Churches and faith communities have long been places for people to gather, share, and even mobilize in support of common causes. In the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s, churches played a large part in fueling and organizing for change. This is not so different in the modern era, with local faith organizations pushing for institutional change to the way that Black Portlanders are treated by the police.
KBOO's Althea Billings spoke with the rector of St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church, the Reverend Doctor Maria McDowell about the history of racism in the Episcopal Church and the role that modern faith communities can play in the current movement for racial justice.
St. Philip the Deacon is a historically African-American church located in Portland, that is part of the larger Episcopal Church, which is a mainline Protestant Chrisitan denomination rooted in the Anglican Church. The Episcopal church separated from Anglicanism once the United States gained its independence.
- KBOO