The Portage County NAACP held a dedication ceremony and a “Celebration of Racial Justice” for its new office at the United Church of Christ in Kent, which rang with sermons and songs May 22.
Multiple guest speakers from around Northeast Ohio gathered for the event, which also served as a fundraiser for the King Kennedy Community Center in Ravenna.
“We’ve always had our MLK breakfast here,” said Renee Romine, president of the local NAACP chapter. “Anytime we do our scholarship fundraiser, the church is involved, they always get a table.” The church has always been a partner, she added, but now, “this is formalized, having our office here. It’s amazing.”
The Portage County NAACP has been using the donated office space, located in a repurposed Sunday school room at the church, since January.
The service was led by senior pastor Rev. Amy Gopp, featuring guest speakers Rev. Velda Love, United Church of Christ Minister for Racial Justice in Cleveland; and the Rev. Michael Howard, minister of Faith in Action at the United Church of Christ’s Living Water Association in Cuyahoga Falls.
Following the service, there was a benefit luncheon for the King Kennedy Community Center featuring guest speakers Myia Sanders, director of the center, and Jacquie Peoples Dukes, a Kent City Schools employee who recently published a book of poetry about Kent’s South End neighborhood. Neil Duke’s Pit Stop Pub catered the event.
The UCC church has hosted the NAACP Martin Luther King breakfast on MLK weekend for as long as Gopp can remember; the event holds an illustrative example of the church’s deep-rooted partnership with the organization. It wasn’t until a recent incident that office space was offered to the organization.
“I will tell you that the specific idea for the space happened after George Floyd’s murder,” Gopp said. “The day after he was murdered, I called Dr. Geraldine Nelson, who at the time was the president of the Portage County NAACP, because I was so overcome by what happened. All I knew was to call them; what can we do? Almost without hesitation, she said, a physical space; we’ve never had a physical space in which to do our work.”
The congregation completely renovated the classroom and brought down furniture from the national office of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, which was moving to another building.
“Being a predominantly white congregation, it was clear to me that we needed to stand up and be a prophetic witness,” Gopp said. “It really was this congregation that said yes. It’s not really just about, here’s a space; no, we’re in partnership together, we’re working together in this ministry and in this work of racial justice, so for me, its symbolic that they’re here, but not just because they need a space, it’s because we, as a church, will be changed by them being here.”
The office space will be where the NAACP leaders organize various committees that address projects regarding political action, education, social and economic rights, and environmental awareness, among others. The non-partisan organization will soon be working with the League of Women Voters to help those in the community to better manage voter registration. They also work with Kent’s Historic South End community garden.
Peoples Dukes read a poem from her book about her late uncle, Albert Peoples, a civil rights leader who fought for the desegregation of swimming pools in Portage County, and for whom the NAACP Albert Peoples Academic Excellence Scholarship is named.
“Back in the day the Black children, African American children, families couldn’t go swimming anywhere in the county, sad to say, and it wasn’t too long ago,” she said. Her father and uncle organized a protest and brought members of the community together to change the racist policies. “Every time I think about swimming, it’s so great to know where that history came from, and my family really helped to open that up for everyone.”
The development of racial justice awareness at the United Church of Christ of Kent is ongoing, Gopp said, and anti-racism is incorporated into the very fabric of the church: its liturgy, prayers, songs and sermons.
“There is white supremacy in all of our institutions,” Gopp said. “It’s systemic. It’s not easy work, but this church is doing the tough work. Our faith compels us to do it. Period. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
