Number Thirteen – December 2010
I begin writing this blog on the evening of December 20, 2010. While sitting here hundreds of people are gathering at the Guilliard Auditorium in Charleston, South Carolina proudly celebrating their past. This $100.00 plate banquet and ball is the 150th year celebration of South Carolina’s secession from the United States on December 24, 1861.
The Secession Ball is organized by the Confederate Heritage Trust and sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The gala is a gathering of people dressed in modern cocktail attire or 1860 period clothing. This is the birthplace of Dixie and folks gather to remember it and to “be part of it.”
This 150th anniversary of the four year conflict of the Civil War begins in the former slave port of Charleston with a joyous night of music, dancing, food and drink. Similar celebrations will be replicated in other Southern cities. These secession events are among hundreds, if not thousands, that will unfold over the next four years in honor of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. A parade is planned for Montgomery, Alabama along with a mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy. At the site in Maryland of the Battle of Antietam, a solemn memorial will feature 23,000 candles representing the battle’s casualties. Sons of Confederate Veterans are preparing television commercials with planned showings in 2011. “All we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves,” claims one ad from the Georgia division.
These events focus on the issue of states’ rights which was the key claim made by Southern States justifying the Civil War. Michael Givens, commander-in-chief of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans says: “We in the South, who have been kicked around for an awfully long time and are accused of being racists, we would just like the truth to be known.” And though there were many causes of the Civil War, “Our people were only fighting to protect themselves from an invasion and for their independence.”
Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina NAACP, is dumbfounded by “all this glamorization and sanitation of what really happened. When Southerners refer to states’ rights,” he said, “they are really talking about the idea of one’s right to buy and sell human beings.”
Though slavery is underplayed or ignored by those planning these Sesquicentennial celebrations, it is, nevertheless, clearly articulated in the Confederate States of America Declaration of the Immediate Cause Which Induce and Justify Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union (Adopted December 24, 1860):
…they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of other citizens of other states. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; ….
…A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinion and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with administration of the common government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,” and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.
To make the importance of the slave issue stronger it should be remembered that Secessionists accused Northerners of disobeying constitutionally enacted laws: specifically the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law was a Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave holding interests and Northern Free Soilers. It led abolitionists to fear a “slave power conspiracy.” It gave Southern slave owners the right to seek and capture and return to the South runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act gave suspected slaves no recourse to the Northern courts which meant many free Blacks were kidnapped and forced illegally into slavery. It even required Northern law enforcement officials to participate in capturing and returning such “fugitives.” Abolitionist, of course, objected to these actions and sought to protect runaway slaves and provided passage to Canada for many of them.
At a press conference before the ball, Randy Burbage, Vice President of the Confederate heritage Trust, said the ball was held to honor Confederate soldiers and recognize the historic act that happened in Charleston 150 years ago. “It’s an educational and a historical presentation and that is all. It is not a celebration of slavery or anything of the sort, that’s never been our intention.”
The issue of slavery is what led to secession of the Confederate States and to the Civil War. Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of Secession reopens the deep sores of slavery and racism. Not telling the whole story of slavery and its degrading brutal treatment of Blacks in the South makes these events mischaracterizations of historical events. They are whitewashed lies.
What do you think? Let us hear from you.
Don Coleman – December 2010
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Sources:
Austin American-Statesman, Saturday, December 4, 2010. p. A3. “Civil War anniversary events highlight lingering divisions” by Katharine Q. Seelye
The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. “Confederate States of America – Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.”
WCIV – TV (abcnews4.com) – Charleston. Report by Jon Bruce.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
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Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism Team:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Jerry Bennett-Barker, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Teresa Dulyea-Parker, Martha Herrin, Carol Josefowski, Delre Smith, Lelia Ward
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Annotated Bibliography – Compiled by Ann Marie and Don Coleman
Number Twelve – November 2010
This bibliography was a handout at the Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism booth at the 2010 Regional Assembly. Putting it in blog form makes it more available to more people and it allows you to share what you’ve been reading and resources with which you are familiar. Please add your comments to this blog.
