February Newsletter

Not in our Town

According to Census information Longview lacks diversity. 90% of our community identifies themselves as white and our largest minority community is Hispanic with 6%. Our African American community is less than 1%. Yet we know numbers do not tell the whole story. We know that there are those in our community who are in a minority culture because they cannot hear and their language is American Sign Language. We know that there is a significant population of people who are in a sexual minority. We know that there are issues many people live with each day because the majority does not consider their needs or life situation.

This past month there was a gathering that I am really excited to tell you about. Some time after racist attacks were highlighted in the news once again, I contacted the Ethnic Support Council and plans were made for a meeting to address these attacks. This last month several community people gathered together at our church to make plans for addressing the issue of hate crimes in our community.

We heard a thoughtful report from representatives of the Longview Police Department, we heard from community leaders and their experience of racism, we heard from pastors who are concerned about our community. This group will continue to meet this month to create some community events to raise awareness of diversity in our community and I very much look forward to telling you about those plans in the near future.

I believe that it imperative in a community that seems so homogeneous that we bring forward issues of diversity. It is not OK to say, “well there really aren’t any minorities here” because that is simply not true. Nor is it OK to believe that there is no race problem here. There ARE groups in our community looking to promote hatred, racism and homophobia. These groups must be told that we will not tolerate this in our town.

As we live out our mission to be a beacon of Diversity on our community we will continue to shine the light of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into the dark places where hatred resides.

One way you can be a beacon is to get informed about what is happening in our community. I encourage you to attend the community forum being held by the Longview Police Department on February 9th at 7:00 at the McLellan Arts Center. This forum will address many community issues including hate crimes.

Grace and Peace,
Bruce