Quotes That Are Driving Me

"Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down." —Oscar Romero

"Be the change you want to see in the world." —Gandhi

"If you ask what we want, we will unashamedly answer: 'To open a crack in history.'"
—Subcomandante Marcos Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN)

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." —Karl Barth

It's a Movement, ya'll. Get on board!
Happy late Easter everyone.
It was solidified on the Cross!
More lengthy and substantive posts hopefully coming soon.

God As Liberatator (Part 3): Everyone's Gift

But who then claims such a contested place like America? Perhaps, this resistance and struggle to redefine the dominant narrative is our collective claim. Each piece of legislation wraps a new tale of incorporation or exclusion while artists try to dismantle the structure further and opt for bigger societal pushes. Although petitioners to the dominant narrative need to respect those who don’t follow its normative paths (either Christianity or the Constitution), it is also important to recognize claims like Laura Tohe’s only attack the oppressor (in this case, Richard Henry Pratt). This makes the claim distant to future populations while the silent apathetic population that let those atrocities happen in the past remains the problem in the present day (ix). Instead, scholars need to actively identify oppressors while also excavating the silent populations from their time period. In this way, we can examine how populations of color challenged their actions through the dominant discourse to reach the widest audience. J.W.C. Pennigton’s account of slavery demonstrates the urgency and fury he had over these people with “lesser problems” whose beliefs somehow absolved them of responsibility. Frustrated by the notion of “kind” and “Christian masters,” Pennigton pointed out that no matter how well they treated their slaves their efforts allowed slavery to exist as a successful economic model. Despite any outward signs of redemption, “[Kind and Christian masters were] not masters of the system. The system [was] a master of them” (Johnson 218).

If Fredrickson’s quote goes uncontested, then so do the countless voices that have negotiated the dominant culture whether it be by attaching personal experience to their religious beliefs, finding “truth” in an artform, or by banding together to claim a space. Western racism is unique; therefore, it invites a unique response that allows populations of color to challenge the dominant discourse by appealing to a mainstream experience and convincing those followers that the dominant discourse, itself, is an illusion unless it contains their voice. This process combines a shared experience with an eventual subversion that acts as a form of resistance the dominant culture can either accept or reject. For Christians, it means “to defend [themselves] against [their] enemy but…also defend [their] faith within the revolutionary process” by never letting the religion become co-opted by colonization or corrupt principalities (Menchu 246). Like the dominant narrative, Christianity should remain the people’s. All people’s.

King Teaching King

I loved 2006. It was an amazing year of growth for me.
It was the most radical year of my faith life
that followed the most radical period of my racial identity.
Conflict seemed inevitable.

That Christmas vacation I really struggled with how to identify as both a black person and a Christian. I knew that the debate was not important spiritually, but it was a road block in understanding my place in the world.

My peace was found through justice.
Being black, for me, is not an excitement that I’m a certain pigmentation.
It’s about showing the world I’m 5/5, honoring the legacy of those that never had that choice, and helping others that have not realized their value because of cultural or structural reasons, including the myriad forms of injustice that continue to devalue our community.

As long as I tempered my pride from being a certain race with the knowledge that I am this race for a reason, I knew I was fine. I felt a renewed sense of energy because these two forces don’t conflict; instead, they go hand in hand.

In the end, only one thing changed superficially. I already tried never to deny my blackness or the anti-racism efforts that come with that consciousness despite how awkward that might make interactions. Now, I try to represent my Christianity in that same way to make my identities alive in the most respectful way possible.

Dedicated to a man who realized a Christian movement is a movement with an understanding of love and justice.