Autism is my super blessing! I'm a high-school valedictorian, college graduate, world traveler, disability advocate. I'm a Unitarian Universalist. I'm a Progressive Liberal. I'm about equal rights, human rights, civil & political rights, & economic, social, &cultural rights. I do servant leadership, boundless optimism, & Oneness/Wholeness. I'm good naked & unashamed! I love positive personhood, love your neighbor as yourself, and do no harm! I'm also appropriately inappropriate! My self-ratings: NC-17, XXX, X, X18+ & TV-MA means empathy! I publish shows at 11am! Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support
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episode 83: Tulsa' Race Riot and The Teachings of Jesus by Bishop Edwin D. Mouzon
"Bishop Edwin D. Mouzon
I first analyze a sermon titled, “Tulsa’s Race Riot and the Teachings of Jesus,” by Bishop Edwin D. Mouzon of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, preached on the Sunday after the massacre.
Rephrasing my key question for this analysis, How did Mouzon respond to the massacre?
How did Mouzon, a White Christian preacher, appeal to theology and scripture to justify racist actions or uphold white supremacy?
Appealing directly to theology without specific biblical reference, Mouzon downplays White racial prejudice in Tulsa. Mouzon condemns the KKK, but he clearly states racial equality will never be realized. Quoting Bishop E.E. Hoss, Mouzon says, “God Almighty has drawn the color line in indelible ink.”[7] He then insists on separate (but not equal) dwellings, hotels, schools, and churches in Tulsa and points to the social failures of race mixing in Brazil.
Scripturally, Mouzon loosely uses Jesus’ language about “a city set on a hill” as exposing lawlessness. “‘Little Africa’ was almost without law. No effort had been made to enforce the rule of law,” Mouzon says, separating the “fine citizens” of Tulsa from the lawless Blacks who incited the riot and lawless Whites who burned “Little Africa.”[8]
How does Mouzon call the church to account for racist ideas, policies, and actions? Mouzon calls White Christians to take responsibility only for the disgrace of permitting lawless men to make our city immoral and unsafe. “Let us repent of our sins and resolve to make this fair city safe for men and women to live in.”[9] Though Mouzon speaks of Black people being saved in eternity, his overall rhetoric betrays any interpretation of “men and women” to include Black people.
Dripping with ethos, the sermon includes no compassionate pathos for Black people. On the Sunday after ten thousand Black people became homeless because of White mob actions, one of Mouzon’s suggestions for a better future was that White preachers and godly White women must teach Black “creatures” better behavior."
Link: https://www.tulsahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/E-D-Mouzon_Tulsa-Race-Riot-Sermon_Christian-Advocate-07141921_and-transcription-00000003.pdf
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