All Saints Episcopal Church commits $100k to close racial disparity gap in Mid-Michigan

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - In an effort to right past wrongs across the Greater Lansing area, one local church said they will be donating money to help close the racial disparity gap.

All Saints Episcopal Church has committed nearly $100,000 to the Justice League of Greater Lansing. The organization says these reparations will come in three different areas: supporting Black homeownership, funding costs for Black startups, and scholarships for Black students.

“While my ancestors can’t go repair the damage they did, I have certainly benefited from everything through the generations and I can do the work that they can’t do,” said Pastor Kit Carlson.

All Saints Church in East Lansing has committed to donating 50% of the sales from the church’s property, which is estimated to be about $100,000, for what they call “faith-based reparations” to African Americans in the area.

“As we began to look, we said we have complicity in this large web of systemic racism, and what might we say as an apology, as an atonement, as a majority white church,” Carlson said.

The National Association of Realtors found that in the state of Michigan, 80% of white Americans own their homes, but for Black Americans, that number can be cut in half.

“Having a home is considered an asset, which plays a huge role in the long term,” said Prince Solace, with the Justice League of Greater Lansing. “Not having assets and not having homeownership can leave a lot of African Americans in a position where they can’t build intergenerational wealth.”

Prince Solace also emphasized the importance of financial support for Black Americans to create their own businesses and to have access to good quality education. The group is also planning on providing those opportunities for Black entrepreneurs and students.

Additionally, All Saints will donate $10,000 to the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center to help support Native American causes.

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