September 26, Walking Vigil at Evergreen Cemetery
Dear People of St. James’,
On Wednesday, city crews went out to clean the headstones recently defaced in nearby Evergreen Cemetery. Evergreen Cemetery was city’s first major municipal graveyard for Black residents. A number of church members, including myself, have been out there to walk and to pray and to offer a word of comfort and solidarity to those who feel the violence of this act.
For centuries, the defacing of gravesites has been a form of cultural violence against black and other minority communities. Such efforts to erase memory, dignity, and home cannot and must not be allowed to stand. The removal of paint from the headstones will not close the wounds opened wide by this action, and so we must give ourselves all the more to this healing work of honoring memory, dignity, and home.
This Saturday, September 26, at 1 pm, we’d like to invite you to join St. James’ Episcopal Church and the Union of Black Episcopalians, Myra McDaniel Chapter, to walk and pray at Evergreen. Being respectful of any services that might be occurring, we will plan to park and gather up around 12:45 pm. We will gather near the main entrance gate off of 12th Street. At 1 pm, we will circle up for an invitatory prayer and Harrison Eppright will give a brief talk about the history of Evergreen Cemetery. We’ll invite any parishioners who have relatives buried there to offer a memory of their loved one(s). Then, we will walk and pray for a time. Our expectation is that you will be masked and observe social distancing out of love for one another.
The address of Evergreen Cemetery is 3304 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78721.
Email rector@stjamesaustin.org if you have any questions.