{"id":95490,"date":"2020-09-22T16:07:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T20:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=95490"},"modified":"2020-09-22T19:30:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T23:30:39","slug":"ct-atlantas-black-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=95490","title":{"rendered":"(CT) Atlanta\u2019s Black Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say you can\u2019t love what you don\u2019t know, and lately, many of us are realizing just how much we don\u2019t know. This year, my church in Augusta, Georgia, began exploring the racial history of our city, the location of one of the first and largest civil rights riots in the South. The details of the 1970 riot\u2014chronicled in a recent Georgia Public Broadcasting podcast<\/a>\u2014resemble current events: a teen beaten to death in police custody, the black community responding with peaceful demands then rebellion, police using deadly force to suppress the uprising. But the parallels to the present aren\u2019t striking if, like so many young people in our city, you had no idea it took place.<\/p>\n

No wonder we feel so stuck in this racial justice fight. You can\u2019t lament a past you don\u2019t remember. You can\u2019t change problems you don\u2019t recognize. You can\u2019t empathize with voices you ignore. Part of our call to love and serve our neighbors is to understand the lingering scars and burdens they bear.<\/p>\n

Learning how my community downplayed the significance of its racial past made me all the more curious about the extensive civil rights legacy in the Georgia capital, the subject of this month\u2019s cover package<\/a>. Across the generations, Atlanta\u2014with the black church as its heartbeat\u2014has worked to honor its hard-won progress as well as to lament the cost of the ongoing fight for justice.<\/p>\n

That practice has helped carry on a long legacy and inspire today\u2019s leaders in Atlanta\u2014the preachers and politicians, entrepreneurs and activists, who are working to see the principles of God\u2019s kingdom shape every sphere of life.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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"Throughout Scripture, we see forgetfulness correspond with a lack of faith or disregard for God\u2019s work in the world. <\/p>\n

It is a holy task, then, for us to remember rightly." @kateshellnutt<\/a> writes:https:\/\/t.co\/byRrXECHCu<\/a><\/p>\n

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 22, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n