So yesterday, I posted a little Facebook status update very concerned for some of my white friends who would be with extended family for the holiday. Just by looking at the comment section of their own pages, it was clear there might be some contention over recent events in the news. After posting the following update, my own comment section brought me great joy! Check it out! 

Austin: Ooowwweee. Some of you are going to have some interesting conversations at the dinner table tomorrow. And by interesting I mean *terrible*. Christ be with you. (And maybe you should bring some books and powerpoint presentation on systemic injustice).

• Abi: Someone needs to create a Systemic Injustice for Relatives slideshow, quick.

• Austin What should it include, Abi? Oh, this could be fun...

• Austin: Slide 1: slavery and capitalism

• Abby: I have one on my teacher computer that is like "power who has it" that I use. .. should have brought it! (Who has the power is a question we ask fit lots of books

• Abi: Slide 2: Slavery and Evangelicalism

• Austin: Slide 3: Jim Crow and how you grandparents *really* gained wealth

• Abi: Slide 4: History of the Police Force

• Austin:  Slide 5: The fallacy of "black on black" crime

• Austin: Abi, I think we may be on to something lol

• Abi: Seriously, if someone makes this I will start bringing an overhead projector everywhere I go

• Austin: Ha! I love it.

• Abi: Slides 6-22: White Privilege

• Jason: I like your Pedagogy for the Christmas Sweaters, y'all

• Austin: Slides 23-25: defining whiteness, white superiority and anti blackness edited for more space 

• Abi: Slide 24: "Post-Racial" America, or, How Can There Still Be Racism If We Have a Black President?

• Jessica: Slide 25: "Dominant culture narratives"

• Austin: Slide 26: No more monoliths- not all black people are the same. Plus another slide on the difference between loving black culture and loving black people

• Abi: Slide 27: But I Don't Hate Black People! Racism as practice, not emotion

• Austin: *slow clap*

• Austin:  Slide 28: looking beyond your one black friend

• Justin: slide 29: How Progressive Christianity is often still racist, and what it means to be Intersectional

• Austin: oh, no you didn't add intersectionality at the family dinner! lol

• Justin: yeah that might be asking too much of people that are still understanding systemic racism

• Jessica: I think we need to revisit slides 6-22 and name each subcategory

• Austin: Hmmm. Yes. You are right. Lets do it.

• Austin: Slide 6: White privilege and education

• Austin: Slide 7: white privilege and rioting

• Austin: Slide 8: White privilege and stop/frisk

• Jessica: Slide 9: White privilege and career choices/ job interviews

• Austin: Slide 10: white privilege and names

• Abi: Slide 11: White Privilege and "Neutrality"

• Jessica: Slide 5.5: White privilege and you. "Who, me?!" Yes, you.

• Austin: Slide 12: White privilege and 'objectivity"

• Austin: Yes! Jessica, Yes!

• Abi: Slide 13: White Privilege and Media Representation

• Timothy: Slide 30: MLK was peaceful, and they still killed him... In a suit.

• Austin: We might give that 2 slides, Timothy

• Jessica: Slide 14: Privilege and the politics of respectability

• Timothy: Slide 31: Reverse Racism... Nah.

• Abi: Slide 32: Not All White People... Nah

• Timothy: Slide 32: MLK was not the only black leader...

• Timothy: Slide 33:... He was the only black leader that made white people feel comfortable.

• Marcus: Slide 34: Malcolm X wasn't the devil and Rosa Parks wasn't the first to sit on the bus

• Marcus: Slide 35: why facts are never neutral

• Austin: you all are brilliant and wonderful

• Brandy: These are brilliant! Each time I thought of a new one, someone had already included it.

• Timothy: Slide 36: If Mike Brown had shot up a school, he'd be alive. Examples provided.

• Marcus: Slide 37: why nothing is as bad as slavery and jim crow except actual slavery and jim crow.

• Marcus: Slide 38: why you need more black friends

• Timothy: Slide 39: How to separate thug black from regular black at a quick glance.

• Marcus: Slide 40: the differences between racism and anti-blackness

• Austin: Sigh. You all make me so happy.

• Timothy: Slide 41: The duality of being the villain and the victim.

• Marcus: slide 42: the cultural-theological-physical and sexual obsessions with blackness.

• Austin:  Marcus, please make this slide for us.

