Dear friends,
Did you know that in the Episcopal Church we believe that Jesus doesn’t love white people?
That was news to me, too. But that’s what far-right activist Charlie Kirk said today. I had to Google Kirk to see who he is. He’s big in MAGA land, and is known for his racist remarks and a list of lies too long to enumerate. But here’s another gem. During the pandemic he said having people “social distance” in church was “a Democratic plot against Christianity.” Because everyone knows that trying to save lives is a sign of hating Christians.
So why do we believe Jesus doesn’t love 90 percent of the people in our congregation? It’s because our new Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, the symbolic head of our denomination, has said the Episcopal Church will not aid in the resettlement of white Afrikaner “refugees” from South Africa.
We’ve been talking about refugees at St. Dunstan’s a lot in the past year or so, as we prepared to sponsor a refugee family. As you know, the 12-member Kombete family arrived from Cameroon in mid-January, just days before the inauguration. That arrival date was significant because as soon as Trump took office he put an immediate end to refugee resettlement. Thousands who had been approved to come to the United States, including some who were set to arrive on the afternoon of January 20, are now still in camps with little hope of ever being able to leave.
As we know, Trump also cut off almost all financial aid to refugees who were already here. You responded to that by giving $46,000 to make sure the Kombete’s needs are met. (Our Lenten goal was to raise $20,000.) Also cut was funding for most of the jobs in refugee resettlement agencies, which means our refugee team has picked up the slack there, too.
Then last week Trump announced we would be allowing refugees in again — a group of white refugees from South Africa.
The term refugee is for a specific group of people who have been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence. UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission on Refugees) says refugees have “a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.”
Refugees often spend years in camps. The Kombetes were in a refugee camp in Cameroon for 17 years. All refugees accepted to come into this country have been thoroughly vetted by immigration officials before they are approved. That process also can take years.
Trump claims that this group of white South Africans are victims of racial discrimination, and even genocide. Of course, there is no proof of that. A South African court ruled in February that claims of white genocide were “clearly imagined” and “unreal.” The United Nations reports no South Africans of any race, ethnicity or linguistic group met U.N. criteria for refugee resettlement last year.
Another example of “persecution” cited by the White House is a South African land reform law that would in rare cases allow privately owned land to be appropriated by the government without compensation. But NPR reported this week that no land has been seized. White South Africans make up about 7% of the population yet own around 70% of commercial farmland.
So this group from South Africa has not spent one moment in a refugee camp. They have not undergone a years-long vetting process. They do not fit the UN definition of refugee. And yet they were able to get on a plane in South Africa and fly directly to Dulles International Airport in Washington DC, where they were met and officially welcomed into the country by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
Presiding Bishop Rowe said the national church was informed several weeks ago by the Trump administration that it would be expected to aid in the resettlement of the White Afrikaners because our denomination’s refugee resettlement agency has received federal grants.
“in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step” of assisting the Trump administration in resettling Afrikaners, Rowe said after consulting with Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town.
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees [the Afrikaners], selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said in his letter.
“As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins,” Rowe said. “Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command. Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.”
Rowe’s decision has not been well received by the administration.
“The Episcopal Church’s decision to terminate its decades-long partnership with the U.S. government over the resettlement of 59 desperate Afrikaner refugees raises serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said.
Kelly’s statement questioning our commitment to humanitarian aid is ironic. Perhaps she has forgotten her boss’ cuts to international aid to the world’s most vulnerable. Brooke Nichols, Boston University professor of global health, estimates that 42,000 adults and 89,000 children have already died because of those cuts, and that number could grow to as many as 240,000 more by the end of the year. A Trump administration official playing the humanitarian aid card is ridiculous, hypocritical, and insulting.
Someone should explain that to Will Chamberlain, a prominent attorney in MAGA world. “How could one, in good conscience, remain in the Episcopal Church after a stunt like this?” he posted today.
I can answer him in two words. With pride.
With love,
Tricia