- Last year, First Presbyterian Church’s board voted to present a $100,000 check in reparations to the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan
- As of Sunday, the church has provided two installments of the $100,000 goal through left over funds from a capital expenditure, donations from members and subsidizing the total raised with earned income from the church’s endowment for a period of up to ten years according to the church
- Now that money has been received, some members of the congregation are looking for more action.
- Watch the video above to see what they’re hoping to see next.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
First Sunday here at First Presbyterian Church in Lansing was a bit different as they presented a reparations check to the Justice League of Greater Lansing and it got some mixed reactions.
The message was “Reparations is repentance ” and it came in the form of a $40,000 check.
“We hope that it can reach and can impact the 100,000 African Americans living in the Greater Lansing region but that won’t happen over night” said Prince Solace, Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan president
The $40,000 was the second installment of the church’s $100,000 goal.
The money will go toward education and housing for members of the black community in Lansing, but some members of the congregation are asking, what else?
“There are people who mean well in this congregation but meaning well only takes you so far,” said Tori Tyler, alto section leader for the First Presbyterian Church. “You need somebody to tell you what you don’t know.”
And what she believes some people don’t know is the everyday struggles of the black community in Greater Lansing.
“If the money is going toward scholarships for people to get to college what are you doing once they’re there. Are you making sure there are programs that help first generation students navigate collegiate world, because it’s different.” Tyler said.
“That’s the beauty of having Tory sit down,” Solace said. “We don’t just need one narrative. We want to see and talk about how churches internally have come to make the decision as to why they want to continue toward reparations and there is no cookie cutter story.”
Leaders with the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan say the advisory board will be figuring out how to allocate those funds in the coming weeks.
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