ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/18/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

Reverends Dolores S. Williams, Katie Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant and Renita Weems are pioneers in Womanist Theology which provides a prophetic voice concerned about the well-being of the entire African-American community, male and female, adults and children. Womanist theology attempts to help black women see, affirm, and have confidence in the importance of their experience and faith for determining the character of the Christian religion in the African-American community.  Womanist theology challenges all oppressive forces impeding black women’s struggle for survival and for the development of a positive, productive quality of life conducive to women’s and the family’s freedom and well-being. Womanist theology opposes all oppression based on race, sex, class, sexual preference, physical ability, and caste.

In 1974, Reverend Katie Geneva Cannon became the first African-American woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (USA).  A graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, Dr. Cannon served on the faculties of Temple University, Episcopal Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School and Union Presbyterian Seminary.  Widely regarded as one of the founders of womanist theology and ethics, Dr. Cannon created and organized the Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary which was later endowed and renamed The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership after her death in 2018.  Cannon’s first full-length book, Black Womanist Ethics, published in 1988, was a groundbreaking text, and is considered to have launched the field of womanist ethics. Princeton Seminary | Katie Cannon Interview (ptsem.edu)

Reverend Delores S. Williams was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor notable for her formative role in the development of womanist theology and best known for her book Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk.  In her text, Williams examined how the womanist perspective provides distinct insights to theology.  She argued that Black women’s experience has been overlooked in theology, including black liberation theology and white feminist theology, and that womanist theology, by centering black women’s experience, offers an important corrective.  A graduate of Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Williams served as its Paul Tillich Professor of Theology and Culture until her retirement when she became professor emeriti. Delores S. Williams, Groundbreaking Womanist Theologian, Dies | Sojourners

Reverend Renita J. Weems is an American Protestant biblical scholar, theologian, author and ordained minister.  A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Dr. Weems is the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies in the United States.   She is recognized as one of the first scholars to bring black women’s ways of reading and interpreting the Bible into mainstream academic discourse.  The author of “Just A Sister Away: Understanding the timeless connection between women of today and women in the Bible,” Dr. Weems considers it her life’s mission to find ways to strike a balance between her political views and her spiritual values, her feminist/womanist consciousness with religious faith, and her thirst for justice with her hunger for spiritual fulfillment.  Dr. Renita J. Weems | Prathia Hall Lecture (youtube.com)

Reverend Jacquelyn Grant is an American theologian, a Methodist minister and one of the founders of womanist theology.  A graduate of Bennett College and Turner Theological Seminary, she became the first Black woman to earn a doctoral degree in systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary.  The founder of the Center for Black Women in Church and Society at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Dr. Grant is now its retired professor emeritus.  Her 1989 book, White Women’s Christ and Black Women’s Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response, centers the voices of black women and the intersections between Christology and womanist theology, addressing the historical and modern-day experiences of black women.  Grant also examines how black women are the vast majority of active participants in their churches and that their work tends to be undervalued.

The Third Annual James Cone Lecture with Dr. Jacquelyn Grant (youtube.com)

Resources:

Journey to Liberation: The Legacy of Womanist Theology (youtube.com)

Black Liberation and Womanist Theology (youtube.com)

Lectio Divina

“A living democracy cannot be built in the United States as long as the national consciousness is infected with this cancerous anti-blackism that is the heart of white racism.” Rev. Delores S. Williams

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/11/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

Born in 1947 in Pasadena, California, Octavia Estelle Butler was the only child of Octavia Margaret Guy, a housemaid, and Laurice James Butler, a shoe shiner.  Butler’s father died when she was seven, and she was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in what she would later recall as a strict Baptist environment.  Growing up in Pasadena, Butler experienced limited cultural and ethnic diversity in the midst of de facto racial segregation in the surrounding area.   She accompanied her mother to her cleaning work where, as workers, the two entered white people’s houses through back doors.  Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. By the time she was ten she could be found carrying around a large notebook, writing down stories whenever she got a free moment.  She began writing science fiction as a teenager and submitted one of her stories to a magazine for publication.  That submission was the first of many and solidified her desire to—and her belief that she could—become a professional writer. 

A graduate of UCLA, Butler wrote twelve novels and won each of science fiction’s highest honors.  In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant.  Since her death at 58 in 2006, her novels have inspired art installations, librettos and jazz suites and have appeared on university syllabuses and high school reading lists.  She led the way for the next generation of Black readers, thinkers and builders to picture themselves in the collective future, laying the groundwork for an Afrofuturist movement before the term even existed.  As a Black woman and a writer, Butler demolished walls that seemed impermeable, writing on themes that seemed beyond categorization.  What readers, fans and scholars often note about Butler’s work is its predictive qualities:  Her vision about the climate crisis, political and societal upheaval, and the brutality and consequences of power hierarchies, seems both sobering and prophetic.  In 2020, Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower,” which details the journey of a visionary and headstrong teenage besieged by climate change and socio-economic crises, appeared on the New York Times best-sellers list.  This was a first for Butler, fulfilling a lifelong dream, fourteen years after her death.  Octavia E. Butler Interview w/ Charlie Rose (youtube.com)

While researching her 1979 book “Kindred,” Butler toured the cotton fields of Maryland to shape her vision of how the past reaches out to the present, and how the histories of Black and white America interact.  The book also advanced a larger discussion about the untended wound of slavery and how it shapes our present-day environment—our ability to create connections, to find community—in a way that hadn’t been attempted in fiction before.   “Kindred” encourages readers to grapple with hard questions about kinship and alliances, and about what it means to survive.  

Resources:

Octavia Estelle Butler | National Women's History Museum (womenshistory.org)

Octavia Butler: Writing Herself Into The Story : Code Switch : NPR

Lectio Divina

All that you touch, You Change.  All that you Change, Changes you.  The only lasting truth is Change.  God is Change.    (“Parable of the Sower” Octavia Butler)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/4/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

Sister Thea Bowman was a Black Catholic religious sister, teacher, musician, liturgist and scholar who made major contributions to the ministry of the Catholic Church toward African Americans.    Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in 1937, her paternal grandfather had been born a slave, but her father was a physician and her mother a teacher.  She was raised in a Methodist home but, with her parents’ permission, converted to the Catholic faith at the age of nine.  Overcoming her parents’ objections, she joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at La Crosse, Wisconsin, at age 15 and as part of her formation, she went on to earn a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. in English.

An educator at several universities, Bowman provided an intellectual, spiritual, historical, and cultural foundation for developing and legitimizing a distinct worship form for Black Catholics.  She was instrumental in the 1987 publication of a new Catholic hymnal, Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal, the first such work directed to the Black community.   In her essay titled “The Gift of African American Sacred Song,” she wrote, “Black sacred song is soulful song” and described it in five ways:  holistic: challenging the full engagement of mind, imagination, memory, feeling, emotion, voice, and body; participatory: inviting the worshiping community to join in contemplation, in celebration and in prayer; real: celebrating the immediate concrete reality of the worshiping community – grief or separation, struggle or oppression, determination or joy – bringing that reality to prayer within the community of believers; spirit-filled: energetic, engrossing, and intense; and life-giving: refreshing, encouraging, consoling, invigorating, and sustaining.

 She called on Catholics to celebrate their differences and to retain their cultures, but to reflect their joy at being one in Christ, a joy which her audiences found her exhibiting to a remarkable degree, including with those of other faiths.  She inspired millions with her singing and message of God’s love for all races and faiths.  Sister Thea awakened a sense of fellowship in people both within and well beyond the Catholic world, first and foremost through her charismatic presence.  Just months before her death from cancer, Bowman spoke to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1989 from her wheelchair.  Sr. Thea's Address to U.S. Bishops (youtube.com).  A cause for canonization was opened for Bowman by the Diocese of Jackson in mid-2018, gaining her an official designation as a Servant of God, the first of the four steps toward sainthood.  At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2018 Fall General Assembly, the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance indicated unanimous support for the advancement of Sister Thea Bowman’s canonization cause on the diocesan level.

Resources:

This Little Light by Michael O'Neill McGrath | Review | Spirituality & Practice (spiritualityandpractice.com)

Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman's Journey to Sainthood (youtube.com)

1987 SPECIAL REPORT: "SISTER THEA BOWMAN" (youtube.com)

Lectio Divina

“I think the difference between me and some people is that I’m content to do my little bit. Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle we’d have a tremendous light.”  (Sister Thea Bowman)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/26/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

          Fannie Lou Hamer began civil rights activism in 1962, continuing until her health declined nine years later.  She was known for her use of spiritual hymns and quotes and her resilience in leading the civil rights movement for black women in Mississippi.  She was extorted, threatened, harassed, shot at, and assaulted by racists, including members of the police, while trying to register for and exercise her right to vote.  She later helped and encouraged thousands of African-Americans in Mississippi to become registered voters and helped hundreds of disenfranchised people in her area through her work in programs like the Freedom Farm Cooperative.  She unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1964 and the Mississippi State Senate in 1971.  In 1970, she led legal action against the government of Sunflower County, Mississippi for continued illegal segregation.

             Born in 1917, Hamer picked cotton with her family from age six.  During the winters of 1924 through 1930, she attended the one-room school provided for the sharecroppers’ children, open between picking seasons.  Hamer loved reading and excelled in spelling bees and reciting poetry, but at age 12 she had to leave school to help support her aging parents.  By age 13, she would pick 200–300 pounds (90 to 140 kg) of cotton daily.  Hamer began to become involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and attended many Southern Christian Leadership Conferences where she sometimes taught classes and various SNCC workshops.  She traveled to gather signatures for petitions in an attempt to be granted federal resources for impoverished black families across the South.  In early 1963, she became a SNCC field secretary for voter registration and welfare programs.  Many of these first attempts to register more black voters in Mississippi were met with the same problems Hamer had found in trying to register herself such as literacy tests and poll taxes.

