BE BOLD
Action for Racial Justice
In October of 2019, the Sacred Conversations on Race (SCOR) Committee launched the Action for Racial Justice: Be Bold Campaign.
By January of 2020, three Be Bold groups had been formed around three racial justice themes:
Anti-Racism
Immigration
Criminal Justice
Pilgrims were invited to join a Be Bold group whose racial justice focus they were most passionate about and that they were committed to take action to address. Small group members could decide to take action together on areas of mutual interest or they could choose to take action alone, but the group would serve as a place of support and a place of accountability to help group members stay on track as they did the work.
BE BOLD! immigration GROUP
For most of 2022, Pilgrim's Be Bold! Immigration Group and the Church more broadly has been working in partnership with Grace Lutheran Church of River Forest to prepare to co-sponsor a refugee family. We have collected funds, furniture and household items and are currently waiting for the family's arrival. We don't know who that family will be, where they will be from or when exactly they will arrive but we are excited to meet them and to help them settle into a new home. If you are interested in assisting in this effort, please contact the Church office. We'd love to include you!
Past Programs
October 7, 2021: Zoom workshop with Benji Hart regarding the intersection between anti-Black and anti-immigrant policies and sentiments.
September 25, 2021: Discussion of They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, about the experience of incarcerated Japanese immigrants during World War II.
August-September 2021: Collection and delivery of household items for a refugee family from Syria.
July 2021: Collection and delivery of infant and toddler clothing and food for a newly-arrived refugee family from Sudan.
June 13, 2021: Immigrant and Refugee Sunday worship service.
April 25, 2021: We hosted a program about the experience of child immigrants and refugees.
April 11, 2021: We explored our own families’ immigration/refugee stories.
March 2021: We hosted a powerful Zoom-based simulation of the experience of refugees, called “Fleeing for Your Life,” facilitated by Exodus World Service.
January-February 2021: We held a five-week Bible-based discussion group about immigration and faith.
October 2020: We sponsored and participated in El Pueblo Canta, an annual fundraising event for immigrant advocacy/support organizations.
September 2020: We held a discussion of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented CItizen by Jose Antonio Vargas. Later in the month, we also presented a panel discussion of the then-current state of immigration law featuring experts from various organizations.
July-August 2020: We encouraged the congregation to read Jose Antonio Vargas’ book (see September 2020, above).
June 2020: We prepared for and participated in a special service on Refugee/Immigrant Sunday.
April 2020: We undertook a clothing, bedding and food drive for homeless immigrants.
February 2020: We screened and discussed Undocumented, the story of children and youth from Mexico and Central America who ride trains north in an effort to enter the United States.
These activities are built on a foundation of prior work about, and support for, immigrants and refugees. Throughout its almost 150 years, Pilgrim Church has actively supported immigrants and refugees in a number of ways. If you are interested in knowing more about our Be Bold! Immigration Group, programs or history, please contact sarahlolson208@gmail.com.
BE BOLD! CRIMINAL JUSTICE GROUP
The Be Bold Criminal Justice Group of Pilgrim Congregational Church supports increased civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. The Be Bold Criminal Justice Group supports the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) proposal through the church’s involvement with the Community Renewal Society (CRS). Civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department has been an issue of debate that came to a head from the fallout around the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald shooting in 2014. CRS and GAPA partners will be holding a prayer vigil before the city council meeting on Wednesday, January 27th. The vigil will start at 9:00 am and you can attend by clicking this link.
For more information on the background of this issue and to read the GAPA proposals, click the button below.
Be Bold! Anti-Racism Group
Pilgrim’s Be Bold! White Privilege/Standing with Others Group invites you to join us in representing Pilgrim Church at the Faith Community Led Non-Violent Demonstration this Sunday afternoon, October 4th starting at 4:00 pm. The march will go from 4021 S. State Street to Cermak & State Street. Our group will meet in the Pilgrim parking lot at 2:45 on Sunday to car pool. At least two cars will be driven, one to be left at the beginning of the march route and one at the end of the march route. If you have a purple Pilgrim t-shirt, please wear it! For more information and to let us know how many are coming, please email Kirsten Peachy Kirsten.Peachey@aah.org and Jeff Cobb antqman1@gmail.com. (Please note that if it rains, you can tune in LIVE via online streaming at https://brightstarchurchchicago.com/ on their FB & YouTube Channels.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq6djxk3i3w&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=BrightStarChurchChicago This demonstration has been organized by a group of pastors, including Bishop Horace E. Smith, MD, Senior Pastor of Apostolic Faith Church; Cardinal Blasé J. Cupich, Ninth Archbishop of Chicago; Rev. Ira J. Acree, Senior Pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church; Rev. Chris Harris, Pastor of Bright Star Church Chicago; Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch, Senior Pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church; and Rev. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
On August 26, 2020, Mr. André L. Watkins, a retired police officer, joined us via Zoom from Houston to share some of his experiences and thoughts about the current state of police operations in a presentation entitled “Police Operations, Practices & Racism”. We had asked him a number of questions after being impressed by a June 3rd session with a Houston church that can be found here Wednesday, June 3 (Andre Watkins). His live presentation to us was disrupted by connection problems stemming from heavy winds in Houston related to Hurricane Laura and disabling his computer. Nevertheless, he proceeded from notes and we offer here an edited audio recording and, on the link below, his reference list and the Force Continuum image he discusses.
Past Reports
Anti-Racism Report - May 2020
Criminal Justice Report - May 2020
Immigration Report - May 2020