Local Religious Leaders To Host Free, Public Discussion On Race

PLAINFIELD, IL — The leaders of two different Christian faith communities in Plainfield will meet Saturday, Feb. 29 to host a public discussion on the state of race relations in America. Titled 'Black & White in America: Live,' the event will be held in the auditorium of Plainfield High School - Central Campus at 24120 W. Fort Beggs Drive from 6 - 7:30 p.m. The hosts, Bishop Nolan McCants of Harvest Church Plainfield and Pastor Fran Leeman of LifeSpring Community Church, said the idea for a public discussion on race was born out of their own conversations on racial disparity in Haiti, America, and in the American Christian tradition.

"Fran and I have known each other for... a couple decades, but [initially] only as colleagues in ministry and pretty much from a distance," Bishop McCants said, referring to his early interactions with Leeman. "And he also established a work in Haiti... two years ago, he invited me to come along to teach some of the pastors in the region. I went along with him and in the course of that visit, he and I had some pretty in-depth conversations... and that translated into an extensive conversation as it relates to how white people relate to black people in America."

McCants is the first African-American man to found a church community in Plainfield, a church community comprised of mostly people of color at that. For a town that was at one time a northern gathering place for the Ku Klux Klan, McCants said it's a reminder of how far the African-American community has come in the area - but also of how far there is still to go on the road to racial equality.

"In 1996, I became the first African-American to establish a church in Plainfield, and you know the history of Plainfield, so that was sort of unique for the time," McCants said. "Within a year prior to my arrival, you had the [Plainfield] Postmaster, who was African-American, the first one, who was 'invited' out of town because of her color... within the same period, there was an African-American man married to a Caucasian lady... who built a house in Plainfield that was burned to the ground."

Pastor Leeman, for his part, invited McCants to a similar public discussion on race last November. A white man with a predominantly white congregation at LifeSpring, Leeman said he wanted to educate himself and his church community about aspects of racial disparity that white privilege may have previously allowed him to overlook. According to both church leaders, the discussion was fruitful.

“This subject is important for this time in our country, but not limited to this time,” Leeman said in a press release about the upcoming discussion. “Nolan and I have been friends for years and we’ve done some work together, so I asked him to join me.”

Patch also attempted to contact Leeman for further comment on the discussion, but was unable to reach him.

Nevertheless, one aspect of the experience of people of color that Leeman was not initially aware of, McCants said, was the phenomenon he called 'forced immersion.'

"One of the things I said to him that I think really caught his attention was the fact that as an African-American, I know far more about him, or white people, than he knows about me," he said, "And the reason is not because there's a school for it... but because we're living in a world that's white-dominant. By immersion, forced immersion, I have learned white people. White people, on the other hand, don't know much about me."

Even well-meaning white people's ignorance of this phenomenon and others, McCants said, only stretches the already wide chasm of inequality between white and non-white Americans. This is especially true in the age of Trump, as blatant acts of xenophobia become more common and white nationalist groups - some centuries old - begin feeling comfortable enough to display their violent racism openly.

"What's happening in America... is not new, it's just in the open," McCants said. "It's been in the open before, it's not the first time. One point [Leeman and I] dealt with was... the founding of this nation was based on white supremacy."

Echoing the sentiments of young Black leaders such as Illinois congressional candidate Anthony Clark, McCants also connected racism in Plainfield and America at large to legal and economic realities.

"Our laws, our institutions, our economic structures, these are all under-girded by [white supremacy]," he said. "Whether it's verbalized or always intentional or not, it's woven into the fibers of America."

Those wishing to attend McCants' and Leeman's discussion should be willing to learn about these and other realities, within and beyond the diverse Christian community. Though the learning process may sometimes be uncomfortable, McCants said, he stressed that it is essential part of building a more just America.

"Read about white privilege, look into the historic record of race relations in America and be open to hear and see without defense," McCants said.

Admission to the discussion is free. All those who wish to attend are asked to enter the High School from Door G.