The Rs That Matter: Race and Reconciliation

THE CONFEDERACY LIVES ON

2011-01-05T11:54:00.001-06:00

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

Annotated Bibliography – Compiled by Ann Marie and Don Coleman

2011-01-05T11:48:00.002-06:00

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.
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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.
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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.

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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

2011-01-05T11:12:00.003-06:00

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

PICTURE PERFECT??

2011-01-05T11:08:00.003-06:00

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 do you think? Join in conversation with us by writing to:
thersthatmatter.blogspot.com

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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

DARWIN, AN ABOLITIONIST

2010-02-18T22:02:00.001-06:00

Number 9 - February 2010

Dr. Michael Zimmerman, Professor of Biology at Butler University, is responsible for creating The Clergy Letter Project. The Project started in 2004 and today about 12,000 clergy have signed The Letter.

Professor Zimmerman, encouraged by both clergy and scientists, prepared a statement challenging a series of anti-evolution policies passed by the school board in Grantsburg, Wisconsin where he lived at the time. The Letter was sent on December 16, 2004 with 200 clergy signatures. The Project is now nationwide.

At stake is the misperception that science and religion are incompatible; that there is an unnecessary division and conflict especially in the teaching of evolution. Zimmerman puts it this way:
‘I wanted to let the public know that numerous clergy from most denominations have tremendous respect for evolutionary theory and have embraced it as a core component of human knowledge, fully harmonious with religious faith’.

The Clergy Letter Project sponsors an annual Evolution Weekend creating opportunities for congregations to come together “to discuss the compatibility of religion and science.” There is now a data base with scientists interested in working with clergy to answer questions regarding evolution. Pastors are encouraged to become part of this network. We hope clergy leadership in the Illinois Wisconsin Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will participate.

The reason for sharing the above information in this blog is that Charles Darwin was an abolitionist. He was born February 19, 1809 in Shrewsburg, England. This is the 201st anniversary of his birth. He and Abraham Lincoln were born within two hours of each other though on different continents. It is appropriate to mention them together during Black History Month.

Darwin was educated at Edinburgh University (1825-27) and earned a degree in theology at Cambridge. Some thought he might go into the Christian ministry but his curiosity about nature drew him into the natural sciences. Darwin was an abolitionist. Some of his critics called him “fanatical.”

Darwin was born into an active abolitionist family who worked hard to end slavery in England and in the British colonies. He married Emma Wedgewood in 1839 who was also raised in a strong anti-slavery household.

Darwinian scholars speculate that it is Darwin’s political activism in the anti-slavery movement that helped open his mind to the theory of evolution. He was a strong believer in the notion that all life is related and that there is a common humanity of the various ethic groups. The term he used was that we share a common “brotherhood.” This theme of a common humanity is grounded his evolutionary enterprise and caused great antagonism as he denied the cherished tenets of white privileged society. In some Anglican circles it was considered heresy. But the enslavement of black Africans enraged Darwin.

The bulk of Darwin’s research takes place during his five years (1831-36) voyage circumnavigating the world on the British naval ship the HMS Beagle. Darwin collected all kinds of specimens that he brought back to England. He categorized these treasures and discovered ties substantiating his work on evolution. While engaged in these efforts he developed his theory of the natural selection process. He believed that the best of species adapted to their environment. Producing new offspring they are able to adapt to weather and hardship and through sexual attraction actually change (evolve). The less strong ones die off.

But Darwin also observed the social structures and relationships of the cities and ports he visited. He notes in his journals the prevalence of slavery and the terrible mistreatment of Blacks and Indians. Adrian Desmond and James Moore, in their book DARWIN’S SACRED CAUSE, describe Darwin’s observation while traveling on the HMS Beagle:
Slavery was a brutal fact of the voyage; people were bought and sold, used and abused like beasts. His sensitivity to the whip might have stemmed from his reading of anti-slavery tracts, but here he would see its effect: he stayed in one house where a young mulatto was beaten ‘daily and hourly’, he said, ‘enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal’. And that was the point. Bestialization was implicit in the system; it was as though the whip hands were attempting to break humans the way prehistoric people had broken horses during their ‘domestication’. Then again, American slave-masters were said to have no more fear of ‘rebellion amongst their full-blooded slaves than they do of rebellion amongst their cows and horses. That was because the tranquility of Negroes in their approach to civilization resembled the content of domestic animals.’ In the ‘breaking’ of animals originated the yokes, leg-irons, chains, lashes and branding irons so familiar to the slave-masters: these instruments usually adorned the overseer’s walls as a permanent threat. Slaves had been reduced to childlike, cattle-like dependency, with the result that ‘Sambo’ was rendered a broken brute in the planter literature (p.89)

