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The Everyday Racism of Covid-19 by Judith E.B. Roberts

I reside in a high-rise apartment building in a racailly and ethically diverse Chicago suburb. My neighbors are American Indian, Black, Puerto Rican, Russian, Assyrian, Asian, Greek and White. We are food service workers, stay at home parents, people with disabilities, college students, musicians, health care professionals, engineers, and retirees. We are families with young children, adults caring for aging parents and adults living alone. We are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, atheist, spiritual and not religious. We are mix of experiences, beliefs, racial groups, ethnic identities sexual orientations and gender expressions. Yet, with all this diversity around me, I was astounded when a neighbor texted an anti-Asian meme to my cell.  I quickly replied back with a concern for her text and the growing anti-Asian sentiment spreading in this country. I have a feeling that I am not alone. Perhaps you have experienced something similar from a friend, a neighbor or relative. You heard the ping of an incoming text, and there it was—a joke, a meme , a  comment from someone that you know, like or love that was racist. I’m not only talking about those only in the dominant white group. It also happens horizontally among and between people of color. Each of us can perpetuate and contribute to the spreading of racist memes, jokes or comments. I call it everyday racism.

With all of us sheltering-in place and social distancing, our reliance on social media, texting and the internet is vital to our existence. We need these platforms to escape the endless news cycles of fear and uncertainty. We need these platforms for comic relief. We need these platforms for our online worship experiences for feeling gathered while we are scattered. As much as I enjoy interacting across these platforms, they can also be sources of threat and harm. The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened anti-Asian racism. Jokes, memes, comments and inaccurate information are responsible for perpetuating negative stereotypes that fuel distrust, anger and fear of and for Asian American lives. In one week, more than 650 Asian-Americans reported acts of racism and discrimination in the online reporting forum #StopAAPIHate. The reports include incidents of verbal harassment; vandalism of property; refusal of service from ride share drivers; to violent physical assaults. Unfortunately, anti-Asian racism is not new. It is baked in U.S. history. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 excluded Chinese immigrants from coming to the U.S. and excluded Chinese nationalist living in the U.S. from becoming citizens. During World War II, 120,000 Japanese Americans were uprooted from their homes and forced into internment camps. Even today, many Asian Americans are still stereotyped as the perpetual foreigner, even though they trace their American roots back generations.

I may not be a person of Asian descent, but I am a Black woman.  I know what everyday racism and sexism feel like. Right now, our siblings in Christ, friends, neighbors, leaders of Asian descent need to know that they are not alone.   Asian American healthcare professionals, teachers, first responders, food service works, pastors, scientists, and volunteers are serving during this pandemic. Many placing their lives at risk in fighting this virus. They don’t need further threats of violence, discrimination or messages of hate.

Our ELCA Baptismal covenant calls us “…to serve all people, following the example of Jesus; and Strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” Confronting racism isn’t easy. Especially when it involves people that we like, love or live next door.  If you see or hear something…say something. Let them know how their words or actions made you feel and that you don’t respond to messages that devalue and cause harm.  If you see something online, flag it. Let social media platforms know that everyone should feel safe online. Lastly, we don’t have to do this alone. Time and time again members across this church have shown up for racial justice. We have marched together for #BlackLivesMatter. We’ve stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with our Muslim neighbors. We’ve accompanied migrant minors at the southern border. We’ve condemned white supremacy and declared ourselves a sanctuary denomination.

We have been here before….now, let’s do it again.

Judith Roberts serves as the ELCA Director for Racial Justice.

 

 

 

That We Might Have Life: Black Healthcare Matters in the Covid-19 Pandemic by Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells

Just as we entered Holy Week 2020, we heard some of the most grim news from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who told the American people on Palm Sunday that “this [week] is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment” as COVID-19 infections continue to rise. Many leading public health officials have described the week of April 5, 2020 (Holy Week), as potentially the hardest and saddest week of increased deaths related to the coronavirus. This pandemic has affected the entire world in very alarming ways. It has also continued to spike the globally uncured diseases of racism and xenophobia. The University Health Services at the University of California, Berkeley recently retracted a statement (@tangcentercal) advising students that “xenophobia: fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia and guilt about these feelings” is a normal or common reaction. This shows the high level of insensitivity and present-day normalization of racism even from a school whose demographics report that more than 30% of the student body is of Asian descent. This institution’s culture and ethics in communication should be far above the curve for understanding racism of any kind as an unacceptable reaction to this pandemic. But like many institutions, it continued to be complicit in the propagation of systematic and systemic racism. This must stop, especially at a time when we are finding that people of color are and will be affected fatally by this pandemic at disproportional rates.

