In centuries past the wisdom of the Akan people of Ghana was illustrated through the Sankofa bird, a mythological creature whose feet and body are facing forward while its head looks backward. The Akan people believed that the past was a compass capable of guiding one into the future. In fact, the word Sankofa literally means “to retrieve.” Here at All Saints Church as we seek to reach the promise of Beloved Community we have to begin by retrieving the past, even if it is a past we would rather not remember.
In regards to the era of Jim Crow in America it is a past that includes the beginnings of All Saints Church. Racial Segregation and its attempts to uphold white supremacy and anti-blackness was not an exclusive feature of the Jim Crow south, but was also practiced in the northeast, mid-west, and here in the Southwest including Pasadena. From the infamous Brookside plunge which is now the Rose Bowl Aquatic center, Huntington Hospital, Pasadena Unified School district, All Saints Church and more, Black Americans were treated as second class citizens by White Americans and were denied access to Pasadena’s institutions and the opportunities to flourish therein based on race.
We must retrieve the truth of this past, however painful, in order to reach the promise of Beloved Community, however beautiful. Starting in 2023, All Saints Church Pasadena began forming a committee to do just that and to “Tell The Whole Story.” As a result of Jim Crow segregation practiced at its beginning, Black Americans denied participation and entry to All Saints formed their own Episcopal church a few miles away in Northwest Pasadena called St. Barnabas.
The current Telling The Whole Story committee seeks to address this past in several ways, and has formed 3 distinct sub-committees.
- The relationship sub-committee seeks to restore and reconcile the broken relationships that should have been formed but did not due to segregation. What if St.Barnabas and All Saints Church Pasadena broke bread together? What would happen if the relationships that should have happened, began to happen now? How would both churches be shaped by one another if they began to exist in relationship as equals? The relationship sub-committee addresses these questions by making connections that have materialized into potluck dinners, marching together in Pasadena’s annual Black History Parade, movie outings, and most notably, St. Barnabas’ and All Saints Church’s first ever joint worship service on June 16th of 2024. This date marked the first time the two parishes joined together in the same space in liturgy and worship.
- The repair sub-committee seeks to investigate and comprehend the economic damage done due to racial segregation. This is not solely a matter of relational repair, but also of economic repair. How was St. Barnabas as a parish economically impacted? What economic advantages has All Saints accrued as a parish that can be traced to it benefitting from a segregated society? What can be done now economically to address this now?
- The education and spiritual formation sub-committee exists for the purpose of All Saints’ own self-examination. It seeks to educate All Saints members about this history, and also to examine how this history has shaped and formed All Saints spiritually. The concept of moral injury is pivotal here. Moral Injury refers to the psychological, social, and spiritual impact of events involving the betrayal or transgression of one’s own deeply held moral beliefs and values. In short, moral injury is about the wounds that occur while inflicting wounds on others. As a church, All Saints’ history of racial segregation has indeed impacted it greatly. This sub-committee seeks to help us understand how.
Updates on this “Telling The Whole Story: All Saints’ History of Jim Crow Segregation and St. Barnabas Church” committee will be posted regularly as progress in the report is made. If you want to learn more about this work or become a part of it, contact Mark Chase.
This report will provide important input into the next steps of our process of reconciliation—to identify and carry out specific actions that will begin to repair the broken relationships between All Saints Church and those impacted by our history of Jim Crow segregation.
Conveners Mark Chase
Members: Steve Williams, Clara Williams, Bill Gould, Terry Moore, Mary Bucci Bush, Tony Rivera, Carol Lundberg, Walter Little, Bonnie Rice, Betty Cole, Gloria Antall, Lorna Miller, Jim White, MaryAnn Ahart, Brian Biery, Lynndi Scott and Al Hughes.
See Mark Chase’s sermon at the June 16, 2024 Juneteenth join service and potluck held at St. Barnabas Church:
See photos of the June 16, 2024 Juneteenth joint service and potluck held at St. Barnabas Church.
See photos of the September 8, 2024 luncheon held by the Racial Justice Ministry that focused on reconcilliation with St. Barnabas Church.
++++++++++++
Here is other “Telling the Whole Story” work at All Saints Church:
You can read the full report on “The Land We’re On” here.
You can find “Telling the Whole Story” source materials and supplementary information here.
See our Land Acknowledgement here.
