WKSU News: Hundreds march against racism in Kent

Monday, August 3, 2015 Hundreds march against racism in Kent Religious leaders put together the march on short notice by WKSU's KABIR BHATIA	Reporter Kabir Bhatia

Hundreds of people march as part of the interfaith effort led by L.A. Gatewood, pastor of Spelman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Kent, and William D. Meyer, interim pastor at First Christian Church of Kent.

Courtesy of KABIR BHATIA

More than 300 people marched through Kent yesterday, trying to counter the findings of a recent study that found the city is one of the most-racist in Northeast Ohio. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports.

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The study of Google searches involving racially charged terms got the attention of pastors in Kent, who organized Sunday’s march. Congregations started downtown and headed to services at Spelman Chapel AME Church, where Associate Pastor Avery Danage from Kent United Church of Christ was among the speakers.

“It begins here. And just like prayer – prayer is a great place to begin but it’s a bad place to stop. And if all we do is march and assemble here and do nothing behind it [then] we have done nothing.”

One thing religious leaders in Kent are doing is forming the Interfaith Alliance on Reconciliation and Justice. It’s the first group of its kind in the city since the Kent Ministerial Association disbanded six years ago over disputes about gay clergy.

Spelman Chapel AME Church Pastor L.A. Gatewood co-founded the group, and says it accepts everyone.

“If you cannot sit at the table with us, and understand this is all-inclusive, you don’t have a place at the table. And if you come and spout those kind of ideas that are not inclusive, I will ask you to leave.”

Gatewood says the Interfaith Alliance will meet again Aug. 11 to plan a series of workshops aimed at Christian education and healing in the wake of events like last month’s shooting in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.