Speakers at Manchester to recount journeys of faith focused on healing wounds of social injustice
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – A journey to the past can free us to move forward together.
Sankofa is that journey, pairing two people of different races or ethnicities on a bus ride to visit sites of historic significance in the civil rights movement, of the Holocaust, of oppression. Together, they explore their prayer journeys and response to social injustice.
Two past participants will speak at Manchester University about their Sankofa Journey experiences at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in the Jo Young Switzer Center upper level. It is free and open to the public.
Wendy McFadden is publisher of Brethren Press and Communications for the Church of the Brethren, and Josh Brockway, a 2001 Manchester alumnus, is director of Spiritual Life and Discipleship for the Church of the Brethren.
The Evangelical Covenant Church program aims to heal the wounds and racial divides caused by centuries of injustice.
McFadden and Brockway will discuss their personal experiences on the journey. The reflections will offer audience members insight on how to work toward racial justice regardless of their own backgrounds.
The word “sankofa” is a West African word that literally translates to “it is not too taboo to go back and
fetch what you forgot.” In other words, it teaches people that they must reach back into the past, their roots, in order to move forward. The things that have been lost, forgotten or taken can be reclaimed, revived and preserved.
The Nov. 6 presentation is made possible by the MU Office of Religious Life, the student-run Campus Interfaith Board and the Christian Leadership Endowment Fund.
"Sankofa: A Journey Toward Racial Righteousness" is part of the Values, Ideas, and Art series at the University, which offers academic enrichment for students.
This session is also of a larger conversation throughout the 2017-18 academic year honoring MU’s tradition of peace and justice. Fifty years ago, on Feb. 1, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an overflow audience at Manchester on “The Future of Integration.” It was his last address at a college campus before his assassination.
About Manchester University
Manchester University, with campuses in North Manchester and Fort Wayne, Ind., offers more than 60 areas of academic study to nearly 1,600 students in undergraduate programs, a Master of Athletic Training, a Master of Pharmacogenomics and a four-year professional Doctor of Pharmacy. It has students from 20 nations and is home to the world's first undergraduate peace studies program, established in 1948. Learn more about the private, northern Indiana school at www.manchester.edu.
October 2017
Zoe Vorndran, a student assistant with the Office of Strategic Communications, helped gather information for this press release.