Return to The Telling The Whole Story Project Main Page
In centuries past the wisdom of the Akan people of Ghana was illustrated through the Sankofa bird, a mythological creature whose feet and body are facing forward while its head looks backward. The Akan people believed that the past was a compass capable of guiding one into the future. In fact, the word Sankofa literally means “to retrieve.” Here at All Saints Church as we seek to reach the promise of Beloved Community we have to begin by retrieving the past, even if it is a past we would rather not remember.
In regards to the era of Jim Crow in America it is a past that includes the beginnings of All Saints Church. Racial Segregation and its attempts to uphold white supremacy and anti-blackness was not an exclusive feature of the Jim Crow south, but was also practiced in the northeast, mid-west, and here in the Southwest including Pasadena. From the infamous Brookside plunge which is now the Rose Bowl Aquatic center, Huntington Hospital, Pasadena Unified School district, All Saints Church and more, Black Americans were treated as second class citizens by White Americans and were denied access to Pasadena’s institutions and the opportunities to flourish therein based on race.
We must retrieve the truth of this past, however painful, in order to reach the promise of Beloved Community, however beautiful. Starting in 2023, All Saints Church Pasadena began forming a committee to do just that and to “Tell The Whole Story.” As a result of Jim Crow segregation practiced at its beginning, Black Americans denied participation and entry to All Saints formed their own Episcopal church a few miles away in Northwest Pasadena called St. Barnabas.
The current Telling The Whole Story committee seeks to address this past in several ways, and has formed 3 distinct sub-committees.
- The relationship sub-committee seeks to restore and reconcile the broken relationships that should have been formed but did not due to segregation. What if St.Barnabas and All Saints Church Pasadena broke bread together? What would happen if the relationships that should have happened, began to happen now? How would both churches be shaped by one another if they began to exist in relationship as equals? The relationship sub-committee addresses these questions by making connections that have materialized into potluck dinners, marching together in Pasadena’s annual Black History Parade, movie outings, and most notably, St. Barnabas’ and All Saints Church’s first ever joint worship service on June 16th of 2024. This date marked the first time the two parishes joined together in the same space in liturgy and worship.
- The repair sub-committee seeks to investigate and comprehend the economic damage done due to racial segregation. This is not solely a matter of relational repair, but also of economic repair. How was St. Barnabas as a parish economically impacted? What economic advantages has All Saints accrued as a parish that can be traced to it benefitting from a segregated society? What can be done now economically to address this now?
- The education and spiritual formation sub-committee exists for the purpose of All Saints’ own self-examination. It seeks to educate All Saints members about this history, and also to examine how this history has shaped and formed All Saints spiritually. The concept of moral injury is pivotal here. Moral Injury refers to the psychological, social, and spiritual impact of events involving the betrayal or transgression of one’s own deeply held moral beliefs and values. In short, moral injury is about the wounds that occur while inflicting wounds on others. As a church, All Saints’ history of racial segregation has indeed impacted it greatly. This sub-committee seeks to help us understand how.
Updates on this “Telling The Whole Story: All Saints’ History of Jim Crow Segregation and St. Barnabas Church” committee will be posted regularly as progress in the report is made. If you want to learn more about this work or become a part of it, contact Mark Chase.
This report will provide important input into the next steps of our process of reconciliation—to identify and carry out specific actions that will begin to repair the broken relationships between All Saints Church and those impacted by our history of Jim Crow segregation.
Conveners Mark Chase
Members: Steve Williams, Clara Williams, Bill Gould, Terry Moore, Mary Bucci Bush, Tony Rivera, Carol Lundberg, Walter Little, Bonnie Rice, Betty Cole, Gloria Antall, Lorna Miller, Jim White, MaryAnn Ahart, Brian Biery, Lynndi Scott and Al Hughes.
See Mark Chase’s sermon at the June 16, 2024 Juneteenth join service and potluck held at St. Barnabas Church:
See photos of the June 16, 2024 Juneteenth joint service and potluck held at St. Barnabas Church.
See photos of the September 8, 2024 luncheon held by the Racial Justice Ministry that focused on reconcilliation with St. Barnabas Church.
++++++++++++
Here is other “Telling the Whole Story” work at All Saints Church:
You can read the full report on “The Land We’re On” here.
You can find “Telling the Whole Story” source materials and supplementary information here.
See our Land Acknowledgement here.
Return to The Telling The Whole Story Project Main Page