November 17, 2021
Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
On Saturday, November 20, 2021, at 11 am, in Pegasus Plaza (1500 Main) in downtown Dallas, a significant singular moment in the life of our city will finally be acknowledged. A man will be “re-membered,” a marker placed, after he was so tragically and horrifically “dis-membered.”
One Mr. Allen Brooks, sometime 59-year-old handyman who’s only proven crime was the pigment in his skin, was lynched, strung up from a light pole, his garments stripped as souvenirs, his only remaining likeness being postcards printed up to glorify the sadistic event, for the purpose of making a clear statement about the eventual outcome of such crime of color.
Moments in time are important. They don’t go away. You are important. I am important. Mr. Allen Brooks is important.
“But Father, that was then, and this is now. Our city has moved on from such heinous acts. Color is no crime today.”
In a city that so readily recognizes the value of industry and economy over people, those of color have (and continue to be) pushed to and beyond the margins. Recognizing Mr. Brooks’ moment recognizes each and every one of the marginalized. “Re-membering” Mr. Brooks, putting Mr. Brooks back together, as it were, starts the process of bringing all those shards of injustice back into a whole. Giving Mr. Brooks the identity he deserves, as a beautiful child of the most high God, begins the restoration process for all those who have been stripped of identity, of humanity.
It is not so unlike another lynching that we “re-member,” week in and week out, the one we call Jesus, whose only crime was siding with the marginalized, healing on the Sabbath, feeding the hungry, physically and spiritually. Those things threatened authority. We “re-flesh” Jesus each time we come together and proclaim his goodness, his divinity AND his humanity. We restore his identity, and if we are completely honest, in the process, we are restoring our own…
Identity and humanity.
We will do this for Mr. Brooks this Saturday at 11 am in Pegasus Plaza. We will do this for Jesus this Sunday at 8, 9, and 10:30 am at the corner of Inwood Road and Mockingbird Lane. We will do this for ourselves, we will do this for each other, and we will do this for a better, stronger, beloved community.
Please join me!
Yours in “re-membering,”
Fr. Christopher+
(Please read Sharon Grigsby’s article “Huge Step for Dallas,” in the Dallas Morning News for full details. It is a must!)
