Racism is a growing toxic force today. It impacts African Americans, immigrants – people who are different, poor – the really everyone who has become infected with an implicit bias that denigrates the other. As I walk out the door of the Virginia Interfaith Center office in the historic Shockoe Bottom of Richmond, I am reminded of the power of this lethal bias that has enslaved our Commonwealth. Hell’s Half Acre is only three blocks away, part of the infamous Slave Trail.
Today, as we stand poised on the brink of a new year with another challenging General Assembly, The Center must be prepared for a long and demanding struggle for those most vulnerable to this bias. We have a responsibility to raise the question of “Racism, Beyond The Confederate Flag,” something that we have avoided too long. That will be the theme of our “Day for All People” event coming up on Jan. 20. We must confront this reality and see how this impacts our policy priorities.
Help us to secure our mission:
1) by pledging a monthly contribution on Center’s donation page,
www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org/give,
2) by remembering the Center in your will, and
3) by introducing the Executive Director to persons who have the financial capacity for large potentially sustaining contributions.
In this manner, you will partner with the Virginia Interfaith Center to transform Hell’s Half Acre, wherever this state of being exists, into God’s Half Acre! That will be a living legacy that will make us all proud of serving our neighbor in love.
The Rev. Charles Swadley, Interim Executive Director