Racist??

[LifeHiscost]

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Again, try PBS if the local library is too difficult.

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Did you mean this remark for me? Because I find it a little offensive.

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<img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/oops.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/sorry.gif" alt="" />

Some people find the local library too difficult to access because of distance and/or other possible inconvenient circumstances. Public Broadcasting

System (as most people have a TV) is most often easy to access and over a years time , has innumerable programs that feature people and circumstances of almost every race, creed or culture, for the most part unbiased presentations not highly biased by infusion of large amounts of corporate funds desiring to advance unreliable information.

I once heard an idiom, "Your friends don't require an explanation. Your enemies don't believe the explanation."

I don't know if it's true, as it often comes from people seeking redress.

[:"red"] "Love..., is ever ready to believe the best of every person" [/] 1 Corinthians 13:7 AMP

<img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/DOVE.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/mf_surrender.gif" alt="" />

[Gerr]

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Appreciate your comments L,

I wonder how many 'whitesda' would view this as a 'white' forum... and how would that make the large number of asians here feel.

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[:"blue"]When it comes to discussions about race, it seems to just boil down to black/white issue. The rest are nonentities. [/]

Gerry

[Michelle]

Yeah, Gerry--ever hear the one about how all Chinese/Japanese/Filipinos/Koreans look alike? *groan* The stupidest statement in the world.

I think most Americans lump Asians together and leave it at that. Formerly guilty as charged. (sorry)

M

[Stan]

My youngest daughter is Chinese, she gets called Filipino often.... not a bad thing, except she is not one...

[Dr. Shane]

I grew up in the poor part of Seattle, in a neighborhood of mostly vietanamese and cambodian immirgrants. I don't think I could tell one group apart from the other today. But how important is that anyway if I just treat each one with the love if Christ?

[lazarus]

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Our media outlets are located in North America. That is why the church's diversity is not reflected in them.

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I believe the reason why church diversity is not reflected by some in the NAD is simply becasue they do not see it as important and because some feel threatened by the emerging diversity in the SDA church. These media outlets are designed primairly to appeal to whites and not people of color.

[Guest]

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Our media outlets are located in North America. That is why the church's diversity is not reflected in them.

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I believe the reason why church diversity is not reflected by some in the NAD is simply becasue they do not see it as important and because some feel threatened by the emerging diversity in the SDA church. These media outlets are designed primairly to appeal to whites and not people of color.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">which says volumes....

[lazarus]

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Spanish-speaking churches are formed to reach out to and nurish the spanish-speaking communities.

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Why Shane do you think that black African, Caribbean, American churches exist????

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I have only been the member of one black church.

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I would humbly suggest that this may be the reason for the assertions that you make about the nature of black churches.

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I don't see why such churches need to be classified by race.

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I'm not sure what u mean...who classifies them by race?

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The regional conferences should be transformed into celebration or chasmatic conferences and get rid of the race label.

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What is the race label? Should we change the name of the other conferences to traditional/conservative since they are also based on race?

Reading the history of Regional conferences may help you to understand why they exist and will continue to exist until the racial issues that fester in NAD are addressed.

[Guest]

it is surprising that many have no idea how regional conferences came into existence or that they even exist... dialogued some time ago with a woman who swore up and down that there were no separate conferences in her area.... she lived in Arkansas.... she had no clue that indeed there were two conferences there right under her nose... one black the other white...

[lazarus]

One other thing that I discovered recently was that whilst other churches split over the race issue e.g. Methodists, Baptists, Church of Christ. We managed to stay together. Of course, our solution was to have a church within a church.

[Dr. Shane]

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These media outlets are designed primairly to appeal to whites and not people of color.

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The problem with that theory is that even spanish publications have a lot of white people in them and they are designed primarily to appeal to people of color. I think it is just that the publications are printed in NAD and the people in charge of the NAD are predominatly white. It is an issue that needs to be addressed but is not on topic with this thread.

[Dr. Shane]

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she had no clue that indeed there were two conferences there right under her nose... one black the other white...

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This statement is a bit misleading. There are two confernces - true. One black the other all nations. The hispanic, Spanish-speaking churches belong to the "all nations" conference. The Filipino churches belong to the "all nations" conference. The hmong churches belong to the "all nations" conference. And there are even some black churches that belong to the "all nations" conferences and not the black, regional conferences.

[Dr. Shane]

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What is the race label?

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Black, African-American, colored, negro, whichever one chooses. That is what we are talking about. There are black churches that designate themselves as black churches. Many of them belong to regional conferences. It is not an issue of language. It is an issue of race or color.

