Opening session devoted to anti-racism training By John H. Adams The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 5 Posted July 6, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The opening business on the agenda of the 2001 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) June 9 was attitudes – specifically racial prejudice. By decree of the 1999 General Assembly, the commissioners were summoned to the annual meeting a day early to undergo four hours of anti-racism training. Because whites constitute 94 percent of the membership in the denomination, they especially were singled out to disclose and dispense with racist attitudes. The training began with a worship service that included an exercise to uncover racist attitudes. Seated in groups of up to 10 at round tables, commissioners were asked to reveal “one thing [learned from your elders] that you will not pass on” to the next generation. In the context of the training session, that “one thing” was intended to be racism. Commissioners were given a litany of statistics – mostly economic – designed to convince them that racism is deeply embedded in American society and the denomination, to wit: The median net wealth of white families is eight times that of black families and 27 times that of Hispanic families. Ten percent of Americans own 70 percent of the nation’s net wealth. The infant mortality rate is 2.5 times higher for blacks than for whites and 1.5 times higher for Native Americans than whites. Between 95 percent and 97 percent of the senior management of Fortune 500 companies are white. Two speakers – Laura Mariko Chiefetz and W. Mark Koenig – provided commentary on the racial demographics. Chiefetz, a youth advisory delegate from the Presbytery of North Puget Sound, said the reason for disparities in wealth were systemic racism. “We don’t even understand the systemic nature of racism,” she said. “We forget to define ourselves as whole people created in the image of God. It’s not easy for people of color to be honest and to interact with people in the Presbyterian Church. But if we never interact and teach white people, they will never change.” Koenig, associate director of anti-racism training for the denomination’s Office of Racial Ethnic Ministries, said racism is still prevalent within the Presbyterian Church. “We transform our sisters and brothers into tokens of diversity who prove to us that racism is a problem we have already overcome,” he said. “We assign racial justice to a few committees in our church. The list goes on and on.”

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