Ruth Floyd Rush, Debra Ortiz-Vasquez and Del Deets Wesley have battled the beast from inside and out. All are evangelical Christians as well, and they have come together to stump for racial reconciliation by sensitizing white churchgoers to the pains of bigotry. Not that Christian leaders aren't on the case already. Voices from the pope to the pastor on the corner have railed against racism. Denominations and umbrella groups have issued vision statements.
Individual churches hold interracial retreats, camps and crusades.
But progress is fitful, goals sometimes fuzzy. Activists like Ortiz-Vasquez, Rush and Wesley worry that hearts have not really been converted, and they think the issue must be revisited again and again. Their goal is not to throw everyone into a cultural blender, the three say. One predominantly white church, Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, does try to force things. For years, it has held a series of racial dialogues and workshops.