            In 1964, Hamer helped co-found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), in an effort to prevent the regional all-white Democratic party’s attempts to stifle African-American voices, and to ensure there was a party for all people that did not stand for any form of exploitation and discrimination.   Following the founding of the MFDP, Hamer and other activists traveled to the 1964 Democratic National Convention to stand as the official delegation from the state of Mississippi.  Hamer’s televised testimony was interrupted because of a scheduled speech that President Lyndon B. Johnson gave to 30 governors in the White House East Room, but most major news networks broadcast her testimony later that evening to the nation, giving Hamer and the MFDP much exposure. Is This America? | Fannie Lou Hamer's America | America ReFramed (youtube.com)

            Hamer received many awards both in her lifetime and posthumously.  She received a Doctor of Law from Shaw University and honorary degrees from Columbia College in 1970 and Howard University in 1972.  She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993.  Hamer also received the Paul Robeson Award from Alpha Kappa sorority and the Mary Church Terrell Award from Delta Sigma Theta sorority of which she is an honorary member.   A remembrance for her life was given in the U.S. House of Representatives on the 100th anniversary of her birth, October 6, 2017, by Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Fannie Lou Hamer's America | Beyond the Lens (youtube.com)

Resources:

Fannie Lou Hamer | National Women's History Museum (womenshistory.org)

“The Sweat and Blood of Fannie Lou Hamer” | The National Endowment for the Humanities (neh.gov)

Lectio Divina

The question of this sacred season is not, What food are you giving up for Lent? but rather What practice of solidarity with the suffering are you choosing? or What needs do you need met this Lent?  We honor the complexity of hunger and scarcity but in justice, healing and the welfare of those who have long awaited their portion.  (“Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/19/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

          The Reverend William Drew Robeson I (July 27, 1844 – May 17, 1918) was the minister of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1880 to 1901 and the father of Paul Robeson.  Princeton was a Jim Crow city, and Princeton Presbyterians were no exception.  African Americans had long worshipped at Princeton’s First Presbyterian Church, in balcony seating.  A fire in 1839 destroyed First Princeton’s balcony, and the church funded construction of a new church for its African American members, known as the “First Presbyterian Church of Colour of Princeton,” that would report to the General Assembly in 1845 as Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church.  Robeson spent twenty years in the congregation’s pulpit and was known for his steadfast advocacy of civil and human rights for African Americans.  This activism would lead to his ouster in 1901 after having become affiliated with a more vocal and activist element of his congregation, voicing his opposition to social and political injustice.

Born into slavery on the Roberson plantation near Cross Roads Township in Martin County, North Carolina, William with his brother Ezekiel escaped bondage via the Underground Railroad and made their way to Philadelphia.  At the age of 16, William served as a laborer for the Union Army during the Civil War.  After his military service he attended Lincoln College (now a university), earning a bachelor’s degree in 1873 and after three years a degree of sacred theology.

After his ouster from Princeton, Reverend Robeson moved on to Westfield, New Jersey, to pastor the Downer Street Saint Luke African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, holding that position from 1907 to 1910.  Under his spiritual and social leadership a new church was constructed and completed in 1908.  Two years later, the Robeson family moved to Somerville, New Jersey, where William was the pastor at Saint Thomas African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.  It was here that his “rock-like strength and dignity,” as Paul described him as well as his passionate love for oratory flowered.  According to Martin Duberman in his exhaustive and monumental testament to Paul’s life and legacy, the son had a deep regard for his father.  Paul often spoke of his father’s splendid voice, “the greatest speaking voice I ever heard, a deep sonorous basso, richly melodic and refined, vibrant with the love and compassion which filled him.”

In 2016 a panel of the Synod of the Northeast read the historical charges against Robeson which began with the accusation that Witherspoon Street--as compared to Princeton’s African American Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal churches--had failed to thrive financially, and that he bore responsibility for that failure.  An investigative commission of the Presbytery of New Brunswick pursued Robeson for nine months, making its final recommendations in October 1900.  The commission all but makes plain in its report that white members of Princeton’s churches were agitated by Robeson and exhibited "a general unrest and dissatisfaction on the part of others--meaning Residents of Princeton--who have been the Church’s friends and helpers."  As acts of recompense, the Presbytery formally apologized to Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church for executing what has been called an "ecclesiastical lynching," and the Synod of the Northeast retired the $175,000 mortgage on the manse that housed the Robesons.  Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church is currently developing the Robeson manse as a center for the study of human rights and as a testament to the Robeson family.

Resources:

A Reckoning in Princeton | Presbyterian Historical Society (pcusa.org)

Rev. William Drew Robeson, patriarch of a distinguished family - New York Amsterdam News

William Robeson, Minister, and Abolitionist born - African American Registry (aaregistry.org)

Lectio Divina

For forty days leading to the remembrance of the death of Christ, we commit to remembering our chains.  We make our home in the wilderness--in the luminal spaces where liberation has begun but sorrow and hunger remain.  In this season, we choose solidarity with all who are suffering--the displaced, the abused, the oppressed and neglected.  (“Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/12/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

          bell hooks was the pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins, who was born on Sept. 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Ky., a small city in the southwestern part of the state not far from the Tennessee border.  Though her childhood in the semirural South exposed her to vicious examples of white supremacy, her tight-knit Black community in Hopkinsville showed her the possibility of resistance from the margins, of finding community among the oppressed and drawing power from those connections — a theme to which she would return frequently in her work.

            Dr. hooks began her climb at Stanford University, from which she graduated in 1974 with a degree in English literature.  While still an undergraduate, she began writing “Ain’t I a Woman,” its title borrowed from a speech by the Black abolitionist Sojourner Truth.  She received a master’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1976 and a doctorate in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1983, with a dissertation on Toni Morrison.  After teaching at a number of institutions, including Yale, Oberlin and the City College of New York, she returned to Kentucky in 2004 to take up a teaching position at Berea College.  A decade later the college created the bell hooks Institute as a center for her writing and teaching.

Part of bell hooks’s appeal was the sheer diversity of her interests.  Her work, across some 30 books, encompassed literary criticism, children’s fiction, self-help, memoir and poetry, and it tackled not just subjects like education, capitalism and American history but also love and friendship.  Especially in her later work, Dr. hooks emphasized the importance of community and of healing as the end goal of movements like feminism and antiracism.  Dr. hooks, who described herself as a “Buddhist Christian” and spoke often of her friendship with the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, insisted that love was the only way to overcome what she called the “imperialist white supremacy capitalist patriarchy.”  Her New York Times bestseller, “All About Love” is the acclaimed first volume in bell hooks' “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy.  “All About Love” reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering.  Her insights offer inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces.  In addition, her perspective provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation. 

Resources:

Let’s talk All About Love (by bell hooks) (youtube.com)

A Public Dialogue Between bell hooks and Cornel West (youtube.com)

bell hooks, trailblazing feminist scholar and activist, has died at age 69 : NPR

Lectio Divina

Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.  Living simply makes loving simple.  To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.  Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving.  (bell hooks)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/5/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

          The Reverend Howard Washington Thurman (November 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981) was an American author, philosopher, theologian, mystic, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century.  Thurman’s theology of radical nonviolence influenced and shaped a generation of civil rights activists, and he was a key mentor to leaders within the civil rights movement including Martin Luther King Jr.  Thurman served as dean of Rankin Chapel at Howard University from 1932 to 1944 and as dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University.  In 1944, he co-founded, along with white Presbyterian minister Alfred Fisk, the first major interracial, interdenominational church in the United States, The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. Church | The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples | United States (fellowshipsf.org)

            Thurman embodied what some call a prophetic spirituality. He talked constantly about the inward journey but he wasn’t interested in any theology preoccupied with the self.  He thought personal transformation should be accompanied by a burning concern for social justice.  A teacher and pastor to others, Thurman worshiped with people of other faiths and warned about the dangers of religious fundamentalism.  Thurman’s best-known work, “Jesus and the Disinherited,” which was published in 1949, was a condemnation of an “otherworldly” Christianity, which Thurman said was far too often “on the side of the strong and the powerful against the weak and oppressed.”

            Born in 1899 in Daytona Beach, Florida, during the race relations in post-Civil War America, Thurman lived through a time when lynching was common, discrimination legal and the Ku Klux Klan was so popular it held a massive march on Washington when he was a young man.   Raised in part by his grandmother who had been enslaved and was illiterate, Thurman considered her his first spiritual genius.  A mystic who saw visions, Reverend Thurman included silence in his preaching.  While Martin Luther King Jr. was studying for his doctorate at Boston University, he would attend chapel service and take notes while Thurman preached.  The first African-American pastor to travel to India and meet Gandhi, Thurman’s concepts about nonviolence and Jesus are peppered through some of King’s writings.

            In 1980, a year before he died, he gave a commencement address at Spellman College in Atlanta, where he talked about what he called “the sound of the genuine” which “flows through everyone” but can be rendered mute by ambition, dreams and the daily tumult of life.  Thurman also said that “if you cannot hear the sound of the genuine in you, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”

Resources:

Backs Against The Wall: The Howard Thurman Story (2019) | Full Movie - YouTube

Howard Thurman Lost Lectures - Love or Perish - YouTube

The Prophetic Mysticism & Sacred Activism of Howard Thurman with Lerita Coleman Brown - YouTube

Lection Divina

Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace. ( Howard Thurman)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/29/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

The concept of settler colonialism originates in academia and generally refers to a form of colonialism in which the existing inhabitants of a territory are displaced by settlers who claim land and establish a permanent society where their privileged status is enshrined in law.