• Abi: Slide 15: White Privilege and Housing/Districting

• Abi: Slide 16: White Privilege and Voting

• Abi: or whatever number we were on up there, heh

• Austin: Abi, we have a lot of slide left for white privilege. Fill em up!

• Timothy: Slide 43: Affirmative Action balanced out white privilege. Thank you.

• Abi: 17: White Privilege and Theology

• Abi: 18: White Privilege and the War on Drugs

• Marcus: Slide 44: Almost no one mentioned in the bible, including God and Jesus, are white.

• Marcus: Slide 45: Mythbusters: The actual decedents of the Neanderthals....

• Abby: Standardized tests and the school to prison pipe line.

• Austin: Love our list. But I think no one would stay for the turkey. lol

• Amber: I'm so sad I can't share this 

• Shara: I'm so mad I missed all this but can I squeeze one or two in the middle?

• Shara:  Slide 46: Why people who claim to be "colorblind" are lying

• Shara: Slide 47: Why it's ridiculous to want to be "colorblind"... Accepting that different does not equal bad

• Jewel: Slide 48: Why buildings will never be worth more than black lives or nah

• Jewel: Slide 49: Have you thought about having a conversation with your one black friend or nah

• Shara: Slide 50: Why society values animals more than black men

• Jewel: Slide 50: How not to put your one black friend in the magical negro category or nah

• Kathi: I need one to explain why there are so few poc in Oregon. Answer number 1: they were written out of the constitution until almost 1930

• Jewel: Slide 51: The history of biased media toward people of color

• Jewel: Slide 52: How to have empathy and compassion for populations that have no privilege because you took it.

• Jewel: Slide 53: How to see people of color as equally human as you see yourself

• Jewel: Slide 54: How to not share racist sentiment in social media if you don't want to be called racist

• Austin: You all are on a roll! I LIKE it. I like all of it!

• Jewel: Slide 55: How you would feel if someone told you to just get over the unjustified killing of your child

• Jewel: Austin, I think I can go all night lol

• Jewel: Slide 56: How it is not endearing to tell someone of another race just how much you fetishize them.

• Velynn: Girrrllllll for real!!! Lol!!!

• Jewel: Slide 57: How Jesus never taught you to be racist

• Jewel: Slide 58: It is never okay to touch a POC's hair, skin, any body part without permission

• Austin:  Slide 57 made me laugh for real tho, Jewel

• Jewel: Slide 59: How your all white congregation will never be what heaven looks like

• Jewel: Slide 60: How holding contempt in your heart for poc while adopting poc children won't get you extra crowns in glory

• Jewel: Slide 61: You just might be racist if you forbid your children to date or marry interracially

• Jewel: Slide 62: How going on a short term mission trip does not mean you aren't racist

• Jewel Slide 63: How the very same people you view as animals could be angels in disguise

• Jewel: Slide 64: This is probably why you don't want to have me over for Thanksgiving

• Shara: Lol umm this is no longer a slideshow over holiday dinner this is at least a semester long course for undergraduate students lol

• Jewel: Undergraduate, Graduate, Doctoral everyone can get educated 

• Amber: This is amazing. Omg

• Amber: Slide 65 - Black Culture: Was it Appropriated or Nah? 

• Jenny: Austin, this is making me so happy. Slide 66 - Why it's not reverse racism for white people to not say the N word.

• Jenny: Slide 67 - see previous slide about reverse racism not being real.

• Jewel: Jenny, amen to all of that!

• Jenny: Slide 68 - if you are tired of talking about race/racism, that is your privilege oozing out.

• Jenny: Slide 69 - movie ratings and the absence of complex poc roles. And why that matters immensely.

• Austin: Slide 70- TED Talk: Danger of a single story

• Jewel: Slide 71: How not to speak for people of color

• Jewel: Slide 72: Why slaves were not happy on your family's plantation

• Jenny: Slide 73 - how not to ask poc to speak for all poc

*As you can see I removed pictures, hyperlinks, and last names. I also removed any personal comments. This list brought me great joy. It was oddly cathartic to see a list of everything we wish we could address in this moment in time.  

Do you have more to add? Place them in the comments section! 

"Be patient," they say. 

"Be peaceful," they say.

"Just wait," they say," for this is how Christ behaved... MLK behaved... the truly godly behave"

But I serve a demonstrating Christ. 