When he returned home, Darwin continued his battle against slavery. Much of his efforts were aimed at the United States. He fought the slavery biology and science of U.S. academics. He challenged his old friend Samuel George Morton’s who published CRANIA AMERICANA to prove that the size of heads and brains were of different sizes based on race and that Black phrenology was inferior. He took on Louis Agassiz, Robert Know, James McGrigor Allan and Karl Vogt who were defending the position that there were “multiple origins of mankind” (i.e., in a series of acts of creation at different times, God created different human species and there is no biological connection between them – an unbiblical form of Creationism). He wrote frequently to U.S. abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison. He vocalized alarm with the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision which claimed that Negroes were not citizens but property and had no rights which the white man was to respect. And he was equally concerned about the United States’ Civil War.

Darwin finally published THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES on February 23, 1871. In a sense it reflected his dream of shared evolutionary history. One of Darwin’s anti-slavery supporters spelled out the implications of this publication by stating "Many of our narrow prejudices and false theories in regard to Race – ideas which have been at the base of ancient abuses and long-established institutions of oppression – are removed".

That dream continues in the anti-Racism and pro-Reconciliation agenda of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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Desmond, Adrian and James Moore, DARWIN’S SACRED CAUSE. (United Kingdom, Penguin Group, 2009).

Google: The Clergy Letter Project – Michael Zimmerman
Or Contact Professor Zimmerman at mz@butler.edu
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Team:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Leila Ward

THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM

2010-02-18T21:41:00.000-06:00

Number 8 – January 2010

The last blog (number 7 – Evangelicalism) dealt with the reconciliation between Zondervan and the Asian American Community. Dr. Rah’s blog challenged disrespectful and racist imagery in their publication DEADLY VIPERS CHARACTER ASSASSINS: A KUNG FU SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR LIFE AND LEADERSHIP by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite. When challenged Zondervan pulled these materials out of their bookstores, cancelled additional publications, apologized for their bad taste and Racist work and required all their staff to read Dr. Soong-Chan Rah’s book THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM: FREEING THE CHURCH FROM WESTERN CULTURAL CAPTIVITY.

It seems appropriate to follow the last blog with a more detailed discussion of Dr. Rah’s ideas. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is the Milton B. Engebreson Assistant Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.

The title of the book THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM: FREEING THE CHURCH FROM WESTERN CULTURAL CAPTIVITY clearly states Rah’s main thesis: the Church, and therefore our understanding of evangelism, is held captive by Western culture – especially white Western culture.

Perhaps, the most challenging statement Dr. Rah makes is a quote he shares from a speech he gave about the missionary and evangelistic work of the church. He addressed students and faculty at Wheaton College by saying if you “have never had a non-white mentor, then you are not a missionary. You are colonist. Instead of taking the Gospel to the world you will take an Americanized version of the Gospel.” (p.162)

Rah is an Evangelical Christian from the Third World (Korea) and he is critical of the arrogant sense of superiority the Western church flaunts in its evangelistic efforts. He is, of course, primarily addressing his own evangelical colleagues but maybe we can learn from him.

His comments may not apply to the Board of Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. The aim of our global ministries is to be a critical presence in the places where we work. Missionaries are sent to be teachers in schools, to be doctors and nurses healing the sick, to be builders of needed construction, to be trainers of required skills and to be community organizers who share insights on organizing for the common good. The task is not to convert others but to enable others to care for their own physical well being and to create functioning communities.

As we seek to build Disciple churches, we may or may not share a particular evangelical approach. It is true that many of our new church starts are congregations of people of color who are bringing new vitality and the life giving power of the Holy Spirit into the life of the denomination. But there are also many stagnant and dying churches unwilling to change and unable to open themselves up to the rich experiences of being inclusive, multicultural congregations. It is to the many of us in this category that might pay special attention to Dr. Rah’s challenges.

Rah articulates three major aspects of Western captivity of the Christian church: Individualism, Consumerism and Racism.