It is not an historical episode that ends, but rather a structure of relationships embedded in the legal and political order.  Outsiders come to a country, and seek to take it away from the people who already live there, remove them, replace them and displace them, and take over the country, and make it their own. 

            In his book “The Rediscovery of America”, Dr. Ned Blackhawk has recast American History by including the stories of this nation’s original inhabitants.  This telling of our history accounts for the dynamics of struggle, survival, and resurgence that frame America’s Indigenous past.  Rather than using the settler perspective of “discovery”, Blackhawk believes that “encounter” invites alternative understands of the American experience.  For example, the legal canon of the “Doctrine of Discovery” has been used by the U.S. Supreme Court to legitimate federal taking of Indian lands and has only recently been repudiated by Pope Francis.  While settler colonialism emphasized “Indigenous elimination” as one of its central features, Blackhawk points out that it also minimizes the agency, adaptation, and resurgence of Native American communities.

            Early U.S. leaders understood Indian nations and sovereignty to be critical aspects of our early nation.  In fact, the Senate’s first treaties were all with Indians.  Unfortunately after the formal portions of eastern Indian removal in the 1850s, the Congress changed the laws so that it had the authority to override any U.S. treaty commitments with Native nations.  This left Native nations with very limited protections.  Current Native American politics, advocacy and activism seeks greater forms of tribal self-governance and self-determination while holding a vision of sovereignty that is dynamic, future-oriented, communal and historically determined.

Resources:

Ned Blackhawk on The Rediscovery of America (youtube.com)

Ned Blackhawk on how Native peoples have shaped U.S. history | Connecticut Public (ctpublic.org)

Ned Blackhawk Wants to Unmake the US Origin Story – Mother Jones

Without Indigenous History, There Is No U.S. History | TIME

Ned Blackhawk | Department of History (yale.edu)

 Lection Divina

Only to the white man was nature a wilderness and only to him was the land ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame, Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.

― Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/22/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

                Unfortunately, our country’s founding narrative as a “nation of immigrants” hides the truth of the impact of our European ancestors’ actions as settlers in the original colonies.   It obscures the fact that the very existence of the United States is a result of the looting of an entire continent and its resources, reducing the Indigenous population and forcibly relocating and incarcerating them in reservations, and that its commercial wealth was accumulated through the utilization of the free slave labor of captured African peoples.  The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants while presenting Indigenous peoples as obstacles to be overcome.

            In her books “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” and “Not a nation of immigrants: settler colonialism, white supremacy and a history of erasure and exclusion”, author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a  picture of the nation from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals  how this immigrant ideology is harmful and dishonest because it serves to mask and diminish the US’s history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today.  While some of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, others are descendants of white settlers who arrived as colonizers to displace those who were here since time immemorial, and still others are descendants of those who were kidnapped and forced here against their will.  Grace Forum Online with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: Not A Nation of Immigrants (youtube.com)

            In order to de-center this settler perspective, we need to seek out and listen to the voices and contributions of indigenous scholars and leaders.  Historically, the federal government has not honored its treaties with Native Americans and instead has stripped away their land rights.  Land ownership is the basis of wealth, power and law within settler nation-states and indeed a large portion of white wealth in this country is linked to home ownership.  Currently, there are ongoing efforts to repatriate some indigenous land by various groups and institutions after an honest look at the reality of the land’s tenure and acquisition.      

Native American group starts to reclaim land that once belonged to ancestors in NJ (youtube.com)

Native Americans call for reparations from ‘land-grab’ universities - The Washington Post

Tribal rights and sovereignty have also been compromised.  For example, on June 15, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, which prohibits the placement or adoption of Indigenous children in non-Indigenous homes, without the approval of the child’s tribal nation.  This legislation was designed to finally stem the practice of removing children from homes that state social workers decided were unsuitable regardless of the trauma to children and tribes even after Indian boarding schools were closed.  There are also ongoing efforts at the national level to establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States through Senate Bill 1723 which has not yet passed.  Truth & Healing Bill updated and voted through Committee (mailchi.mp)   In addition, some denominations are seriously looking at their past history with Indigenous peoples and acknowledging the harm and wounds caused by those actions as first steps along the path to justice and dignity for all.  

Resources:

Who We Are . . . - Decolonizing Quakers

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Matthew 25 and decolonization (pcusa.org)

Lection Divina

Only to the white man was nature a wilderness and only to him was the land ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame, Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.

― Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

THE WEEK OF 1/15/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

            From our country’s early days, immigration policies have disproportionately impacted people of color.  In order to populate our vast open spaces, immigration was essentially unrestricted for individuals from western Europe and initially controlled by each state.  In 1790, our first Federal naturalization law reserved citizenship to “free white persons of good character” after immigration policy was brought under U.S. Government control.  The first race-based policy was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  Broader laws banning other Asian groups followed.  In the 1920s, “national origin” quotas were established which favored northern European immigrants.  These quotas were dropped in 1965 under the Immigration and Naturalization Act which replaced them with new restrictions on immigration from Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

            Illegal immigration was remarkable common in the 1900s.  Around the turn of the century, many Europeans came to this country with a label sewn onto their clothing so that a labor contractor who had paid for their passage could identify them at the dock on Ellis Island.  Others entered as stowaways aboard ships or by unlawfully crossing our border with Canada.  These illegal European immigrants faced few repercussions since there was virtually no enforcement infrastructure.  All of those who entered unlawfully before the 1940s were protected from deportation by statutes of limitations or were given amnesty.  Until 1976 the government rarely deported parents of US citizens, and there were no restrictions on immigrants receiving public benefits.  It wasn’t until 1986 that it became unlawful to hire an undocumented immigrant. 

            None of the privileges accorded to previous generations of white immigrants are available to the undocumented population of today.  The toughening of immigration laws coincided with a shift of immigration from Europe to newcomers from Latin America, Asia and Africa.  Through the 1960s, racialized views of Mexicans shaped law and bureaucratic practice resulting in the termination of the Bracero program which allowed for temporary Mexican farm workers annually.  In addition, legal immigration from Mexico was cut by 50% and the prohibition on the deportation of parents of US citizens was ended.  Therefore, today’s undocumented immigrants of color face far harsher consequence for their offenses than their white predecessors.

The Racist Roots of Immigration Policies - YouTube

Resources:

The structural racism of our immigration system | UnidosUS

US immigration policy: A classic, unappreciated example of structural racism (brookings.edu)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/8/2024

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

Individuals seeking asylum in this country are not illegal immigrants.  An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking international protection from dangers in one’s home country, but whose claim for refugee status hasn’t been determined legally.  Asylum seekers must apply for protection in the country of destination—meaning they must arrive at or cross a border in order to apply.  Then they must prove to authorities that they meet the requirements for refugee status.  A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her home because of war, violence or persecution, often without warning.  They are unable to return home unless and until conditions in their native lands are safe for them again.  An official entity such as a government or the United Nations Refugee Agency determines whether a person seeking international protection meets the definition of a refugee, based on well-founded fear.  A substantial number of asylum seekers are fleeing violence, persecution, and natural disasters in Haiti and the northern Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Asylum seekers also come from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, India, and African countries, such as Eritrea, Ghana, Ethiopia and Cameroon.  A number of Ukrainians have also crossed the border from Mexico to ask for asylum.  The right to seek asylum was incorporated into international law following the atrocities of World War II.  Congress adopted key provisions of the Geneva Refugee Convention (including the international definition of a refugee) into U.S. immigration law when it passed the Refugee Act of 1980.   Asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border: What is the right to seek asylum? - YouTube

An immigrant is someone who makes a conscious decision to leave their home and move to a foreign country with the intention of settling there.  Immigrants often go through a lengthy vetting process to immigrate to a new country.  Many become lawful permanent residents and eventually citizens.  Immigrants research their destinations, explore employment opportunities, and study the language of the country where they plan to live.  Most importantly, they are free to return home whenever they choose.  A migrant is someone who is moving from place to place (within one’s country or across borders), usually for economic reasons such as seasonal work.  Similar to immigrants, they were not forced to leave their native countries because of persecution or violence, but rather are seeking better opportunities.    

References:

How refugees and asylum seekers can resettle in the US | Just the FAQs - YouTube

Refugees and Asylum | USCIS

Seeking safety at the border | International Rescue Committee (IRC)

What is happening in Venezuela? | International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Lectio Divina

                        Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”  (Matthew 2:13-16)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/1/2024

 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

 Loretta J. Ross teaches a course on White Supremacy, Human Rights and “Calling In” the “Calling Out” Culture as a visiting associate professor at Smith College. Loretta J. Ross (smith.edu)

From Ross’ perspective, it’s impossible to build a united cultural movement while immersed in “call out” culture.  We lose sight of one another and we lose sight of the prize.  “Calling out” results in separation, factions and chaos.  “Calling out” happens when we point out a mistake, not to address or rectify the damage, but instead to publicly shame the offender.  In “calling out,” a person or group uses tactics like humiliation, shunning, scapegoating or gossip to dominate others.  They are generally done publicly, either in person or online. 

