As a part of the Perkins Leadership Cohort as well as a member of the Grassroots floor, I have been paying close attention to the recent announcement of the merger of Perkins and Grassroots. Last week, there was a story in Chimes highlighting the Perkins and Grassroots merger. I want to further explain my beliefs on the merger and clarify my thoughts in hopes to demonstrate my love for both programs and highlight the importance of actions being taken to enhance the potential of the organizational merger, especially with the presence of COVID-19.

In order to explain why the merger is a good decision, I need to discuss the background of both communities. Both Grassroots’ and the Perkins Fellowship’s main goal is to work to inspire change and racial reconciliation and social justice not only here at Calvin University, or even all of Grand Rapids, but across America and beyond. I think that this merger can help strengthen the programs as COVID has hurt them in recent years.

The John M. Perkins Fellowship is based on the works of legendary civil rights activist and renowned author Dr. John M. Perkins. With Perkins, we all have to take a class that highlights the ways Dr. Perkins dealt with racism and the advice he gives on how to deal with the issue in a Christian way.

As a Perkins Fellow, I have gained a sense of community and belonging with my peers who are also passionate about dealing with the issue of racial injustice in our world. For the past two years, though, we haven’t been able to do activities and trips that we would normally do as a program. A lot of that has been attributed to the fact that COVID-19 is still very prevalent. Because of the pandemic’s impact on Perkins, our programming has slowed, making it hard for Perkins to function as it normally does. 

Grassroots, like Perkins, is primarily focused on bringing about racial reform to communities and does so by doing the same things Perkins does. Grassroots has a very active Instagram and tries to always use the platform to reach any and every one about issues, primarily racial issues, that plague society. (You can follow Grassroots on Instagram @Calvingrassroots.) Due to the pandemic, however, Grassroots has also been in a standstill as of late.

I want to see both Perkins and Grassroots come together and act out further the things we have learned. Our hope is that both Perkins and Grassroots can become more hands-on and go out to these communities that desperately need us. Our hope is that as we can I hope as COVID-19 winds down and vaccinations and other types of medicines become more readily available, we can go back out into these communities and carry out or reenact what we learned to bring about racial reform to these places that need it.

Because of the extreme situation with COVID-19, Perkins has not been able to have a normal experience, which has been hard for its members, as it has been for Grassroots. Moving forward, I am hopeful to see how the merger plays out and to see us getting back to doing the amazing things we normally do in the aspect of advocating for racial reconciliation and social justice in our society by going back out into these places that need it and doing those things.