Individualism: the American dream is that I can get ahead by my own ambition and hard work. There is a decreasing concern for the common good. This is manifested in a religious orientation that focuses on my personal relationship with God and my personal salvation. The Biblical focus on community (the Realm of God) shifts to my individual and personal religious experiences.

Consumerism: The capitalistic orientation in the West leads naturally to corporate and personal greed that has made some billionaires at the expense of the foreclosing on homes of the middle class and poor. We protect the ability of banks and insurance companies to make evermore profits while some 37 million folks can afford no insurance. Some commentators call this Affluenza, the “painful, contagious, socially transmission overload, debt, anxiety and work resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” (p.40)

In church circles this is evangelism focused on the ABCs of church success: increasing Attendance, Building larger structures, and Collecting more money. Or as Rah reports, the three Bs of church success: Building, Bucks and Butts.

Racism: Of course Racism. That’s what this blog is about and why it celebrates Soong-Chan Rah’s concerns about THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM.

Rah states several times in his book that his task as a teacher in a theological school is to lead his students to Christ. He says “…in leading a person to Christ I need to get at the heart of the matter of dealing with the power of original sin (Racism) and the process of breaking its power with the power of the blood of Jesus.” (p. 69) In this phrase Rah sets himself among many anti-Racists who define America’s original sin as Racism.

Racism manifests itself in the church today through evangelism. Denominations today are engaging in strategies of church growth and new church starts. According to Rah the basis of much such activity suggests that churches are more likely to grow when a congregation is composed of people who are comfortable with each other. In mainline Protestant churches this usually means white, middle class and relatively well educated people.

Rah declares this style of evangelism and church growth and new church starts to be Racist and to be held captive by white Western culture. It elevates the standards and norms of white Western culture above all ethnic groups and cultures and usurps God’s glorious image of diversity.

So to conclude with the challenge Rah makes at the beginning of this blog: If you have never had a non-white mentor, then you will not be an evangelist or missionary. “You will be a colonist.”

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Rah, Soong-Chan. THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM: FREEING THE CHURCH FROM WESTERN CULTURAL CAPTIVITY, Inter Varsity Press, 2009.

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Team Members:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Leila Ward.

EVANGELICALISM

2010-02-18T21:12:00.003-06:00

Number 7 – January 2010

The Grand Rapids Press (Friday, December 4, 2009) carried an interesting item that relates to our theme “The Rs That Matter: Race and Reconciliation.” Julia Bauer wrote the article “Editor: Lesson Learned – Zondervan’s New Chief Takes Racial Misstep to Heart.”

Zondervan published DEADLY VIPERS CHARCTER ASSASSINS: A KUNG FU SURVIVAL GIDE FOR LIFE AND LEADERSHIP by Mike Foster of Los Angeles and Jud Wilhite of Las Vegas. Stan Guidry, editor-in-chief at Zondervan, reported that the “basic message of the book is, there are lots of ways leadership and integrity can be compromised and undermined.” Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite were on circuit for two years giving sermons and lectures and teaching about leadership principles rooted in their book. They received no critical comments until North Park Theological Seminary Professor Soong-Chan Rah launched an online battle between Asian-American Christians and Zondervan.

Rah’s blog challenged DEADLY VIPERS CHARACTER ASSASSINS images for portraying Asians as buffoons and sinister enemies. Some of the most egregious offenses he lays out include:
- The video clip is extremely offensive and portrays Asians in a cartoonish manner in order to market your merchandise. Particularly offensive is the voiceover of a white person doing a faux Asian accent.
- The use of Chinese characters and Kanji in a non-sensical manner.
- The confusion and conflation of Chinese and Japanese cultures.
- The use of Asian symbols, like a Japanese garden, kimonos, samurai swords in a non-essential manner that does not honor the heritage or culture of Asians.
- You are taking a caricature of Asian culture (the martial art warriors, the ninja, etc.) and are furthering the caricature rather than engaging Asian culture in a way that honors it.
- The bottom line. You are representing a culture that you do not know very well to thousands of people. You are using another culture to make your message fun and that is offensive to those of us that are of that culture and seek to honor our culture.

The book title DEADLY VIPERS CHARACTER ASSASSINS seems to be inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Kill Bill 1 and 2.” The Deadly Vipers Assassination Squads (DVAS) are fictional Asian characters in “Kill Bill.” Bill is the manager of the assassination squads who assassinate the Bride at her wedding and her unborn fetus is cut from her womb. The movie centers on her recovery and her seeking revenge on the five deadly Asian Vipers.

