Church
Indiana Church That Stood Up to
the Klan Now Needs Help
By Ivy Farguheson
The Star Press
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — On a hot summer
night in 1930, Shaffer American Methodist
Episcopal Church in Whitely became a part
of 20th century American history.
Without financial help, however, the
building and only historical site in the city’s
neighborhood, will crumble before resi-
dents’ eyes, leaving only the stories of its
members’ bravery behind.
``This is an important site not only for
African-Americans, but for all of Muncie,’’
said Cornelius Dollison, who married his
wife, Mary, in Shaffer 51 years ago. ``We’re
raising money not just to improve the
church, but to improve a piece of history
and the last piece of history from a horrible
event. We don’t want people to forget what
happened.’’
fought back when the Klan was powerful.
What those people did was an inspiration.’’
These days, the Shaffer congregation is
smaller and older, but members are still
strong in their faith for God and civil rights.
Unfortunately, the building doesn’t carry
the same strength.
With broken stairs, cracks in the facade,
uneven landscaping and an old historical
marker, Whitely residents and members of
its neighborhood association are calling on
Munsonians to donate to the Shaffer Chapel
fund.
The Whitely Community Council has
long made it their goal to beautify the
neighborhood. Bringing pride and glory
back to the chapel is a key feature, members
said.
With the help of 20 Ball State University
elementary education students, the neigh-
borhood association will create fundraisers
for the chapel.
``We think it’ll be an amazing
opportunity for our students to
work alongside members of a com-
munity in a project like this,’’ said
Eva Zygmunt, an associate profes-
sor in elementary education leading
the student component of the
fundraisers. ``When they enter
their (future) classrooms and com-
munities, they will understand how
important it is to engage in communities
where they teach ... learn more about where
the students live.’’
The council, which now has tax-exempt
status as a nonprofit, hopes to raise $50,000
to fix the broken stairs and improve the
landscaping on the Shaffer site. Members
also plan to build a ramp for the church to
make it accessible for its older population.
The major building improvement will be
the creation of a larger marker to denote the
role Shaffer members played in providing
two men with what Whitely residents called
``a respectable burial.’’
The Klan was outnumbered by prayerful
black residents in the summer of 1930, at
least for one night.
And the northern states never had a lynch-
ing similar to the one in Marion again.
``It’s so important for everyone to take
pride in what went on in Whitely then and
to take pride in the neighborhood now,’’
said Mary Dollison. ``This is a historical
site for the city and we’ve taken it on as a
project. ... With the community’s help, we’ll
be able to create a site we can all be proud
of, a site we can remember.’’
Billie Holiday’s song ‘Strange
Fruit,’ along with the poem
of the same name, were
written in response to the
Marion lynching
On Aug 7, 1930, the last recorded lynch-
ing in a northern state took place in Marion,
Ind., after the arrest of two black men,
Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, for the
alleged rape of a white resident.
Billie Holiday’s song ``Strange Fruit,’’
along with the poem of the same name,
were written in response to the Marion
lynching.
When no one in Marion or its surrounding
towns would take the bodies and prepare
them for burial, Shaffer’s pastor J. E John-
son, also a Muncie mortician, volunteered
to embalm the bodies.
Members of the Ku Klux Klan came to
Whitely looking for the bodies -- and John-
son -- to add more terror to the situation.
Instead, they encountered a group of
black residents who held an all-night vigil at
Shaffer, eventually prompting the Klan to
leave the site and spare Johnson’s life.
``I was a little kid when all of that hap-
pened, but people always talked about it.
Even when I got older, people talked about
it,’’ Hurley Goodall, a member of Shaffer,
told The Star Press. He was also married in
the church. ``That’s what made me want to
be an activist. Knowing the community
Afifa Ahmed-Shafi,
1978-2013
F
uneral services for Afifa Ahmed-
Shafi are Wednesday, July 31,
sometime after 5:30 p.m., at Eilnan’s
Funeral Home, 915 By-Pass Highway,
Richland, WA.
A Muslim Port-
lander, born on the
Fourth of July,
A h m e d - S h a f i ’s
career and communi-
ty activism typified a
love of country and a
love of community
even when the two at
times seemed to be at
odds with each other.
Ahmed-Shafi was
Public Involvement
Best Practices Coordinator at the City
of Portland Office of Neighborhood
Involvement, and leaves behind a huge
community of friends, colleagues and
associates.
As a volunteer for KBOO Commu-
nity Radio, Ahmed-Shafi anchored the
KBOO Evening News for one night
each week for years. She was also a
founding member of the Asian Pacific
American Compass news and public
affairs collective, conducting inter-
views on issues impacting the APA
community.
The APA Compass episode marking
the U.S. assassination of Osama Bin
Laden in 2011, which featured
Ahmad-Shafi and Muna Abshir
Muhamud together with host Sarika
Mehta talking about stereotyping of
the Muslim community, was particu-
larly popular.
“ONI staff are in communication
with Afifa’s family and friends and
will share info when a memorial serv-
ice in Portland is planned,” said Brian
Hoop, ONI’s Community and Neigh-
borhood Involvement Center manager.
“Till then please keep
her family in your
thoughts.”
“Today I find my
self
having
the
incomprehensible
task of conveying
that our beloved
friend and colleague,
Afifa Ahmed-Shafi,
suddenly and unex-
pectedly passed away
last night,” Ahmed-
Shafi’s boss, ONI director Amalia
Alarcon de Morris, said in an email
circulated Monday. “While there is not
much information that is certain right
now, doctors indicate that she may
have had an undiagnosed brain tumor
that caused her death.
“Afifa’s funeral will be held on
Wednesday in the tri-cities area in
Washington. Her family welcomes all
who want to and are able to make the
trip. As soon as we get details we will
send out a follow-up email for those
who want to go.
“Afifa was a bright light in our com-
munity. Brilliant, kind, warm, with a
wonderful sense of humor. Her pas-
sion for, and commitment to, social
justice guided her life and her work.
She taught us every day and made us
better. Afifa was one of a kind and we
will forever miss her. We are devas-
tated by her loss.”
July 31, 2013
The Portland Skanner Page 5