Seminary Town Hall Forum Series on Race

A Professor's Perspective

The year 2020 was an unsettling one for many reasons, not the least of which has been the racial unrest sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. These deaths were the latest of far too many unjust deaths of black men and women that have occurred over the past several years, resulting in massive national and international protests.

The television replays of these events deeply impacted those who viewed them. For those who had personally experienced trauma at the hands of police or others in the past, the videos reignited the pain of these past memories often lodged just below the surface of consciousness. For many there was a vicarious or secondary trauma that they and the nation experienced. 

In response to the impact of these events on students, the Seminary Care Team, made up of Seminary counselors, chaplain and student leaders, planned a series of Town Hall Meetings on Race to give students, staff and faculty a safe place to talk about their feelings and experiences. The meetings were planned with input from leaders with a variety of racial backgrounds. Each meeting was bathed with prayer and structured with brief presentations by key persons who shared various perspectives and experiences on racial discrimination, followed by a time for those in attendance via Zoom to share their experiences, thoughts and feelings. The Dean’s office gave strong support for each meeting and shared messages of inspiration and encouragement. 

The Care Team recognized that this type of “debriefing” has value in that it can uncover feelings related to traumatic experiences which have brought undealt-with pain to the individual. As these experiences are processed in the company of others, a process of healing begins. Those who listen must do so nonjudgmentally and with compassion, understanding that the ones who speak are taking a risk of being further misunderstood and attacked. 

The Care Team was intentional in seeking a broad spectrum of students to attend the Forums so that understanding could grow in those students who may have never experienced personally the kind of oppression that their black counterparts have had to experience. While the early Forums were only partially successful in achieving this objective, with attendance being predominantly black, the sharing among those in attendance was deep, vulnerable and meaningfulFor the third Forum, the Care Team intentionally sought to increase the involvement of faculty and students of all racial and cultural backgrounds. Brief video invitations were sent out featuring faculty and students sharing personal experience and Scripture relating to these issues. This approach was somewhat successful in increasing faculty involvement and to a lesser degree student involvement.

In these Forums on Race students and faculty were able to share deeply, often with tears, their experiences of unjust, discriminatory treatment. Many articulated clearly the painful black experience in this country, in the church, at Andrews University and even in the seminary. One black professor shared how his white students openly told him that he should go back to his country and teach. Students not only shared their experiences but also shared what they thought solutions might be to this Christian dilemma. So much of racism is built into the fabric of families and society that it is both unconscious and institutional. How can we as Christians be silent when our brothers and sisters are being disadvantaged? How can we not stand with them and seek to understand their experience? How can we accept the truth that we have implicit racial bias and repent for that which we have seen and are only still coming to see more clearly?

In addition to learning to hear one another, we also are challenged as a seminary to take action to change the status quo. The Seminary’s Ethnicity, Race, and Social Justice Committee (ERSJ) was tasked with the responsibility to draft a Master Plan. This plan includes action steps in each of the following areas: Faculty Recruitment (Employment), Advancement, Finances, Curriculum, Pedagogy, Worship, and Fellowship. The elements of the Master Plan are to be implemented in a systematic way under the watchful eye of the Seminary deans and the ERSJ Committee. We look forward with great anticipation to the unfolding of this maturing in the seminary family as we move forward under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Together, let us make this a matter of earnest prayer so that the healing that is needed is experienced and that the changes that need to be made are implemented.

Dr. David Sedlacek
Chair, Department of Discipleship and Religious Education