Many of us ask God in times of darkness, “What am I called to do?” In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is in a prison in which he is double-chained, asleep between two soldiers, with guards outside the prison doors. Yet in a dramatic rescue that he thinks is a vision or a dream, Peter escapes. Peter then realizes that he has been rescued by an angel of God. This is the same Peter who has been called by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, to be the “rock upon which I will build my church.” Peter is called to a special role as both a follower of God and a Church leader.
Peter can be a daunting role model, but his humanity comes through in the Bible as well. Peter is courageous, but he also reminds us that the saints were human. Perhaps this is a time in which God is asking us to identify and use our own strengths in the struggle for racial justice.
Today, I wanted to introduce you to someone who is inspirational in the focused, informed, and passionate way that he is working toward justice.
Frank Staropoli, father-in-law to Mike Boucher and a longtime member of St. Monica’s Church on Genesee Street, has read more than 100 books on race/racism. He has attended at least 50 workshops and conducted at least 30 workshops or seminars on the topic of racial justice.
“Most importantly,” he said, “I’ve been deeply involved in a couple of Black-led organizations, taking a supportive role as an ally.”
In his blog, “A White Guy in Rochester,” Frank makes readers face racial injustice, white privilege, and their own biases. But the blog goes further: In each entry, Frank tells readers about specific actions they can take toward the goal of achieving racial equity. You’ll see a link to one of his blog entries down below.
When asked how he decided to dedicate so much of his life to being a committed anti-racist, Frank said, “I had a lot of care, concern and compassion about the racial divide in our country, and in Rochester in particular.”
Frank went on: “Six years ago, almost to the day, I saw a bystander video that had gone Rochester-viral of a police officer kneeling over a Black man who was lying on a porch, already handcuffed, submissive. And the white police officer began to pound on the man! Long story short, nothing ever came of the incident – no discipline, no noise. The interest just died out, like so often happens.
“At that point I began to recognize that all my care, concern and compassion was doing absolutely no good in terms of changing the systems that would allow that to happen. Worse, as I began to read and learn, I began to understand that my silence was complicity – that if I didn’t speak up at times like that, I was allowing it to go on in my name.
“That was the beginning. The blog came some three years later, but I had started on the path to being part of the solution, not a silent supporter of the problem.”
Here’s a link to just one of Frank’s recents blog entries, but I recommend that you spend some time reading through all of his reflections on current events. With each one, make sure to scroll down to the “action” portion.