I serve a Christ who walked into the temple, looked around and felt anger. Who fashioned a whip for the purpose of driving folks out. Suddenly tables crash to the floor. Money clangs as it scatters across the floor. Feet pounding, tripping, running, racing to get out of there. Benches over turn. A whip slices through the air. A voice roars, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers."   

I serve a demonstrating Christ. Though we often skip this story. This story wedged in all four gospels, the final provocation for killing the man called Jesus.  But we skip it because it serves us no more. We have no need for this Jesus because we don't make animal sacrifices anymore. We are never in danger of bringing in too many bleating animals, of exploiting too much in a cash exchange, of walking through our church carrying cows, goats or doves. So we explain this passage not as a story unto itself but only in service for why Christ died. 

But what if this moment is about more. More than money. More than animals. More than noise. What if this is about a demonstrating Christ who was consumed by love for the temple, the gathering place where God met man. What if this is a story about the need for the nations to come. The need for the space to be cleared so that nothing stood in the way for the scattered to arrive. We commonly refer to this story as "Jesus cleansing the temple" and I would like to submit to you today that the Church still needs cleansing. 

Because America has erected a far more dubious system for keeping people out. 

Out of our schools. 

Out of our neighborhoods.

Out of our churches. 

Out of our leadership. 

Out of our communities.

Out of our conscience.  

We indeed have a sacrificial system, extorted for gain. Its called racism and black bodies are the ones dying. Indeed America has perfected the systemic art of thievery and segregation.

For what feels like forever we have watched the taking of black lives again and again and again. Unarmed their black bodies have been cause enough to extract a final breath. Black bodies have only been welcome here so long as they are willing to bend to the white will. Black bodies have been welcome here so long as they are willing to hand over all that they are in pleasure to the white whim. Black bodies have been welcome here so long as they keep in line, stay in their place, remain locked out or locked up. Any violation of the white will is cause for judgement, correction, threat, death. Head over to social media and it is overrun with photos of the white will violating white law and yet over and over again this does not result in death. And while the black community mourns, the segregation is on display. The racist thought patterns are on display. Displeasure with how we mourn, how we grieve, how we scream, how we cry is met with icy cold disdain. And touting civility as the highest form of godliness, we are asked to be patient, peaceful, wait. 

But I serve a demonstrating Christ. Surely Christ could have stood on the steps of the temple, at the entrance and waved his arm toward the commotion. Surely he could have declared to anyone who would stop long enough to listen, "Do you see what is happening in there?" "Don't you think someone should stop this?" Surely he could have taken his twelve from stall to stall and quietly pointed out each atrocity before his eyes. Calmly explaining his rationale to each seller, he could have ministered to each one persuading them to do what it right. Surely he could have been patient and kind asking each one to please leave the temple. Surely he could have used humor to catch people off guard. Or perhaps he could have waited- waited until the day was done, until Passover was done, until the Temple was done. Surely he could have... could have done anything other than demonstrate. 

But I serve a Christ who disrupts.

And we are called to demonstrate Him, right? 

So how long before you unseat privilege and power? How long before you turn over the tables of injustice? How long before you whip your congregation into shape, beat out racist ideology and roar your displeasure? How long before you scatter your donors and donations? How long before you throw your gains to the floor? How long before you are consumed by more than four walls. How long before you are consumed by love for EVERY body.  How long before the bodies which contain the Spirit of the Lord matter more than property, wealth, and power? How long? How long before you disrupt antiblack thought patterns? How long before you cast out problematic language? How long before you call out racist actions?

When will you take a stand? 

When will you be fed up?

You know, like Christ.  

"Running the negro out of Tulsa"

It is not hard to look at mainstream media and find all kinds of images of "scary" black people. Just last week we all watched #pointergate unfold in which a black male activist was turned into a monstrous gangster after posing with the mayor of Minneapolis The image created around his person and work was not one of community builder, activist, or, you know, human. Instead the media was all too excited to make him a body worthy of fear. 

With the violent murders of Trayvon Martin, Ranisha McBride, John Crawford, Mike Brown and far too many others, America continues to witness the devastating, deadly effects of the fear of the black body. In each instance of the deaths above a white person cites "fear" as the reason or provocation for taking a life. Over and over America believes this is enough. "I was afraid of that big black body, wouldn't you be too?" is considered a reasonable defense. It perhaps holds the best chance for success. It always has. 