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Hobgood, Chris. 2009. BORN APART, BECOMING ONE: DISCIPLES DEFEATING RACISM. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.
Five tenants of Christianity and their articulation within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition are discussed. Hobgood proposes a sixth: dismantling Racism in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This Pro/Reconciliation/Anti-Racism agenda of the denomination is embedded within (incarnated within) the five basic beliefs of the Christian tradition.
Jha, Sandhya Rani. 2009. ROOM AT THE TABLE: STRUGGLES FOR UNITY AND EQUALITY IN DISCIPLE HISTORY. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.
This small, but information packed book, surveys Disciples’ history in relation to the “others” (Blacks, Native Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Haitians and Mexicans). Sharing the Good News of Christ with immigrants has often included making them loyal US citizens and seems to make patriotism more important than serving within the reign of God. The struggle for unity continues and equality within the church is not to be taken for granted.
Ministry of Reconciliation (ed.). 2009. FROM BELOVED COMMUNITY TO COMMUNITY OF HOPE. Indianapolis, IN: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
A small group guide for engaging in a time “of hope and change.” These seven sermons were put together to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. 80th birthday and the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
--
Lee, Nelle Harper.1960. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
If you haven’t read this celebrated Pulitzer Prize winning novel then put everything else aside and READ IT. This book was published 50 years ago and is still relevant in its portrayal of the debilitating effects of Racism on people’s lives and the life of a community.
Nevergold, Barbar A. Seals and Peggy Brooks-Betram. 2009. GO TELL MICHELLE: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITE TO THE NEW FIRST LADY. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
This collection of letters and poems will bring tears to your eyes as Black women of all walks of life share their joy and dreams for new opportunities as the first Black family moves into the White House. Older women never thought they’d see this day and younger women articulate dreams of new opportunities for themselves and their children.
Stockett, Kathryn. 2009. THE HELP. New York, NY: Penguin
Twenty-two year old Eugenia Skeeter Phelan has just returned home to Jackson, Mississippi after graduating from Ole Miss. She dreams of becoming a writer but needs a project. She gains the trust of her parent’s maid Abilean, and through Abilean the trust of other Black servants. Skeeter collects the stories of the Help serving the wealthy of Jackson and writes about their lives. This is a deeply moving novel about the social circles we live within, and the ones we find courage to cross.
--
Alexander, Michelle. 2010. THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS. New York, NY: The New York Press.
Studies show that drug crime rates are remarkably similar between men of various ethnic groups but black and brown offenders have been imprisoned at rates twenty to fifty times greater than the rates for white men. This is no accident or coincidence. It is a racist form of channeling black men into prison in order to remove them from a white dominated and controlling society. It is similar to the intent and practice of imprisoning and creating prison work gangs of black men during the Reconstruction days after the Civil War.
Ayers, Bill and Bernardine Dohrn. 2009. RACE COURSE: AGAINST WHITE SUPREMECY. Chicago, Illinois: Third World Press.
Over a dinner conversation Haki R. Madhubuti, founder and publisher of Third World Press, invites Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers to write about their life’s struggles against Racism. The idea for the book RACE COURSE was born. It is Bernardine and Bill’s journey, as a white couple, overcoming their personal racism and articulating their understanding that White Supremacy is “state terrorism.” In each chapter one learns about their personal struggles and is challenged by their analysis of systemic Racism.
Drey, Phillip. 1996. AT THE HANDS OF PERSONS UNKNOWN: THE LYNCHING OF BLACK AMERICANS. New York, NY: Random House.
Terrorism is the act of intimidating and immobilizing a certain group of people by acts of intimidation, violence and murder. Drey describes the lynching of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people by white community leaders as their efforts to control by fear Black citizens in the United States.
Guskin, Jane and David L. Wilson. THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION: QUESTION AND ANSWERS. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.
False information abounds regarding immigrants and immigration policies. This book addresses the most frequently asked questions with facts and in a format that is easy to find wanted/needed information.
