Tag: racism

discouraging news

Don’t worry. This isn’t about any particular or personal news. Just a general statement of what it is like for me and for many others in the United States these days.

Watching/reading/listening to news is very fraught and discouraging. Sometimes, such as when there is violence, the news is sad and discouraging in and of itself.

Just about any news story about national government is discouraging as the dysfunction that has been in evidence in recent years has only deepened. This is ironic because the Republicans control Congress and the presidency, which usually means that legislation would pass easily. However, there is so much dissension and confusion within the party and between the president and Congressional leaders that nothing of significance is getting through the process to become law.

In the not-too-distant past, the majority and minority party would cooperate and compromise to pass legislation with a goodly majority of bipartisan votes, but that has fallen by the wayside, leaving very discouraging gridlock in its wake.

One of the things that disturbs me most is how many people are publicly denying known and provable facts. For example, some say that Russia’s interference in the US elections didn’t take place and is just an excuse for Clinton’s loss, but Russia’s role in the DNC hack was publicly known and reported on months before the election. Further evidence of hacking by Russia has also been proven in attacks on various election systems in at least two dozen states. Additionally, we have seen Russia use the same tactics in other countries.

At least as troubling is the ugliness of attacks on individuals and groups of people. Obviously, this is not a new tactic either, but some people are emboldened by the president’s twitter attacks and by other high-profile leaders who namecall and stereotype or even engage in hate speech against racial, ethnic, religious, or gender groups. Public discourse gets diverted away from civil discussion of issues and is dragged into personal or group attacks.

In the midst of all this, we have the many disturbing stories of sexual harassment and assault being unearthed after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, showing how prevalent such stories are. Although the stories are horrifying and sad, the #MeToo movement feels empowering and hopeful to me. Maybe we have finally reached a critical juncture where everyone in the society realizes what sexual harassment and assault look, sound, and feel like so that we can actually put a stop to it.

This also reinforces for me my broader commitment to both feminism and social justice causes. When you see how many individuals’ lives are adversely affected by discrimination, abuse, lost opportunities, violence, health problems, etc., you can more readily see that we are not living up to our societal commitments to fairness, equality, and “the pursuit of happiness,” nor are we following the Constitutional call to “promote the general welfare.”  For me as a Catholic, social justice work is also part of upholding doctrine on the dignity of each person and of all types of work and workers  and on the call to care for all creation with special care being given to those most vulnerable.

The disturbing news of late shows how much work there is to be done.

I hope you will join me and the millions of others in these efforts.

Hidden Figures

Yesterday, B, E, T, and I went to see the film Hidden Figures. We all loved it.

Hidden Figures is based on the story of a group of African-American women who were “computers” in the early days of the US  space program. That is computers, as in those who carry out mathematical computations.

As sometimes happens, there are some connections between aspects of the film and our area and family. B, early in his career, worked for Link Flight Simulation, which made simulators for NASA. He then went to work for IBM, which, like Link, was founded in our area. IBM plays a role in the film, with a 1961 computer filling a large room. IBM used to have a museum in Endicott which had components from that era, as well as equipment, such as time clocks from IBM’s early years.

The film shows the rampant sexism and racism that the women faced in segregated Virginia. It was sobering for B and me, being reminded that this was happening in our lifetime, although we were only toddlers at the time and living in rural New England, which was neither segregated nor diverse at the time.

It was also sobering for all of us to realize that, as far as our country has come on matters of race and sex, there is still quite a distance to go to reach real equality and equity.

The long and fruitful careers of the main characters in the film are encouraging to all the younger women who follow, despite the obstacles that they still face. Thank you to everyone involved in making the film for bringing this important story to all of us.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/15/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-15th17/

 

Sensing My Dismay at the Election Results, My Wife’s Dog Presses Against Me

Sending support to Bob down South at this difficult time. I am in awe of his ability to express the present situation poetically when everything is still so raw.

robert okaji's avatarO at the Edges

keep-off

Sensing My Dismay at the Election Results, My Wife’s Dog Presses Against Me

And when I roll over, my toe finds a hole in the not
inexpensive 400 thread count percale sheet and rips

down its length, and I wonder if I should extend this
metaphor to include walls and the unbearable weight

of societal collapse, or hatred with small hands and
minds or faces like pale disks of whitewashed emptiness

glaring at my friends, or, well, my wife and I, across
the restaurant’s laminate booths or the potholed street

by the bus stop. I recall the woman’s sneer and hushed
commentary that afternoon, and though I wanted to

correct her mistaken assumption (hey, lady, I’m not
Hispanic) and redirect her bigotry to the correct ethnicity,

I chose instead to smile and wave goodbye, to drive to
the polls and cast my ballot, one drop in that dark bucket

of…

View original post 34 more words

living in Zootopia?

Given that the movie Zootopia came out in the spring when we were busy dealing with Grandma’s death, I saw it for the first time recently in our local late-run movie theater.  I found a number of uncomfortable parallels about racism, sexism, prejudice, jumping to often unwarranted conclusions, and fear and fear-mongering.

I feel like I am living in the midst of those things.

After the shootings in Baton Rouge yesterday, the public officials in Louisiana tried to quell rumors and pleaded for calm. President Obama then reiterated his calls for civility and for toning down divisive rhetoric, especially important as we enter two weeks of political conventions.

