By Rev. Dr. Renee Ford, Gray’s UMC, Port Matilda
Osaze Osagie was born on Aug. 2, 1989. He was the son of Iyunolu Osagie, an English Professor at Penn State University and Sylvester Osagie, Director of Water, Energy, and Food Nexus (West Africa) and the University Faculty Fulbright Adviser in Global Programs at Penn State. Both of Osaze’s parents have Ph.D.’s from Cornell University. As a teenager, Osaze was in the youth ministry at State College Assembly of God where he attended meetings weekly. “Just after 2 p.m. on March 20, 2019, a white State College police officer shot and killed Osaze at his apartment on Old Boalsburg Road. It was the first fatal police shooting in the department’s 103-year history. Three officers were there to serve a 302 warrant, which would’ve allowed them to take Osaze to the emergency room for a doctor to evaluate his mental state and determine if he should be involuntarily hospitalized” (Source: https://www.statecollegemagazine.com/articles/remembering-osaze/).
We keep hearing about how we are living in unprecedented times. Unfortunately, that also rings true for racial and ethnic injustice as well. And sadly, it IS an issue that has directly affected the State College community. As United Methodists, particularly as we’ve been wrestling with the challenges of this pandemic, we are all struggling to be true to our membership vows of resisting evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves while having to practice physical distancing. Nevertheless, we can’t remain silent about things that matter. Indeed, all lives matter which is not possible unless black lives matter, and people of faith in State College are desperately seeking a path toward healing informed by our faith.
The State College Cluster and State College Interfaith Leaders Group learned about the Local Initiatives Grant offered by the Council of Bishops, applied, and were granted the $1000 grant in September 2019 for our project: Diversity, Inclusion and Faith in Dialogue: Online Discussions and Collaboration to Promote Peace with Justice and Tolerance in the Face of Systemic Racism and Rising Concerns About our Criminal Justice System. The goal of the project is to engage in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, support one another in our common vocations, and identify opportunities to partner and collaborate to respond to common needs within our community. to guide our faith communities to practice peace with justice and tolerance in the face of systemic racism. The group is comprised of clergy and spiritual leaders from the following denominations and faiths: African Methodist Episcopal, American Baptist, Baha’i, Church of the Brethren, Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Jewish, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist. The grant covers the cost of participant study guides and a portion of the speaker’s fee.
Project activities will include bi-monthly Zoom meetings to study “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander and provide opportunities for discussion about race, diversity and inclusion. The group will invite community leaders, as available, from law enforcement, education, healthcare, social service agencies, and community groups to help raise our awareness and response to concerns in our community. This project will provide opportunities to reflect and dialogue about how our faith informs our response to community concerns and needs, to share resources and discuss ways we can work together to make a positive impact on promoting positive community relations and reducing racial tensions. In order to extend the dialogue between our live meetings, participants will be able to participate in activities in the Teachable learning management system platform, provided by The General Commission on Religion & Race. Additionally, we will host a webinar this spring (details are being finalized at the printing of this article) and will open registration for this event to members of our conference.
We look forward to learning together and, most importantly, identifying ways that our faith communities can work collaboratively to do all that we can to prevent future tragedies like that of Osaze, identifying and responding to our local needs while striving to build a beloved community right here in Happy Valley.