In fact, Propublica.org reported that early data shows African Americans have contracted and died of coronavirus at an alarming rate. In the very city that hosted the African Descent Lutheran Association’s (ADLA) August 2019 Biennial Assembly (Milwaukee, Wis.), African Americans made up almost half of Milwaukee County’s 945 coronavirus cases and 81% of its 27 deaths in a county whose population is only 26% black (as of April 3, 2020). This level of disproportionate rates of infection and death is a direct result of economic, political and environmental factors that have been growing for decades. These factors, along with so many other sociological trends, have put black people at higher risk of chronic conditions that leave immune systems vulnerable and battling pre-existing illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, HIV and asthma.

ADLA has ramped up advocacy efforts to pressure the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release race data related to the coronavirus. The CDC typically tracks widespread demographic data with all virulent outbreaks but has provided little information about race during this current pandemic. This data is and will continue to be important to address racism and other disparities to health care access. If this Holy Week 2020 will begin the deadliest season (to date) of this pandemic, then the United States will experience a devastating loss of black lives. Now more than ever we must be reminded that Black Lives Matter.

We must also acknowledge that government and religious leaders have requested and strongly encouraged the nation to “shelter in place” and remain at home. However, that becomes a very privileged request when many people do not have the same levels of resources with which to do so. For instance, imposing curfews, demanding lockdowns, or even expecting people to stay at home without canceling their rent, helping them secure adequate food and meet all other related bills is an unjust request. With the rise in unemployment, this pandemic has created a greater wealth divide in access to basic income and adequate housing for all. The CARES Act and stimulus package(s) will assist some people in this season but will not greatly protect the most vulnerable, who are at higher risks related to this pandemic.

Holy Week 2020 should bring us all into a greater understanding of the realities of death and access to life in our nation and world. We as people of faith easily grasp the understanding that Jesus died for all of our sins and brings us to eternal redemption. He did it so that we might have life and that life more abundantly (John 10:10). We are reminded that God so loved the world and God gave us Jesus so that we wouldn’t perish but have access to eternal life. In the same way we celebrate access to a better life with Jesus, we must claim access to health care as a human right that provides a better life for all. This COVID-19 pandemic is uncovering major disparities in access to health care. With the rising death tolls, we need high-quality public health care that is guaranteed to all and not just as a private marketplace.

Many of the sociological trends (health, economic, etc.) affecting people of color globally and nationally can easily be seen among the participants, members and leaders of color in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. For far too long, we have watched our friends and colleagues (especially of African descent) die or grow gravely ill because of health conditions such as those mentioned above. The economic inequities among many of the ELCA’s congregations often reveal the most impoverished communities having to do so much more with fewer resources. Many rostered leaders of color are still struggling to pay health insurance premiums and deductibles out of meager church budgets and inconsistent paychecks. We as a church can do so much more to reverse these trends and inequities. We need to continue to increase our support and advocacy for people of color who are disproportionately affected by this pandemic and are in critical need of help. Let’s take up this cross that we bear right now in 2020 and follow Jesus, who has led us to a better life for all.

Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells is the Program Director for LuMin/ Campus Ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). LuMin is a network of over 240 colleges and universities. He is also the National President of the African Descent Lutheran Association (ELCA).
Pastor Wells is a graduate of Morehouse College and the Interdenominational Theological Center, both in Atlanta, Ga; and has studied at Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University.
As a dynamic speaker, Rev. Wells is frequently called to share prophetic messages of ecumenism and social justice which motivates him as a leader and community organizer.

#ELCAChurchTogether

En Honor A Las Mujeres de Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

Sermón

Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

Capilla IELA – 19 de Febrero de 2020

Mateo 5:21-37

Gracia y paz del Uno y Trino Dios

por los siglos de los siglos. Amén.

 

Esta es la segunda ocasión que vivo en Chicago.

Del 2001 al 2005 viví en Hyde Park.

 

Ahora vivo en West Dundee,

y viajo todos los días al trabajo aquí en el Centro Luterano.

 

Una diferencia entre Chicago y Puerto Rico

es la manera en que damos direcciones.

 

Chicago es una ciudad cuadriculada.