Instead, we can create and practice a “call in” culture, where we extend an invitation for discourse and enfranchisement.  A “call in” can happen publicly or privately, but its key feature is that it’s done with love.  Instead of shaming someone who’s made a mistake, we can patiently ask questions to explore what was going on and why the speaker chose their harmful language.   “Call ins” are agreements between people who work together to consciously help each other expand their perspectives.  They encourage us to recognize our requirements for growth, to admit our mistakes and to commit to doing better.  “Calling in” cannot minimize harm and trauma already inflicted, but it can get to the root of why the injury occurred, and it can stop it from happening again. 

However as Ross notes, “Calling in” is not for everyone or every circumstance.  It’s not fair, for example, to insist that people hurt by cruel or careless language or actions be responsible for the personal growth of those who have injured them; “calling in” should not demand involuntary emotional labor.  “Calling in” is also not a useful response to those who intentionally violate standards of civil conversation.  When powerful people use bigotry, fear and lies to attack others, “calling out” can be a valuable tool, either for the individuals they seek to oppress or for bystanders who choose to interrupt the encounter.  When people knowingly use stereotypes or dehumanizing metaphors to describe human beings, their actions victimize targets and potentially set them up for violence.  “Calling out” may be the best response to those who refuse to accept responsibility for the harm they encourage or who pretend they are only innocently using their right to free speech.  Loretta J. Ross: Don't call people out -- call them in | TED - YouTube

 “Calling in” is not a guarantee that everyone will joyfully work together.  It is simply the extension of grace, the opportunity to grow and to share learning and responsibility for each other.   We can, and must, invest in being effective over being right.  Honest dialogue requires that we do our own inner work of healing either/or thinking about complex issues and individuals, including ourselves.  Through this sincere effort at self-inquiry, we may be more able to withdraw our worst assumption about the other and enter into genuine dialogue.

Reference:

Speaking Up Without Tearing Down | Learning for Justice

Calling in the Culture of Calling Out | Agnes Scott College

Loretta Ross on “Calling In, Calling Out, and Calling Up” (youtube.com)

Lectio Divina

God, please give us an accurate understanding of our country’s realities.  Help us to be able to discern truth from lies.  Give us the faith, courage, love and determination needed to bring about racial justice.  Show us the path we need to take and give us the strength to take it.  Help us shine your light into the world.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/25/2023

 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

We celebrate the birthing of Divine Love into physical presence each year along with the possibility of new hope, new potential and new unfolding.  In meditating on the nativity scene, it feels to me like a tableau of Divine oneness.  Centered on the vulnerability of an infant, we see protective parents, animals and angels, shepherds and kings, and all of creation pause together in wonder and expectation of changes to come.  If as poet Amanda Gorman writes, Change Sings, ( CHANGE SINGS: A Children's Anthem by: Amanda Gorman (Read Aloud) - YouTube ) then for me Joy dances; Peace restores; Hope lightens; and Love expands.

            As Cole Arthur Riley notes in @BlackLiturgies, the Magi changed their route home to avoid informing King Herod of the child’s location.  Riley further states that “the Magi knew what it meant to resist the empire.  They knew the difference between God and tyrant.  The Advent of Christ is wrapped up in the courage to rebel against systems of death and oppression.”

Let us again join with the @BlackLiturgies community this week in the spiritual practices of breath prayer and Lectio Divina as we bring the offerings of Cole Arthur Riley into our hearts.  Begin by inhaling to a count of four while repeating the simple inhalation prayer noted below.  Hold for a count of four and then exhale to another count of four while repeating the exhalation prayer.  Repeat three times.

Breath Prayer:

Inhale:  I am free to change.                              Exhale:  I will walk in truth.

Read aloud the following prayer slowly three times.  In the first reading, what word or phrase captures the awareness of your heart’s ear?  In the second reading, what sensations arise within you?  In the third reading, where are these sensations held within your body?

God of the Magi,

We hold close their demonstration of civil disobedience this Advent.  When given the choice between the oppressive force of the empire and their responsibility to protect the life and dignity of the vulnerable, they listened to Maker and not man.  Would you preserve their story in us, that we might become faithful evaluators of the powers in our midst, and perceive the ways their words and requests have been poisoned by greed and lust for reverence.  Let us come awake to all those ways the spirit of Herod is alive and well in our leaders--seeing even those subtle ways they advocate for and benefit from policies at the expense of those they are meant to serve.  Let ours be a bold rebellion, held and led by those who have been discarded.  We will listen as you guide us.  Protect us as we make our way home.

 Resource:  Cole Arthur Riley

 Haiku by Pat Deeney

Joy in the mourning

Lament, space, comfort surrounds

Laughter recalled.

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at pjdeeney@hotmail.com and blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/18/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

            Cole Arthur Riley shared the following observation during an Advent post:

“I take so much delight in the silence of the men in the Christmas story.  Zechariah can’t speak.  Joseph doesn’t speak.  While the words and emotions of Mary and Elizabeth take their rightful place.  The sound of Advent is the voice of women.”

Let us again join with the @BlackLiturgies community this week in the spiritual practices of breath prayer and Lectio Divina as we bring the offerings of Cole Arthur Riley into our hearts.  Begin by inhaling to a count of four while repeating the simple inhalation prayer noted below.  Hold for a count of four and then exhale to another count of four while repeating the exhalation prayer.  Repeat three times.

Breath Prayer:

Inhale:  I will listen for my voice.                                   Exhale:  In this silence, I am heard.

Read aloud the following prayer slowly three times.  In the first reading, what word or phrase captures the awareness of your heart’s ear?  In the second reading, what sensations arise within you?  In the third reading, where are these sensations held within your body?

God who recenters,

We are grateful that you are a God who is always leading us to question whose voice is being centered and whose is missing.  In a world that weaponizes silence against the vulnerable, it is difficult to believe in its virtue.  This Advent, allow us to ask the question of “whose silence?” and “for whom?”  Let those whose voices historically have taken up far too much space fall quiet in this season.  A silence of solidarity.  Grant us imagination for this shift.  And allow the marginalized to choose their silences, not a forced silencing but a sacred rest and defiance in a world whose noise does not relent.  If we’re silent, let it be the quiet of Mary who kept her story close, allowing a small but sacred number to bear witness.  If we’re silent, let it be the silence of the womb, a warmth we can finally rest in.

End with another breath prayer using the same process as in the beginning.

Breath Prayer:

Inhale:  I’m tired of the noise.                            Exhale:  God, let silence be a harbor.

As we pray with those who are centered in this liturgy, become grounded in the sensations and meaning within the depths of your inner being.  Open to an authentic connection with our siblings of color and a growing awareness of their lived experience.

Resource:  Cole Arthur Riley

Haiku by Pat Deeney

Season’s hushed watch

Life’s joyful celebration

Christmas cactus blooms

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at pjdeeney@hotmail.com

 and blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/11/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

            In this Advent season, how do our siblings of color find peace?  Where is the relief from the chronic gaze of judgment inherent in our whiteness culture?  How can we open a space of rest and respite for those who are “othered” by our social constructs?

Let us join with the @BlackLiturgies community this week in the spiritual practices of breath prayer and Lectio Divina as we bring the offerings of Cole Arthur Riley into our hearts.  Begin by inhaling to a count of four while repeating the simple inhalation prayer noted below.  Hold for a count of four and then exhale to another count of four while repeating the exhalation prayer.  Repeat three times.

Breath Prayer:

Inhale:  This body is good.                                   Exhale:  I will not abandon it.

Read aloud the following prayer of lament slowly three times.  In the first reading, what word or phrase captures the awareness of your heart’s ear?  In the second reading, what sensations arise within you?  In the third reading, where are these sensations held within your body?

Enfleshed God,

Christ our embodied savior, who built, ate, drank, slept, and wept—you are a God who refused to neglect the physical, who put flesh on the divine and reclined with your creation.  Forgive us for telling a different story.  We have known what it is to have our bodily agency stolen from us.  We have known what it is to have our bodies used more than loved.  We divorce ourselves from our bodies and pretend it isn’t costly.  We betray our bodies to survive, and yet leaving them behind is a greater death still.  As we long for justice and deeper liberation, train us to listen well to our bodies; that we would make, eat, drink, rest, weep, stretch, move in freedom, knowing our bodies are not enemy but our fiercest protectors—guardians of our glory.

End with another breath prayer using the same process as in the beginning.

Breath Prayer:

Inhale:  I will listen to my body.                         Exhale:  There is wisdom in this breath.

As we pray with those who are centered in this liturgy, become grounded in the sensations and meaning within the depths of your inner being.  Open to an authentic connection with our siblings of color and a growing awareness of their lived experience.

Resource:  Cole Arthur Riley

Haiku by Pat Deeney

My wellspring of tears

for humanity’s pain and

uncertain future.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/4/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

            Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, liturgist, and speaker who seeks a deeply contemplative life marked by embodiment and emotion.  She is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us.”  In addition, she is the creator of @BlackLiturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body and as the writer of her newest book, “Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human.” 

Riley serves as curator of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation which seeks to resurrect and preserve a spiritual wisdom marked by belonging, embodiment, emotion and memory.  She studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh and has been inspired by James Baldwin, Thomas Merton, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Julian of Norwich.

            Riley began @BlackLiturgies in late June 2020 out of a hunger for a liturgical expression that would speak to her Blackness and the concepts of dignity, lament, rage, justice, rest, and liberation with the practice of written prayer.  She makes Christian liturgy responsive to the rhythms and realities of Black life mattering, reframing what “liturgical” language sounds like in the process.  Riley’s liturgies, which employ traditional Christian forms of written prayer, include long-form prayer, prayers of the people, confession, and breath prayer.  They seek to curate the storytelling and expressions that exist in ancestral Black spirituality and to uphold the holiness rooted in the embodied knowledge and sacred truth of Black life.

