Opinion: I apologized to Vicki today
Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Dallas is a remnant church of the historic Gaston Avenue Baptist Church. I came out of retirement to be the permanent part-time pastor at Gaston Oaks and am grateful I did.
Vicki Turner is my bright, vivacious and hard-working assistant. She is a strong woman, and she is African-American. She has been on the Gaston staff for almost 25 years.
Vicki and I shared our experience of both recently viewing the film “The Help.” We laughed again over the story line and the vivid characters it portrayed. She shared with me that her mother had been a “domestic” in Dallas while Vicki was a child.
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 Vicki Turner |
As our conversation drew to a close, I did something I had never done before. I apologized to Vicki. “Vicki, I am profoundly sorry for what my people did to your people so long ago,” I told her. “Also, I am so glad I have lived to see a world of change among the attitudes of white people.”
Vicki confessed she has not seen as much change as I have, and that is not surprising given our different perspectives. She added, “When I first started to work in the Gaston church office some people were a little dubious about a black staff member.” Then she said “that was OK, because they soon learned what a great person I am.”
Her words were punctuated by her wonderful laugh. “We better learn to love each other before we all get to heaven,” she said, still laughing.
http://www.abpnews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6655&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=9(snip)
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