Las calles son líneas rectas y perpendiculares.

Aquí, cuando usted pregunta,

¿cómo llego al Parque Milenial?,

la gente contesta de la siguiente manera:

Vaya hacia el Norte por tres cuadras,

luego al Este por cuatro cuadras,

y encontrará el parque paralelo a la Avenida Michigan.

 

En Puerto Rico no damos direcciones así.

 

Si uste pregunta en Puerto Rico, ¿dónde está el parque de béisbol?

Las personas le contestan más o menos así:

Siga derecho por un buen rato, hasta que encuentre un palo[1] de mangó.

Cuando llegue al palo de mango, vire a la izquierda.

Siga drecho hasta que encuentre tres muertos[2].

Después del tercer muerto va a ver una casa amarilla a su izquierda.

Vire a la izquierda y pregúntele a alguien en la esquina.

Allí le ayudarán.

 

La manera en que damos direcciones es importante.

Ellas nos ayudan, o no, a llegar a un lugar seguro.

 

El texto de Mateo esta mañana nos provee direcciones.

Pueden ser direcciones cuadradas y perpendiculares,

o más aventureras, las cuales nos llevan a un nuevo lugar

mientras nos deleitamos con un rico olor a mangó.

 

Creo que esta es gran dificultad que enfrentamos hoy.

Cómo obtenemos direcciones. Cómo intepretamos.

Este texto de Mateo. La Iglesia. El país dónde vivimos.

 

Necesitamos discernir una hermenéutica que produzca vida,

Y que esta vida sea una abundante.

 

El marco hermenéutico general de hoy son las bienaventuranzas.

Bienaventuradas las personas…pobres, humildes, compasivas.

 

Este marco hermenéutico general nos dice

que Jesús aquí nos está sofocándonos con un literalismo rígido

  • con líneas rectas y perpendiculares    –

sino retándonos con una ética intensificada.

 

Con una etica liberadora.

 

El texto de Mateo nos presenta cuatro situaciones

dirigidas a las personas que tienen poder,

para protegenr a quiénes no lo tienen.

 

Para que las personas bienaventuradas

sean dignificadas y protegidas.

Aquellas que lloran. Las pacificadoras.

Las perseguidas por causa de la justicia.

 

El texto comienza hablando de hermanos y hermanas.

Se dirige a la familia, a la comunidad, a la iglesia.

 

Nos matar es dignificar.

No matar es no destruir, no promover la violencia,

no abusar ni despreciar a nadie.

 

Martín Lutero explica el quinto mandamiento

de esta manera en el Catecismo Mayor:

Primeramente que no se hará mal a nadie, en primer término, ni con la mano,

ni con la acción. Después, que no se use la lengua para causar daño al prójimo, hablando o dando consejos malignos. Además, no se emplearán ni se consentirán medios o maneras de ninguna clase que pudieran ofender a alguien. Y, finalmente, que el corazón no sea enemigo de nadie ni desee el mal por ira o por odio, de tal modo que el cuerpo y el alma sean inocentes con respecto a cualquiera y especialmente con respecto a quien te desea o haga el mal.

 

Nuestras palabras y acciones deben invitar a la familia, a la comunidad

y todas las personas a la mesa del Señor.

 

Quiénes tienen poder, quienes pueden,

llegan a la mesa pensando solo en ellos mismos.

Quiénes piensan que pueden vivir sin comunidad,

quiénes creen que con sus recursos pueden vivir sin los demás,

deben pensar y actuar de otra manera.

 

Debemos añadir, no excluir, gente a la mesa.

 

El texto continúa, ahora dirigiéndose a la situación de las mujeres.

Atiende asuntos de objetivación.

Denuncia abusos y privilegios.

 

El poder en nuestra sociedad,

y en la sociedad de los tiempos bíblicos,

está en manos de los hombres.

Po la ley. Por la cultura. Por la fuerza.

 

Quiénes desean, quiénes lujurian, aquí, son los hombres.

Hombres con poder. Hombres que pueden.

Hombres que se salen con la suya.

 

Porque sí.

 

Jesús lo sabe, e intensifica su ética.

 

Si tu ojo derecho mira con deseos inapropiados y hace que abuses a una mujer,

Sácatelo y bótalo.

 

Si usas tu mano para sobar sin permiso una mujer

Como si fuera una libra de pan,

Córtatela y bótala.