            @BlackLiturgies offers a social-media space for a collective truth-telling that is vulnerable and human, open and authentic.  Riley centers Black people in her liturgies while de-centering whiteness and naming the unholy manipulations of white fragility, heteropatriarchy and other systems and social norms that warp, deform, oppress, and kill.  As a contemplative, Riley’s liturgical use of breath prayer reorients Black people toward restorative embodiment and a sacred self-affirmation of dignity, care, and self compassion.  @BlackLiturgies provides a portrait of contemporary faith, justice and liturgical community in a time of social distancing, white supremacy, and the movement for Black lives.  Riley’s primary audience is African-American Christians but many of her followers are neither Christian nor Black.  Her question for white followers is: “What would it mean for you to imagine and pray with a Black person at the center of this liturgy?”  What indeed?

March 29 Healing Our City Reflection - Cole Arthur Riley - YouTube

Lectio Divina

By Cole Arthur Riley

“Advent is a season where we make space for grief, longing, sacred darkness and silence.”

Advent Breath Prayers

By Cole Arthur Riley

Inhale:  There is hope in me yet.                                Exhale:  For I contain the Divine.

Inhale:  I cannot place this fear.                                 Exhale:  Let this breath help my soul rest.

References:

Cole Arthur Riley

About 2 — Center for Dignity & Contemplation (centerfordignityandcontemplation.com)

Conversation with The Author: Cole Arthur Riley - YouTube

@BlackLiturgies Expresses the Sacred Truth of Black Life | Sojourners

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below and blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/27/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

      Indigenous women and girls have been disappearing at alarming rates from the reservation lands of our country.  Violence against Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States is at a crisis level.  A 2016 Urban Indian Health Institute study of seventy-one cities found that there were 5,712 reported cases of missing Indigenous women and girls.  The Montana Department of Justice found that indigenous individuals account for 31% of the state’s active missing-persons cases while comprising only 6.7% of its population.  Unfortunately, the full extent of the problem is unknown according to a recent Government Accountability Office study. 

      The GAO found that federal databases do not contain comprehensive national data on all missing Indigenous women.  Federal law requires federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to report missing children under the age of 21.  This law however does not extend to tribal law enforcement agencies or those individuals over 21.  In addition, instances of missing women may be underreported due to mistrust of law enforcement or other reasons.  For example, the FBI is charged with investigating the most serious crimes on reservations—such as murder, child sexual and physical abuse, violent assaults, drug trafficking, public corruption, financial crimes, and Indian gaming violations.  Unfortunately the resources allocated in searches for missing Native women are far less than those expended on finding missing white women such as in the case of Gabby Petito who disappeared while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend.  In addition to challenges with cross-jurisdictional cooperation, before the recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, tribal law enforcement was unable to charge non-Native perpetrators of domestic violence on tribal land. Running for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women | Rosalie Fish | TEDxYouth@Seattle - YouTube

      Both the Not Invisible Act of 2019 and Savanna’s Act have requirements that could help address aspects of the crisis depending on how the Departments of Justice and Interior implement them.  Unfortunately both agencies have missed some of their statutory required deadlines.  For example, no members have been appointed to a Joint Commission on Reducing Violence Against Indians which should have been done by February 7, 2021.  The GAO made recommendations to both the DOJ and DOI that plans be developed to implement all statutory requirements to which both agencies concurred.  These steps will provide more assurance and support to tribal partners in reducing violent crime.  While news broadcasts today are driven by ratings and profit, hopefully efforts can be made to provide equal coverage to all cases of missing women and girls regardless of social identity.

Resources:

Secretary Haaland Creates New Missing & Murdered Unit to Pursue Justice for Missing or Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives | U.S. Department of the Interior (doi.gov)

Key Partners Involved | Indian Affairs (bia.gov)

Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf (uihi.org)

The missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis explained - YouTube

Lectio Divina

Dedicating time and attention to honoring our pain ensures space for grief, outrage, and sorrow. This caring derives from our interconnectedness with all of life.

–Stone Child College, Montana, Historical Trauma Curriculum

Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/20/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

      November is Native American Heritage Month and the day after Thanksgiving, known to most as Black Friday, is Native American Heritage Day.  Unfortunately, the history of Thanksgiving has been told from the perspective of the European colonialists who landed near Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts in 1620.  In this version of the Thanksgiving story, the holiday commemorates the peaceful, friendly meeting of English settlers and the Wampanoag tribe for three days of feasting and Thanksgiving in 1621.  The mainstream version of the Thanksgiving story paints a picture of courageous Christian settlers braving the perils of the New World and, with the help of some friendly Natives, finding a way to make a new life for themselves.  This brief snapshot in American History, which leaves a frozen memory of peace and generosity, ignores the circumstances and relationships between the European settlers and the Native American tribes that drastically changed within a very short time.

      For many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest since it commemorates the arrival of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that followed.  Organized by the United American Indians of New England in 1970, the fourth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving) is recognized as the National Day of Mourning for Native Americans and their allies.  Erected on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth is a plaque that reads: “Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.”

      However, many Native Americans choose to embrace the positive messages of the day and choose to put aside thoughts about its complex history.  This is because the idea of giving thanks is central to Native heritage and culture.  Long before settlers arrived, Native tribes celebrated the autumn harvest and the gift of Mother Earth’s abundance.  Native American spirituality, traditionally and today, emphasizes gratitude for creation, care for the environment, and recognition of the human need for communion with nature and others.  Thanksgiving as a holiday originates from the Native American philosophy of giving without expecting anything in return.  In the first celebration of this holiday, the Wampanoag tribe provided not only the food for the feast but also the teachings of agriculture and hunting to the early settlers.  Thanksgiving Through Native Eyes - YouTube

      Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day allow us to reflect on our collective history and celebrate the beauty, strength, and resilience of the Native tribes of North America.  May the hearts of all people, Native and non-Native, be filled with hope and healing as we strive to dismantle the physical, economic, educational, psychological, and spiritual barriers that divide and oppress us.

Resource:

The History of Thanksgiving from the Native American Perspective (nativehope.org)

Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ,

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/13/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8 

Native American protests of white subordination have been substantial over the centuries.  There has been an insistent critique of the theft of Native American lands, of the destruction of Native American societies and cultures, of the use of white racist stereotyping and narratives and of Western materialism and lack of spirituality.  Indigenous counter frames have provided a positive assertion of Native American humanity and of Native American traditions accenting freedom, justice and respect for the natural world.

Unfortunately, our white ancestors went to great lengths to eradicate these peoples from the landscape.  Many were slaughtered through federal campaigns against American Indigenous tribes.  Others were forced onto reservations situated on land of no value to white settlers.  Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in boarding schools which systematically eliminated their culture and language in favor of white norms.  Many Christian denominations supported these efforts by funding and staffing various initiatives such as the Pine Ridge Mission School, within the Choctaw Nation, opened by the Presbyterian Church in 1838.  Similar mission efforts were undertaken by the Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, Southern Baptists, Mennonites, Unitarians and Quakers.  How the US stole thousands of Native American children - YouTube

            United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, through the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, has investigated the hundreds of American Indian boarding schools that operated from the 1800s through the 20th century.  The initiative’s volume 1 investigative report includes evidence that the United States targeted American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children through forced removal to Indian boarding schools in furtherance of territorial dispossession of Indigenous lands in the United States.  The initial investigation shows that, between 1819 and 1969, the federal Indian boarding school system consisted of 408 federal Indian boarding schools across 37 states or then-territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawai‘i.  Additionally, the Department’s initial inquiry shows that approximately 50 percent of federal Indian boarding schools may have received support or involvement from a religious institution or organization, including funding, infrastructure, and personnel.  Further, the federal government at times paid religious institutions and organizations for Native children to enter federal Indian boarding schools that these institutions and organizations operated.  Another important finding published in Volume 1 identifies approximately 53 different schools that contain marked or unmarked burial sites.    Sadly, the legacy of these schools manifests in the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous communities today.

Indian Boarding School Investigation Aims For Spiritual And Emotional Healing : NPR

            The Department of the Interior announced the launch of an oral history project that will document and make accessible the experiences of the generations of Indigenous children who attended the federal boarding school system.  This effort – the first of its kind to be undertaken by the federal government – is part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and will ensure stories and experiences that survivors share can be heard by, and learned from, current and future generations.  How will Christian denominations atone for the injustices perpetuated within their Indian boarding schools?  Christians can begin by acknowledging and taking responsibility for the trauma experienced within these schools.  Boarding school records should be researched and released.  The remains of children buried at the schools need to be returned to their tribal relatives so they can be interred with Native traditions and protocol.  Reparations to Indigenous peoples can be budgeted and advocacy for Native issues undertaken.

Schools tried to forcibly assimilate Indigenous kids. Can the U.S. make amends? - YouTube

Lectio Divina

Dedicating time and attention to honoring our pain ensures space for grief, outrage, and sorrow. This caring derives from our interconnectedness with all of life.

–Stone Child College, Montana, Historical Trauma Curriculum

Additional References:

Boarding School Initiative | U.S. Department of the Interior (doi.gov)

Interior Department Launches Effort to Preserve Federal Indian Boarding School Oral History | U.S. Department of the Interior (doi.gov)

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/6/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

How has the Christian Church impacted settler colonization?  The first European colonists to this country arrived with a cultural legacy of conquest and subjugation.  Throughout the 15th century in the early days of exploration, the Roman Catholic Church responded to European Catholic nations’ ambitions to explore and colonize other regions.  In a series of edicts or “doctrines of discovery”, Popes gave those nations the right to take control of other lands, subdue the people who already lived there, and convert them to Christianity, thus laying the foundation for the European takeover of the New World and the annihilation of Indigenous culture in the name of Christ.  Any place not already occupied by Christians was considered free for the taking by Christian Europeans—regardless of how many people already lived there or the advancement of their civilizations. 

