The Color of Understanding

by Lori Crantford

June 1, 2004 | St. Luke's United Methodist Church bulletin Communion | Indianapolis, IN

"Wish you weren't colored," said Ethie Washburn's white friends as the bus from a local private club came to take Ethie's friends away -- leaving Ethie behind. Up until then, Ethie hadn't felt different from these friends. It was 1959. Ethie and her family lived in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood (in Indianapolis) and they were the first black family to attend IPS School 86. Ethie's across-the-street white friends didn't feel different either. A family of black kids, a family of white kids doing white kid/black kid/any kid things — playing outside, sledding at Butler, having sleepovers. The only rule they had was that pesky Golden one that their folks drummed into their heads - treat others the way you want to be treated. It wasn't the rule that everyone had.

"Wish you weren't colored." Forty-four years later, those words still ring in Ethie's ears. While she's experienced a lot of racism in her life, she still didn't think she wanted to be part of a Barnes/St. Luke's/Scott UMC Race Relations Study Group in 2002. "My brother was helping facilitate," Ethie says, waving a finger at her brother Forrest who was enveloped in the juicy smoke of the grill he was tending at a Race Relations Study Group picnic in Broad Ripple Park. About 40 people attended this fellowship event, blacks and whites who have had the experience of really discussing racism among themselves in an open, civil, prayerful and bridge-building way. "I didn't think I had the time," Ethie explains, "but I thought I'd give it a couple of weeks." She soon changed her mind. "It was so good, I rearranged my schedule so I could complete the entire five weeks. It allowed me to voice thoughts, my own feelings about race that you don't do in daily life."

"Well, this doesn't interest me — I don't have a race problem," Larry Welke thought confidently as he read about — and then dismissed -- the concept of participating in a Race Study Circle. Larry, however, has a very active and chatty conscience, and it immediately tapped him on the noggin and said, "Whoa, Larry, you waltzed by that one pretty quick. What are you not looking at in your life?" Larry & his wife Nissey, both St. Luke's members, signed up for a Race Study Circle to have a looksee at, well, whatever needed a looksee. "It opened my eyes when I didn't think they needed to be opened," Larry says very directly. "I became aware of how narrow my thinking had been. When I heard phrases like 'white supremacy' before, it upset me. But now, I've become much more conscious - my awareness level has increased. I've gone to church at Barnes, and everyone I've met is very open, wants the whole scene to change. I would definitely encourage people to go to a Study Circle," Larry asserts. "No matter what they think their understanding is, it can be more inclusive."

A realization by whites of the concepts of "white privilege" and "institutional racism" and how they negatively affect us all is one outcome that whites take away from this experience, according to both black and white participants and Jayne Thorne, St. Luke's Director of Community Ministries. Jayne not only participated in the first Race Relations Study Circle in 2000, she has been a facilitator and a passionate advocate for the need to break down the barriers. "I've always had a passion for race reconciliation, ever since I was a kid," Jane shares. "I don't know why - there wasn't a specific incident, but when I was in 2nd grade, in the mid 1950s, I remember my mom saying that my black friend couldn't come to our home for my birthday party because of what the neighbors would think. And it just stuck with me that there was something wrong with that."

That theme "something's still wrong" and the desire to fix it is the motivating factor for the participants. And it's not just the whites who need to get a new set of realities. Ask Jayne, who is white, or Forrest Wooley-Barnes, who is black, if there are walls to be torn down on the black side of the topic as well, and you get a ready "yes!" "There is an inherent lack of trust that blacks have of whites that needs to be addressed," says Forrest, a five-time facilitator. "It's been very rewarding," he reports. "We've gone into some cutting-edge subjects, and I've been surprised. The classes become very close-knit; we're able to discuss anything."

Anything, in this case, includes everything. From a white person asking why it's OK for black young men to address each other with the "N" word but it's far from OK for a white person to do that (Forrest explained) -- to why blacks feel the need to live in two worlds, why they need to "turn off" the black voice, the black dialogue, the at-home, genuine person they are in order to survive or hopefully succeed in the white world -- to, as Forrest says, "why everybody thinks they're not prejudiced, until I want to date their daughter." The participation is diverse, the forum is open, and issues can be broken down, examined, discussed, and understood.

It all started with one black man and one white man thinking it was a good idea. In the winter of 2000 Charles Harrison, senior pastor of Barnes United Methodist Church, and Kent Millard, senior pastor of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, formed a partnership for the purpose of bringing diversity to each other's programming. At first, the members of Barnes were skeptical, says Rev. Harrison. "Our members initially did not trust that this program was an honest attempt to achieve race reconciliation," he asserts. "We did not have a good history of that [with whites]. But it's been really good. Folks knew if it [the program] were for just for show, it wouldn't last long."

Over the past three years, over 100 people have participated in these study groups. Beyond that, however, the crossover that is occurring is what really gets these pastors fired up. There are Bible studies, there's been a joint Habitat project with Barnes & St. Luke's, pulpit exchanges, mentoring at IPS School 42, folks from Scott and Barnes coming to Jean Wilson's monthly Saturday morning prayer breakfasts. "We are partnering across racial lines," agree Rev. Harrison and Dr. Millard. "We are planting seeds all over the state, both pastors and lay people. We are excited about what they can do." Rev. Harrison sums up the ultimate goal of the study circles by saying, "We affirm each other. Our unity is in Christ. We are building bridges of understanding."

And the good news about that is this: when the Barnes/St. Luke's/Scott UMC "bus" comes to get its passengers to cross those bridges of understanding, everyone can get on. No friends get left behind.

If you would like to participate in a Race Relations Study Circle, contact Jayne Thorne at 846-3404 or thornej@stlukesumc.com. Sessions are five weeks and take place on Mondays from 6-8PM, rotating between Barnes, Scott and St. Luke's UMC locations. The next session begins on July 21. Another session begins October 6. There is a limit of 10-14 people in each group, which needs to have a diverse racial representation.

Learn more: Racial Equity