#TakeAKnee

#TakeAKnee is about racism. Period.

It is not *about* the flag, the anthem, Donald Trump, Republicans, or Democrats. #TakeAKnee is not about the troops. It is not dividing us; we are already divided. It is not changing any sport; it is exposing the larger racialized context within which we all live because it is about racism. Racism.

The only way #TakeAKnee is about past or future generations is that past generations have lived in a racist nation and future generations are in danger of doing the same. #TakeAKnee is a plea to not let our current racial inequities and resulting racial divisions continue unchecked into our future.

#TakeAKnee is about racism in this nation. Period. It is a silent protest opposing the continual denial of the great need within our society, our towns, our cities, our churches, and our families for one thing:  we must learn how to address the racial inequality that makes people of color statistically over-represented in every category of want and disadvantage in this nation.

#TakeAKnee is not about free speech. It is, itself, a free speech protest of one thing: RACISM.  

If you feel you *must* say #TakeAKnee is about anything *other* than racism, say it is about white privilege; namely, the historical white privilege that engineered a majority white nation. Namely, the white privilege that slaughtered indigenous tribes and stole their land. Namely, the white privilege that enslaved Africans, instituted Jim Crow laws (including Sundown Towns). Say it is about the white privilege that had veterans of color return from serving in every war of this nation (from the American Revolution to the war in Afghanistan) to return to a nation whose police forces target them.

White privilege wants to make #TakeAKnee about anything BUT racism but #TakeAKnee always has been and continues to be about confronting a citizenry with the racism it refuses to see even when it is happening under the noses of us all–even when we are all steeped in it. 

BE an ally. #TakeAKnee or — if you prefer to not join this protest against racism in this nation, at least refuse to make, say, or describe #TakeAKnee as being about anything other than protesting racism.

You can call it white privilege if you prefer; after all, racism is what white privilege looks in the lives of people of color.

Namaste.

making life among idols

I make my way through a land of idols; all around me stand empty icons, cracked prayer beads, and songs of praise without lyrics. This is life in a so-called christian nation.

It was John Pavolitz’s blog “If Your God is a Jerk—It Might Be You” that reminded me of the multitude of gods out there– in the world, in the streets, in the many so-called churches filled with so-called christians, in the institutions that control our lives. Never mind that you really can’t find any of these gods in any of the world’s holy texts, these gods are everywhere! You know them even if you have never named them for yourself. I write about a few of them here.

There is the stand-your-ground god that loves all armed people and has a real hard-on for loud, semi-automatic weapons and goes gaga over militia wear. This god is hardcore and is worshiped by the money-making-hands-over-fists gun manufacturers, the NRA and its lobbyists, many members of congress, the semi-literate, the angry, and all the KKK and Nazis living in the United States.

There is the doctrine of discovery god that loves white people most; the rest of us are present for the service of whites. This god wants any and all diversity to be invisible within a white nation, (U.S.A.) ordained by god. This god’s worshipers think Africans taken into slavery was god’s will; they say things today like, just look at the Africans starving in Africa and the well-fed Africans living here! The DoD god is unashamed of any evil done in service to whites. This god is into human trafficking and genocide, mass incarceration and an immigration system that protects the privilege of his favorite people: whites.

The bootstrap god helps those who help themselves. This is the god of the self-made man or woman. These have accomplished any/everything they have accomplished with their own two hands. Neither luck, cheating, providence, cronyism, stealing, white privilege, nor Daddy’s wallet have a thing to do with their success. Followers of the bootstrap god scorn all who have not their own because only laziness prevents all from making it with this sure-fire-god.

The positivity god expects us to always grin, praise, and expect only the best regardless of our individual realities. The positivity god’s prophets propose to lead the-just-making-it or the-barely-making-it to a promised land of comfort, wealth, and health. If you have not comfort, wealth, and health, you have to check to see what you are doing wrong because problems are caused by failing to be positive.

