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I was intensely interested in this post. Thank you. In particular, your observations about the counter-awakening were powerful. I scanned back through what you wrote to see if you had offered an opinion at when the anti-racist awakening had begun. It's easy to slip into assuming that George Floyd's murder was the spark. Speaking from my personal experience, I think that the awakening around anti-racism has been developing for several years. I served a Presbyterian Church in LaGrange, Georgia for 14 years. In 2016, at the very end of my pastorate, the mayor and police chief offered very public apologies to family members of a teenage boy who had been lynched in the town in 1941. It was an awesome and moving experience that made national news. Additionally, other community leaders had launched a racial reconciliation movement that entailed revisiting particular incidents in the town's history and working towards apology and restoration. While I was proud of these efforts, I thought them to be localized and a function of visionary leadership. A couple of months later in Sarasota, I became involved in an interracial book club in early 2017. It began to dawn on me that there was particular spiritual energy afoot because we always had more people wanting to participate than we could accommodate. We now have 4 reading groups throughout the region and a backlog of about 30 people who want to get in. Put simply, I'm trying to say that something beautiful and powerful was welling up even before the George Floyd tragedy. I think your use of McLoughlin's idea of awakening to interpret our current moment is very exciting. Doug DeCelle

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'AWAKENING? To 'pay it forward' We should participate and hope'.....THANKS, as always, Diana, for your insights and grounded background, and the video conversation.

Our UMC congregation in Richmond, VA has begun an on-going Racial Justice study and awareness team. In June/July, 36 individuals joined via ZOOM for 5-weeks of honest, open conversation around our reading of "Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation", Latasha Morrison. We have transitioned now into ZOOM-small-groups for common reading and conversations around one book each month for the next 90 days: "So You Want to Talk About Race", etc. Prayers for our gradual 'awakening'.

Roger Dowdy, UM Clergy-Deacon.

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Insightful. Thank you.

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