 |
| Christena and Louisa |
Please welcome guest writer Louisa Davis, by way of Christena Cleveland's blog. A former UCC minister and professor of religious studies, Louisa now co-leads antiracism efforts in Washington, DC.
Louisa offers some practical actions steps we can take to combat systemic injustice. Christena notes that "Louisa’s list is not a checklist or litmus test designed to engender shame. Rather, I hope it will inspire those of us who are privileged to think about the practical things we can do in our respective communities."
Redeeming Privilege:
How privileged people can work for justice
1. Allow people of color, women or members other oppressed groups to teach and especially
lead you (since they usually have more crucial things to do than teach others) even when you think you might have “better” ideas. Of course, when you think you are really sure of something speak up. But
listen for an alternative paradigm, often based more on relationship building and less on Western standards of “efficiency” in my experience. Additionally, read widely to supplement what you learn from personal interactions.
2. Tithe/donate to social service, religious or political organizations that support oppressed communities an amount based on your family’s/life’s benefits or inheritances from the work of slaves or cheap labor, like maids, farm-workers, and construction workers. I tithed 10% of the profits on the sale of a home in early 2000 since so much of my white family’s small “wealth” has come through home ownership and real estate appreciation in a system that has advantaged white
G.I. Bill buyers, colonists, homesteaders, etc.
3. Join and commit your time (and even commute) to attend regular meetings, volunteer/ministry projects and “extra” social gatherings of Black/Latino/Native/Asian-led organizations where real friendships can be developed across cultural differences.
4. Look hard at your extra, unused material possessions and imagine how you/they can furnish the closets or whole homes of homeless or poor families (who are likely to be of color especially in our cities.) Pass on accordingly, simplifying and “opening up” your lifestyle.
5. Make a spare bedroom in your home available to poor sojourners or activists–not necessarily strangers, but perhaps people in transition who you have come to know through your intentional commitments to community across race, gender and class differences.
6. Show up at marches or other public witnesses for immigrant rights, voters rights, living wages, budget priorities for the poor, etc—wherever leaders of color point. Put your privileged body where it can be seen and counted by the news-making press–even when not so convenient.
7. Support
restorative justice/non-punitive practices in your
schools and communities that hear the pain and needs of both victims and so-called perpetrators.
Resist blaming and further damaging the poor and marginalized for their anger and desperation.
8. Speak up when you hear racism, classism or sexism trivialized as in the recent Paula Deen scandal or even in great films like '42' that focus on racism as name-calling and not its more diabolic and
systematic economic and social marginalization of people. Calling someone “nigger” is hardly what is sending hundreds of thousands of poor black children of color to substandard
schools and then to
prisons.
9. Speak up (this could be a whole list of its own–-when and how to speak up) when friends make comments about which
neighborhoods are “good” or “safe.” It’s not wrong to want to live in as safe a neighborhood as possible but I’ve noticed a lot of privileged people assume communities oppressed people are “unsafe” when in fact they can have systems of neighborly care and support much thicker than most so called good neighborhoods. Besides, we can create strategies for safety wherever we are.
10. If you choose to integrate traditional or recent communities of oppressed people as a “
gentrifier” mitigate the displacement of the poor by employing “
good urban manners” (e.g., an awareness of the costs others pay for your privilege): like not calling police/inspectors on more or less harmless “unruly” behavior or possible building infractions that poorer homeowners can’t afford to fix up. Hey, maybe you can donate some skills, labor or money to improvements!
Let’s grow this list folks–starting where you are.
And please don’t be intimidated by this personal list which has been hard-won and imperfectly executed after thirty years of trying to “make new mistakes” as a privileged ally.
There are plenty of articles about racially inappropriate costumes, yet every year folks perpetuate appropriation, caricature, and humiliation as Halloween sport. It is annual affliction, so I guess it's worth making the point yet again...
As Lisa Wade notes, Halloween outfits basically come in three flavors: scary, funny, or fantasy. Real cultures shouldn't fit into any of these categories. By using people's identities as costumes, we imply that they are 'not one of us,' or not even fully human, belonging instead to the realm of ghouls and goblins.
In the U.S., we spend the entire year marginalizing POCs, maintaining low visibility on TV, in movies, and in the media, but then suddenly become hyper-interested in 'appreciating culture' for one offensive night (as though dressing as a Hollywood version of what you think a culture is has anything to do with appreciating it).
3. Join and commit your time (and even commute) to attend regular meetings, volunteer/ministry projects and “extra” social gatherings of Black/Latino/Native/Asian-led organizations where real friendships can be developed across cultural differences.
7. Support restorative justice/non-punitive practices in your schools and communities that hear the pain and needs of both victims and so-called perpetrators. Resist blaming and further damaging the poor and marginalized for their anger and desperation.
10. If you choose to integrate traditional or recent communities of oppressed people as a “gentrifier” mitigate the displacement of the poor by employing “good urban manners” (e.g., an awareness of the costs others pay for your privilege): like not calling police/inspectors on more or less harmless “unruly” behavior or possible building infractions that poorer homeowners can’t afford to fix up. Hey, maybe you can donate some skills, labor or money to improvements!
What we now accept as the true history of the United State in reality is comprised of decades of creation myths. After the American revolution, having separated ourselves from the rich history of Europe (and having sneered at this continent's indigenous histories to the point of annihilation), the newly formed United States found itself without a heritage with which to construct its new civilization. We were left without a history, without heroes or cultural icons. And the void needed to be filled.
And we have made heroes out of our cruelest ancestors, not the least of which was Christopher Columbus. After first encountering the Arawaks, Columbus realized "with 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." Thus was born America's true founding legacy.
Many of us already know that the stories we heard in grade school are myths. But white America perpetuates and clings to them anyway. Why? Perhaps we are too afraid look straight into the face of our generational sin. White Americans continue to benefit from our ancestors' actions, and it's time we owned up to the implications.
What message does it send the world when we will not unite together to worship our Jesus? What does it mean when someone is more welcome on a street corner than they are in a church pew? What does it say about Christ if drug lords are more inviting and less discriminating in their outreach than our pastors? As Christians, we should be on the forefront of inclusively, not limping along in the rear.
I have found that C4AP really is a church for ALL people. They accept me at face value, with my odd music styles, with my awkwardness, my privileged background. It reminds me of Cincinnati Vineyard's "Come as you are and you'll be loved," with an added "and God's not finished with you yet." They don't just accept me, they embrace me, they affirm me, and then they challenge me to be better and hold me accountable. This is the kind of deep community that Jesus is talking about. This is how the world will come to know who He is.
On Fridays, BTSF offers links to other discussions about race & Christianity. It's an opportunity for you to read about racial justice & Christianity from other perspectives, and for me to give props to the shoulders on which I stand...
