Conquer Racism in Just Ten Years

By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

Bishop Harry Jackson is chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, MD, and co-authored, Personal Faith, Public Policy [FrontLine; March 2008] with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

Last week I was privileged to be interviewed on a Christian television program by Rev. Bernice King, the only living daughter of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She was greatly encouraged that over 400 pastors and thousands of lay Christians had signed a document called the “Reconciliation Referendum.” We strongly believe that the Church can be desegregated in the next decade. This will be an amazing step in healing the racial divide in the entire nation. We believe that the Church is the only agency that can solve the race problem in America.

The following is an excerpt from that referendum:

“In recent weeks, there has been a national debate about the appropriateness of sermons preached by Dr. Jeremiah Wright from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. While politicians like Barack Obama and the national media wring their hands over a problem that has persisted in this country for nearly 400 years, they offer no solutions to the problem.

“The tragedy of this most recent revelation of America’s racial divide is that incendiary remarks by Rev. Wright were delivered in a church, at the pulpit, by a pastor of a Christian church. If there is one institution that can heal the racial wounds of American it is the Church. However, this latest incident underscores the lack of progress and the urgent need for a deliberate and coordinated effort among Christian pastors and spiritual leaders in America to lead the nation in racial reconciliation.

“The failure of good Christian people to provide a clear and convincing example of racial unity within the Church has contributed to the divide between the races in the nation and it only appears to be widening.

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My email to Bishop Jackson is at the end of the article.