 

Si extendemos esta hermenéutica en su dirección liberadora,

Podemos decir que las mujeres no son objeto de la lujuria ni del deseo de nadie.

 

Podemos decir, hoy, que las mujeres son libres.

Libres para hacer. Para vestir. Para decidir.

 

Ellas no necesitan protección ni permiso. Necesitan poder.

Necesitan afirmar lo que YA consiguieron.

Más parece que, en estos días que vivimos,

aún necesitan que defendamos lo que ellas han logrado

y por lo que tanto han luchado.

 

Como Jesús,

que las protegé en su comentario acerca del divorcio.

 

De la misma forma que los hombres usaban, y usan, la ley,

para controlar y objetivizar a la mujer,

así mismo usaban, y usan, su poder para casarse y divorciarse.

 

En este texto de Mateo,

Jesús amarra a los hombres al matrimonio, para defender las mujeres.

 

Las proteje de la pobreza y la marginalización.

Las cuida para que no queden indefensas ni lugar social.

Expuestas a la burla y el chisme.

 

Porque el divorcio, para las mujeres,

significaba marcarlas y olvidarlas socialmente.

 

Porteger y cuidar, como Jesús lo hace en este texto,

Significa hoy paga igual por igual trabajo.

Significa las mismas oportunidades por las mismas competencias.

 

Proteger y cuidar, como Jesús lo hace en este texto,

significa, hoy, defender y luchar por los derechos y dignidad

de todo ser humano que es usado y esquineado por el patriarcado.

 

Significa abrazar a quiénes sienten que tienen que ser invisibles para sobrevivir.

 

Como ven, dar direcciones es complicado.

Es un asunto de poder y control.

 

Dar direcciones es ayudar a decidir hacia dónde y cómo dirigir a las personas,

si de norte a sur transitando popr calles rectas y perpendiculares,

o si llegamos al parque de beísbol sobellevando muertos en la carretera.

 

El texto de hoy termina con Jesús hablándonos acerca de juramentos.

Del poder de la palabra empeñada.

Se trata de contratos. De acuerdos laborales y sociales.

 

Jesús nos dice que nuestro ‘sí’ sea ‘sí’, y que nuestro ‘no’ sea ‘no’.

 

Quiénes podían cambiar su ‘sí’ a ‘no’ y su ‘no’ a ‘sí’,

quiénes podían manipular sus juramentos,

eran, y son, los dueños de los contratos.

 

Esos que nos hacen firmar sin leer.

Que nos hacen firmar porque no tenemos alternativa.

Esos que manosean el sistema.

Jesús nivela la mesa.

No se puede cambiar. El ‘sí’ es ‘sí’ y el ‘no’ es ‘no’.

Aún para quienes están acostumbrados a cambiar su palabra para beneficiarse.

Aún para quienes tienen padrinos que los bautizan[3].

 

Jesús nos exhorta a que nuestras acciones confirmen nuestras palabras.

Jesús nos llama a que nuestro lenguaje sea inclusivo.

 

No nos escondamos en nuestras palabras ni en vana propaganda.

 

No usemos nuestras influencias para sacar ventaja de la gente,

O para beneficiarnos, o benenficiar a un amigo o familiar, a cualquier costo.

 

Que nuestro ‘sí’ sea ‘sí’, y nuestro ‘no’, ‘no’.

 

Que nuestras relaciones y la manera en que somos sociedad

Se fundamente en la verdad.

En lo que realmente es.

 

No decidamos leyes laborales, mores sociales, o nuestro futuro común,

A partir de la manipulación, o santificación, de data nebulosa.

 

Que nuestras relaciones se fundamenten en la honestidad y el carácter.

En integridad y esperanza.

 

Martin Luther King. Hijo, lo dijo de esta manera:

El ser humano debe desarrolla un método para lidiar

Con los conflictos que rechase la venganza, la violencia y el desquite.

El fundamente de un étodo así es el amor.[4]

 

Y dijo más:

He decidido aferrarme al amor.

El odio es un peso muy grande para cargar.[5]

Hermanos y hermanas,

nuestra vocación hermenéutica hoy

es la manera en que damos direcciones.

 

No es un asunto de literalismos rígidos.

Se trata de desafiar con esperanzada a partir de una ética intensificada.

 

Esta hermenéutica liberadora,

está ética intensificada, es la cruz, en medio nuestro,

proveyendo lugar seguro para quiénes no tienen poder.

Un lugar seguro para quiénes les quitan lo poco que tienen.

