Pam Y. Fields

This past weekend Visible Unity, Inc. declared a ‘Weekend for Peace.’

Friday evening was ‘Prayers for Peace’ where we met at the Southwest Dallas Police Substation and engaged in prayer, singing and talking.  Seeking to be fortified as we begin or continue in the work of bringing peace into our spheres of influence.

Saturday afternoon we gathered at the Meadows Conference Center for the I/Eye Perspective.  We watched film clips from the movie, ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ and a clip of the self-introduction of ‘Tim Wise.’  We watched these clips with our eyes (Eye Perspective) and then had excellent discussion about race from each of our own personal perspectives (I).

Sunday morning (the most segregated hour) was the Integrated Hour of Worship, where a diverse group attended services at First United Methodist Church in downtown Dallas, Dr. Andy Stoker pastor.

We are in a war.  Yes, a war is going on in our country.  And with all wars people tend to forget that the enemy is also human and has family and friends who love them and who has hopes and dreams for the future.  People also tend to focus on destroying the other.  There is no desire to try and come together and talk things over.  Hate is the focus, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to kill.  Lastly, people tend to believe all the propaganda about the other side.  That they are not human, good or worthy.  They are a bane to society and so on.  This provides the ammunition needed to keep the war going.  It helps people to believe they are doing the right thing, the good and necessary thing.

In his sermon, Dr. Stoker remarked that we have a tendency to turn practice into truth.  I would add that in the history of the US, there has been a practice of devaluing people of color and this practice has turned into a truth.  A truth that has to be dismantled.  A truth that is founded upon ignorance and mainly, fear.  James Baldwin, when talking about the nature of the rage between Black and White, said that, ‘The root of the black man’s hatred is rage.  Blacks don’t hate whites.  It’s more rage; they just want them out of their way and more importantly, out of their children’s way.  The root of the white man’s hatred is terror.  A bottomless, unnameless terror which focuses on this dread figure and entity which lives only in his mind.’

The way past this terror and this unfounded truth is through relationships, relationships across cultures and divides, relationships across gender and economic divides, relationships across faiths.  Visible Unity can help you with this.  Contact us and join us in peace-building and relationship building.