Anti-Racism Statement

Introduction

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests around the country in 2020, the youth of St. Ann’s felt the need to do something in our own community to address racism.

Because of COVID-19, there was discomfort with attending the protests in Nashville, so we began to look at what we could do within the church. One of our youth was reading “Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds and proposed we write an antiracism statement for our church. Lottie and Lem Cardwell, Amaya and Kai Dryden and Suzi Whittaker all agreed this would be a good way to address racism.

In order to do that, we wanted to explore the history of St. Ann’s regarding slavery, racism and white privilege. Most of the research was online at the beginning, but when the library re-opened we found more evidence of slaveholding history. Dr. John Shelby, a large landowner who donated the lands for the construction of the original church, called St. Stephen’s, had owned, sold and bought slaves. He was a member of a committee charged with keeping abolitionists and material questioning the morality of slavery out of Nashville.

While Shelby was not a member at St. Ann’s, it was his daughter Priscilla, who was by then married to David Williams, who donated two lots for the church to sell after the war with the proceeds to be used to build a new church. St. Ann’s was then built at the current Fifth and Woodland location. While we have found no definitive proof that she owned slaves, our research continues, and it is certain that she inherited wealth from her father that was based on the labor of enslaved people.

With proof that our church benefited financially from slavery, we believe people who attend our church need to understand the history. This reinforced our urge to act to heal and repent from the decades of damage that stemmed from that history.

While people often talk about the youth being the future leaders of our church, we believe we already have the opportunity to lead and make our voice heard. The antiracism statement is a result of that belief.

This statement was approved by the vestry in June 2021 and ratified by the whole congregation at the Annual Parish Meeting in January 2022

Statement

As Christians who believe that we must love our neighbors as ourselves and that all humans are our neighbors, St. Ann’s condemns racism and all the horrors that stem from it. We affirm the words of our Baptismal Covenant that we “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

We pledge to be a force for justice and equality, standing against the modern forms of racism and we confess and repent that our parish has benefited from slavery, through both property and labor in the past.

While there were few permanent Native American settlements in the area that is now Nashville, there were some small settlements and several tribes hunted here — Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek. The Shawnee left the area in 1745 and there was a small Cherokee village during the 1750s, which was abandoned when white hunters started making frequent trips to the area in 1760, according to the Native American History Association.

Our church stands on land that was originally important hunting grounds for many indigenous peoples, providing needed food for the communities nearby. An influx of fur traders and European settlers resulted in Native peoples abandoning important land, which was then taken over by European settlers without compensation to the tribes. We recognize that this was wrong and that our church is on stolen land.

It is clear that Dr. John Shelby, who donated the land for the church’s original location as St. Stephen’s at Fourth and Boscobel, owned slaves. A history of Edgefield reports that he mortgaged his “land and Negroes” for $64,000 before the Civil War began.

Shelby’s daughter Priscilla, who was by then married to David Williams, donated two lots for the church to sell after the war with the proceeds to be used to build a new church. St. Ann’s was then built at the current Fifth and Woodland location. We plan to do more research about other ways St. Ann’s might have benefited from slavery.

Racism is systematic oppression and intolerance of a certain group of people based on how they look (skin, hair, eyes), and primarily based on skin color. Race is not scientific, it is a culturally created construct intended for the benefit and wealth of the few and the oppression of the many. Racism can be unintentional, but is always hurtful, whether emotionally, physically, or mentally.

Though government-sanctioned slavery and segregation ended in the U.S., racism still exists in the form of police brutality, discrimination in the criminal justice system, wage gaps, under representation of indigenous peoples and black, brown and multiracial people in positions of power and influence, both in government and industry. Also, there is unfairness in health care. The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others have shined a light on police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. And acts of hate and violence against Asian Americans have increased as a result of the pandemic.

Black, brown, multiracial and indigenous people earn less and are underrepresented at almost every level of American life except police violence and imprisonment. One in 1,000 black men or boys can be expected to be killed by police, while one in three black males born in 2001 will spend time in prison in their lifetime. Wage gaps persist and people of color and indigenous are more likely to be unemployed and without health insurance. The pandemic highlighted racism as more people of color have lost their jobs. Also, more black and Hispanic people have contracted COVID-19 as many worked frontline jobs that put them at greater risk.

In addition, the right to vote, the very foundation of American democracy, is under attack in by the new Jim Crow, a series of laws proposed in state legislatures and already passed in some. These laws, which limit use of absentee ballots, early voting and polling place hours, make it more difficult to working class people of color to cast their ballots.

To be antiracist, all members of the St. Ann’s community must regularly look within themselves to examine their failings and faults and try to be kinder. The sacrament of reconciliation asks us to examine our actions and reorient ourselves to God; it asks us to be antiracist. On repentance, the Bible says we have not repented if we do not change and “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew3:8). To fully live out our Christian sacraments, we must support and advocate for all people regardless of their age, race, color, gender, ability, religion, and sexual identity. To be anti-racist is to be in the world as a human, striving to treat every human with respect. As Ibram X. Kendi says, “To be truly antiracist is to be feminist. To be truly feminist is to be antiracist. To be antiracist (and feminist) is to level the different race-genders, is to root the inequities between the equal race-genders in the policies of gender-racism.”

St. Ann’s commits to preventing racism first by offering a safe space for all and becoming aware of our own white privilege.

We pledge to:

• Truly listen to people who have experienced racism.

• Educate ourselves, especially by holding antiracism training at the church.

• Support and take part in movements, protests and programs aimed at ending racism, both as a church and as individuals.

• Speak up when we hear something hurtful.

• Expose our children to other cultures and teach them to respect those cultures.

• Be kind.

• If you make a mistake, admit it and ask for guidance.

• Be a role model. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

How do we hold ourselves accountable?

• Transparency – Our antiracism statement should be posted prominently (on our website and the bulletin board) and we should record steps our church is taking to become more anti-racist. We propose a timeline of events/catalog of our efforts towards social justice and anti-racist work both inside the church and in our community. We want to be clear to our parishioners and the wider Nashville community where we are on a journey to become anti-racist.

• Achievable – Our goals should be concrete and concise where possible; so that we can reassess our progress at the parish meeting (for example) and readjust based on what we have accomplished and what we would like to accomplish in the future.

• Support – In becoming antiracist we should support black, indigenous and people of color siblings in the work they are already doing in Nashville (not lead it). We could connect or partner with organizations who are already doing work in our community to make sure we can do the most good. Examples would be a black church or a Black, indigenous people or people of color church or an organization like Gideon’s Army or Black Lives Matter. Some organizations might also be willing to come talk to St. Ann’s about how we can change ourselves and help our community.