Racism has been identified as one of the most significant challenges facing the North American region in the United States and Canada, a World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting has heard. Members of the North American region of the WCC’s Central Committee, its highest governing body between Assemblies, met during its 21-27 June meeting in Geneva.

“North America or Turtle Island, which is the Indigenous name for North America, is one of three continents that make up ‘The New World.’ The continent was new to 15th-century European explorers but old to the Indigenous peoples already living there,” said Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, WCC president from North America.
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As the Minnesota Council of Churches began work on the 2023 theme materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, they reflected on the murder of George Floyd and the history of racism directed at people of colour in the United States. They also recalled the day in 1862 when 38 members of the Dakota tribe were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, following the U.S.-Dakota War. As they were led to their deaths, the warriors sang the hymn Wakantanka taku nitawa (Many and Great).

The prophet Isaiah lived in Judah in the 8th century BCE, a time of prosperity in the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Yet, like other societies with wealth and power, great inequities existed. The rich and the powerful made offerings in the temple, and gained influence in the spiritual and ritual life of the kingdom. But the poor, who could not afford to offer sacrifices, were excluded from civil and religious life. The injustices of the time were not the result of specific choices of the religious or civil leaders but were the outcome of the structure of the society itself. In response, Isaiah called out for God’s justice. He denounced political, social, and religious structures that created and sustained inequity and oppression. He called upon the people to “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)
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The World Council of Churches Central Committee approved the release of two statements proposed at the recent Karlsruhe Assembly that had not been completed during the Assembly. In the introduction to the first statement, “Statement on Confronting Racism and Xenophobia, Overcoming Discrimination, Ensuring Belonging”, the WCC stated simply that, “(t)he World Council of Churches, at its 11th assembly, in Karlsruhe, Germany, abhors the perpetuation of all forms of racism, xenophobia and related discriminations against humanity and the pervasive suffering it causes.”
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The church is called to be anti-racist. Recently, I heard this quote from Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want To Talk About Race:

The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.

I find this quote provocative because I struggle to live in actively anti-racist ways. I find it provocative because I continue to detect in myself a desire to avoid admitting the racism in me and in my faith communities. Based on several recent experiences, which were simultaneously painful, frustrating, and holy, I have no doubt about the truth of the words it’s the only way forward.
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Black Anglicans of Canada deplores the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police.

For me, as an African American, the brutal murder of George Floyd is the last straw. People of African descent, for our entire 400-year history in America, have been put in the position of constantly having to defend our humanity, forced into a subculture of “over-achievement” so that we can be acknowledged as human beings and entitled to be equal citizens in our own country that we have helped build, died for and continue to defend. We are tired. We are angry. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
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“We had heard that racism continues to be an issue in the United States,” said Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). “But we did not expect to find it so deep, so wide and so pervasive.”

Abuom spoke at a closing conference of the WCC’s US racial justice accompaniment visit, which she led from 19 through 25 April on an itinerary that included the cities of Charleston, South Carolina; Ferguson, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois.

The team of WCC visitors who made the journey will now collaborate in preparing a report on their experience and findings, with recommendations for the next steps in a renewed and reinvigorated response to the sin of racial hatred, violence and discrimination in the early 21st century. The report will be submitted in May to the WCC Central Committee for consideration at its June 2016 meeting in Trondheim, Norway.

After due deliberation, the Central Committee will determine appropriate action for the WCC and its partners in the United States and throughout the world.
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Marchons ensemble : Documentation 2009 sur la justice raciale

Une nouvelle ressource conçue par le Réseau œcuménique canadien contre le racisme pour aider les Canadiens à engager le dialogue avec la Commission Vérité et réconciliation sur les pensionnats autochtones et à mieux comprendre l’héritage de colonisation avec lequel les peuples autochtones vivent aujourd’hui.
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Let Us Walk Together: Racial Justice Resource 2009

A new resource from the Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Racism Network (CEARN) designed to help Canadians to engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools and to better understand the legacies of colonization that Aboriginal peoples live with today.
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Le dimanche 25 mars 2007 marque le bicentenaire de la fin de la traite des esclaves dans l’Empire britannique. La loi sur l’abolition mettait officiellement un point final au transport forcé de millions d’Africains arrachés à leur pays pour être expatriés vers les Amériques via le Passage du milieu. Le Canada, alors membre de l’Empire britannique, a pratiqué lui aussi l’esclavage. L’impact de l’esclavage persiste, tandis qu’on assiste à l’émergence de formes modernes d’esclavage. La lutte est loin d’être terminée. Des Africains réduits en esclavage et des personnes de foi ont pris la tête du mouvement en faveur de l’abolition de la traite des esclaves, mais la version moderne du racisme, qui tente de justifier l’esclavage des Africains, demeure une réalité dans de trop nombreuses Églises et sociétés. Il faut que les gens de foi s’engagent à nouveau dans la lutte contre le racisme dans nos Églises, dans notre pays, dans le monde entier. Le Réseau œcuménique canadien contre le racisme (ROCCR) invite les Églises à souligner cet anniversaire en s’engageant elles aussi sur le chemin de la guérison, de la réconciliation et de la transformation de nos relations. Nous vous offrons à titre de ressource cette pochette documentaire sur la justice raciale.
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Sunday, March 25th 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the ending of the slave trade in the British Empire. The abolition law brought to an official end the forced transportation of millions of Africans from their homeland, across the Middle Passage, to the Americas. Canada was part of the British Empire and participated in the practice of slavery. Slavery’s impact continues at the same time as modern forms of slavery are appearing. The struggle is far from over. Enslaved Africans and people of faith led the movement to abolish the slave trade. But the modern form of racism which developed to justify the enslavement of Africans remains a reality in too many of our churches and societies. People of faith need to commit anew to addressing the racism in our churches, our country and our world. The Canadian Ecumenical Anti Racism Network (CEARN) invites churches to commemorate this anniversary by participating in the ongoing journey we must take towards healing, reconciliation and the transformation of our relationships.
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La Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la discrimination raciale est mars 21, l’anniversaire du massacre à Sharpeville en 1960.
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The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is March 21, the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.
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