            The doctrine was used to justify everything from the European takeover of most of the Western Hemisphere to the coercive tactics used by missionaries there.  Even non-Catholic countries like England found inspiration and justification in the doctrine.  By combining the idea of Christianity as a “civilizing” force with the concept that Indigenous people “simply occupied, rather than owned, the land,” England, France, and Holland joined Spain and Portugal in a seemingly justified Christian takeover of the New World.  Over the years, the doctrine of discovery made its way into U.S. national law through an 1823 Supreme Court decision penned by Chief Justice John Marshall.  This precedent has been quoted to justify rulings against current Indigenous lawsuits. 'We the People' - the three most misunderstood words in US history | Mark Charles | TEDxTysons - YouTube

                Various Christian denominations have petitioned the Pope to rescind the doctrine of discovery.  Denominations like the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Mennonite Church, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada have all repudiated the doctrine.  It is imperative that we acknowledge the religious ideas that became the foundational building blocks of white supremacy and of Manifest Destiny that we are dealing with today. Presbyterian Mission Agency PC(USA) leaders continue their work dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery | Presbyterian Mission Agency   

References:

Doctrine of Discovery (pcusa.org)

Doctrine of Discovery: What is it and why is Pope Francis being asked to denounce it? - YouTube

Land Acknowledgement

(for those who seek to honor our people and our territory preceding an event in Lenapehoking)

“The land upon which we gather is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called “Lenapehoking.” The Lenape People lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region: The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation, The Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware, and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware. We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.”

Lectio Divina

“It does not require many words to speak the truth.” – Chief Joseph

“That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man.” – Standing Bear

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/30/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

The first European colonists to this country encountered an array of indigenous peoples living within the territory they wanted to “settle”.  For example, New Jersey is situated on the ancestral lands of the Lenni-Lenape tribe.  At the time of European contact in the early 1600s, the Lenape were estimated to number over 20,000 people in this powerful and influential tribe.  Three main dialect clans, each made up of smaller independent but interrelated communities, extended from the northern part the headwaters of the Delaware River down to the Delaware Bay.  The Munsee (People of the Stony Country) lived in the north.  The Unami (People Down River) and the Unalachtigo (People Who Live Near the Ocean) inhabited the central and southern areas of the homeland of the Lenni-Lenape.  The Lenape lifestyle was based on adaptation to the environment of New Jersey by traveling with the seasons to make full use of the area’s resources.  Many of the trails they used to move between their villages and summer residences would become the early highway system for the Europeans.  For example one of those trails became the King’s Highway, covering portions of modern-day U.S. Route 206 and Route 27, and served as a main thoroughfare for people traveling from Lawrenceville to Kingston. 

            Settler colonialism occurs when foreign “settlers” arrive in an already inhabited territory to permanently inhabit it and found a new society.  Intrinsically connected to this is the displacement or elimination of existing residents and destruction of their society.  Why is it important to say “settler colonialism” instead of “westward expansion”? - YouTube   Early Dutch settlers had no respect for the indigenous population and that attitude precipitated the massacre in 1643 of a group of Native Americans camped at Pavonia (the old name for northern New Jersey).  Retaliation by the Iroquois nation resulted in several years of war until a truce could be secured.  Ten years later another war was initiated after the murder of a Native girl by another Dutchman.  While there was less hostility after the English replaced the Dutch, the English brought their ideas of land ownership and the “purchase” of Lenni-Lenape lands through bargain trades.  Pushed off their ancestral lands, some of the remaining Lenape tribe members would seek refuge with other tribes in Mississippi, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Canada after their forced migration. 

            There are approximately 3,000 descendants of the Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation residing within the Garden State.  In 1982, New Jersey officially recognized the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape as an American Indian Tribe but that status came into question during the Gov. Christie administration.  During the lapse in official status, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape were barred access to federal grants and scholarships and lost tribally-owned business contracts as well as the right to label traditional arts and crafts as “American Indian-made”.  After a three-year court battle, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation reached a $2.4 million settlement in 2018 which reaffirmed the Tribe’s historic recognition with all relevant state and federal agencies.  This agreement was reached after the Tribe disclaimed any interest in federal casino gaming rights thus removing competition concerns for the Atlantic City gaming industry.

These Are Not Costumes: Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Regalia - Movers & Makers (2021) - YouTube

References:

What is Settler Colonialism? Tracing Its Footprints Through Time - YouTube

Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation – Owned & Maintained by the Tribal Government (nlltribe.com)

Lenni-Lenape | Princeton Magazine

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I will not be silenced by fear.                                                       A trembling voice is still sacred.

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I can rise to meet this fear.                                                           My soul will steady.

Lectio Divina

Field of compassion,

gently calming all our fears

then pointing us home.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/23/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            As part of our socialization in the United States, we are exposed to various social identity groups and to assorted criteria for the rapid determination of safe/dangerous body meetings.  These messages are conveyed starting in childhood through media, books and family interactions.  This link Social-Identity-Wheel-FINAL.pdf (osu.edu) offers some examples of the ways in which we categorize individuals.  Attached to each group are unconscious assumptions and stereotypes acting as systemic forces to cloud our shared humanity.  In her Tedx Talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD5Ox5XNEpg author Debby Irving explores her story of race and the misperceptions she acquired while growing up in her white suburban bubble.  Which identity groups/stereotypes resonate with your experience?

            Our unconscious preferences for or prejudices against any group comprise our implicit bias.  Some characteristics of implicit bias are that they operate at a subconscious level; often run contrary to our conscious stated beliefs; and trigger behaviors through rapid and automatic mental associations.

We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it? | Dushaw Hockett | TEDxMidAtlanticSalon - YouTube

This “us versus them” way of reacting is also tied up in our biology.  Our vagus nerve is the unifying organ of our entire autonomic nervous system.  It is where we experience our felt senses of compassion and fear, among other emotions which make us human.  One of its purposes is to receive fight, flight or freeze messages from our lizard brain and spread them to the rest of our body.  Its other purpose is to receive and send the opposite message that we are safe and can relax.  It does not however connect to our thinking brain.  In “My Grandmother’s Hands”, Resmaa Menakem calls this our soul nerve (page 148).  When we encounter an unfamiliar body, our body goes on alert until our lizard brain discerns, ASAP, whether the other is safe or dangerous.  One shortcut to this determination is how closely this body matches mine.  The lizard brain then tells the body to either relax in recognition or constrict in self-protection. (page 96)  Our implicit bias is stored in our lizard brain for speedy reactions, not in our thinking brain which operates at too slow a speed from the perspective of our survival instincts.  (Try Menakem’s Body Practice on pages 32-33 for an example)

            By increasing our awareness of these forces at work within ourselves, we are better able to intentionally alter our implicit bias.  We can begin by normalizing our visual images to include a broader representation of what is expected.  Our stereotypical images of expected/unexpected body meetings can be retrained to include all of our siblings not just a limited few.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP-cqFLS8Q4

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I will not be silenced by fear.                                                       A trembling voice is still sacred.

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I can rise to meet this fear.                                                           My soul will steady.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, I’d like to recognize the life and legacy of Dr. Matilde Moros who passed away in August of this year.  Born in Venezuela, Mati was raised as a bi-national member of both the United States and Latin America within a multicultural family.  She was introduced to human rights work in Latin America and later with Latin-American migrants in the first Sanctuary Movement.  As a political science student at the College of Wooster, Dr. Moros studied the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo of Argentina and the resistance of the mothers of the disappeared.  Much of her academic and social justice work revolved around the methods of resistance practiced by vulnerable populations in response to gender and sexual violence, including the Latin American counter-narrative method of truth telling. 

            Mati earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 2005 from the Princeton Theological Seminary, a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) degree in 1996 from the Harvard University Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in 2014 in religion and society, with a concentration in ethics, from Drew University.  Prior to arriving at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015, she held faculty appointments at Drew University, Princeton University, and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.  Respected by her undergraduate and graduate students alike, Dr. Moros approached her students with kindness and patience while also pushing them outside of their comfort zones to engage critically and creatively with concepts, theories and texts.  In addition, she sought to empower her students to imagine new possibilities, understand and navigate their worlds, and serve as agents of social change through her VCU courses in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and her upper-level interdisciplinary classes in Decolonial Feminisms, Latinx Feminisms, and Mujerista Ethics.  A person of incredible warmth and humor, Dr. Moros also took the time to mentor and encourage newer colleagues by seeing and nurturing their strengths and potential. 

            The author of various book chapters and reviews, Dr. Moros produced podcasts and a video series while collaborating with various organizations including the American Academy of Religion, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Hispanic Theological Initiative, the Hispanic Summer Program, the Borderlands Institute, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Theological institutions in Latin America and Europe, and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.

Resources:

Loss of a beloved colleague, Matilde Moros — College of Humanities and Sciences (vcu.edu)

Matilde Moros — Open Plaza (htiopenplaza.org)

Rev. Dr. Matilde Moros | Reunion 2019 - Closing Worship - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

Elsa Tamez “Bible of the Oppressed”

“Rather oppression and liberation are the very substance of the entire historical context within which divine revelation unfolds, and only by reference to this central fact can we understand the meaning of faith, grace, love, peace, sin, and salvation.”

