For ELCA racial justice resources, go to
www.elca.org/resources/ racial-justice.
that never occurred to me before. We live in such a white world. Black people are more likely to be stopped by police. Statistics bear that out. A black person shopping in a depart- ment store is trailed as a suspicious person.” Burns’ husband, Rich, agreed:
“I’m almost 70, and I thought racism was over in 1965. Now my impression is that it’s getting worse. But I enjoy our conversation and the company. Tis needs to be done more widely.” Te Courageous Conversations
group used Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) by Ta-Nehisi Coates to help fuel discussion. “It provides a platform for us to
continue our conversation about race and racism in America,” said Emma Rodgers, a member of St. John. “It appears many of us are on the same page, including the leader- ship of the ELCA, our pastors, and members of St. John and Gloria Dei. We are moving forward to deal with and take action to confront racial matters and racism—and to cel- ebrate the diversity in the Lutheran church and in our nation.” Sometimes guests from the
community speak to the Coura- geous Conversations group. Babetta Hemphill, director of student services for the Garland School District, came to talk about behavior issues in schools and disproportion- ality of discipline. “Garland is a middle- to lower
middle-income city with many His-
Author bio: Hafften, a writer and editor, is a member of Messiah Lutheran Church, Weatherford, Texas.
panic people, but a disproportionate number of African-American stu- dents are disciplined in the school district,” Hubbard said. Te chief and assistant chief of the
Garland police also joined the group for a conversation about the process of selecting and training officers. “Tese conversations, it seems,
are too rare,” Claire Burns said. “I’m struck that people from both churches, at our age and so edu- cated, have never crossed paths.” “People are so eager to talk, we
have to cut them off sometimes,” Hubbard said. “A real trust has grown between the two Lutheran congregations. Conversation is free- flowing despite the sensitivity of these issues. Our conversations seek to be civil, respectful and beneficial. It has been a wonderful learning process, but with heightened aware-
Harris shares a story with the Courageous Conversations group. The group engages in respectful dialogue to build understanding and take action against racism in their community.
ness comes frustration. We want to undertake some advocacy.” Harris is thinking about the next
steps. “Our groups are diverse and our giſts are diverse,” she said. “We have to develop a menu of action steps. Some people want to write let- ters to the legislature, some want to protest. Others plan to register vot- ers or volunteer in the schools.”
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