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+ REFUGEES Young Adults and Students | Parish Center | Task Force on Racial Attack and Harassment
In the spring of 2001 skinheads attacked a church member on a Sunday morning, just steps away from our worship space. They beat him and knocked him over the head with a beer bottle. Instead of praising God that Sunday, our friend found himself in the hospital receiving stitches to his head. This was not the first such attack experienced by members of our congregation. Almost every week we pray for a church member or friend who has suffered at the hands of skinheads or other racists in the city. As a Christian community we have searched the mind of God to seek how we should respond to this racist violence. We continue to pray for peace and healing for both the victims and the perpetrators. We also gather information about racist attacks. These attacks have gone on for years, especially since 1995. Despite their prevalence, however, information about the scale and seriousness of these attacks is not widely known. Volunteers from the church go into the African community in Moscow with detailed questionnaires to carry out interviews and to document recent attacks. They also gather supporting evidence, such as police, witness and hospital reports. We provide this information to lawyers, human rights organizations, and the press. We encourage all people with dark skin to be very careful in Moscow. Please read the safety tips compiled by African members of our congregation. For those interested in the problem of racial attacks in Moscow, we invite you to read this background information and updates on recent attacks. If you would like to report an attack, please click here. |
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