Tuesday, August 15, 2017

It's Not About Guilt, It's About Hope.

Charlottesville.  The United States of America.  2017.  What follows is a collection of some of my Facebook posting, along with some friends who inspire me, in the after swirl. 

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. - Galatians 3:28, The Message



"We are not born with prejudices, they are made for us by someone who wants something...to break us into small (and conquerable) groups."

If a politician or a pastor doesn't call out the hatred of #WhitePower, maybe we should ask, might it be serving them?

We know what fascism is. We know what racism is. We must resist and we must wake up.

(The clip above is from an anti-fascism film made by the US Government in 1943 called "Don't Be A Sucker.")
August 12, 2017 




Dear European-American Christians: I take this moment to remind you that following Jesus and claiming Christianity are two very different things. Jesus called out the religious elite of his day for being in collusion with political and economic power as opposed to trusting the truth of God.

If your church does not make reference to the hatred on display last night and today, if someone tells you it is just the "fringe" of the Republican party, be very suspicious. #UniteTheRightRally is meant to divide and conquer.

If you're happy that your church doesn't bring it up, I implore you to read Isaiah. Read Jeremiah. Read any one of the four Gospels from start to finish. Take notes. Pay attention to how the leaders and kings lead and how they are confronted. Pay attention to who Jesus singles out as the protagonists in His lessons and the antagonists. Pay attention to the overall arc of justice that plays out.

I'm going to say it: 45 is a golden calf. Made by the white people, made for the white people, made as a substitute for God. We are witnessing a worship of a golden calf. 



Reddit user Reagente created this map.
Awaken. There is hope in the Bible. It's real to me and it's being cheapened by politically powerful white America to a sickening degree. Jesus invited us all to the table. None of us are over or under welcomed, and none of us deserve it any more than another. #BlackLivesMatter was a reflective response to the dominant #OnlyWhiteLivesMatter reality we've been subjected to since this country's founding. As Andre Henry says: there is not room for argument here. You either accept that reality or you live in delusions.
Please, now, open your eyes and your ears and your hearts. I pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us all.

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August 13, 2017

(I stepped back and listened this day.  Here's the best of what I found.) 
The incredible poet and activist, Diane Ujiiye

I called this the post of the century.  Seriously, hilarious and chillingly spot on.  


Follow Donna Givens, Executive Director of the Eastside Community Network in Detroit, Here.


Follow Pastor Mike McBride, Director of People Improving Communities through Organizing, Here



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August 14, 2017
Seriously, super stress-relieving.
The passive and excuse-laden comfortability with the ongoing legal, social, and nationally supported systems of White Supremacy, both the overt and riotous, as well as the more insidious and hidden daily aggressions from well meaning white people (like myself, I admit), makes me want to knock shit over today. Thank God I've still got Angry Birds on my phone.

How in the hell do we move past this with integrity, equity, and effective consequences? How do I, as a Jesus-follower, contain my anger and find love for my current enemies to "heap burning coals" upon their passivity and reveal that God meant what he said when he challenged us to love our neighbors, and that heaven will be hard to get into if we are spiritually diluted by our privileges here on earth? People: I believe this tension is what it's all about. Do we trust God enough to actually love and fight for our neighbors?



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August 15, 2017

To be clear:

I am not against white people. I am against white dominance, and anything that seeks to support white dominance as "all-powerful" or "most preferable" is deeply problematic. I actually grieve for white people who are consumed by maintaining "whiteness." I have seen this destroy more white people than I can bear to mention. It has caused me depression and anxiety. I believe it is because it was never God's intent for any one group to believe themselves better than any other. This is not about guilt. It's about hope.

Yes white people have had to work hard. I've never denied that. But why is it so challenging to accept what I've seen, from years of teaching in European, African, Asian, and Latino-American school contexts: the kids I've taught with browner skin have had to work much harder to achieve similar levels of success, than their lighter skinned peers. I am not making that up, it is real and it is a problem. Why is that so hard to accept and so tempting to dismiss as "emotionality," or "playing the race card," or whatever else has been said to discredit what those of us who've crossed boundaries know to be true?

I lament the fear of "the other." I believe when Jesus challenged us to trust God and love all our neighbors, he meant that. In my life, I have found that learning from people in races and cultures and socio-economic classes other than the one I was born into has given me an ever-clearer picture of the kingdom of God. The diversity helps to paint a fuller rendering of how amazing God is. So I strive to learn more, and I trust the experiences of first hand stories more than news stories framed and reframed for profit and ratings.

I may be using social media more than is healthy at times, but social media, for me, is a way to generate dialogue that is hard to have on a daily basis. Of course, it's easy to get stuck in a loop, so we all must encourage one another to take these important conversations into our face to face interactions. We don't have a precedent for how to best use this medium, so we are all learning as we go.

I believe people do change, when confronted with the right stories in the right contexts. I've also seen great hope in my family and my friends. I mean, isn't that what the entire walk with Jesus is meant to be? A place to continually move your life more and more in line with His? If we don't believe people can change, then it's a pretty shallow Gospel.

I make mistakes all the time. Some kind old friends recently pointed that out to me. I've been guilty of trying to save all the poor black kids and I've gotten my ass handed to me over a warm cup of Gumbo. I've engaged in fights that should've ended in more prayer and walking away. I've been called the "white devil" as well as "racist against white people." But let me assure you, these are not the worst things that can happen. These are survivable.

What is not okay to me: turning a blind eye to actual suffering, especially when doing so out of convenience or uncomfortability. True, we can't fight every battle and it would be arrogant to think otherwise. But I've been deeply troubled by the lack of concern for the ongoing systems that support one group's pursuit of life and liberty over another's, especially from within the Church when there are ample passages decrying economic structures of oppression. I feel we must stand strong. Whiteness is the problem with race, whiteness invented the current structure of racial hierarchy in this country, and it works hard to support itself. It wants to rule economically, morally, and culturally. It is the distraction that I feel called to stand against. It is not the only problem we Christians are expected to combat, but it's the one I feel God asking me to focus on, through how I was made and how life has shaped me along the way.  (Original post, with comments, here.)

With love, hope, and peace by peace,
Matthew

Come along side our work at The Table Setters.  We'll pass the gumbo.



Saturday, August 12, 2017

Take "Our" Country Back


Fulfill the promise of [45] and take "our" country back, says David Duke today..... 

Who do you know he means when he's using "we" and "our" and "America?" It doesn't look like our America. I'm using our in a different way...

This is nothing new, this is as old and as American as apple pie. And, those of us who see the country as more than just a white man's promised land need to speak up, need to resist, need to fight back.

Sometimes, when I use the term #Whiteousness, I am talking about the subtle ways people defer to #Whiteness being preferable, being the standard to measure against, and that white people have all the best ideas for everything...

But sometimes, I'm talking about this. This is the KKK proudly not wearing their masks. They feel like they don't have to hide, because they have a government that is allowing them to gain momentum again.

It all needs to be dismantled. Now. And I call on the churches to wake the hell up and stop signing off, either vocally or silently, on this kind of power and this kind of Hitleresque Voldermorting taking center stage again.

Stand up. Post right. Argue against. Make friends in the midst of the struggle. March if you have legs. Donate to other movements if you have money. Take risks against racism. Sit down and block the way of elitism. We need to do all the things.

#Charlottesville #DismantlingWhiteousness #BlackLivesMatter