The Metro Christian Worship Center screened Maafa 21 yesterday. Since that church happens to be in St. Louis, I happened to be there and my Vincentian community happened to join.
The environment was radically different from the last viewing I attended. To start with, outside of the four from my group, I could count the number of white people on one hand. Rather than avowed pro-life activist, political leaders, interns, and spokespeople, the audience consisted of congregants and neighbors. I sat with five girls whom I have known only two and a half weeks, though I would go home with them at night, instead of a group of coworkers already sold on the movie and its ideas. I knew what to expect. I had a notebook and a pen to catch names, dates, and numbers, which I had not had before.
Thankfully, the pastor of the church stopped the video during the final scene, a rousing sermon from an African-American pastor, urging his people to get involved. Instead, he told the crowd about his own experience with pro-choice politicians who supported the elimination of poor African-Americans.
The reception was strong and encouraging -- people wanted to know what to do. The one disappointment of the night was the fact that no one did anything to harvest that energy: at an event like that, you should keep track of who comes (they are a future resource) and have specific and immediate actions which they can take.
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