Wright, Jeremiah A. 1993. WHAT MAKES YOU STRONG? SERMONS OF JOY AND STRENGTH FROM JEREMIAH A.WRIGHT. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.
A sermon quoted extensively in the news, during his campaign for the presidency, led to a break in relationships between Barrack Obama and his pastor and Trinity United Church of Christ. This book provides opportunities to read, in his own words, the Gospel of God’s love as preached by Pastor Wright.
Members of the Team have found these books helpful and challenging. We also know that you may have some books or resources that are important to you. Please share them with us.
--
Team Members:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Jerry Bennett-Barker, Britany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Teresa Dulyea-Parker, Martha Herrin, Carol Josefowski, Delre Smith, Leila Ward
This bibliography was a handout at the Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism booth at the 2010 Regional Assembly. Putting it in blog form makes it more available to more people and it allows you to share what you’ve been reading and resources with which you are familiar. Please add your comments to this blog.
---
Hobgood, Chris. 2009. BORN APART, BECOMING ONE: DISCIPLES DEFEATING RACISM. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.
Five tenants of Christianity and their articulation within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition are discussed. Hobgood proposes a sixth: dismantling Racism in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This Pro/Reconciliation/Anti-Racism agenda of the denomination is embedded within (incarnated within) the five basic beliefs of the Christian tradition.
Jha, Sandhya Rani. 2009. ROOM AT THE TABLE: STRUGGLES FOR UNITY AND EQUALITY IN DISCIPLE HISTORY. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.
This small, but information packed book, surveys Disciples’ history in relation to the “others” (Blacks, Native Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Haitians and Mexicans). Sharing the Good News of Christ with immigrants has often included making them loyal US citizens and seems to make patriotism more important than serving within the reign of God. The struggle for unity continues and equality within the church is not to be taken for granted.
Ministry of Reconciliation (ed.). 2009. FROM BELOVED COMMUNITY TO COMMUNITY OF HOPE. Indianapolis, IN: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
A small group guide for engaging in a time “of hope and change.” These seven sermons were put together to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. 80th birthday and the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
--
Lee, Nelle Harper.1960. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
If you haven’t read this celebrated Pulitzer Prize winning novel then put everything else aside and READ IT. This book was published 50 years ago and is still relevant in its portrayal of the debilitating effects of Racism on people’s lives and the life of a community.
Nevergold, Barbar A. Seals and Peggy Brooks-Betram. 2009. GO TELL MICHELLE: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITE TO THE NEW FIRST LADY. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
This collection of letters and poems will bring tears to your eyes as Black women of all walks of life share their joy and dreams for new opportunities as the first Black family moves into the White House. Older women never thought they’d see this day and younger women articulate dreams of new opportunities for themselves and their children.
Stockett, Kathryn. 2009. THE HELP. New York, NY: Penguin
Twenty-two year old Eugenia Skeeter Phelan has just returned home to Jackson, Mississippi after graduating from Ole Miss. She dreams of becoming a writer but needs a project. She gains the trust of her parent’s maid Abilean, and through Abilean the trust of other Black servants. Skeeter collects the stories of the Help serving the wealthy of Jackson and writes about their lives. This is a deeply moving novel about the social circles we live within, and the ones we find courage to cross.
--
Alexander, Michelle. 2010. THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS. New York, NY: The New York Press.
Studies show that drug crime rates are remarkably similar between men of various ethnic groups but black and brown offenders have been imprisoned at rates twenty to fifty times greater than the rates for white men. This is no accident or coincidence. It is a racist form of channeling black men into prison in order to remove them from a white dominated and controlling society. It is similar to the intent and practice of imprisoning and creating prison work gangs of black men during the Reconstruction days after the Civil War.
Ayers, Bill and Bernardine Dohrn. 2009. RACE COURSE: AGAINST WHITE SUPREMECY. Chicago, Illinois: Third World Press.
Over a dinner conversation Haki R. Madhubuti, founder and publisher of Third World Press, invites Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers to write about their life’s struggles against Racism. The idea for the book RACE COURSE was born. It is Bernardine and Bill’s journey, as a white couple, overcoming their personal racism and articulating their understanding that White Supremacy is “state terrorism.” In each chapter one learns about their personal struggles and is challenged by their analysis of systemic Racism.
