By Neil Earle
PASADENA, CA.—"We're not where Dr. King challenged us to be but we've come a long way." The speaker was Bernard K. Melekian, Chief of Police for Pasadena, California, at the first annual Special Conference on Racial Reconciliation held at the Ambassador Auditorium. The event was jointly hosted by the A.C. Green Foundation and the Office of Reconciliation Ministries on January 18, 2004.
Chief Melekian went on to state that: "I wish this room were full of reporters but this isn't about tragedy so somehow it isn't interesting when people come together to talk about how to live together." He added: "It would be terribly remiss not to mention the role of police in this society at one time for preserving the [unjust] status quo but it would be equally as wrong not to say that today law enforcement has become an agent of positive change."
More than 400 people gathered at the headquarters campus of the Worldwide Church of God to hear Chief Melekian, Director Curtis May of ORM and former Los Angeles Lakers great, A.C. Green. Curtis May identified the places of conflict in our society and quoted Martin Luther King's insight that "racial understanding isn't something that we find but something we must create." He outlined the four steps that lead towards racial healing: Confession, Repentance, Reconciliation and Restitution. "We must do something different, we must break the cycle of oppression by doing new and bold things," he concluded.
A.C. Green then introduced a feature film his organization helped produce titled, "The Final Solution." The movie outlines the story of Gerrit Wolfaardt, a former white supremacist from South Africa, and his remarkable about face to become an agent of racial tolerance and brotherhood. "We are all South Africa," A.C. Green told the very attentive audience. "But when forgiveness is asked for and extended then the future can change."
A.C. Green and Pastor May ended the conference with a heartfelt question and answer session with the audience. Velma Deponte Simpson, an administrator with Los Angeles County, commented to the presenters that "the power brokers in our social institutions need to hear your message." Era Thompson of South Pasadena and a native-born Israeli, stated: "This is always good to meet face to face like this. To break the barriers you have to do good to others." Joe Brown of the Pasadena branch of the NAACP told "Reconcile" that: "The thing to do now is continue the momentum, to air the problems in an atmosphere of trust and respect."
Shirley Hall of Moreno Valley, CA concluded: "It was good to see that the conference speakers realized that reconciliation begins with God and Christ and then we have the proper perspective to reconcile with each other."