"White folks need to be de-centered. This world is not about them, and quite honestly, racial justice should not depend on them. Justice is authored by God, not white people."
— Lisa Sharon Harper
(Source: religiondispatches.org)
measures for justice
The American criminal justice system is a disparate network of thousands of different courts and enforcement agencies. Crossing a state line, a county line, even a municipal line can result in widely different outcomes. To pursue equity and justice in this system requires data transparency.
Measures for Justice is an incredible organization out to do just that – the grunge work of gathering all of this data and providing it in an accessible format. In targeting and dealing with systemic injustice, a piecemeal approach is not enough. Praying that this tool can be a game changer in mass incarceration.
(Source: themarshallproject.org)
terror
worn, tired, sorrow
Mary, mother of God, pray
Lord, how much longer?
he said “no”
Richard Collins III, a young black man recently commissioned into the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant and just about to graduate from university, was killed over the weekend by a white student who has been involved in neo-Nazi Facebook groups.
When the cowardice of white systematic oppression embodied came towards Richard saying, “step left, step left if you know what’s best for you” – he said “no.” He maintained his composure. He kept discipline.
When the bus driver demanded to Rosa Parks, “are you going to stand up?” She looked him in the eye and and said “no.”
He did not cower in the face of one who would demand that his body was not his own, that his body was lesser than another. He was trained to lead others against combatting terrorism – but his battlefield was one where a person of color is perpetually regarded as suspect. His oath was protect those who would add him to the tally of the war against black bodies, even his killer Sean Urbanski. He paid the ultimate price for our freedom, for my freedom, defending the rights of us all. The US Army’s motto is “This We’ll Defend” and this he defended. May his leadership be an example to us all.
I pray for you Richard. I pray for your family. And on this Memorial Day, I will remember your sacrifice for my freedom and your willingness to stand up against those who would seek to deface the image of God.
(Source: baltimoresun.com)
radical racial reconciliation
Daryl Davis inspires me. The hard work of reconciliation and true shalom requires not only that systems become more just, but that individuals also become reconciled.
The most important thing I learned is that when you are actively learning about someone else you are passively teaching them about yourself. So if you have an adversary with an opposing point of view, give that person a platform. Allow them to air that point of view, regardless of how extreme it may be. And believe me, I’ve heard things so extreme at these rallies they’ll cut you to the bone.
Give them a platform.
You challenge them. But you don’t challenge them rudely or violently. You do it politely and intelligently. And when you do things that way chances are they will reciprocate and give you a platform. So he and I would sit down and listen to one another over a period of time. And the cement that held his ideas together began to get cracks in it. And then it began to crumble. And then it fell apart.
Lord, give us the grace to engage in such radical conversations.
christian discrimination
No, Christians in the US are not facing true discrimination. This disingenuous belief is an affront to brothers and sisters in Christ who are truly dying for their faith.
Let us seek to be faithful witnesses and true culture changers. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. We have no right or guarantee that the world may respect us or our beliefs. We do have a command to respect others, to show grace to others, to turn the other cheek. Let us be true martyrs for our faith.
Put your sword back in your sheath!
- John 18:11a
"The overwhelming support for Trump heralds the religious right coming full circle to embrace its roots in racism."
— Randall Ballmer
(Source: newrepublic.com)
Lord, I pray that our eyes might be opened to the hypocrisy of victim-blaming. Lord, I pray especially for men, that we might take upon the mantle of ownership as You did as the New Adam, that we might throw off the inheritance of the First Adam, that we would not blame women or treat them as objects or temptations, but our counterparts also made in Your image.
climate change & child marriage
While the United States bicker over a non-argument, peoples lives are being destroyed. Lord, have mercy upon us for our belligerence. Lord, have mercy upon Bangladeshis and the children of the countryside.
sustainability
The fight for sustainable practices of having dominion over this planet is multi-faceted and nowadays hijacked by various principalities and powers. On one end, a despotic moralism arises that would condemn those less fortunate to the outer fringes of hell for not sacrificing their two meager coins upon the altar of sustainability. On the other end is the self-serving capitalistic machine that seeks to devour and destroy, merely changing it’s chameleonic skin to match the ever-changing whims of society.
Our choices are inherently moralistic. Decisions that we make reveal an underlying worldview and framework. Choosing between a banana and an apple seems mundane, but living in Western Pennsylvania clearly means that one fruit is seasonal, the other is foreign. We have long since moved into a new food era, where we can have the food of our desires no matter the season or location.
The more we heed our basic instincts for cheap sugar, salt, fat, and protein in whatever form we want it, whatever time of year we want it, the more we create a simple agricultural world and the more we will depend on the diversity of life with which that same agriculture competes on a finite planet. [1]
Our desire for a standardized food experience will lead us into destruction as we seek to build a new tower of Babel, a shrine that destroys the very beauty and diversity of the created order under the facade of human progress.
Yet despite our individual (consumer) choices, the underlying systemic issues are unaddressed.
Making series of small, ethical purchasing decisions while ignoring the structural incentives for companies’ unsustainable business models won’t change the world as quickly as we want. It just makes us feel better about ourselves. [2]
Let us then seek to bring systemic change – through prayer, through voting, through volunteering, through donating.
Sources:
[1] https://www.wired.com/2017/03/humans-made-banana-perfect-soon-itll-gone/
[2] https://qz.com/920561/conscious-consumerism-is-a-lie-heres-a-better-way-to-help-save-the-world/