Equal Justice Initiative encourages UMCSC to use its website, resources

By Rena Smith

In light of the recent passing of the “Healing the Legacy of Lynching” resolution during South Carolina’s Annual Conference 2017, the Equal Justice Initiative is encouraging South Carolina United Methodists to utilize its interactive website, EJI.org, to confront the legacy of racial terror.

EJI is dedicated to the ending of mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice and to protecting basic human rights.

“Given the new resolution, we are always interested in helping communities connect the ideas of their commitments to tangible actions,” said Gabrielle Daniels, racial justice fellow with EJI.

The website provides users with a wealth of information, including testimonies from families, an interactive map depicting the magnitude in which lynching impacted America and other resources to help facilitate conversations about the issue.

For churches in the conference interested in taking practical steps toward reconciliation around the lynching sites, EJI encourages reaching out regarding the Community Remembrance Project. Through this initiative, EJI will supply communities with the resources to facilitate soil collection memorials or create a historical marker at the site.

In 2018, EJI will be opening the first national memorial for victims of lynching, “Memorial to Peace and Justice,” and a museum, “From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.”