Racial Reconciliation

We meet every Monday at 7:00 PM on zoom. If you have any questions about the group or would like to join, please email Page Fulgham.

We welcome guest speakers from time-to-time and talk about books and articles we are reading. Meetings are open to all church members and friends.

We want to be known not only as a people who welcome all races, but who engage our community, building friendships and building bridges of reconciliation.

If you have any questions about the group, please email Page Fulgham.

From Conversation to Action

Six Years of Racial Reconciliation

by Page Fulgham, Racial Reconciliation Group Leader

The brutal murder of George Floyd on May 20, 2020, by Derek Chavin, a white police officer from Minneapolis, MN, was a motivating point of starting a racial reconciliation conversation at Smoke Rise. I  felt compelled to try to gather a few people who also might share a need to talk. I spoke with our pastor who directed me to Stephen Reeves, an attorney who worked at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and who was a member of Smoke Rise at the time. (He is now executive director of Fellowship Southwest even as he continues his advocacy work.)

Stephen was encouraging, with about five of us who began communicating by email about our common concerns. We decided to form a group which would meet on a regular basis to talk about racial justice. There was one major obstacle: Covid19! Public meetings were being shut down and soon Smoke Rise stopped having indoor gatherings. Our solution was tomeet outside at the church.

Harrison Litzell was on staff at that time and was willing to help facilitate our needs and goals. Since the weather was decent, we met outside on the porch near the porte-cochere on the sanctuary side of the church. We watched the movie, Just Mercy, the story of trial attorney Byran Stevenson’s struggle to exonerate a prisoner on death row who had been wrongfully convicted of murder. Harrison led and directed our discussion for several weeks. We had about 20-30 people who attended these early meetings.

Some of our initial speakers included a police officer, a seminary professor, ministers and lay persons, all of whom made a significant contribution to our understanding of the problems at hand. We heard about the complicated social structures of our “systems.” We listened to those who had experienced racial discrimination and marginalization. We also learned the term “systemic racism” as we considered other key discussion points.

Five-and-one-half years later, we have accomplished some of our goals which included reading and discussing dozens of books, entertaining multiple speakers, including Mary Frances Early, the first Black student—and the first Black female—to graduate from the University of Georgia. She made history on August 16, 1962, when she earned her master’s degree in music education.

We have spent hours and hours in conversation about the history of slavery, civil rights issues, and the challenges of the current climate of racism in the U.S. Some of us have revealed painful family stories of racism and a history of family enslavers.

Our discussions each week via Zoom led us to broaden our parameters to include social and economic injustice, and how we as a group might respond appropriately. We have had opportunities to work with Hugs and Hope, a food distribution ministry in Gwinnett Co, sponsored by Christ First Community Church, a primarily black congregation who are looking for permanent space to worship and serve. We have promoted casual lunches and dinners with our friends from Christ First Congregational in an effort to build relationships and to know and understand the Black story better. Dr. Alan Shaw, pastor, and Michelle Shaw have been so helpful in our journey.

Also, some of the group joined a MLK work day project this past January at Rock of Ages Lutheran Church on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. Six days a week, the church provides a sack lunch for 50-75 people, mostly unhoused men and women and some families. This very small congregation has a large heart for the unhoused and underhoused people in the area.

On MLK Day, Hugs and Hope partnered with Rock of Ages to provide a hot meal, clothing and various food items. Recently, we helped with an additional day of hot meals, clothing and food distribution. In the parking lot of Rock of Ages, services were provided consisting of a health clinic for diabetes and blood pressure screening, talking with Dekalb Co housing advocates, haircuts, natural healing oils, foot massages, and a portable shower trailer provided by Feet on the Street Ministries. We had opportunity to talk with some of those who received services. Plans are for regular service days offering similar opportunities.

Some in our group traveled to Montgomery, AL, to the Legacy Museum, established by the aforementioned Bryan Stevenson. The report to the group was riveting. One of the most memorable sites is a tribute to Black people who were hanged in the U.S. Beneath each tribute is a jar of dirt gathered from beneath where the person was lynched. The last Black person to be lynched in the United States was 19-year-old Michael Donald, who was murdered and hanged from a tree by Ku Klux Klan members in Mobile, Alabama, on March 21, 1981.

We also learned about the historical marker placed on the west side of the Lawrenceville Square at the corner of Pike and Perry streets, Lawrenceville, GA, memorializing Charles “Charlie” Hale. He was a Black man lynched by a white mob on the courthouse square on April 8, 1911. The memorial was created through a partnership between the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and the Gwinnett Remembrance Coalition to publicly acknowledge this history and to promote racial reconciliation.

Our group consistently has about 15-18 in attendance and welcomes all people. Most of the group are from Smoke Rise Baptist, but some are friends of friends who have joined. Should you be interested in joining, contact Page Fulgam at rphulgham@bellsouth.net. The group meets on Monday nights from 7 to 8 pm, from the middle of September to the middle of May. We do not meet the week of Thanksgiving or around the Christmas and New Year holidays.