Walk the Walk: Day Two - from Charlottesville to Ruckersville, Virginia

Church community,

As a midwestern, middle-class, educated white person, I grew up believing that we really write our own stories. But I know now, more than ever, that we are always inside bigger stories - whether we name them or know them or not.

Story #2. In 1898, John Henry James, an African American working as an ice cream vendor in Charlottesville was lynched. Falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, he was arrested and taken by train to be held in police custody. Taking matters into their own hands, 150 white men stopped the train, seized Mr. James, and lynched him - hanging him from a locust tree and riddling his body with bullets.

Story #3. Three years ago, white nationalists stormed Charlottesville in their “Unite the Right” assault, ostensibly to protect the statue of confederate general, Robert E. Lee. Their rallying cry, directed at Blacks and Jews – “You will not replace us.” There was destruction. There was violence. And there was death.

This morning, we stood on the very spot where James Alex Fields, Jr., a 20-year-old from Ohio who espoused neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs, deliberately drove his car into a group of people who were peacefully protesting that day. He wounded many. And murdered Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old white woman who showed up to who had showed up that day to protest the white nationalists simply because it was the right thing to do.

Story #4. Our day started early this morning - in solidarity with Maria Chavalan Sut. Maria is an indigenous, Mayan who fled the violence in Guatemala, seeking asylum in this country. She has been in sanctuary in a United Methodist Church in Charlottesville for the past two years. I was honored to be invited to offer the “Call to Action” at this public gathering this morning and am so moved at Maria’s spirit.

I give thanks for the privilege to be here, and to be held, and connected to this church community. And I pray - for myself and for us all - for the courage to live into the bigger stories, to tell the bigger truths, and to imagine bigger possibilities.

Linda