We need to pull together as community, as a nation, and as citizens of the world.

I am adding my voice to this effort, as I tried to do in this recent post.

I admit to being disheartened by those who are publicly blaming President Obama for the deaths of the police officers, following years of hateful rhetoric that has so many not only questioning our civic institutions’ legitimacy but also falling into violent extremism, hate speech, fear, mistrust, and/or hyper-individualism.

We are better than this.

We have brains that can gather facts and reach reasonable conclusions from them.

We have hearts to love others and to move us to care for them.

We have bodies that enable us to interact with our loved ones and for the common good.

We must not allow ourselves to be bullied, misled, or blinded by hatred or fear.

We need each other.

We are connected to each other.

We must respect each other’s human dignity.

Never forget.

Ellen shares the story of Bree

Author Ellen Morris Prewitt shared the amazing story behind Bree Newsome’s recent action of cutting down the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. It is part of her new series, “What Can I Do?”  I hope you are as moved by it as I am.
– JC

http://ellenmorrisprewitt.com/2015/07/what-can-i-do-the-bree-model/

President Obama’s eulogy for Rev. Pinckney

The link below is to the inspiring eulogy that President Barack Obama gave today at the memorial service for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed last week at his church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston, South Carolina. Our challenge in this country is to live up to our president’s words.

https://youtu.be/GNcGW2LYtvg?t=1h22m23s

Charleston

One thing that being six hours away from my usual time zone has done is disrupt my accustomed television news watching habits, so I have not seen as much coverage of the horrific mass murder at Mother Emanuel Church as I would have, but I feel compelled to offer some thoughts about it.

First, I continue to send my thoughts and prayers out for the loved ones of those who were killed and for Mother Emanuel.  Their prayerful response in the face of such unspeakable loss has been amazing. I also love that other faith communities and the people of Charleston have been so supportive and have encircled them with love and assistance.

I was heartened to see so many stories about the lives of the wonderful people who were killed. Those who attend weekday services or study groups tend to be the core of the faith community, as you see exemplified here – ministers, long-time volunteers and staff, multi-generational church families.  In hearing the stories of the nine lives lost, my mind goes to the members at the heart of faith communities that I have known. The loss to Mother Emanuel is profound, yet they act with profound grace.

I have also appreciated seeing so much about the history of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the south which has already overcome numerous horrors inflicted on it by racism.

One point of controversy in the media seems to be what to call the shootings. Mass murder – definitely. It also is clear that the gunman was motivated by racism against African-Americans. In most states, it would be classified as a hate crime, but South Carolina has no such category in their statutes. I think a case can also be made for calling it domestic terrorism, as it was designed to make black people fearful for their safety. Some people seem to think that this should be named as only one thing, but I don’t have a problem with calling it a mass murder, a racist hate crime, and domestic terrorism. All those labels seem to fit.

The label that does not fit is anti-Christian. The gunman did not kill these people at a Bible study because they were Christian, only because they were black. He traveled by many other Christian churches to get to Mother Emanuel. Because it is a storied black congregation, which, due to its long history of standing for justice, is accustomed to welcoming those of all races and nationalities, he was welcomed to participate in the service and Bible study. Reportedly, their exemplary Christian behavior almost convinced the young man to spare their lives; that he did still follow through on his plan to kill them makes the crime even more incomprehensible to me.

The other point of controversy is the Confederate battle flag which flies on the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol where Rev. Pinckney, who was also a state senator, lay in state. While there will be a vote to remove it permanently, the legislature did not have time to vote on Governor Haley’s proposal to remove it before his coffin was brought to the statehouse. There has, however, been a great deal of movement against selling and displaying the Confederate battle flag in the last week with several major retailers removing the flag and apparel featuring it from their stores and websites. The flag has been used to intimidate black Americans for decades and I hope that it will now finally fade from view.

I wish I could say that this mass murder would finally spur the US Congress to enact better gun control laws in the United States, but they have failed to act after so many others that I doubt this additional massacre will motivate them.  No other developed country is so dangerous – or so heavily armed. Those two things go together.

Poem by Patricia Raube about Michael Brown

Patricia Raube, who is one of my spiritual sisters and a Binghamton NY area Presbyterian pastor, has written a moving, insightful, and spirit-filled poem about Michael Brown. She has given her permission to share it with attribution.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Burning Bush

I hardly dare ask… I know we have no right…
But Michael Brown, I must ask this great favor, this unspeakable gift.

Trayvon was not enough, nor Emmett,
nor the whole host and holocaust of men of color,
(did we even notice Kajieme?)
enslaved, disposable,
less than human through the sites of a gun.

I hardly dare ask.

The hashtag is good– ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬—
but I fear it isn’t enough,
won’t do the job we need it to do,

the enormous breaking down
of laws and structures and hearts
the massive dismantling of privilege unacknowledged
and assumptions unchallenged.

Oh Michael Brown. I know we have no right to ask,
the image is all too close
to the evil fires set again and again…
the symbol of hope, the cross of Christ
transformed into Satan’s flag of terror,
crackling and crumbling in a Missouri night.

I know we have no right to ask, But ask I will.

Oh Michael Brown, will you be our burning bush?

c. Patricia Raube 2014