SPRINGFIELD — The Rev. Terrlyn Curry Avery is the pastor at Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church. She has advanced degrees including a doctorate from Hofstra University and is interim executive director of the Healing Racism Institute.

Even with those accomplishments, Curry Avery, who is Black, told The Republican she is still judged, not by her credentials but by the color of her skin.

“I was going to my (white, female) doctor and talking about some of my health concerns, and when I tried to talk about race, her response was, ‘I don’t get into that political stuff.’ My doctor could not understand how race impacts an individual’s life, how race contributes to stress,’” Curry Avery said.

The Springfield pastor also said when she tried to get some work done on her house, the white, female project consultant asked if Curry Avery owned the home.

“It’s a pretty presumptuous question to just assume that I don’t own my house. Those are the things people of color have to deal with all the time,” said the pastor, who also saw her church nearly burned to the ground, the result of a hate crime in 2020.