Dear Edwards Church Community,
This September we enthusiastically accepted an invitation to partner with other houses of worship and interfaith organizations to solemnly mark the 400th year since English colonists landed on Native shores in Massachusetts. There will be an online gathering to remember that event on Sunday, October 18th at 2:00 pm. A link with more information will be circulated before the online event.
In connection with marking that 400th year, we hope to raise awareness of aspects of the history of European colonizing that complicate the history many of us were taught. We can do this by joining with others in a project called 400 Years: Truth & Healing for the Next Seven Generations. The first part of the project will be to listen and learn. We can reflect on what we are learning and then decide what, if any, new commitments to make, what causes to support.
We do not do this to shame anyone, though there were certainly shameful acts committed. We do this to inform ourselves of the parts of history that were not taught in many 20th century textbooks, but which are now better known and need to be acknowledged. We do this to better understand our current social order, which is built on the foundation of a shared history.
Within the last year, two well regarded local institutions have taken beginning steps to recognize some of that history, adopting statements that acknowledge that we live on land that was first inhabited by Native people for centuries before the arrival of European colonists. Those statements follow:
Congregation B’nai Israel – Congregation B’nai Israel recognizes and honors the original inhabitants who first settled in the valley of the Kwinitekw River. CBI acknowledges that we are on Nonotuck land. We also acknowledge our neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Sokoi Abenaki to the North.
Smith College Statement on Indigenous Lands – Smith College acknowledges and appreciates the fact that the space in which we gather today is built within the ancestral homelands of the Nonotuck peoples. We also recognize our present-day neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan, Pequot, and Narragansett to the South, the Mohican and Mohawk to the West, and the Abenaki to the North. Finally, we acknowledge and celebrate the presence of Indigenous people here among us today.
Inspired by these examples, should Edwards Church adopt a similar statement?
Our interest and willingness to partner with the 400 Years project arises from the alignment between that project and the purpose of our Justice Education Ministry Team. The current statement of the team’s purpose is: “Acknowledging the racism in our community both past and present, we come together to educate ourselves and others, and to inspire reflection and action.”
Should we, as a well-known Christian church named for the famous preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards, follow the example of CBI, Smith College and others? Why or why not? Racism in our society is not, of course, limited to racism directed at Native people. Are we willing to learn more about the connections between the history of enslaved Africans, the abolitionist movement in Northampton, and the formation of our church?
This sort of learning, reflection, and resulting action is part of an ongoing process. With Deb Moore’s leadership, a healthy cohort of folks has been learning about racism for several years, particularly as directed toward Black people. With the 400 Years project, we expand that learning to the racism directed toward Native people. Racism in contemporary culture has its roots in history. We cannot adequately address racism, in ourselves or our society, without considering that background.
We also continue work started 16 years ago when people of good will came together for a reconciliation ceremony. That ceremony acknowledged the wounds of the Turners Falls Massacre, a 1676 raid by colonial forces who killed hundreds of Native people at Great Falls (now called Turners Falls), including women and children, who were camped near the river to fish at a location shared peacefully among different regional groups of Native people. https://nolumbekaproject.org/reconciliation-ceremony-2004/ Several speakers at the October 18th online event will speak from that location.
There will be more information shared in the coming weeks, such as the opportunity to share a socially distanced walk to Turners Falls (only 3.5 miles from Greenfield center) on the weekend of October 18. There will be opportunities to learn more about and offer support to specific projects of Indigenous people in our region. In the coming months there will also be opportunities to learn about the history of our church and its intersections with the history of slavery and the abolitionist movement in Northampton. To no surprise, it includes some delightfully irreverent and faithful people. So stay tuned.
With faith, hope, and love,
Michael
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