Zondervan has pulled from its shelves all copies of the books and has recalled whatever copies they can get, cancelled the planned second printing and stopped all marketing efforts.

It is interesting to note that on his November 30, 2009 blog, Professor Rah congratulated Mike and Jud for launching a new improved website:”The People of the Second Chance.” The new blog continues their work on themes of leadership and integrity without the racist images of DEADLY VIPERS CHARACTER ASSASSINS.

Zondervan’s elimination of such racist materials is here applauded. The appointment of Stan Guidry to the new position Editor-in Chief emerged from the controversy. His primary task is to ensure that future publications treat ethnic groups fairly.

Even more significant is Zondevan’s mandate requiring all staff to read Professor Rah’s THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM: FREEING THE CHURCH FROM WESTERN CULTURAL CAPTIVITY.

Professor Rah is clear that he believes that “if the American church is going to be a relevant participant in the future of global Christianity, it had better recognize the church’s new multicultural reality.” Sixty percent of the world’s Christians are Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. And the American evangelical church is declining, or at least its Anglo component is. The non-Anglo American evangelical church is thriving. Rah challenges the North American Church to break free of its allegiance to Western, Eurocentric and white American mindsets. He calls for a new evangelicalism that is global, diverse and multiethnic.

George P. Wood, in his review of THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM, asks two questions in support of Rah’s thesis: “Why do we think the three B’s—buildings, bucks, and butts in the pew—are indicators of a church’s success, if its even an appropriate word for a church to use? And why do we presume that non-white culture is a mission field that needs our contributions and competence, rather than the other way around?”

THE NEXT EVANGELICALISM is worth our reading and reflection as we deal with the evangelical efforts of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Again from Professor Rah’s blog (Nov. 20, 2009):
Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite and Zondervan acted in a decisive manner yesterday. Zondervan issued a statement that boldly declared their intention to pull the book off the shelves. Their actions were courageous and bucks against business conventions but upholds theological and ecclesiological ones. They acted in the best interests of the body of Christ and for Christian witness above ego and profit…
Last night, after I heard the news, I was putting my son down for the night. I thought to myself: “There is one less expression of a stereotype and cultural insensitivity out there that you will have to deal with. There are many others, but at lest there is one less.”

Race and Reconciliation – The Rs That Matter!
What are your thoughts on this topic??
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Karon Alexander, Dwight Bailey, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Trina Ruffin, Leila Ward

RACISM TIED TO PRETERM BIRTHS

2010-02-18T21:07:00.001-06:00

Number 6 – December 2009

A recent study rates the United States 30th in the incidents of premature births in the industrialized world – behind Poland and just ahead of Slovakia. This finding was reported on NPR’s “All Things Considered “November 4, 1009.

Researchers are working to determine why premature births are a growing problem. “Preterm,” is the word often used in deliveries occurring before 37 weeks. Normal gestation ranges from 37 to 42 weeks.

Ms. Marion MacDorman, of the National Center for Health Statistics, reports one in eight births is preterm. In Ireland and Finland it is one of 18; one out of 16 in Sweden and France. In 1960 the U.S. ranked 12th in the world and now is 30th. In 2002 preterm births in the United States were 10.6 percent increasing to 12.8 by 2005.

Higher preterm rates lead to a higher rate of infant mortality. The rate of infant mortality is an indication of a countries health (or lack of health).

Amelia Gavin, assistant professor of social work at the University of Washington, studies health care disparities. She is concerned about the high rate of preterm births in the United States. Her studies also describe a significant difference between preterm births of black and white women. Her work reveals that 18.1 percent of black women had a preterm delivery as compared to 8.5 percent of white women.

Garvin speculates that the cause of this difference between black and white women is what she calls “weathering,” or accelerated decline in health due to repeated socioeconomic and political factors. She puts it this way: "What some people experience by being black takes a toll on the physiological system, and over time wear and tear that occurs across neural, neuroendocrine and immune systems as a result of chronic exposure to stressors lead to health disparities for blacks. Some of this may manifest in premature birth and low-birth weight".

Dr. Courtney Lynch, Ohio State University, confirms Gavin’s thesis. She reflects on the double rate of African-American women giving birth to preterm infants (18.1%) as compared to white women (8.5%). She concludes that the gap, even when adjusted for income, education, obesity, smoking and disease, can be explained only by one factor: “Race alone remains the distinguishing factor.” Even a black woman who is a physician and well educated has a higher risk of preterm deliveries than the least educated and poorly skilled white women.

