Redemptorists are Working to Heal the Racial Divide
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June 13, 2022Life Directions’ focus: LIFE Institute and St. Peter Claver Catholic Community in Detroit recently used the Cube of Love for Healing the Racial Divide. This hope-filled event created time and space for meaningful dialogue across ethnic, racial, religious, generational and gender diversity.
Joni Scott, a director of Religious Education and storyteller, introduced the Cube of Love to participants, many of whom were grandparents. She explained, “Each side of the Cube is a face of unconditional love. Today, it is our face to each other as we come together to heal the racial divide.” Each table of participants selected one face from the Cube to be their face of unconditional love.
Imam Arif Huskic welcomed everyone and gave the invocation, a tearful call for action to protect one million, mostly Muslim, Uyghurs facing genocide in Chinese re-education camps. “Our problem is the silence of the news media. Genocide is happening before our eyes,” he said. “But no one knows! How can we put a stop to it?”
Ike McKinnon, former Detroit Chief of Police, gave his perspective on the racial divide. He shared that when he joined the force: “I was shot at by white police officers three times. Do you hear me! Police officers shooting at another man in blue! Me! Because I was black. But I did not give up on the values of my faith and family: reconciliation, understanding, solidarity, unity and love. I sought them in my professional relationships for the common good of all. I recommend this to everyone. It is the path to heal the racial divide. It builds bridges. The same then as it is now!”
Frank Jackson III, a long-time member of the Life Directions Board of Directors, called upon grandparents and elders to teach those younger than themselves universal and timeless principles. In his career as legal counsel at Blue Cross Blue Shield, he practiced the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; speak first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw. “If we teach this to the next generation, we teach responsibility, and we set young people on the path out of poverty. They will become a gift to their future families,” he said.
What the panel shared brought to light grandparents’ concerns, the need to seek healing through timeless wisdom rooted in the value of reconciliation, and the priority of finding common ground. As one of the instructions on the Cube of Love says: “Unconditional love reaches its fullness in reciprocal love: when we love we are loved in return.
Love generates love. So before acting, ask ‘does this generate love?’ If it does, it will generate healing too.”