And yet I find this image of the monstrous black body puzzling, because it is the violence of whiteness that has proven itself worthy of fear. 

Shall we begin with the violent institution of chattel slavery? Beginning in 1619, Africans are brought to the shores of America, denied even basic human rights and made to be perpetually submissive to owners. For 246 years white America upholds, defends, and sheds blood in an effort to protect the institution of slavery. The historic willingness of whiteness to sacrifice its own humanity and in process deny the humanity of black people, is terrifying. It is white supremacy that has been historically violent.

While America loves to pat itself on the back for abolishing slavery and ushering in the reconstruction era, in doing so it chooses to forget. It chooses to forget the violent institutions that were set up to "keep blacks in their place". In some states the black codes were developed the same year the constitution abolished slavery. For another 100 years, white supremacy is carefully guarded by ensuring black people occupied a permanent second-class status thanks to Jim Crow. But this systemic power was not enough to satisfy. So it perfected mob lynching. Kidnapping black men, women and children, whiteness made a sport of killing black bodies, taking pleasure in lifeless bodies swinging from branches. Daring to take pictures and send postcards once the deed was done, this act succeeded in intimidating and oppressing black bodies. Of the 4,743 recorded lynchings in the US, 3,446 were black according to the records of Tuskegee Institute. The white supremacist propensity for taking pleasure in the destruction of black bodies is terrifying. It is white supremacy that has been historically violent. 

When Jim Crow was finally abolished, white America was not yet done with its desire for violent containment. Race riots in America were yet another invention of whiteness. No longer content to target just one black body at a time, white mobs determined instead to do harm to entire black families, neighborhoods, communities. Mostly happening in the North, whites would terrorize black communities by beating and killing residents and then destroying their property. In 1919 alone, there were 26 race riots that broke out all over the country, leaving more than 100 black people dead, thousands wounded and many homeless. It is white supremacy who has long considered it a right to take the lives and property of black families. It is white supremacy that has been historically violent. 

As African Americans continued to fight for civil rights, white power structures continued to find new ways to practice systemic violence. Contract housing extracted huge amounts of wealth from black communities, leaving them shells of their former selves. The governmental practice of redlining  clearly told black communities they were unwanted, non-members of the cities where they lived. Developments in transportation were often used to physically segregate back communities away from other areas of the city. The right to vote was kept out of reach by a number of evolving laws and policies. How do we even summarize the damage the criminal justice system has done to black communities over the course of American history? It is white supremacy that has found ever creative ways to shut out and shut down black folks from being considered fully American, fully human. It is white supremacy that has been historically violent. 

It was not blacks who enslaved millions of people for financial gain. It was not blacks who lynched thousands of people for entertainment. It was not blacks who regularly invaded the neighborhoods of other communities to wreak havoc. It was not blacks who created laws to disenfranchise others. These are the violent inventions of white supremacy. 

And this is why we sit in anticipation of every decision that involves unarmed, dead, black bodies. This is why we sit on the edges of our seats and wonder whether or not America will acknowledge our humanity this time. This is why we anxiously watch Ferguson. 

It is not African Americans who need to be feared. It is white supremacy that keeps inequality alive, that strips white folks of their humanity, that continues to take the lives of black folks largely without repercussion or consequence. It is not the black body that needs to be resisted but the lie that white equals safety. The lie that white needs to defend itself from blackness. The lie that white means just. We must look at our past and how that past is connected to today. We must choose a new way forward. A way that resists violence, that chooses equality, that finally surrenders to humility, to repentance, to love. We must believe that every win for white supremacy is a loss for us all. 

And I believe it is why Ferguson will march, will be witness, no matter the decision to indict or not. Ferguson has chosen to give voice not only to Mike Brown's death- but to the mass violence of whiteness against black bodies. We wait. We watch. But know this, we do not do so idly. We never have. It is not in our nature to wait without working. Past generations died to enact the rights we have today. Now, our generation seeks equal enforcement.

In Ferguson and across the country we will give voice to unjust systems. Whatever the coming weeks bring, of this you can be sure: we will fight on. 

*I want to acknowledge this this post was limited to African American history. But the violence that white supremacy has enacted over the course of American history includes far more people groups. I also want to acknowledge this is not the entirety of African American history in this country. My purpose is not to explore every area of black history, but instead to reposition the focus of historic violence. I hope I have accomplished this.   

