JUDGE RICHARD GERGEL 

CONFRONTS HISTORY

Federal Judge Richard Gergel is the judge handling the case now in the United States District Court, in Charleston, of vonRosenberg v. Lawrence. Here, the Episcopal Church is essentially claiming ownership of the pre-schism diocese that is now in the possession of the secessionist party under Bishop Mark Lawrence. The case is supposed to come to trial in the next few weeks.

Judge Gergel has confronted history on a personal level. Last month, he published a book entitled Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring. It has received only rave reviews and is high on the various lists at Amazon. It is an instant classic. One may order it from Amazon in hardcover for $17.70, and also by Kindle and CD audio. For a brief synopsis of the story, see this article in yesterday's New York Times. The point of the book is that the incredibly horrific treatment of Woodard by white authorities in SC and the social validation of this enormous injustice jolted two southern whites, Truman and Waring, to make tremendous changes toward justice in official policies toward African Americans. 

What might all of this have to do with the schism? I certainly would never dare to speak for Gergel, or anyone else for that matter, but since his book came out, I cannot but help to see Gergel as a man who knows discrimination when he sees it. And, after all, the schism in South Carolina was directly caused by discrimination against another mistreated minority. The majority of the old diocese broke from the Episcopal Church in order to keep open homosexuals and the transgendered from having equality and inclusion in the church. The schism is about how we treat our gay and transgendered brothers and sisters. And, now we know Judge Gergel is an intelligent and well-informed man who holds a remarkably high understanding of social justice.