Drey, Phillip. 1996. AT THE HANDS OF PERSONS UNKNOWN: THE LYNCHING OF BLACK AMERICANS. New York, NY: Random House.
Terrorism is the act of intimidating and immobilizing a certain group of people by acts of intimidation, violence and murder. Drey describes the lynching of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people by white community leaders as their efforts to control by fear Black citizens in the United States.
Guskin, Jane and David L. Wilson. THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION: QUESTION AND ANSWERS. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.
False information abounds regarding immigrants and immigration policies. This book addresses the most frequently asked questions with facts and in a format that is easy to find wanted/needed information.
Wright, Jeremiah A. 1993. WHAT MAKES YOU STRONG? SERMONS OF JOY AND STRENGTH FROM JEREMIAH A.WRIGHT. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.
A sermon quoted extensively in the news, during his campaign for the presidency, led to a break in relationships between Barrack Obama and his pastor and Trinity United Church of Christ. This book provides opportunities to read, in his own words, the Gospel of God’s love as preached by Pastor Wright.
Members of the Team have found these books helpful and challenging. We also know that you may have some books or resources that are important to you. Please share them with us.
--
Team Members:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Jerry Bennett-Barker, Britany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Teresa Dulyea-Parker, Martha Herrin, Carol Josefowski, Delre Smith, Leila Ward
SEEING FROM THE BLIND SIDE
Number 11 – March 2010
The Academy Award nominations for Best Movie for 2009 included three films dealing with teenagers coming of age: An Education, Precious and The Blind Side. All three are excellent movies each receiving numerous nominations and awards. Two of these films have themes dealing with race and poverty – especially with race and poverty as an aspect of growing up.
Sandra Bullock received the Best Actress Award for her role as Leigh Anne Touy in The Blind Side – perhaps her best ever performance. It is a film, based on the book THE BLIND SIDE: EVOLUTION OF A GAME by Michael Lewis, about the real life story of Michael Oher.
The movie follows a young Black teenager who escapes the slums of impoverishment and drugs. He receives help from people he hardly knows and, even with failing grades and an incomplete transcript, enters Wingate Christian Academy (the fictional substitute for Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee). He is a large kid who struggles to play football and at left tackle learns to protect the “blind side” of the quarterback.
The name of the movie comes from this image. Protecting the blind side of the quarterback is a parable for those who protect Michael’s blind side as he struggles to maturity.
“Big Mike,” as he’s called, is a Black student in an all white school. His situation is described as “a single fly floating in a large bowl of milk.” Michael is tempted to return to his former drug dealing and drug consuming friends, gets discouraged about not being able to understand academic lessons and is slow learning the concept of the game of football. But through out this journey Michael’s blind side is protected by Leigh Anne and the Touy family.
Michael graduates from high school, is sought after by university coaches from all over the country, chooses to go to Mississippi State (the school of his acting parents), earns recognition as an All American and enters the pros drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and becomes a football legend.
The Blind Side is a movie doing very well at the box office. Reviews are generally positive and it is considered one of the best movies of 2009. However, criticisms of the movie have come from leaders in the Black community and from some film critics. Criticisms are not concerned about the technical aspect of the production: acting and filming and staging. The concern: a film portraying a white family rescuing a Black boy is condescending and self-serving for the white community. One of the commentators on The View (March 7th), an early morning television talk show on CBS, has one of commentators say that the impression the movie left with her is that poverty and race can be solved by the largess of some wealthy, white, liberal family. The movie doesn’t address the systemic problems of poverty and race and leaves such matters in the hands and hearts of a few well meaning individuals.
Barbara Walters, in rebuttal, comments that it is a story of one life and one family not a documentary on the social ills of a community. Other critics suggest that the movie would have been very different had a Black family taken in a white youngster and protected his/her blind side. AND, they add, this is exactly what Black families have been doing for decades without public recognition and accolades.
