Bells ring for hope and reconciliation
Race and reconciliation. History and hope. These themes resonated as the bells of an Oklahoma City church rang out Sunday in conjunction with a national effort to honor the first Africans who arrived in North America as slaves four centuries ago.
A racially diverse crowd of more than 100 people attended a special prayer service and bellringing event at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 14700 N May.
They prayed, sang songs like “We Shall Overcome,” “Lift Every Voice” and “My Country `Tis of Thee” and they rang hand bells as the metro house of worship participated in the national commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first landing of enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America. In doing so, the church joined other organizations, churches and groups around the country for the National Park Service's Day of Healing and Nationwide Bell Ringing.
A particularly poignant part of the event was the moment when four black members of the church rang the bell atop the church in a symbolic gesture of solidarity with others doing the same thing around the nation. Professional drummer Jahruba Lambeth provided a drum beat t hat blended nicely with the tolling church bell and hand bells.
“It felt inspiring ,” said Man ville Duncan son ,81, there tired University of Oklahoma professor who was the first to ring the church bell.
Last to ring the bell was Caleb Alsay, 8, the son of St. Augustine's rector the Rev. Joseph Alsay.
Dressed in a blue and white seersucker suit, the youth pulled on the bell ropes with enthusiasm, bringing tears to the eyes of more than one attendee.
“He represents the future,” said Cecelia Al say, Joseph Al say' s wife and Cal eb' s mother .“I'm just so proud of him and what this day represents.”
The National Park Service coordinated the commemoration to mark the anniversary at Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, which is now part of Fort Monroe National Monument, a unit of the National Park System. The park and its partners invited all 419 national parks, National Park Service programs, community partners and the public to come together in solidarity to ring bells simultaneously across the nation for four minutes — one for each century — to honor the first Africans who landed in 1619 at Point Comfort and 400 years of African- American history, according to the park service's website.
Joseph Alsay said the Rev. Michael Curry, pres idi ng bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, who is black, had appealed to churches within his denomination to join in the commemoration if they felt led to do so.
Sunday's service included liturgy that connected the importance of racial reconciliation with themes from Christianity and the liturgy included a “Confession of Sin” that acknowledged that racism continues to play an ugly role in American society.
“Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the legacy of slavery is still with us today. From the racial wealth gap to arrest and sentencing disparities, from discrimination in housing, job searches and banking to our segregated and prejudicially funded school systems, from fearing death at the hands of police to daily comments from neighbors, African Americans face structural and personal obstacles people of European descent do not face,” Robby Trammell, a St. Augustine deacon, read during the service.
`Let freedom ring'
Alsay told the crowd, which included Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, that ringing bells to mark the occasion was fitting.
He said historically, bells often ring out for significant life events such as births and deaths. And he pointed out that the crack in one of the more famous bells in history, the Liberty Bell, can symbolize many things, including the American ideal of liberty that was not realized for the millions of slaves brought to her shores. Alsay said the crack could also symbolize the “cracked nature of our human condition.”
Ringing the bells during Sunday's ceremony was a way to “Let freedom ring” for a brighter future for all, he said.
“Let them ring out hatred. Let them ring in reconciliation,” Alsay said. “That was magnificent music we made. Through a bell ringing, we created harmonies of healing.”
Several members of the crowd said the service was touching and caused them to reflect on race relations in America.
“I'm just so sad that that's (slavery/racism) a part of our history and that it continues. We're not out of this dilemma of racism but these events do help to call attention to the past and hope for the future,” said the Rev. David Egbert, a retired priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma who is white.
Drummer Lambeth, who is black, said he was also moved by the ceremony.
“As Isa ton the floor drumming, I just flashed back to those first 20 brothers getting off the boat. I could envision it happening and that feeling just hit me,” he said.
As a youth, Lambeth participated in the Oklahoma City Sit-In movement with Civil Rights leader Clara Luper. Like Egbert, he said Sunday's commemoration brought to the fore front how much more work is needed to end the injustice of racism against black Americans.
“Here we are 400 years later and I still feel like there hasn't been any closure. There's still a struggle,” Lambeth said. “Do I ever get to live my life where I don't have to prove myself, where I'm not a second-class citizen?”
Another attendee, Eli Bell, who is white, also shared thoughts of reflection.
“It really made me think and analyze myself. I felt like it was an amazing exploration of my own understanding of God and race,” he said.
“We can do better. We can all do better.”