Introduction: What is the Angela Project? The Continuing Miseducation of African-Americans
Introduction: What is the Angela Project? The Continuing Miseducation of African-Americans
By Lewis Brogdon
On Behalf of Members of Empower West, Louisville KY
The Angela Project is a three-year initiative involv-ing over six million people in three large Baptist denominations: the National Baptist Convention of America, Progressive Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. For the next three years, meetings will be convened in Louisville, KY (2017), Philadelphia, PA (2018) and Birmingham, AL (2019) to discuss issues related to the history of slav¬ery in America. These topics include: public education (2017), economic injustice (2018), and reparations (2019). In a sense, the Angela Project is a three-year national conversation about racism and social justice among faith communities, scholars, activists, politi¬cians and community and national leaders.
However, we are not meeting just to talk about issues. The issues identi-fied are related not only to the history of slavery and legal discrimination, but are very much the reason so many African-Americans continue to suffer significant disadvantages. Therefore, the short term goal of the Angela Project is to edu¬cate both the current and a new generation of leaders about historic and systemic racism, to organize like-minded leaders around select issues, and to mobilize them to enact change at the governmental level. While we are meeting to find concrete ways to improve the lives of African-Americans in the areas we identify at each conference, there is also a deeper, more ambitious long-term goal we have in mind.
This long-term goal of the Angela Project is to set a new 400-year trajectory for race relations in the United States. This goal is personal to us as church leaders because, historically, the church played a major role in supporting slavery and segregation ideologi¬cally, institutionally and financially. The church was neck-deep in slavery, segregation and racism. In fact, churches modeled how to divide over slavery, segrega¬tion and racism for generations to follow. And so, we, as Baptists and like-minded followers of Jesus Christ, are taking ownership for our part in this painful history and attempting to do something different. Christians from other faith traditions have joined this movement as well — Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals and Catholics. We want to begin a new chapter, a new trajectory for America not stained by the original sin of racism.
There is a colloquial expression that says, “Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.” As racial polarization and black marginalization continue, it is clear that history is repeating itself. For all the advancements made in America since the 1960s, there is still much to do because families, communities, schools and churches in America are not teaching about this history. We hope that the Angela Project will bring these topics to light— particularly the real-life implications of systemic racism for blacks. We also hope to lay before the nation a new vision of practical ways in which to redress injustices in a way that provides a better
world for all to inhabit.
The Angela Project is an attempt to do two things: (1) to address in earnest issues of injustice that have marred this nation for centuries, and (2) to provide proposals of models that demonstrate how communities can act in ways that are fair for African-Americans. We hope you will do two things to support this cause. First, make plans to meet us in Philadelphia next year for this life-changing conference. Second, find ways to support this movement, by hosting study groups to discuss the issues presented in this journal and by sending financial support for the conference and policy work done by Empower West. Together, we can change the direction in which this country is heading and chart a path to a place where we can all thrive as neighbors and friends.
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