These critiques are, of course, on point and should be taken very seriously. But those of us who are white might learn some life enhancing lessons.
We can learn that our fears of teenagers of color are out of proportion. Though menacing looking on street corners most youngsters gather with friends for no intended harm. Many youth of color, like their white counterparts, are looking for chances and opportunities to grow up in a secure neighborhood and we may be precisely the ones available to protect their blind side. Our fear or indifference deprives them of the support we could offer. There are many who can benefit from our interest but by not being available to them we rob ourselves of the joy and fulfillment such opportunities offer. It is, of course, important to discriminate between charity and support that encourages youth opportunities for growth and self-reliance.
Secondly, we see mirrored in the movie people like us for whom race is a barrier dividing category. Leigh Anne Touy’s luncheon with women friends exuded racism as they chided her for her humanitarian project – her public welfare activities relating to “big Mike.” The admission’s committee questioned whether “big Mike” should be admitted to Wingate Christian Academy because of his low grades. Racial overtones were reflected in their comments that “he’s not like us.” All of us could certainly benefit from a self-examination that would reveal how we participate in a culture of systemic racism.
And third, Barbara Walters’ comment is on point: it is not a documentary, and indeed, it is a story of one family and its support that is responsible for one young man becoming a successful professional football player – even a hero. But we dare not ignore the power of artistic images used to create or maintain cultural stereotypes. Studies have shown our biases are formed and are continually reinforced by the cultures within which we live.
Dr. Gina Miranda Samuels has published one such study. In her article “Building Kinship and Community: Relational Process of Bicultural Identity Among Adult Multiracial Adoptees,” in the March 2010 issue of FAMILY PROCESS, she shares the results of research focused on transracial adoptees and foster youth. Dr. Samuels is herself a biracial adoptee and writes from both her research and personal experience.
She points out that Black children adopted by white parents struggle to understand themselves as members of two distinct cultures. Black children being raised by white parents are included in the white community through participation in their adopting families learning all its values, mores and life styles. They also suffer the experiences of racism suffered by Blacks of their same age but without the community supports to help them deal with such systemic assaults on their personhood. Besides this their peers of color find it hard to relate to them because they sound white, act white and simply have little in common with other youth of color.
Is it fair to say that “The Blind Side” as a movie and a piece of cultural art does not deal adequately with this “blind side” of Big Mike’s (Michael Oher) growing up experiences?
So the question to ask: Does this movie, as a piece of public art, challenge old destructive stereotypes or does it reinforce them by making us whites feel good and entertained?
Films are not neutral in their power effecting public images and values.
So, what do you think? Enter into conversation with us by writing to us:
thersthatmatter.blogspot.com
The Academy Award nominations for Best Movie for 2009 included three films dealing with teenagers coming of age: An Education, Precious and The Blind Side. All three are excellent movies each receiving numerous nominations and awards. Two of these films have themes dealing with race and poverty – especially with race and poverty as an aspect of growing up.
Sandra Bullock received the Best Actress Award for her role as Leigh Anne Touy in The Blind Side – perhaps her best ever performance. It is a film, based on the book THE BLIND SIDE: EVOLUTION OF A GAME by Michael Lewis, about the real life story of Michael Oher.
The movie follows a young Black teenager who escapes the slums of impoverishment and drugs. He receives help from people he hardly knows and, even with failing grades and an incomplete transcript, enters Wingate Christian Academy (the fictional substitute for Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee). He is a large kid who struggles to play football and at left tackle learns to protect the “blind side” of the quarterback.
The name of the movie comes from this image. Protecting the blind side of the quarterback is a parable for those who protect Michael’s blind side as he struggles to maturity.
“Big Mike,” as he’s called, is a Black student in an all white school. His situation is described as “a single fly floating in a large bowl of milk.” Michael is tempted to return to his former drug dealing and drug consuming friends, gets discouraged about not being able to understand academic lessons and is slow learning the concept of the game of football. But through out this journey Michael’s blind side is protected by Leigh Anne and the Touy family.