 

Es la oportunidad de aventurarnos a viajar a nuevos lugares

difrutando el olor de los mangoes a la orilla del camino.

 

Las bienaventuranzas lo dicen bien:

Bienaventurados sois cuando por mi causa os vituperen y os persigan,

y digan toda clase de mal contra vosotros, mintiendo.

Gozaos y alegraos, porque vuestro galardón es grande en los cielos;

porque así persiguieron a los profetas que fueron antes de vosotros.

 

Amén.

 

Información biográfica:

Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla es pastor ordenado del Sínodo del Caribe de la IELA. Ha trabajado como pastor en Puerto Rico y Chicago. Actualmente trabaja como Director de Formación Teológica para Seminarios y Escuelas de la IELA Trabajó como profesor de homilética y teología sistemática en el Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico del 2005 al 2017.

 

 

[1]               Árbol.

[2]               Regulador de velocidad. Tiene diferentes nombres en diferentes países: guardias tumbados, rompemuelles, lomo de burro, policia acostado, topes, etc. En inglés es speed bump.

[3]               Este es un refrán popular. Ver https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/refranero/ficha.aspx?Par=58681&Lng=0.

[4]            Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. Traducción mía.

[5]            I have decided to stick with love.Hate is too great a burden to bear. Traducción mía.

 

In Honor of Women by Rev. Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

Full Sermon

By: Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

ELCA Chapel – February 19, 2020

Matthew 5:21-37

 

Grace to you from the One and Triune God,

Forever and ever. Amen.

 

This is my second time in Chicago.

I lived in Hyde Park from 2001-2005.

 

Now I live in West Dundee

And commute to the Lutheran Center.

 

One of the many things different here than in Puerto Rico

Is the way people give directions.

 

Chicago is a square, filled with straight lines.

So when you ask, where is Millennium Park?,

People say:

Go North three blocks,

then East four blocks,

And you will find it right parallel to Michigan Avenue.

 

You do not give directions like that in Puerto Rico.

 

 

If you ask, where is the baseball park?

They will lead you more or less this way:

Go straight for a while ‘till you get to the mango tree.

 

When you get to the mango tree, then turn left.

Keep straight and you will find three speed bumps.

After the third speed bump,

you will find a yellow house at your right.

Turn left and ask a guy at the corner bar.

He will help you there. —

The way we give directions is important.

They will help us, or not, to find a safe place.

 

Today we have some directions in Matthew’s text.

We either get them straight to form a square,

Or smell the mango tree on an adventure to new places.

 

This is the conundrum today, I think.

How to get directions. How to interpret.

In this text. In church. In this country.

 

We need to discern which hermeneutics is life-giving.

 

The larger interpretive framework today is the beatitudes.

Blessed are you…the poor, the meek, the merciful.

 

This larger hermeneutical framework tells us

That Jesus is not suffocating us with a rigid literalism,

With squares and straight lines,

But challenging us with an intensified ethics.

 

With a liberating ethics.

 

Today’s text presents us four situations addressed to people that can,

To protect those who can’t.

 

For the blessed ones to be dignified.

Those who mourn. The peacemakers.

Those persecuted because of righteousness.

 

The text begins with brothers and sisters.

With family, community and church.

 

Not to murder is to dignify.

Not to murder is not destroy, not to do violence, not to abuse or dismiss anyone.

 

 

Explaining the fifth commandment in the Large Catechism,

Luther said:

We should not harm anyone, either by hand or deed.

We should not use our tongue to advocate or advise harming anyone.

We should harbor not hostility nor malice against anyone.

 

We must invite family, community and friends to the table.

We need to invite them with our words and deeds.

 

Those who can, come to the table

Without thinking in anyone but themselves.

Those who think they can live without others,

Need to think and act otherwise.

 

We should add, not divide. —

 

The text continues with women.

It deals with objectivization.

It denounces abuse and entitlement.

 

Power is on the side of men.

By force, by law and by culture.

 

The ones who lust, here, are men.

Powerful men. Because they can.

And get away with it.

 

Jesus knows, and intensifies his ethics.

If your right eye causes you to abuse women,

Tear it out and throw it away.

 

If your hand causes you to use women as a commodity,

Cut it off and throw it away.

 

 

 

 

If we extend this hermeneutics in its liberating direction,

We can say women are not objects of desire nor lust.

 

We can say, today, that women are free.

