Feature

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Captain Daniel Diakanwa highlights some positive attitudes to racial inclusion in the Army’s history and challenges us to examine where we are now

ALONG time before the Black Lives Matter movement came into existence, William Booth made a prophetic statement to show that black lives mattered indeed. In 1890 he wrote: ‘The negro personally is as yet an unknown quantity. His moral character, intellectual ability and spiritual capacity are as yet comparatively undiscovered... Even now, where in individual cases he has had equal opportunities, he will favourably compare with the white man. It is quite possible for us to argue, therefore, that after years of civilisation, education and Christian influence he will equal, if he does not actually surpass, the white man in those things which now make the latter so much the superior.’

It should be noted that William Booth, a former Methodist minister, was influenced by John Wesley’s theology of sanctification and his fight against slavery. Wesley described sanctification as ‘a heart habitually filled with the love of God and neighbour’ and as ‘having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked’. Moreover, Wesley’s 1774 Thoughts Upon Slavery provided a fierce criticism of the slave trade.

Black lives also mattered in the early days of The Salvation Army in America. George Scott Railton was appointed as the Army’s first commander in the United States in 1880. He declared that they were ‘the only white people to whose company, to whose platforms and to whose operations, coloured people had the same welcome as others’. One of Railton’s successors, Commissioner Frank Smith, wrote in an 1884 War Cry article, ‘Our coloured brethren have been very much wronged, the victims trampled upon… We of The Salvation Army have a holy ambition to be among the first Christian community of America who will faithfully and wholly break down the wall of partition.’

In 1896, Booker T Washington, principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, wrote a letter to the editor of the Army’s Conqueror magazine: ‘I am very glad to hear that The Salvation Army is going to undertake work among my people in the southern states. I have always had the greatest respect for the work of The Salvation Army, especially because I have noted that it draws no colour line in religion. I feel that there is a large class of coloured people in the South, especially in the cities, who are not reached by the churches, but who will be reached by your work. In reaching the neglected and, I might say, outcasts of our people, I feel that your methods and work have peculiar value. Certainly, there is plenty of room in the South for your work, and I feel that the coloured ministry of others will give you a hearty welcome. There are thousands of my people in the cities who do not go to church. These as well as others I feel you will reach and help in a permanent form. God bless you in all your unselfish Christian work for our country! If I can serve you at any time, please let me know.’

While many evangelical churches were relocating from the cities, where many black Americans lived, to move to the suburbs, The Salvation Army remained in the cities to fulfil William Booth’s calling to the marginalised.

Black lives matter in the 26 African countries where about 67 per cent of The Salvation Army’s 1.8 million members live. It should be noted that The Salvation Army contributed tremendously to the development of African nations by building schools, medical centres and hospitals. Today, William Booth University is among the top ten universities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

William Booth’s prophetic statement that the black man ‘will equal, if he does not actually surpass, the white man in those things which now make the latter so much the superior’ has been fulfilled as many black inventors have contributed to the scientific development of the world and black businesses and organisations have flourished. Within The Salvation Army, many black officers have been appointed as territorial or regional commanders around the world. In 2002 Commissioner Israel Gaither became the first black officer to serve as the Chief of the Staff, the secondranking officer in the Army world, and in 2006 Gaither became the first black officer to serve as National Commander of The Salvation Army in the USA.

The Army’s positional statement on racism says: ‘Racism is fundamentally incompatible with the Christian conviction that all people are made in the image of God and are equal in value. The Salvation Army believes that the world is enriched by a diversity of cultures and ethnicities.’ While that statement is laudable, and although there have been many positive steps throughout the Army’s history, the challenge remains to continually examine our organisational structures and individual attitudes to ensure that racism is acknowledged and abolished.

CAPTAIN DIAKANWA LIVES IN RETIREMENT IN THE USA EASTERN TERRITORY

Captain Ben Cotterill outlines some things he’s realised about confronting conscious and unconscious bias

Racing to justice

THE Black Lives Matter movement has come to the fore this year with allegations of police brutality hitting the headlines, most recently after the shooting of Jacob Blake in the USA. As the Covid-19 pandemic amplifies inequalities existing in the world, it is incumbent upon organisations to address the extent to which they might, albeit unwittingly, have been complicit in passive or active racism.

Individuals are also realising that an unconscious bias can inform their attitudes. Maybe it would be helpful for you to know the factors informing my outlook, before I explain some of my thoughts. I am a white, millennial, Christian, cisgender, heterosexual male – and a Salvation Army officer. Put those dynamics together and they inevitably create a certain perspective on the world, based largely on the fact that I inhabit what is commonly regarded as a dominant category. As we ponder our own innate biases, I will highlight five things I have realised.

1. PROXIMITY CAN BE A GAMECHANGER

If we’re not proximate with people we can’t easily begin to appreciate how life is for them and therefore our opinion has limited credibility. For example, it was an eye-opener for me to go on holiday overseas with a black friend and witness him being evicted from a shop because of his skin colour. If you have a friend or relative who is, for example, homosexual, it is difficult not to be impacted by their often painful stories of prejudice and hurt. We will appreciate another person’s reality more if we share life with, marry or even holiday with them. Apart from that, one way of educating ourselves is simply to speak with and listen to people who are outside so-called dominant categories.

2. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES ARE NOT ENOUGH TO CHANGE THE WORLD

If we are serious about changing society – and, indeed, our church – we have to recognise the reality that individual actions alone are not going to facilitate change. It will take collective action as well. This may mean the updating of Salvation Army positional statements or policies, coupled with the reinforcement

of transparent strategic actions. Within that context, it is encouraging that this territory is undergoing a period of hearing the voices of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) members so as to consider appropriate action.*

Maybe, however, in other situations where positional statements cannot yet be comfortably agreed upon by significant swathes of the Movement, we need new positions that state, honestly and humbly: ‘We don’t actually know what is right and wrong on this complicated issue, even though we thought we did. Time is needed, to prayerfully and respectfully discern a way forward.’

3. DECISION-MAKING NEEDS TO BE ANCHORED IN HOW IT AFFECTS THE MARGINALISED

In a world of hard commercial realities, every pound we earn and spend could be contributing to poverty, injustice and exploitation. We are all connected to complex international financial structures that, broadly speaking, endorse concepts of winners and losers – in monetary terms. These issues are often so entangled that we cannot easily recognise fiscal unfairness. Even the straightforward act of buying clothes – including Salvation Army uniforms – commits us to that moral minefield. Questions arise relating to the ethical production of the goods we purchase, and it behoves each of us to investigate sources and means of production.

Jesus told a story about a widow who gave the Temple treasury only a small amount, which was ‘all she had to live on’ (Mark 12:44). She was probably poor because of the socio-economic system. The spiritual point from this story is often pitched as a lesson in sacrificial giving.

However, behind that point is a burning question of outright injustice. It is possible that she was enduring poverty because her community had failed to organise a reasonable support system. Maybe we see echoes of her plight around the globe and in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland today.

What, though, if such issues of corruption, greed and exploitation are actually central to the challenge of the gospel, and not just added-on lessons for good living? Martin Luther King Jr once said: ‘We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality.’ Everything is interconnected. The gospel must therefore work on the level of inescapable mutuality. If it does not, coming generations might dispense with or sideline the Christian faith. And who could blame them?

4. CONSIDER WHITE SUPREMACY

People nowadays are considering the thorny issue of ‘white supremacy’ as something other than a skin-headed, neo-Nazi caricature. If that label means or implies racial hierarchy, it is probably a good moment to reflect on how The Salvation Army was formed. Despite efforts to adapt to different cultures and nurture local leadership, arguably what happened was that it centred on the one group of people who were already in the centre – white people – and who continue to occupy international leadership positions. The reality is that the Army is a British export that initially flourished during colonial times.

How we uncouple our institutions from any prevailing accusations of white supremacy or privilege – with white people in top positions and with the whiff of gender inequality also pervading our ranks – is not straightforward. We must begin, though, with the acknowledgment that white people had – and may continue to have – what we might refer to as a ‘cheat code’ that often excludes non-white leadership in an organisation in which BAME groups make up the majority.

This uncoupling is not simple, and there have been moves to encourage BAME members into international leadership, but we need to be willing to accept correction of our waywardness, if we have been complicit in obstructing equity.

5. STOP SAYING THE ISSUES ARE TOO HARD

The time has come for us to stop saying we’re overwhelmed and that the issues are too hard. The reality is that we are simply unpractised at centring other people. All too often, deliberately or inadvertently, we practise racism and sexism, we ignore the calls of the poor, we practise justifying harm and we have somehow become skilled at these things.

Unfortunately, it’s part of who we are as fallen people. So countering this tendency requires daily sacrifice. We have to stop nurturing a relationship that is predominantly with ourselves, and focus instead on growing a relationship with the God who is always co-creative with us whenever we endeavour to realise and enhance all that makes us wonderful in his image.

The story of Zacchaeus, the unfair tax collector in Luke 19:1–10, follows this pattern. We don’t know what Jesus said to him, but it might well have been, ‘You are ignorant and the way you deal with money is the greatest challenge to justice.’ Zacchaeus recognised that challenge and moved into the mindmode of refunding monies owed – including reparation costs times four.

Are we willing to consider these options with heart and mind? Possibly, within this context, that’s the only way fullness of salvation will come to our house, as it did to a first-century tax collector and crook. Zacchaeus worked out what it meant for him personally; we must do likewise. As we do so, Jesus will bless our intentions, our decisions and our actions.

O This article was originally posted at mindfulsalvationist.wordpress.com

CAPTAIN COTTERILL IS SUPPORT OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS OFFICE, THQ

* The Territorial Advisory Council (TAC) is researching the ethnicity of our congregations and local and officer leadership, making contact with as many people from as many ethnic groupings as possible – primarily to listen to their stories and understand, then to make recommendations to the territory’s senior leadership. Email tac@salvationarmy.org.uk to be put in touch with your divisional TAC member so the process of listening might continue.