Racial Injustice

News Coverage of Press Conference on December 9th, 2020:

• Brockton Enterprise
• Channel 7 WHDH

We have partnered with BIC to promote a racism pledge, check it out here

Statement of Christ Congregational Church, Brockton, MA

in Response to a Racist Verbal Assault on One of Our Members

Official Church Statement:

December 7, 2020

On November 7 a member of our church, Christ Congregational Church in Brockton, was working in our front yard along Pleasant Street when a passing vehicle slowed and the driver stuck his head out his window.  Pointing to our large “Black Lives Matter” sign, the passerby verbally assaulted our member with hate-filled threats:  “I hope you [f-ing] die, you [n-word]-lover.  You’re going to die you [f-ing] [n-word]-lover.” 

The previous Sunday we arrived for our outdoor church service to find a political candidate placard staked in our lawn so that it covered the “Black Lives Matter” sign. 

Both incidents come on the heels of our identifying racial justice last winter as a mission priority of our congregation in the coming years; issuing a public statement last spring recognizing our own complicity in institutional racism and supporting the protests provoked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis; and holding an anti-racism prayer vigil in front of our building.

The verbal attack last month was something no one should ever have to experience.  The person assaulted, who is white, was shaken by the intensity and depth of the hatred the driver expressed.  It also stirs that member and the rest of us, in particular  those who are white, to be ever conscious that this one incident is just a glimpse of what our members of color and our sisters and brothers of color in Greater Brockton and throughout our nation experience on a regular basis, often with more violence and destruction.  We are awakened to the fact that racist hate is not something that only exists in some other place and time; we recognize that it exists right here and now in our own community, and that it can be just as destructive as it ever has been. 

Here at Christ Congregational Church we stand with our sisters and brothers of color everywhere in condemning and combatting racism in all the ways it devalues Black and Brown lives—including pervasive institutional racism, entrenched white privilege, and bigoted white supremacy. Genesis 1:27 says that the whole of humanity is created in God’s image; could it not then be clearer that Black and Brown lives matter?  With our community partners, such as the Brockton Interfaith Community and other communities of faith, we are committed to working for a more just and equitable future –a future where racism and the power of white supremacy has been eradicated. 

To that end, we are eager to share that starting on January 25^th of 2021 we will be partnering with the Brockton Interfaith Community to facilitate an anti-racism training that will be available not only to our church members, but to the community at large. Through the course of the training we will empower participants to not only identify racist systems in Greater Brockton, but to also take steps toward dismantling them. To signup for the training you can find a link to an online registration form on our website, on the Brockton Interfaith Community website, and on our social media pages as well. We invite all those who envision a more just and equitable world to join us and to grow along with us as we gain the tools to combat racism here in our own corner of the world. It isn’t enough to “not be racist;” the world needs anti-racists.

Today, and every day going forward, we at Christ Congregational Church stand with our brothers and sisters of color throughout Greater Brockton and throughout the world to proclaim that Black and Brown Lives Matter, that hatred and bigotry have no home here, and that we will not silently hide behind the  privilege of our white members any longer. Our sign will remain, and our work in confronting racial injustice will continue. 

Approved by the Church Council

December 7, 2020

Our congregation has become increasingly troubled by the racial injustices within our society. 

The recent killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis; Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky; Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia; and many other murders resulting from police brutality against our black and brown brothers and sisters challenges our congregation to awaken from our slumber.   

We are a multi-racial, predominantly white church community located in a racially diverse city.  These events have called us to act with the knowledge that we have fallen short in the past.  William Dickerson of the Brockton Interfaith Community, challenges us: if we are not willing to step up and seek justice, then we are part of the problem.

We publicly commit ourselves to move past complacency and to do the work to become a community that embraces and lives out racial and social justice.  It’s not enough to be “not racist!”  We seek to be anti-racist in our thoughts and actions and to become trusted, active allies of our partners.  Led by faith and the example of Jesus, we will strive to leave our comfort zones and to show up in challenging spaces to support those partners.  We will work together to dismantle the deeply embedded institutional racism in our city and in our nation.

We confess to not fully understanding what all that may mean and what our role may be.  As we push ourselves to show up, we know we also have reflective work to do as a congregation.  We are dedicated to educating ourselves, to seeking help in understanding the issues of the black and brown communities, and to moving forward with open eyes, open ears, open minds and open hearts toward the work of eradicating racial injustice.

We pray for courage and guidance as we take risks as a people of faith called to seek justice for all of humanity.