Sounds of Solidarity
Stories about spirituality, Advocacy, and the Fight for Justice.
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In the fight for justice, it’s easy for activists and advocates to lose sight of joy, creativity, and light. In our latest Sounds of Solidarity episode, Gloribell, former Director of NUBE (Neighbors United for a Better East Boston), shares with Dan Gelbtuch (ECM) how artists, culture workers, and healers play a vital role in sustaining movements and preventing burnout.
Gloribell shares how dialogue circles, connecting with nature, and remembering our ancestors can restore the spirit of those on the frontlines of change. Don't miss this inspiring conversation in the premiere of our second season!
Episcopal Churches Researching and Working Toward Repair
Throughout the Commonwealth, there has been a call to repair the injustice that has been inflicted upon our Black and Indigenous neighbors. During ECM’s Annual Meeting, we learned of the work of five parishes leading in this area: St. Peter’s/San Pedro’s Salem, St. John’s Jamaica Plain, St. John’s Northampton, Emmanuel Church Boston, and Christ Church Cambridge.
Pam Werntz from Emmanuel Church outlined a history of the church birthed from the abolitionist movement, yet acknowledging that individuals’ wealth to start the church came from the textile trade and other extractive practices.
Shannon McCarthy from St. John’s recalled their 8-year journey of racial justice introspection with activities ranging from small movie discussions, to internal Movement Ecology work and a social justice blog as they continually consider the work of repair.
Oona Coy shared that St. John’s Northampton added a reparations fund to their budget as studies continued, visited St Peter’s Springfield, a historically black church, and set up a fund during Indigenous Peoples Day that went to Pequiog Farm, a Nipmuc farm project.
Nathan Ives & Radhamés Reynoso of St. Peter’s/San Pedro’s Salem unearthed their archival at the Peabody Essex Museum and combed through 15 boxes to discover the slave owning past of congregation, slave labor in building the parish, and funding from Barbados that helped start the church. They are initiating both film and tourism projects to create a reparations fund in partnership with the local Black Community.
Christ Church Cambridge has built on their thorough and public study of the life of Darby Vassal, a man owned by and buried at the parish to consider more deeply comprehensive reparations that would include measures to impact the black community in Cambridge today.