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/9/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            How has white Western Christianity minimized the Divine by losing the diversity of sacred expression in the wisdom and spiritual practices of Indigenous, Afrolatine and mestizo peoples? 

For example, it is a common understanding in many Latin-American Indigenous cultures that the veil between the living and the dead is thin, and that relating with ancestors can be an everyday occurrence.  This belief is annually displayed through Day of the Dead festivals and rituals.  This ancestral connection strengthens cultural identity and a sense of belonging to the generations who successfully resisted the efforts of various colonizers to eradicate them, and to their wisdom.

In a commentary for Sojourners Magazine, Latine Sandy Ovalle Martinez laments that Western expressions of Christianity are ahistorical, deeply individualistic, and private.  In addition, colonial approaches to the Christian faith force conversion and dehumanize those with different faith practices or beliefs while also disconnecting us from our intuition.  They separate our body from our heart and overvalue the mind.  Liberation theologian Elsa Tamez has provided a reclamation of Indigenous women stories as the editor of “Through Her Eyes: Women’s Theology from Latin America” as a venue for women’s voices, experience and perspective which draw wisdom from their shared cultural ancestral stories while engaging with the white Western Christian theological discourse.

What benefits from white images of Jesus and from Divine patriarchal and masculine metaphors and symbolism?  We know that Jesus was a 1st century Palestinian Jew whose parents fled with him to Egypt to protect him from Herod.  I doubt that hiding in plain sight would have been possible if Jesus was white, with blue eyes and flowing dirty- blonde hair.  He also seemed to have blended into the crowd of other disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane because Judas had to point him out to the Romans sent to arrest him. 

From my vantage point, Western Christianity hasn’t made a concerted effort to correct these historical inaccuracies by celebrating Jesus as a brown man with brown eyes and tightly curled brown hair.  Also with a Triune Godhead, the Divine pronoun “they” seems more accurate than “he”.  The Bible is rich with many metaphors for the Divine as Rabbi Spitzer points out. God in Metaphor: A Guide for the Perplexed - Reconstructing Judaism.  Under our watch, let us challenge our patriarchal white male personifications which promote and reinforce a whiteness culture and become guided by characterizations that nurture connection, compassionate presence and wellsprings of liberation.

Resources:

My Latine Christian Faith Embraces What Western Faith Demonizes | Sojourners

The long history of how Jesus came to resemble a white European - USC News & Events | University of South Carolina

tamez, bible of the oppressed (jbburnett.com)

Lectio Divina 

Elsa Tamez “Bible of the Oppressed”

“Rather oppression and liberation are the very substance of the entire historical context within which divine revelation unfolds, and only by reference to this central fact can we understand the meaning of faith, grace, love, peace, sin, and salvation.”

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/2/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

To say that the history of how we use “Hispanic” and “Latino” is complicated is an understatement—the terms are both connected to controversy and confusion. The earliest U.S. census questions were mostly focused on number of free and slave individuals at various age levels.  The free/slave identifier morphed into Color as a census question until 1910 when it became color or race with white, black or other being the only choices.  In 1930, “Mexican” was put on the Census as a race for one time only.  By the 1940 Census, the racial options had been changed again to: White, Negro, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hindu and Korean.  Unfortunately, the Census was utilized in the 1940s to locate Japanese-Americans for internment camps despite assurances of information privacy by the government.  Also, Census enumerators were given instructions on how to classify individuals based on various criteria such as fraction of person’s lineage that is white. 

In the 1960s and 1970s when civil rights activists looked toward the hard-earned successes of Black activism, they found that an important tool was hard population data on their communities, which they then used as leverage for funding and legislation. Mexican-American activists, though, had difficulty adopting this strategy because the Census Bureau categorized persons of Mexican descent mainly as white.  The “Mexican” racial designation had been removed after 1930 and no other Spanish-speaking group had ever been listed as a race from that point forward.

   The Hispanic origin question was first introduced on the Census long form, which is an extended questionnaire, in 1970.  In 1976, Congress passed a law requiring federal departments to collect and publish statistics relating to the economic and social status of people “of Spanish-speaking background” who traced their origin to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, countries in Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking homelands.  This translated into a question on the 1980 Census asking whether the person was “of Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent”.  Unfortunately, the term left out those who did not speak Spanish but were from Latin America, including Indigenous people and Portuguese speakers from Brazil.  The term “Latino” made its first appearance in the 2000 decennial census.   For some, “Latino” did away with the complexities of “Hispanic,” and its lack of colonial ties increased its appeal. 

In order to promote a gender-neutral form of the word Latino, the LGBTQIA+, gender non-binary, and feminist communities in Spanish speaking countries created the form Latine using the gender-neutral Spanish letter E.  This idea is native to the Spanish language and can be seen in other gender-neutral words.  Latinx has been problematic for some indigenous people because the letter X was imposed on indigenous languages during Spanish conquest and the use of the term groups indigenous peoples with their oppressors.  While the principles of the word Latine can be used to remove gender from most conversations in Spanish, it is up to individuals and communities to decide how they wish to identify themselves rather than just submitting to the labels imposed upon them by our whiteness culture.  Call me Latine. (wordpress.com)

Resources:

Hispanic vs. Latino: What Is the Difference? (verywellmind.com)

'Latinx' Hasn't Caught On Among Adults, Pew Research Finds : Code Switch : NPR

Lectio Divina 

Haiku by Pat Deeney

Facing fear of change, 

settle into calm and peace

within Love’s embrace.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 9/25/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

Born in 1930, Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Association.  In 1955, Huerta began her career as an activist when she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which led voter registration drives and fought for economic improvements for Hispanics.  She also founded the Agricultural Workers Association.  Through a CSO associate, Huerta met activist César Chávez, with whom she shared an interest in organizing farm workers.  In 1962, Huerta and Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW), which formed three year later. Huerta served as UFW vice president until 1999.

Despite ethnic and gender bias, Huerta helped organize the 1965 Delano strike of 5,000 grape workers and was the lead negotiator in the workers’ contract that followed.  Throughout her work with the UFW, Huerta organized workers, negotiated contracts, and advocated for safer working conditions, including the elimination of harmful pesticides.  She also fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers.  Huerta was the driving force behind the nationwide table grape boycotts in the late 1960s that led to a successful union contract by 1970.

In 1973, Huerta led another consumer boycott of grapes that resulted in the ground-breaking California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which allowed farm workers to form unions and bargain for better wages and conditions.  Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Huerta worked as a lobbyist to improve workers’ legislative representation.  During the 1990s and 2000s, she focused on electing more Latinos and women to political office and on championing women’s issues.  Dolores Huerta reflects on history of activism, next generation's fight: Part 1 - YouTube

Recognized with an array of awards and honors, Dolores Huerta is also the founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation which seeks to organize and inspire communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice.  Its social justice grassroots organizing work is focused on Civic Engagement, Education Equity, Health and Safety, and LGBTQIA+ Equality.  About | Dolores Huerta Foundation

Resource:

How to End Racism | Dolores Huerta | TEDxOakland - YouTube

Dolores Huerta: The Civil Rights Icon Who Showed Farmworkers 'Sí Se Puede' : The Salt : NPR

Lectio Divina 

Haiku by Pat Deeney

Facing fear of change, 

settle into calm and peaceANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 9/18/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            The Hispanic cultural festival of The Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos)  goes back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.  The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.  Upon dying, a person was believed to travel to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead.  Only after getting through nine challenging levels, a journey of several years, could the person’s soul finally reach Mictlán, the final resting place.  In Nahua rituals honoring the dead, traditionally held in August, family members provided food, water and tools to aid the deceased in this difficult journey.  This inspired the contemporary Day of the Dead practice in which people leave food or other offerings on their loved ones’ graves, or set them out on makeshift altars called ofrendas in their homes.  The altars usually have multiple levels and include items meant to correspond to the four elements: earth, water, air and fire.

            With the arrival of Christianity, The Day of the Dead was incorporated into All Saints Day and All Souls Day celebrated on the first two days of November.  Though the particular customs and scale of Day of the Dead celebrations continue to evolve, the heart of the holiday has remained the same over thousands of years. It’s an occasion for remembering and celebrating those who have passed on from this world, while at the same time portraying death in a more positive light, as a natural part of the human experience.  In houses all over Mexico, families carefully place photographs of their ancestors on an altar beside candles and a traditional Mexican pastry as incense fills the air.  In flower shops, freshly cut marigolds line the storefronts.  Local celebrations may include parades with dancers in bright costumes and floats with images of giant skulls, exhibitions and street fairs with items such as small skulls made of sugar or chocolate and pan de muerto, bread of the dead, which is similar in texture to challah, and sprinkled with sugar or other toppings.

          Though the holiday is designed to honor the dead, it’s not a mourning celebration. Instead it focuses on celebrating a lost loved one’s life with happiness and humor. A long-held tradition is to instruct school children to use witty rhyme and repetition to write calaveras literarias that infuse levity in the death of a relative or other prominent figures.  Those remembered in calaveras literarias are often subjected to a wicked humor that pokes fun not only at a person’s shortcomings, but at inevitable mortality itself.  They “allow poets or artists the opportunity to take a crack — it’s almost like you’re roasting someone,” said Eduardo Diaz, director of the Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington, D.C. “They’re very organic in nature, very improvisational.” These wicked Day of the Dead poems don’t spare anyone | PBS NewsHour

Resources:

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) - Origins, Celebrations, Parade | HISTORY

Daily morning intention:

Open my heart Loving Presence so that I may feel your Divine guidance to greater awareness of racial inequity and to my antiracist role this day.