Michael graduates from high school, is sought after by university coaches from all over the country, chooses to go to Mississippi State (the school of his acting parents), earns recognition as an All American and enters the pros drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and becomes a football legend.
The Blind Side is a movie doing very well at the box office. Reviews are generally positive and it is considered one of the best movies of 2009. However, criticisms of the movie have come from leaders in the Black community and from some film critics. Criticisms are not concerned about the technical aspect of the production: acting and filming and staging. The concern: a film portraying a white family rescuing a Black boy is condescending and self-serving for the white community. One of the commentators on The View (March 7th), an early morning television talk show on CBS, has one of commentators say that the impression the movie left with her is that poverty and race can be solved by the largess of some wealthy, white, liberal family. The movie doesn’t address the systemic problems of poverty and race and leaves such matters in the hands and hearts of a few well meaning individuals.
Barbara Walters, in rebuttal, comments that it is a story of one life and one family not a documentary on the social ills of a community. Other critics suggest that the movie would have been very different had a Black family taken in a white youngster and protected his/her blind side. AND, they add, this is exactly what Black families have been doing for decades without public recognition and accolades.
These critiques are, of course, on point and should be taken very seriously. But those of us who are white might learn some life enhancing lessons.
We can learn that our fears of teenagers of color are out of proportion. Though menacing looking on street corners most youngsters gather with friends for no intended harm. Many youth of color, like their white counterparts, are looking for chances and opportunities to grow up in a secure neighborhood and we may be precisely the ones available to protect their blind side. Our fear or indifference deprives them of the support we could offer. There are many who can benefit from our interest but by not being available to them we rob ourselves of the joy and fulfillment such opportunities offer. It is, of course, important to discriminate between charity and support that encourages youth opportunities for growth and self-reliance.
Secondly, we see mirrored in the movie people like us for whom race is a barrier dividing category. Leigh Anne Touy’s luncheon with women friends exuded racism as they chided her for her humanitarian project – her public welfare activities relating to “big Mike.” The admission’s committee questioned whether “big Mike” should be admitted to Wingate Christian Academy because of his low grades. Racial overtones were reflected in their comments that “he’s not like us.” All of us could certainly benefit from a self-examination that would reveal how we participate in a culture of systemic racism.
And third, Barbara Walters’ comment is on point: it is not a documentary, and indeed, it is a story of one family and its support that is responsible for one young man becoming a successful professional football player – even a hero. But we dare not ignore the power of artistic images used to create or maintain cultural stereotypes. Studies have shown our biases are formed and are continually reinforced by the cultures within which we live.
Dr. Gina Miranda Samuels has published one such study. In her article “Building Kinship and Community: Relational Process of Bicultural Identity Among Adult Multiracial Adoptees,” in the March 2010 issue of FAMILY PROCESS, she shares the results of research focused on transracial adoptees and foster youth. Dr. Samuels is herself a biracial adoptee and writes from both her research and personal experience.
She points out that Black children adopted by white parents struggle to understand themselves as members of two distinct cultures. Black children being raised by white parents are included in the white community through participation in their adopting families learning all its values, mores and life styles. They also suffer the experiences of racism suffered by Blacks of their same age but without the community supports to help them deal with such systemic assaults on their personhood. Besides this their peers of color find it hard to relate to them because they sound white, act white and simply have little in common with other youth of color.
Is it fair to say that “The Blind Side” as a movie and a piece of cultural art does not deal adequately with this “blind side” of Big Mike’s (Michael Oher) growing up experiences?
So the question to ask: Does this movie, as a piece of public art, challenge old destructive stereotypes or does it reinforce them by making us whites feel good and entertained?
Films are not neutral in their power effecting public images and values.
So, what do you think? Enter into conversation with us by writing to us:
thersthatmatter.blogspot.com
PICTURE PERFECT??
Number 10 – March 2010
What did Jesus look like?
And why is it important?
These two questions were posed by Dr. Rodney Sadler at a lecture he delivered at McCormick Seminary, March 15, 2010. Dr. Sadler, Associate Professor of Bible at Union – Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Charlotte, asked the students: “What does Jesus look like in the pictures in your homes?”