Of course the false gods in the land of idols are aplenty! There is the youth and beauty god leading many to elective procedures. There is the fitness god with his BMI obsession. The god of tradition locks us into yesterday. The capitalist god refuses justice for the sake of making a buck. The god of greed believes everything is in short supply. The god of war places the highest value on military readiness even in the face of hunger, great poverty and sickness, and homelessness.

There are too many idols for one blog. These gods are false but they are real.

False gods see the love of neighbor as a notion useful for controlling descent. When goodness revolts against evil, these false gods remind goodness that we are all to love each other; but, no such directive controls systemic violence, oppression, and abuse as it is visited upon the least of these. In this way, the followers of such idols make doing what is right into something relative. The followers of such false gods mystify the simplicity of love, of compassion, and of the evolution of the human spirit.

It would serve the universe and all of humanity–and the one true God who actually watches– were we to each consider to which gods we provide shelter by word, thought, and deed as well as by apathy, indifference, and fear.

God with and within us, have mercy!

Namaste.

the leopard and his spots

These Days of Trump challenge my faith. Just as the leopard cannot change its spots, I wonder, can Trump learn humility, compassion, and empathy for the least of these?

This struggle, this conflict of my faith with unchangeable leopard spots crashed upon me in the past twenty-four hours following my response to a dear friend’s frustrated FB post about the way some newscasters and commentators are reporting the rescue of people of color as evidence we really are more post-racial than Nazis marching in our streets indicates. Pair this empty yet comfortingly persuasive conjecture of newscasters with the current conversations about DACA, the cost of Harvey flood relief, and the damage of Trump’s first seven months and another tempest began to brew within me.

Trump says he will approach DACA with a big heart. I wonder: Can a leopard change its spots?

Trump says Southwest Texas will be rebuilt and he will reduce taxes for corporations and, that this will help struggling families. To me, this sounds like the same old spotted leopard.

Marcel and I have been praying hard and heavy for 45 and his administration. We have prayed as though this leopard’s spots can change. But, even as I pray, my brain is not on hiatus! I still wonder about these many things.

How can I pray for God’s mercy to come down greatly upon him, his administration, and all of his followers in the face of his consistently narcissistic tactics? How can I trust a pussy-grabbing, womanizing, Mexican-blaming, sexist, heterosexist, law-and-order, rich, white man to learn how to do what is right? How do I position myself with the evidence of things not seen (faith) in face of his and the GOP’s targeting of poor people, LGBTQIA people, people of color, old people, and women? Spot! Spot! (Out damned spots!)

How do I maintain my own inner gyroscope in the face of his administration’s naked strengthening of systemic oppression, slandering, and targeting of populations I know are particularly dear to God? Add his relentless attack on this nation’s judicial branch and I fear for our nation. This leopard has so very many spots!

 

It was in this morning’s conversation with The Lord that comfort came to me. Selah.  Spirit said to me that I am to enrich my life during these difficult times by approaching positivity not in a personal way but in a world-changing way. Philippians 4:8 tells me to think about the most noble, just, and purest of all possibilities. I confess that in these Trump days, I can approach the future possibilities for our nation with expectation of something good about to happen only with the eyes of faith.

So, I asked Spirit: On what am I to base any expectation of goodness? My experience with God teaches me what God can do!

Then, I was reminded, there is faith. But, still, I protested in this day’s dawn, there is so much at stake! Is my expectation to be based only on faith? Spirit’s answer came back quickly: Prayer.  Faith, prayer and my own knowledge of God.

Things shifted for me. I feel much more at peace.

My expectations remain on God. I will still name evil. I know that a leopard is a leopard. But, Lord have mercy, I will continue to pray, pray, and pray! I will encourage myself with unbelievable possibilities! I will celebrate God’s love in my life!

I share this today hoping to encourage others. The world requires the attention of the people of God; let those who do not yet hear or respond to this call to be engaged with the world as the people of God come to know and embrace it.

Namaste.