We can talk about history all day long but any mistakes made in the past are... in the past. Do past mistakes justify continued racism?

[lazarus]

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The problem with that theory is that even spanish publications have a lot of white people in them and they are designed primarily to appeal to people of color. I think it is just that the publications are printed in NAD and the people in charge of the NAD are predominatly white. It is an issue that needs to be addressed but is not on topic with this thread.

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Shane,

I thought you would realise that there are "White" Spanish people. Not all people who speak Spanish or come from spanish speaking countries are people of color. So it would follow that they would have white people in their magazines.

I get the feeling that in your attempt to justify your sometimes tenuous positions you sometimes miss the obvious! Perhaps you don't get the link but NAD publications are related to this topic.

[lazarus]

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This statement is a bit misleading. There are two confernces - true. One black the other all nations.

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I feel the picture you paint Shane is in itself misleading and gratuitously pedantic. These all nations conferences that you speak of are not often entities that fully reflect the make up of their conference in their leadership. Thses conferences often have all white administrations.

In my own conference, which is white, we had a difficult situation when the Spanish churches wanted more representation on the executive committee. Their proposal was voted down. Many Spanish delegates walked out of the meeting. There has been talk of them moving to the black conference!...Thats the "all nations" conference in reality.

Why the need to portray regional conferences so negatively?

[Michelle]

Lazarus and Steve,

I have noticed that Women of Spirit makes an attempt to use multi-cultural/multi-ethnic/multi-race illustrations througout their magazine. The only Review I receive is the new "World," so that's a moot point. Vibrant Life has a wide age range of illustrations and will, on occasion, use non-white models in photographs. Those are the only publications I see in any regularity.

I do agree that even if these are based in NA, they still should reflect the diversity that exists in NA, which mirrors, to some extent, the world.

M

[lazarus]

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We can talk about history all day long but any mistakes made in the past are... in the past. Do past mistakes justify continued racism?

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We talk about history to understand the present. If you do not understand history your perpective on the present will be simplistic and distorted!

What is the continued racism that you speak of? Are you saying that regional conferences are racist? If you are then its weird how you can see the racism of the regional conferences and not the white conferences. I wonder why that it is? <img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

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We can talk about history all day long but any mistakes made in the past are... in the past. Do past mistakes justify continued racism?

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">so then when will the administration of the church begin to reflect the diversity that is evident in its membership? I dare say that the moment a person of color becomes president of the GC, there will be a mass exodus of members and money.... In fact I know that in a recent previous election, the possibility existed for a black person to be the president, and it was threatened that if that were to happen some influential white members would leave and take with them the crown jewel institutions with them.... the person in question asked that his name be removed for consideration...

[Michelle]

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so then when will the administration of the church begin to reflect the diversity that is evident in its membership? I dare say that the moment a person of color becomes president of the GC, there will be a mass exodus of members and money.... In fact I know that in a recent previous election, the possibility existed for a black person to be the president, and it was threatened that if that were to happen some influential white members would leave and take with them the crown jewel institutions with them.... the person in question asked that his name be removed for consideration...

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My first reaction to that is, You gotta be kidding! Sadly, I am afraid you are not. I can't fathom making a membership decision based on the color of the leader's skin. Why in the world are those "influential white members" still in the SDA church anyway? And why do we allow "influential" (read: rich) members to rule the roost? (rhetorical question, probably--but one that raises my ire--I've seen it happen too many times in local churches and schools)

M

[Dr. Shane]

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There has been talk of them moving to the black conference!...Thats the "all nations" conference in reality.

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Good. Sounds like something that would be a win win situation.

[Michelle]

I think that the regional conference in Lake Union includes the Spanish churches, at least--not sure about the Asian churches, or for that matter the African church in Berrien Springs.

Why is it a win-win situation for the Spanish church to get so disgruntled with what should be the "all nations" conference that they want to leave? Obviously, that particular conference is NOT meeting the needs of "all nations" represented in it.

M

[Dr. Shane]

It is win win because the Spanish church gets some leadership roles and the regional conference gets a little more diversity. The "all nations" conference is the loser.

[Doug]

The act of classifying peoples colors into different races is being racist. I can't say that I am offended by someone calling me black, but it is annoying. I wish people wouldn't mention it. The only situation in when someones race should be mentioned is if you are looking for them for a crime.

[Guest]

there is one race... human... there are various colors within the human race....

[Dr. Shane]

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The act of classifying peoples colors into different races is being racist... The only situation in when someones race should be mentioned is if you are looking for them for a crime.

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I agree with the exception of health care where some races are more likely to have certain diseases and such classification is justified.