A Letter in Response to Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman Tragedy

REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA

FOLLOWING CHRIST IN MISSION

TOM DE VRIES
GENERAL SECRETARY
4500 60th Street SE • Grand Rapids, MI 49512-9670
(616) 698-7071, ext.1904 • Fax (616) 698-6606 • tdevries@rca.org

Dear RCA Family:

On July 13, 2013, a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of any crime in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Since then, our nation has struggled with deep questions about the kind of society we have.

For many of our brothers and sisters who are white, the Martin-Zimmerman tragedy was terrible. For many of our sisters and brothers of color, the Martin-Zimmerman tragedy validates major themes that flow through everyday living in our society–that our way of life is rooted in racism, white/racial privilege, racial profiling, institutional racism, and a propensity for violence against people of color. The tragedy is one of many similar episodes.

Trayvon Martin was just a few years younger than my daughter, Torri, and Trayvon’s story hits me as a parent. I mourn with parents of color as, following the acquittal in this case, they are forced to again face difficult questions:

What must parents of color, and all who support them, manage emotionally, intellectually, and physically to both contribute to and maintain in a society where racism, racial privilege, and racial profiling are historically, culturally, and institutionally sanctioned?

And how do I, as a white parent, understand and stand with parents of color with such critical questions? How do any of us–as adults, young adults, children, seniors, in the U.S. or in Canada–stand with people of another race? For many white people, there is little in our personal experiences to lead us to fear for our children or ourselves because of race. That this is so could be proof that white privilege is alive and effective.

These irreconcilable differences pose challenges for the kind of society we have and want to have, yes. For the church–the body of Christ on earth–these differences point to damaging blind spots. To help correct these blind spots we must:

The Reformed Church in America has a statement of faith called the Belhar Confession. Among many things, the confession asserts a crucial role and responsibility of the church:

…the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

For the sake of all our parents, children, people of God, society at large, and our integrity as a part of the body of Christ, the RCA condemns:

1) The sin of racism
2) The potency of white/racial privilege
3) The practice of racial profiling

We call our members and congregations, our assemblies and institutions, to join us in that stand. We call all persons and organizations to work actively toward a society that is freed from racism, from white privilege, and from racial profiling.

A statement, no matter how strong, does not make a witness and is not equal to the “striving against” that the Belhar calls us to. As the RCA’s general secretary, this week I will call together a team that will help the RCA identify specific, practical, God-honoring, society-shaping activities and strategies that we will implement within our denomination. These activities and strategies will flesh out some of the aspects of this commitment. Within four weeks, I will publish a second statement announcing those strategies and activities.

Please pray for our parents and children, that they all will know and feel that they are accompanied by the Holy Spirit always, including in this time of suffering and searching for the kind of society God would have us to be.

Together in the cause,

Tom De Vries
General secretary, Reformed Church in America