Were they Biblical images like the description in Colossians 1:1-20? Jesus is here “…the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation…” and is declared the incarnation of God “For in him all the fullness God was pleased to dwell…” If we experience Jesus we experience God. But this is not a physical description.
Or are the images based on Revelations 1:13-15?
…one like the son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; his head white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters…
To be frank, it is a futile task to find a physical description of Jesus within the New Testament. You may remember that Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver to identify him for the Roman soldiers so they could arrest him. It seems that Jesus was not particularly physically distinguishable from other Palestinian Jewish men in the area and so someone needed to identify him – pick him out of the crowd.
As the students began answering Professor Sadler’s question it became obvious that the most recognizable image of Jesus is the Sallman’s Head of Christ. It is a picture found in many homes and most churches.
This tall fair haired portrait was created in 1924 by Warner Sallman and has been reproduced over a billion times – literally, over a billion times. It has taken over our hearts and it certainly has taken over the market.
As a Palestinian Jew, Jesus looked nothing like the Sallman’s Head of Christ. But it is the popular image and, until liberation movements growing out of the sixties, seems to have been present in congregations of people of color.
Different groups have rejected the image of the white Jesus. Black Americans have created black images of Jesus; women have produced female images of their savior; Latinos and Latinas in Latin America and the United States create their own images; as have Asians and Africans.
Jesus has been “ethnicized” so that different folks can identify with a savior “incarnated” into the particularities of their cultural context. It gives folks a sense of being “created in the image of God” that a white Jesus does not provide. Oppressed people find it helpful to image a God who understands their pain and shares their hopes.
Sallman’s Head of Christ has been an impediment to the faith journeys of many non-white Christians.
So these questions “What does Jesus look like?” and “Why does it matter?” turn out to be significant for people of color.
But these are important questions for white Christians as well. It is interesting to note that we can identify and label paintings and sculptors of a black Jesus, a female savior, or Latin, Asian, and African Jesus’ images. And we know that the historical Jesus did not look like any of these images.
But with the Sallman’s Head of Christ we simply see the picture and use it for our advantage. We don’t say: It’s a Western Christ, or an American Christ, or a white Christ even though these adjectives are true and accurate descriptive terms. The fact that we use no adjectives, while describing with modifiers other cultural images, means we see it as the norm. White becomes the norm that dominates and upstages all religious images of Jesus for the Western Church.
This is a problem for American churches. Jesus was a Palestinian Jew who looked like the people with whom we are at war. He lived in the Mediterranean area, walking from place to place, feeding the hungry, curing the sick, relating to people on the margins of society, challenging the Pharisees and eventually executed on a cross for treason against the Roman Empire. The Sallman’s Head of Christ captures none of these very important New Testament roles describing Jesus.
The Sallman’s Head of Christ takes Jesus out of his historical context. It is a way of creating Jesus (the Christ) as our image with our white cultural biases. Is this, perhaps, a form of idolatry that comforts us as privileged white Christians who pushes out of bounds the prophetic cultural challenges of the New Testament Jesus?
The “culturalizing” of Jesus allow us to reinforce the values of our society without holding our images of Jesus up for scrutiny. If Jesus was not culturalized as a German in the 1940s, could the holocaust have taken place? If Jesus had not been culturalized in the Sallmans’ Head of Christ in the South during the 1940s could lynching have occurred at the vicious level it did with its religious sanctions?
Images we use to depict the divine shape what we do and what we hold valuable and, often justifies much evil. The two questions Dr. Sadler posed are significant for whites and people of color.
When asked at the end of his lecture about what images (icons) of Jesus he would recommend for churches, Dr. Sadler suggested we do away with all images (graven) of Jesus. Jews and Muslims do not use pictorial images in their religious practices because of their belief in the radical holiness of God.
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What did Jesus look like?
And why is it important?
These two questions were posed by Dr. Rodney Sadler at a lecture he delivered at McCormick Seminary, March 15, 2010. Dr. Sadler, Associate Professor of Bible at Union – Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Charlotte, asked the students: “What does Jesus look like in the pictures in your homes?”