Dr. Lynch reports people working in this field have been trying to figure out the cause for the discrepancy between black and white women in preterm deliveries. “But,” she says, “we think that it is something related to the physiologic effects of experiencing lifelong racism.”

Statistics regarding preterm birth rates are intellectually interesting. Such figures, however, should lead the church to a pastoral concern for the anguish and pain caused by preterm deliveries and the consequences of infant deaths. Family dreams are shattered. Even when the child survives, the financial and emotional struggle on families and the parents increase.

Preterm deliveries and the care for such infants create an added burden on the health care system of the nation and on families who have inadequate health care insurance.

This might add to the arguments advocating for a more universal health care policy. It certainly is consistent with the statement made through the Office of the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada: “We are for affordable, quality health care for all, and a process that gets there now rather than later.”

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Did you know that racism played such a destructive role in preterm deliveries?

Join in conversation with us by writing to our blog:thersthatmatter.blog.com
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dwight Bailey, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Trina Ruffin, Leila Ward.

RACIAL PROFILING

2010-02-18T20:40:00.003-06:00

Number 5 - November 2009

In her 2009 Legislative Report, State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (25th District), indicated that racial profiling continues to be a problem as police stop drivers for traffic violations. In 2003 the state legislature passed the Illinois Racial Profiling Law requiring police to keep track of certain information during traffic stops. The Law became effective January 1, 2004.

Credit for this legislation may be attributed to President Obama who in 2002 was a member of the Illinois General Assembly. As a state senator Barack Obama took the first steps to address the insidious problem of discriminatory law enforcement. He proposed legislation that mandated the collection of data about the race and ethnicity of every motorist stopped by Illinois police.

Officers are required to record and send data to the Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT). The information is analyzed by staff at Northwestern University. The data collected includes:

1. The name, address, gender, and the officer’s subjective determination of the race of the person stopped: Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Native American/ Alaskan Native, or Asian/Pacific Islander.
2. Alleged traffic violation that led to the stop of the motorist.
3. The make and year of the vehicle stopped.
4. The date and time of the stop.
5. The location of the stop.
6. Whether or not a search contemporaneous to the stop was conducted of the vehicle, driver, passenger, and if so whether it was with consent by other means.
7. The name and badge number of the issuing officer.

Collected data show that year after year in all parts of the State of Illinois a driver of color is more likely to be stopped for a routine traffic violation than a white driver. Just released data for the calendar year 2008 (the latest statistics available) demonstrate that African-American drivers in Illinois are 25 percent more likely to be stopped and Hispanic drivers are 10 percent more likely to be stopped than white drivers.

The data also reveals that once stopped people of color are more likely to be asked by the police for “consent” to search their vehicles. Searches are performed at the officer’s discretion; no wrong doing or suspicion of wrong doing is required. Statistics reveal that African-Americans are asked and searched twice as often as whites. Hispanics are four times as likely to be asked and searched. A consultant hired by the Illinois State Police found “no innocent explanation” for different treatment of minorities and whites.

One other significant fact found by the data actually shows that “police are more likely to find contraband in the smaller percentage of white motorists they search, compared with the higher percentage of minority motorists searched.

The government claims these searches are an important tool for law enforcement. Data again reveals that for calendar year 2007, for example, no significant amount of drugs was found in the police searches.

The data has convinced state legislators to extend the Illinois Racial Profiling Law. Governor Quinn has not addressed the biased profiling by the State Police. He has the authority to act without legislation to bar such searches.

While we honor and are thankful for those who enforce laws that make our streets and highways safe, sometimes even at the risk of their own lives, it is clear that the racism that permeates society influences the way these laws are enforced. Racial profiling subjects people of color to humiliating treatment.

The Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin might consider joining the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Operation PUSH, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and other civil rights organizations calling on State Police to cease using “consent searches.”

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What do you think? Join in conversation with us by writing to our blog: thersthatmatter.blog.com.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dwight Bailey, Chair
Karon Alexader, Britttany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Coburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Trina Ruffin, Leila Ward.

Football and “Flush Rush”

2009-11-18T17:14:00.005-06:00

Number 4 – November 2009

Even in professional football “race matters.” That’s what makes Dave Zirin’s recent blog so interesting.

