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UUFE Fellowship Focus
June 2008
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Our Unitarian Universalist Roots...
Opposing the Klan – Chapter 2
As the 2000s opened, our minister, the Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson, & UUFE'ers continued to work against racism at “Study Circles on Race,” & on Nov. 11, 2000, took a major part in the city-sponsored “Heart of Elkhart Ethnic Festival,” an alternative to a Klan rally downtown that day. There were memorial ceremonies at the festival for Sasezley Richard-son, who had been murdered the previous November by two young men who sought to qualify for admission to a white-power group.
On April 21, 2002, Gordon invited to our service some concerned neighbors of a family in nearby Osceola who were hosting Klan & Skinhead festivals, with cross burnings & “white power” music, & giving shooting les-sons. In 2001, these neighbors had publicized the problem, brought in the Anti-Defamation League, & St. Joseph County had banned the shooting activities. Gordon had joined the neighbors' efforts in creating UC4PEACE, a two-county organization formed to take note of hate groups, reduce their influence with education & law enforcement, & show alternatives.
At that April service, many signed the Birmingham Pledge, offered by Gordon, committing to do our best to combat racial prejudice. As the Aug. 3 Klan festival approached, UUFE'ers helped organize UC4PEACE's “Celebration of Diversity” that day at Bethel College. Good law enforcement reduced the potential for violence that day, & in 2003 St. Joseph County & Osceola passed ordinances against cross burning. But in Truth articles Alyssa Ford (parents: Tim and Becky Emory of UUFE) analyzed the power of hate groups to attract youth, stressing the need for continued vigilance.