Free to do. Free to dress. Free to decide.

 

They should not need protection.

Yet it is apparent that even today in the 21st century they still do.

 

As Jesus protected them in his comment about divorce. —

 

As men used the law to control and objectify women,

They also used their power to marry and get divorced.

Jesus bound men to the law to protect women.

To protect women from poverty and marginalization.

 

To protect, today, is equal pay for equal job.

Equal opportunities for equal competencies.

 

To protect, today,

May be to safeguard the rights and dignity

Of every human being

Who is used and ostracized by patriarchy.

 

Who feels the need to become invisible to survive. –

 

You see, to give directions is tricky.

It is a matter of power and control.

 

We decide how and where to lead.

If to the north or south through a straight line,

Or to the baseball park surpassing speed bumps. –

 

Jesus’ last advice today is about oaths.

To speak about oaths is to speak about contracts.

It is to speak about labor and societal agreements.

 

Let our word be “Yes, yes” or “No, no”.

 

The ones who can change their “yes to no” and their “no to yes”

Were the ones who owned the contracts.

The ones who can manipulate the system.

 

Jesus leveled the field.

 

Let’s commit our words to our actions.

Our language to inclusion.

Let’s not hide in small print or in propaganda.

 

Let’s not use our influences to take advantage of people,

Or to benefit our clan at all cost.

Let our word be “Yes, yes” or “No, no”.

 

Let our relationships be sustained by the truth. By what it is.

 

Let not decide our labor relationships, our societal mores,

Or our communal future,

Based on manipulation or the sanctification of alternative facts.

 

Let our relationships be grounded in honesty and character.

In integrity and hope.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. said it this way:

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method

which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.

The foundation of such a method is love.

 

And he said more:

I have decided to stick with love.

Hate is too great a burden to bear. –

 

Brothers and sisters,

Our hermeneutical vocation today,

It is the way we give directions.

 

It is not a matter of rigid literalisms,

But of hopeful challenge of an intensified ethics.

 

It is the cross, in the midst of all,

Providing a safe place for those who can’t.

 

It is to venture to new places

Smelling the mango trees at the side of the road.

 

The Beatitudes say it well:

Blessed are you when people insult you, 

persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,

for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

Amen.

 

Biographical data:

Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla is an ordained minister of the ELCA rostered in the Caribbean Synod and has worked as pastor in Puerto Rico and Chicago. Currently he is the Director for Theological Formation for Seminaries and Schools of the ELCA. He worked as professor of systematic theology and homiletics at the Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2017.

 

#TreasuresOfDarkness: An African Descent Month Devotional-A reprise for 2020 (excerpt) by Rev. Kwame Pitts

#TreasuresOfDarkness: An African Descent Month Devotional-A reprise for 2020 (excerpt)*

 

Darkness/Black:

Devoid of Light

Lacking knowledge or culture.

Wickedness.

Evil.

Lack of spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.

Ignorance.

Sullen.

Foul.

Hostile.

Throughout our complex and convoluted history, forcibly exiled to these divided United States , we as People of Color specifically, children of the African Diaspora, have had the label affixed to our very being, everything that could be seen as negative and malevolent, based on the color of our skin. Our ancestral home, was known as the dark continent:

Therefore, it is no surprise the roots of the detriment of our humanity has become a learned and permanent part of the dominant culture and the status quo’s misinformation.

In the movie Malcolm X, Malcolm who is at the brink of spiritual awakening, is confronted by another prisoner, who is a follower of the Nation of Islam about the meaning and the portrayal of the words Black and white and how these are attributed to humanity. Malcolm slowly becomes angered after the description and definition of white is shown to him:

White:

The opposite of Black

Free from spot or blemish

Innocent

Pure

Without evil intent

Honorable

Harmless

“It is inherent in every monotheistic faith that there are only truth and error, good and evil…Since the dark-skinned heathen obviously did not belong on the side of truth and good, the Christian assigned him…to error and evil.” Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, What’s Faith Got to Do with it? Black Bodies/Christian souls.

This mindset has filtered down throughout Christianity, to where many, as People of Color have become ashamed about who we are and questioned why the Creator would curse us with this troublesome skin. Unfortunately and because of the onset of what Dr. Douglas defines as “Plationized Christianity”, scripture after scripture has been misused to enforce racism, stereotypes and our sacred bodies being dehumanized into nothing more than beasts.