Zirin is the author of A PEOPLES’ HISTORY OF SPORTS. He writes weekly about the sports world – usually from a perspective not found in regular media.

For example, on Tuesday, October 6, 2009,Rush Limbaugh made public his intention to team up with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checkette to buy the St. Louis Rams. The two men have made a bid and are in the process of completing the acquisition.

The children of former owner Georgia Frontiere own a 60 percent stake in the team and billionaire Stan Kroenke own a 40 percent stake. The Rams went 2 – 14 in the 2008 season. Forbes magazine has valued the Rams’ worth to be $913 million.

Limbaugh’s last venture into the sports world was as a NFL commentator for ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.” In that role he remarked that “Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback do well in the NFL.” Rush Limbaugh lasted about a month and resigned in a hail of controversy.

But Zirin’s account is not just a description of the potential selling and buying of the Rams, it is an informed challenge to the appropriateness of such a transaction for the National Football League.

Owners of the various football franchises must vote to affirm the sale of a team to prospective buyers. They have the power and responsibility, when circumstances warrant, to deny such actions. Zirin is a strong advocate for the NFL football team owners to veto Limbaugh’s acquisition of the Rams’ franchise.

Limbaugh is a conservative. He is one of the pundits for a very conservative political view and is considered by many to be the voice of the Republican Party.

But it is not his conservatism that disqualifies Limbaugh. Most NFL team owners are conservative and when engaging in politics support the Republican Party.

At stake is Limbaugh’s racist attitudes: He is an “unapologetic racist.”

The National Football League is made up of 70 percent African Americans (Zirin’s statistic). If Limbaugh is confirmed by club owners “the face of one of the most valuable sports property in the world would officially be a person who has a history of brazen contempt for people of African heritage.

Limbaugh’s racism is reflected in his public comments:
-comparing President Obama to a Nazi;
-affirming that slavery built the South and had its merits; and
-knowing that Black people make up 12 percent of the population but says “Who the hell cares?”

Professional football players seldom comment publicly about the ownership of the teams they play for or play against. BUT a number of them are vocal about the possibility of Limbaugh buying the Rams:
-New York Giant Mathias Kiwanuka said, in The New York Daily News,"I don’t want anything to do with a team that he has a part of. He can do what ever he wants; it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I’m not going to play.”
-Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb said in his weekly press conference, “If he’s rewarded to buy them, congratulations to him. But I won’t be in St. Louis anytime soon.”
-New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott said, “He could offer me whatever he wanted; I wouldn’t play for him.”

So the chant goes out: “Flush Rush!”

Even in professional football “race matters.”

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TEAM MEMBERS
Dwight Bailey, chair
Karon Alexander, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Ccolburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Carol Josefowski, Wookbin Moh, Trina Ruffin, Leila Ward

HATE GROUPS

2009-09-12T09:08:00.001-05:00

Many of us shed tears of joy the evening of November 21, 2008 when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. His victory speech was exhilarating and hopeful. His election has given credence to the phrase that anyone qualified can become President. Indeed, we now know that the color barrier has been broken with Obama becoming the first black president of the United States. We are, indeed, at a new stage in the political affairs of our nation.

This may be a time for celebration for some BUT it is also a time for RIGOROUS VIGILANCE. Assassination plots on the President’s life have been uncovered. Neo-Nazi activist and radio show host Hal Turner said: “Someone will kill him! And I will celebrate!” A sign placed inside a general store in Standish, Maine, read, “Osama Obama Shotgun Pool.” Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when the new president would be assassinated. On the bottom of the sign someone had written: "Let’s hope someone wins.” (1)

The “Intelligence Report,” published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, announces that in 2008 there were 926 active hate group chapters in the United States – 23 in Illinois. This is up from the 888 groups listed in 2007.

Leonard Zeskind, author of Blood and Violence: the History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to Mainstream, describes the violence and hate that is typical of the white nationalist movement. He estimates that there are 30,000 hard core members who are responsible for the killings, beatings and fire-bombing of their racist targets. But he goes on to say “there are 200,000 to 250,000 active supporters of these groups. These are the folks who read the web sites and donate money.” There may be some of these folks in the congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

James von Brunn is a typical member of these groups. You may remember that on June 10 he walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with rifle in hand and began shooting. He killed black security guard Stephen Johns. Brunn is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist and ant-Semite. He wrote a self-published book titled Kill the Best Gentiles. Jan Sadowski, Brunn’s former wife, said she divorced him 30 years ago because of his extremist views and vindictiveness.