Sympathy to Solidarity Part II

Last week we started our Sympathy to Solidarity series with "when the tears no longer move you".  This week we are talking about advocacy!  Its an interesting topic because of its complicated layers. Advocacy can serve as a launching pad or a tar pit. Its dichotomy lies in its ability to be waged for common good or coddled for self-serving means. 

When we find ourselves so broken by the issues around us that doing nothing is no longer option, we are immediately launched into the advocacy stage. We are finding our voice. We are synthesizing all the information we gathered in the sympathy stage and linking it to real work, real stories, real experiences. We are testing the waters- attempting to discover if we can truly make a difference. We are writing. We are speaking truth to power. We are marching. We are fundraising. We are traveling. We are taking increasingly larger risks to speak truth to power. In many ways this is a stage of transformation- you are now an advocate, linked to a cause, specializing in a particular area, known for speaking up and speaking out. You are in a word- credible. And it feels good. 

Advocacy is an uplifting process, a collection of meaningful successes that outweigh experiences of resistance. Advocacy requires a sense of longevity because trust and credibility are not easily won. But. If advocacy does not become a launching pad into solidarity, it easily morphs into seductive self -promotion. 

[By self-promotion I don't mean what we do to sell books, tweet our posts or giving commercials when we speak. I don't mean that our work should never be discussed or our story told. By self-promotion, I mean that advocacy work can become more about ourselves than the people we're supposed to advocate for.] 

We've all heard the phrase 'knowledge is power'... Well, knowledge also gives power. Consider, it used to be that when you spoke, folks would correct you, or add to what you said. You would write a piece and then be pulled aside, told how it could be better. You would work all day and intentionally ask the experts how you did. But then you became the expert. You gained the acquired knowledge to be credible and as a result you are offered power and position. Few things are more seductive- even in social justice circles. And this is when the dichotomy of advocacy becomes real. Following are just three ways advocacy can quickly become about the promotion of self:  

1. The Savior-Complex: believing that the reason things got done is because you were part of the efforts. Instead of being an advocate for the people, you slowly become a paternal dictator- explaining to the people what must be done and how, inserting yourself into every decision making process, all thanks to your expertise and experience, of course. 

The one who stands in solidarity lives in humility. Happy to be a part of the group, the process, the planning, the executing, but resists individualizing their work. They are vigilant to remain aware of how their contribution is connected to the group. Without the group, their contribution would be null. 

2. The Voice of the People:  The seduction of power easily leads to the belief that the marginalized cannot or should not speak for themselves. They might mess up, go too far, ask for too much. They might undo all the work you've been doing on their behalf (behind closed doors). You must be the spokesperson, the bridge, the translator, the center that brings both sides together. <--- 'danger, will robinson, danger' if you find yourself the center. 

The one who stands in solidarity is constantly determining how the marginalized can speak truth to power themselves. They seek positions of power for others- creating new positions on the board, the leadership, the panel, the committee, the speaker line up, the acquisitions list, etc. Or give up their own position. They use creativity not to speak on behalf of the people, but always with. Always with the people. 

3. Resting on Your Laurels: Achieving position and power sometimes makes it harder to participate in the work of the people on the ground in the trenches. Position and proximity to power can color how you interpret what's happening in the lives of the marginalized. This removal from the work is dangerous. Losing touch with the people means losing credibility. The expectation that work done in the past earns the right to be trusted in the present will eventually prove to be unreasonable. What have you done for (others) lately?

Solidarity is important because its forward looking. Accomplishments of the past are to be celebrated for sure. But there is more work to do. Solidarity seeks connection- not from the past but always in the present.  

Advocacy is not inherently bad. It is an exciting time of gaining confidence, trying out your voice, synthesizing and applying the information you're learning to the world. But if you find yourself rising in power, being seduced by the savior complex, needing to speak for the marginalized, or resting only on endeavors of the past... You might be stuck. 

Getting yourself unstuck requires a great deal of humility. it requires love of neighbor as much as you love yourself. It requires being a lifelong learner and collaborator. As advocacy begins to uplift us into positions of power, solidarity asks us to choose the downward path. The path that leads to the oppressed. 

Talk to me. What have you gained from your advocacy work? And what dangers have you discovered?