Were they Biblical images like the description in Colossians 1:1-20? Jesus is here “…the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation…” and is declared the incarnation of God “For in him all the fullness God was pleased to dwell…” If we experience Jesus we experience God. But this is not a physical description.
Or are the images based on Revelations 1:13-15?
…one like the son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; his head white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters…
To be frank, it is a futile task to find a physical description of Jesus within the New Testament. You may remember that Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver to identify him for the Roman soldiers so they could arrest him. It seems that Jesus was not particularly physically distinguishable from other Palestinian Jewish men in the area and so someone needed to identify him – pick him out of the crowd.
As the students began answering Professor Sadler’s question it became obvious that the most recognizable image of Jesus is the Sallman’s Head of Christ. It is a picture found in many homes and most churches.
This tall fair haired portrait was created in 1924 by Warner Sallman and has been reproduced over a billion times – literally, over a billion times. It has taken over our hearts and it certainly has taken over the market.
As a Palestinian Jew, Jesus looked nothing like the Sallman’s Head of Christ. But it is the popular image and, until liberation movements growing out of the sixties, seems to have been present in congregations of people of color.
Different groups have rejected the image of the white Jesus. Black Americans have created black images of Jesus; women have produced female images of their savior; Latinos and Latinas in Latin America and the United States create their own images; as have Asians and Africans.
Jesus has been “ethnicized” so that different folks can identify with a savior “incarnated” into the particularities of their cultural context. It gives folks a sense of being “created in the image of God” that a white Jesus does not provide. Oppressed people find it helpful to image a God who understands their pain and shares their hopes.
Sallman’s Head of Christ has been an impediment to the faith journeys of many non-white Christians.
So these questions “What does Jesus look like?” and “Why does it matter?” turn out to be significant for people of color.
But these are important questions for white Christians as well. It is interesting to note that we can identify and label paintings and sculptors of a black Jesus, a female savior, or Latin, Asian, and African Jesus’ images. And we know that the historical Jesus did not look like any of these images.
But with the Sallman’s Head of Christ we simply see the picture and use it for our advantage. We don’t say: It’s a Western Christ, or an American Christ, or a white Christ even though these adjectives are true and accurate descriptive terms. The fact that we use no adjectives, while describing with modifiers other cultural images, means we see it as the norm. White becomes the norm that dominates and upstages all religious images of Jesus for the Western Church.
This is a problem for American churches. Jesus was a Palestinian Jew who looked like the people with whom we are at war. He lived in the Mediterranean area, walking from place to place, feeding the hungry, curing the sick, relating to people on the margins of society, challenging the Pharisees and eventually executed on a cross for treason against the Roman Empire. The Sallman’s Head of Christ captures none of these very important New Testament roles describing Jesus.
The Sallman’s Head of Christ takes Jesus out of his historical context. It is a way of creating Jesus (the Christ) as our image with our white cultural biases. Is this, perhaps, a form of idolatry that comforts us as privileged white Christians who pushes out of bounds the prophetic cultural challenges of the New Testament Jesus?
The “culturalizing” of Jesus allow us to reinforce the values of our society without holding our images of Jesus up for scrutiny. If Jesus was not culturalized as a German in the 1940s, could the holocaust have taken place? If Jesus had not been culturalized in the Sallmans’ Head of Christ in the South during the 1940s could lynching have occurred at the vicious level it did with its religious sanctions?
Images we use to depict the divine shape what we do and what we hold valuable and, often justifies much evil. The two questions Dr. Sadler posed are significant for whites and people of color.
When asked at the end of his lecture about what images (icons) of Jesus he would recommend for churches, Dr. Sadler suggested we do away with all images (graven) of Jesus. Jews and Muslims do not use pictorial images in their religious practices because of their belief in the radical holiness of God.
--
What do you think? Join in conversation with us by writing to:
thersthatmatter.blogspot.com
--
TEAM MEMBERS:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, and Leila Ward
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