There are three different levels of participation by people supporting these 926 active hate groups. Level one consists of the hundreds of thousand folks who read the web sites and respond with financial contributions. Level two are talkers and defenders of the narrow white supremacist focus. Their language is violent and hate-filled. These include politicians like David Duke, media personality Lou Dobbs and author Ann Coulter. Level three are the shooters and bombers and burners who carry out the violent hateful acts. Included in this category are people like James von Brunn and Timothy McVeigh.

These groups all have in common beliefs that white people no longer run the country and white people should because such is ordained by God. They view themselves as victims of a world which is affirming diversity. They dream of returning to a time when superior whites will keep people of color as chattel.

Dismantling racism calls the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to root out these tendencies of white superiority from our midst and to articulate a gospel of God’s love for all the peoples of the world. It challenges us to figure out why hate and violence is a way of life for so many in our country. It challenges us to look carefully at our own lives to root out any hate and violence in our hearts. It calls us to work attentively to follow our model, Jesus the Christ.

1) Intelligence Report: published by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Spring 2009: Issue 133, pp. 36-37.

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TEAM MEMBERS

Dwight Bailey, Chair
Karon Alexander, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Colburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Ellen Culpepper, Carol Josefowski, Jennifer Kottler, Wookbin Moh, Leila Ward

THE COLOR OF WHITE PRIVILEDGE

2009-08-19T17:43:00.018-05:00

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court, has just been confirmed by the full Senate by a vote of 68 – 31. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted, generally along party lines, to send her name for confirmation. Senator Lindsey Graham (R – S.C.) was the lone Republican vote in the Committee and he is recorded saying, “America has changed for the better with her selection” to the Supreme Court. This statement was not affirmed by his Republican colleagues on either the Committee or in the Senate.

Justice Sotomayor replaces Justice David Souter who retired at the end of the 2008 – 09 Court sessions. She is the 111th Justice appointed to the Bench, the first Latino (Latina) – Puerto Rican) and the third woman. Her educational record is outstanding. She graduated with an A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. She was editor of the Yale Law Journal during her time in New Haven.

Her work record is also exemplary. Justice Sotomayor served as assistant district attorney in New York and was later appointed a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her educational experience is of the highest quality from two outstanding educational institutions, her prosecuting skills as a district attorney demonstrated her knowledge and commitment to the law, and her court rulings have all been well within the mainstream of U.S. jurisprudence.

So why would six Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee and thirty-one members of the full Senate vote against her confirmation? Is it really a difference over legal philosophy? Partisan politics? Visible acts of racism?

Justice Sotomayor has been challenged throughout the confirmation process on the basis of remarks she made when giving a speech where she said: “I would hope that a wise Latina with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Public servants do bring their life experiences to public service. They bring who they are to their work and public service is enriched by people of different backgrounds who have different life experiences. The Supreme Court is no exception.

Justice Sandra Day O’Conner has publicly recognized and thanked Justice Thurgood Marshal for sharing his experiences as a black man and how the law and law enforcement agents treated him and other people of color differently than whites. People of color all have stories of mistreatment by people in power and Justice O’Conner affirmed how she was influenced by Justice Marshall’s experiences. He never forgot who he was or where he came from and made judicial decisions consistent with the Constitution of the United States.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor will bring different experiences to the Court as a Latina but her legal training, prosecutorial experience and court service sets the context within which her decisions on the Supreme Court will be made. Why is her Latina experience an issue for calling into question her capacity for judging legally and fairly cases brought before the Court?

Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, the two justices nominated and confirmed under President Bush, were never asked questions about their ethnicity, about how their whiteness would effect their decision making. Yet their whiteness shapes their experiences and defines who they are as much as Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s “latinaness” defines her.

Whiteness is the norm of our society. Those of who are white don’t even recognize their privileges... It’s as if an invisible knapsack filled with all kinds of benefits not available to people of color is permanently attached to their backs. White privilege is pervasive and structural and is always hiding in plain sight. Its power is rarely acknowledged in political, economic and social discourse. Whiteness is hardly ever visible but Judge Sotomayor’s “latinaness” was and is acknowledged and made into an issue.

Whiteness is normal and normalcy is invisible. This is at the core of racism. People of color are treated differently because of ethnicity and are assign different levels of power within political, economic and social structures. Whiteness is a blind spot to those of us white. It is an anesthetic that anesthetizes whites to the disadvantages, mistreatment, and pain inflicted on people of color.

