Rise, like a phoenix
Celebrating champions for racial justice.
The Revd Michaela Youngson, Assistant Secretary of the Conference and Connexional Ecumenical Officer, shares this blog, originally published in the Methodist Recorder, to mark Black History Month
Along with the rest of my family, I enjoy listening to and, on rare occasions, attending gigs by independent folk artists – such as Billy Bragg, Grace Petrie, Frank Turner and others. We have been known to sing along loudly in the car and, I imagine that the louder we sing, somehow we will help make the world of justice and peace that their songs demand, more likely to come into being. For me these are loud prayers asking that the realm of God’s love might be made real on earth as it is in heaven – even if many of the singers profess no faith at all. A recent discovery for me in the world of political, folk, protest singers is a group called the Young’uns and, as is the way when buying new CDs, I played their ‘Strangers’ album on repeat for a few weeks. One of the songs told a story that I’m familiar with but had not paid attention to for a long time. The song is called ‘These Hands’ and tells of a woman who travelled, with her fiancé, from Guyana to South East London in 1956. The young couple married and settled in Brockley but experienced the racism of that time in both their community and in the church. Sybil Pheonix was not one to be put off by the ignorance and hate that she encountered, she had God’s love running through her veins like a fire and put that love into action by fostering children and young people – hundreds over the years. Sybil also established a youth club called ‘The Moonshot’ in New Cross, which became a community hub for the black community. There were many right-wing groups operating in the area and a member of one of the facist groups burnt the centre down. After the devastating fire Sybil made it clear that she would not be defeated by hate. “My name is Phoenix and I will build a new centre from the ashes of this club, so help me God.”
Sybil, along with the Revd Vic Watson, founded MELRAW – the Methodist Leadership Racism Workshop, which had a transformative influence on the Methodist Church and it was through MELRAW’s work that I met Sybil when I was a young person and began my own journey into better understanding racism and how it is a denial of God’s will. Sybil became a Methodist Local Preacher and worked nationally and internationally representing the Church and holding it to account. She was the first black woman to be awarded an MBE and she has been presented with many other awards including the Freedom of the City of London.
There is such a lot that can be told of Sybil, she is included in the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s recently published resource, ‘Racial Justice Champions’ which can be downloaded from the CTBI website and offers the stories of twenty-five women and twenty-five men who have advocated racial justice, often at great cost to themselves. This is a great resource for both Black History Month and Racial Justice Sunday.
October is Black History Month – an opportunity to celebrate the lives of many who have advocated and worked for racial justice and to notice how we still have a way to go before
our world, and our church truly reflects God’s love. I’m struck that it was in listening to a folk band that I remembered Sybil Pheonix and felt inspired to tell her story again. I’m not sure I’ve heard her name mentioned in a Methodist Church for years and that leaves me wondering how many people within the life of our church know her story. Part of changing and being the inclusive church God longs for us to be involves passing on the stories of those who have pioneered justice.
The Methodist Conference, when it met in June, voted to adopt a Strategy for Justice, Dignity and Solidarity, underpinned by Methodist theology, which will see “a profound change in the culture, practices and attitudes of the Methodist Church”. As it is rolled out, the strategy will support Methodists with issues of equality, diversity and inclusion, with the aim of becoming a Church in which God’s unconditional love is expressed in word and actions and where all people are able to play their part.
The strategy’s recommendations include a celebration of the richness of the Church’s diversity and opportunities to learn more of God, and to be changed by God through encounter with each other across the Church. Comprehensive training on topics of racism, gender, disability and LGBT+ awareness will be mandatory for anyone in a leadership role. The strategy will also introduce moves to ensure that the leadership of the Church reflects the diversity of its membership. A series of structures, processes and practices will be put in place to ensure that people are treated with justice and dignity and that the discipline of the Methodist Church is upheld in the face of discrimination; preventing, challenging and redressing all behaviours which are discriminatory or belittling.
Through this work, Conference aims:
· for the rich diversity of people within the Methodist Church to be recognised as a cause for thanksgiving, celebration and praise;
· to eradicate all discrimination and coercive control within the Methodist Church, and for all people to be treated justly and with dignity across the breadth of the Methodist Church;
· for a profound change in the culture, practices and attitudes of the Methodist Church so that all Methodists are able to be full participants in the Church’s life.
The story of Sybil Phoenix is one of many that can be told and need to be told to remind us of the journey we are on – we have not always listened well or put into action the commitments we have made. Black History Month offers us an opportunity to tell the stories of those who have shown us the way to a more just world, and encourages us to stand in solidarity with all who experience racism and prejudice and to enable the dignity of every person within the life of our church.
The Revd Michaela Youngson
Assistant Secretary of the Conference and Connexional Ecumenical Officer