provide fifty thousand dollars to aid
- speakerSpanish speaking Americans.
- speakerThe Board of National Missions received a similar directive to provide one hundred
- speakerthousand dollars for the assistance of Indian Americans.
- speakerThe Board of National Missions and the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations.
- speakerBoth were told to make available a total of one hundred thousand dollars, fifty thousand
- speakerfrom each agency for use by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization.
- speakerThat money was to be released when IFFCO has approved the manner in which it is to be
- speakerheld and administered.
- speakerAll of these funds are to come from non general mission sources at the direction of the
- speakerGeneral Assembly. In addition, the Board of National Missions was instructed
- speakerto locate money for grants to sharecroppers for the purchase of land and two of the
- speakerboard's Christian education and national missions.
- speakerWe're told to make better use of land presently owned by the church in the south and
- speakersouthwest for the Board of Christian Education.
- speakerThis includes Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, a portion of which is to be turned over to local
- speakerSpanish American residents with assistance for acquisition of water rights.
- speakerThe Board of National Missions was told to find ways for people living in poverty,
- speakerparticularly black people in the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North
- speakerCarolina and Mississippi, and Spanish Americans and Indians in the Southwest
- speakerto own lands and to utilize possibilities for development of any lands presently owned
- speakerby the board that are not essential to operating programs of the church.
- speakerYes, the church is taking action, action that was affirmed unequivocally during
- speakerthe summer in an open letter from the Board of National Missions and the Commission on
- speakerEcumenical Mission and Relations.
- speakerThe heart of that message was issued in these words by Dr. Kenneth Deny,
- speakerGeneral Secretary of the Board of National Missions.
- speakerSince the General Assembly of San Antonio Kumara, national
- speakermissions have been engaged in the first stages of reshaping
- speakerobjectives and programs.
- speakerSo that we may be able to deal more adequately with social
- speakerand economic development in relationship to both black and brown communities
- speakerat home and overseas.
- speakerAnd facing the urgency for action, the presentation made by
- speakerJames Forman, the National Black Economic Development Conference,
- speakerhas both helped and hindered us.
- speakerHis demands have reminded us of the gigantic dimensions
- speakerof our racial problem and the anger generated by its
- speakerlong neglect.
- speakerThey have also pointed to our own part in the racist society
- speakerand the magnitude of our relative affluence.
- speakerBut the demands of the black manifesto are set within the framework
- speakerof a simplified Marxist ideology.
- speakerIts methods are ultimately those of force and violence.
- speakerIt rejects the democratic process and makes a blanket condemnation
- speakerof the church as a tool of colonialism and oppression.
- speakerThese things we cannot in good conscience accept.
- speakerFrom our vantage point as general secretaries of our agencies,
- speakerit is quite clear that the day of great statements
- speakerand mere promises is over.
- speakerWe see no easy answer to the questions that have been raised.
- speakerWe must reexamine our previous plans and mission strategies so
- speakeras to be prepared to share in the projects proposed by those who have been
- speakerisolated. But the challenge is deeper than that.
- speakerAnd we cannot presume to announce judgments on issues which cannot
- speakeryet the judge. We are not dealing with the foreman issue
- speakeror the black manifesto issue.
- speakerWe're dealing with a revolution in relationships.
- speakerWe're dealing with a long overdue and honest confrontation within
- speakerthe church between white churchmen and black and brown church.
- speakerTogether, we reject the Marxist ideology which has been thrown at us
- speakerand all the violence that threatens.
- speakerBut together, we are forced to face what churches can do and should do
- speakertoward helping to solve the injustices these militants are rebelling against.
- speakerAll of this is to say that the church has responded not to demands, but it needs
- speakerthe response probably has not been adequate in many cases.
- speakerBut an honest concern has been evidence for the problems that lie behind the expression
- speakerof demands that might seem outlandish, abusive or unrealistic
- speakerwhen dealing with relationships among men.
- speakerThe church has appropriately addressed itself to reconciliation.
- speakerThe committee of fifteen said it threw the one hundred eighty first General Assembly in
- speakerthese words. As in biblical times, God spoke to his people
- speakerthrough strange prophets. So we deem it appropriate to have invited to our assemblies
- speakerspokesman from the brown and black minorities that through voices such as theirs.
- speakerHowever angry the tone, we might better appreciate the depth of their plight.
- speakerWe do not agree with all their methods, ideas and programs.
- speakerOur concern is to hear through their pleas.
- speakerThe call of Christ and where possible, to identify with them in their hope
- speakerand to work with them toward a more human future for all man.
- speakerWe do this not from fear, but from love.
- speakerTo do less is to reject our Lord.
- speakerThe power of reconciliation came to us packaged in the person of Jesus Christ.
- speakerThat power remains with us today in the person of the Holy Spirit.
- speakerWe who call ourselves Christian are called upon by our lord and by our church
- speakerto practice this power of reconciliation in order that mankind can achieve a balance
- speakerof power that will bring peace to this troubled world.