So what can the church learn from Justice Sotomayor confirmation experience?

As discrimination and racism is part of the history of the legal system in the United States, so it is with the church. It should be obvious to us that the “whiteness” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is not accidental. As a church we have participated, throughout our history, in the discrimination and racism prevalent in the American social structures. We invite you to struggle with the Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Team as we work with “The Rs That Matter: Race and Reconciliation.”

How do we as the church deal with this whiteness that dominates invisibly our individual and congregational lives?

Let us hear from you.

TEAM MEMBERS
Dwight Bailey, chair, Karon Alexander, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden, Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Colburn, Ann Marie Coleman, Don Coleman, Ellen Culpepper, Carol Josefowski, Jennifer Kottler, Wookbin Moh, Leila Ward

Defeating Racism: A Book Review

2009-07-15T23:57:00.008-05:00

“I believe that if we are servants of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have no choice.” This is Chris Hobgood’s concluding sentence in his recently published book Born Apart, Becoming One: Disciples Defeating Racism. His book is a strong affirmation that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will dismantle our institutional racism by 2030 and become a truly anti-racism pro-reconciliation denomination.

Chris is steeped in the life and mission of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is the right person writing at the right time. He is one of the core anti-racist pro-reconciliation trainers of our family of Disciple churches. He has served as General Minister and President of the Church, as a consultant with the Alban Institute, and is currently pastor of the Bethany Christian Church in Delaware.

Chris writes with authority when he asserts that dismantling racism fits authentically into the core values of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Historically we have affirmed five core values that define the very covenantal character of who we are as Disciples:

We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and we accept him as our Lord and Savior. (Mt. 16:16)

We believe the Lord’s Supper to be an open and inclusive call to radical hospitality. (I Cor. 11:28)

We affirm the ministry of the priesthood of all believers: i.e., by our baptism we are all ministers.

The love of unity, wherein we are called to lead in the healing of a broken church and a broken world, has always been a passion for those of us called Disciples of Christ. (John 17:21) Chris calls this value (a search for unity) the polar star of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

A passionate commitment to creating a just and humane world is the kind of ethics that grows out of our love for God and God’s love for us and the whole world.

These qualities, these values, are the defining marks of who we are as a particular family of God. To these five historical values Chris adds a sixth. One that is consistent with these five but lifts up a current challenge God places before the church today:

The intent to dismantle racism in the Christian Church (Disciple of Christ).

Born Apart, Becoming One: Disciples Defeating Racism is a document of challenge. It is not naïve about our past for it calls us to confession and repentance for our individual and institutional participation in the sin of racism. The book draws our attention to our history of going along with the dominant culture: whether it’s the treatment of native Americans as we as a frontier church moved westward, or our support of slavery, or our participation in lynching during the reconstruction period, or our continuing arrogance of believing that we (as whites) are inherently superior.

This sixth value of dismantling racism is inherent in our affirmation of the Lordship of Jesus the Christ, the radical hospitality of the Lord’s Table, the priesthood of all believers, our passion for unity and the radical commitment to justice.

The power of racism, he concludes, hurts people of color, bestows evil and arrogant domination to white folks, and, in the process, destroys all of us. So, in Chris’ own words: “I believe that if we are servants of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have no choice” but to dismantle racism.

The Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Team of the Illinois and Wisconsin Region recommends to individuals and churches William Chris Hobgood’s Born Apart, Becoming One: Disciples Defeating Racism. There are practical suggestions for study and action in the last chapter for congregational use.

Chris will be at the General Assembly and there will be opportunities to visit with him about the book and about the denominations work on “Dismantling Racism.” Born Apart, Becoming One: Disciples Defeating Racism will be available at the General Assembly and can be ordered from Chalice Press.

Be aware that the Region’s Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Team eagerly seeks opportunities to dialogue with you around the themes of this book as we all seek ways for “defeating racism.” Talk about race with us.

Comment to: thersthatmatter.blogspot.com

TEAM MEMBERS

Dwight Bailey, Chair

Karon Alexander, Brittany Barber, Darron Bowden

Gloria Carey-Branch, Minta Colburn, Ann Marie Coleman

Don Coleman, Ellen Culpepper, Carol Josefowski

Jennifer Kottler, Wookbin Moh, Leila Ward