“Our American Christians are too busy saving the souls of white Christians from burning in hellfire to save the lives of black ones from present burning in fires kindled by white Christians.” Dr. James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree.

This February as always is African Descent History Month; as scholars, troublemakers, seminarians, pastors, theologians and questers towards knowledge and empowerment, we are flipping the definition of darkness/blackness on its proverbial head and reclaiming the power of this word. Darkness does not equate a people blessed and enriched with melanin, created and formed in the image of Creator, who has blown sacred breath into our sacred bodies, giving us LIFE and a purpose.

Follow us at #treasuresofDarkness this February, as many beloved siblings of Faith, of Love and of Light share with you their perception and translation of the concept of darkness in Scripture and in sacred/holy texts.

ASE!

AMEN!

Peace.

The Rev. Kwame Pitts(M.Div, LSTC), is empowered and embolden by the presence of the Ancestors, living out her life as such. Her call is not only to prophetically teach and preach but also experience her Faith along a dual and sometimes complex spiritual pathway, as Creator has called her. Following and continuing the responsibilities laid out through her Womanist theologian mentors and Elders, her Ancestors both known and unknown and venerating her namesake and the work of building a nation, Kwame lives her life authentically, as a Woman of the African Diaspora, working and rooted in transformative and social justice. She has been ordained in the ELCA since 2015 and currently serves in Upstate NY Synod both as Pastor and Campus Pastor. She continues towards completion of her Master’s of Sacred Theology (STM) from Chicago Theological Seminary, 2020.

 

**To view the entire post from #TreasuresOfDarkness, follow: https://medium.com/@TravelingPastor/treasuresofdarkness-an-african-descent-month-devotional-3cf60143bd9e. 

Lessons From My History by Shari Seifert

As a Christian, I believe that we are all created in the image of God. Racism and white supremacy are heretical and demonic lies as they serve to say that some people are better than other people. The truth is that we are ALL one body in Christ and that body is hurt by white supremacy and racism. We are ALL hurt by these evils.

A big part of my faith journey as a European Descent Lutheran is to root racism and white supremacy out of myself and to do my part to move us towards the Kingdom of God.  A few years ago, a friend on a similar journey encouraged me to learn about the history of my hometown regarding race. Below is my reflection on a slice of history from my hometown of Rockdale–a small community in Central Texas. It involves the life and death of my Texas history teacher and serves as a stark example of how racism and white supremacy harm all of us.

 Recently, Susie Piper, my middle school Texas history teacher died at the age of 98.  She led a remarkable life and was an amazing teacher. She is one of the reasons I learned early on that white supremacy is a lie and I am so thankful for that lesson.  I reached out to her a few years ago and to tell her she and Ms. Petty (a black woman who was my most excellent high school biology teacher) were the best teachers I had from Rockdale.  I had some exchanges with Ms. Piper and Emzy Jerome Hebert (her son).  We gave each other a few books and I got a history lesson that I sure don’t remember ever hearing in school.

I learned from Jerome and Ms. Piper that when school integration happened Ms. Piper had been the principal of the Aycock School.  The black school that was shut down.  I learned that teachers who were black women were required to have master’s degrees and teachers who were black men were required to have PhDs in order to teacher at the newly integrated school in Rockdale.  Ms. Piper was put in charge of “the hopeless kids” in study hall in the newly integrated school.  She said that they were put in “the black room” which had no windows.  I suspect that they wanted her to give up and quit – but that was not in her nature.  She told me “It was always my philosophy that everyone counted and everyone could learn.”  Somewhere along the way people wised up and put her in the classroom where I benefitted from her excellence in teaching and I am grateful for that.  She was a prolific writer and noted historian.  She was the keynote speaker at the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential library on the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act.  I am so mad and sad about the injustices she went through.  I  don’t even have the words for this.   Mourn maybe the loss of the gifts and treasures we don’t have because other Susie Pipers were put in charge of study hall rather than the classroom. I’m angry about her and others’ mistreatments. Denying people’s gifts and not giving them a chance to shine really hurts all of us.  I don’t know what happened to move Ms. Piper from study hall to the classroom.   I would like to hear that story too.  I suspect it took some honest accounting of the situation and some bravery.  Let’s have more of that please.

 

Shari is a European descent Lutheran living in Minneapolis with her wife and two sons. She sells houses and dismantles white supremacy in the Lutheran Church. She is on the board of the European Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice and the Minneapolis Synod anti-racism table.