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 9/11/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

Every year from September 15 to October 15, Americans celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by appreciating the history, heritage, and contributions of the ancestors of American citizens who came from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and South- and Central America.  So what have been this country’s historical interactions with these cultures?  Not surprisingly, less than stellar. 

Dating back to the first colonial contact between Europeans and Native Americans, the ideology that became known as Manifest Destiny included a belief in the inherent superiority of white Americans, and the conviction that they were destined by God to conquer the territories of North America from sea to shining sea.  Manifest Destiny - Definition, Facts & Significance | HISTORY 

Under U.S. President Polk, this continental expansion became focused on the Mexican lands that stretched to the Pacific Ocean.  On May 13, 1846, the United States Congress declared war on Mexico, after a request from the President, to resolve the conflict around the independent Republic of Texas joining the United States.  The Mexican-American War culminated in the transfer of a vast new territory, comprising almost the whole of the modern-day Southwest, from Mexico to the United States thereby cutting the territorial lands of Mexico in half.  However, the acquisition of these new territories inflamed tensions between abolitionists and slaveholders who were fighting over the balance between free and slave states and also heightened conflict between white settlers and Native Americans.   The Mexican-American war in a nutshell | Constitution Center

            Fifty years later, the United States was embroiled in the Spanish-American War which ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America.  In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean.  At the end of the war, Puerto Rico was officially ceded to the United States.  In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island’s official language.  However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won widespread support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed.  Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship. The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952. U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico (history.com)

            Our history of cultural eradication saddens me.  Our need to cling to and defend white superiority has clouded our national vision and limited our presence globally.  We are called to be and do better than our previous “power over” tactics of domination and expansion.

Daily morning intention:

Open my heart Loving Presence so that I may feel your Divine guidance to greater awareness of racial inequity and to my antiracist role this day.

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 9/4/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            RESOURCES FOR YOUR CONTINUED ANTIRACIST SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Recap of books mentioned in this series:

“Waking Up White” by Debby Irving

“How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram Kendi

“White Fragility” and “Nice Racism” by Robin DiAngelo

“Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening” and “Mystical Hope” by Cynthia Bourgeault

“My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem

“The Wisdom Way of Knowing” by Cynthia Bourgeault

“I Bring the Voices of My People” by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

“The White Racial Frame” by Joe R. Feagin

“White Too Long” by Robert P. Jones

“The Color of Compromise” and “How to Fight Racism” by Jemar Tisby

“Change Sings” by Amanda Gorman

“Fierce Love” by Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

“Lent of Liberation” by Cheri Mills

“The ABCs of Diversity” by Dr. Y Joy Harris-Smith and Dr. Carolyn Helsel

“Faithful Anti-Racism” by Christina Barland Edmondson and Chad Brennan

“Psychology of Christian Nationalism” by Pamela Cooper-White

“Church of the Wild” by Victoria Loorz

“Freedom Farmers” by Monica M. White

“Farming While Black” by Leah Penniman

“Black Faces, White Spaces” by Carolyn Finney

“Golden: The power of silence in a world of noise” by Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz

“Joy Unspeakable” by Barbara A. Holmes

“Call Us What We Carry” by Amanda Gorman

“White Women” by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao

“Poverty By America” by Matthew Desmond

“The Second” and “White Rage” by Carol Anderson

For those interested in continuing with spiritual journaling using antiracist prompts:

“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad

“Be Antiracist” Ibram Kendi’s journal companion for his book mentioned above

Princeton Theological Seminary has established an Antiracist Formation Initiative following its slavery audit.  The link to this effort is:  https://antiracism.ptsem.edu/

In addition, the Seminary has compiled an extensive list of antiracist resources in various formats for children and adults.

https://antiracism.ptsem.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Antiracism_Resources_20200922b.pdf

Rider University’s Slavery Audit:  American paradox | Rider University

PC(USA) RESOURCES:

facing-racism-study-guide.pdf (pcusa.org)

Waking up White study (pcusa.org)

www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/racism/

DEBBY IRVING 21-DAY CHALLENGES:

21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge© – Debby Irving

Daily morning intention:

Open my heart Loving Presence so that I may feel your Divine guidance to greater awareness of racial inequity and to my antiracist role this day.

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 8/28/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            August 28, 2023, is the sixtieth anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  More than 250,000 demonstrators descended upon the nation’s capital on that date in 1963 to participate in the largest peaceful demonstration for human rights in United States history which also occasioned a display of unity among the various civil rights organizations.  Without the benefit of cell phones, email or social media, the March organizers managed to harness the energy of a quarter-million people to get the nation’s attention.  With only two months to plan, this historic mass protest was prepared in a central office located in Harlem N.Y. provide by the Friendship Baptist Church.  The event began with a rally at the Washington Monument featuring several celebrities and musicians. Participants then marched the mile-long National Mall to the Memorial. The three-hour long program at the Lincoln Memorial included speeches from prominent civil rights and religious leaders. The day ended with a meeting between the March leaders and President John F. Kennedy at the White House.  Those leaders, the so-called “Big Six”, included A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the heads of the five major civil rights organizations: Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League; Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); James Farmer of the Conference of Racial Equality (CORE); and John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

            As the preliminary program for the 1963 March came together, Anna Arnold Hedgeman noticed a glaring omission in the star-studded lineup of speakers:  there were no women.   Hedgeman, a civil rights leader, politician, educator and writer, was the only woman on the executive committee for the 1963 March, and she argued that a woman should address the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial.  Women’s groups and unions representing industries dominated by women were among those that drew the most participants.  In addition, organizations instrumental in planning, mobilizing and raising money for the 1963 March included Women in the NAACP, the Divine Nine of Black women’s sororities and women from Black churches.  Thanks to the insistence of Hedgeman and others including Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women and lawyer and activist Pauli Murray, civil rights advocate Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar Evers, was added to the program.  Evers and five other women were introduced by A. Philip Randolph as Women Fighters for Freedom as they stood and waved for a brief tribute.  No women organizers were included in the White House meeting with the president. As March on Washington marks 60th, a look at Black women's vital role (usatoday.com)

Resources:

From the archives: 1963 March on Washington covered by CBS News' Walter Cronkite - YouTube

Official Program for the March on Washington (1963) | National Archives

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (stanford.edu)

Lectio Divina

“It was the first time that the movement became national.  Before the March, everything was confined to the south or to people picketing stores in support of the south.  The March made racism America’s problem, and not just what’s happening down south.  It became recognized as a national problem.” Joyce Lander, field organizer for SNCC, NY Times interview

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I will not be silenced by fear.                                                       A trembling voice is still sacred.

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 8/21/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

Jeffrey Robinson is the writer and producer of the documentary “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.”  Raised in Memphis, Robinson is a graduate of Marquette and Harvard Law School who has traveled nationally lecturing on the widespread false narratives about racism in this country.  A former ACLU deputy legal director and criminal defense lawyer, Robinson currently is the CEO and founder of the Who We Are Project, a not-for-profit organization committed to correcting the story of our history on anti-Black racism. The Who We Are Project also seeks to demonstrate how slavery’s legacy has led to persistent and abiding racial inequality, and to promote education, discourse, and change.  The current version about the impact of anti-Black racism and white supremacy on the social, legal, political, and economic aspects of our culture in the United States is based on a “re-telling” of history that is incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading.  The Who We Are Project will correct this false narrative about U.S. history and provide an objectively true account that exposes the role of white supremacy and anti-Black racism throughout our history and up to the present. The Who We Are Project

After hearing his lecture in 2017, filmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler approached Robinson about creating the documentary, which features his lecture along with archival footage and interviews with Americans from around the country. WHO WE ARE | Clip & Conversation with Jeffery Robinson & Directors Sarah Kunstler & Emily Kunstler - YouTube.  Robinson has also collaborated with Tom Hanks in the making of a short film on the contested presidential election of 1876 entitled “How to Rig an Election”.  Tom Hanks and Jeffery Robinson on short film about 1876 contested presidential election - The Washington Post

Robinson was surprised to learn how little he himself knew about the history of race in the United States and decided to share what he uncovered in order to provide a true picture of the racial climate of our founding fathers.  By researching the historical narratives and original source documents one does not need to wonder about the institution of slavery and its importance to the economic trajectory of this country.  The intention is crystal clear.  The Constitution of the Confederate States, for example, banned any Confederate state from making slavery illegal and ensured that enslavers could travel between Confederate states with their slaves.  The Confederate constitution also required that any new territory acquired by the nation allow slavery. 

Resources:

History of racism in America is history ‘stolen from all of us’: Jeffery Robinson - YouTube

Jeffery Robinson Discusses ‘Who We Are’ Documentary, Personal Story - YouTube

Jeffery Robinson on Documentary "Who We Are!" - YouTube

Lectio Divina

“Racism is more than prejudice.  It is prejudice plus social power plus the legal authority to take your prejudice and infuse it into the social structures of the country.  Equating racism with just prejudice is a method of distancing oneself from having to take responsibility for what’s happening now because someone who is convinced they aren’t prejudiced may feel no responsibility to address ongoing inequities.”  Jeffrey Robinson

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I will not be silenced by fear.                                                       A trembling voice is still sacred.

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I can rise to meet this fear.                                                           My soul will steady.

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 8/14/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What happens when white fear becomes white rage?  Fear is a basic survival mechanism that triggers the body’s “fight-flight-or-freeze” response to perceived threats and includes physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, chest tightness, sweating, trembling, nausea and heightened senses from high adrenaline levels.  In addition to the physical symptoms of fear, people may experience psychological symptoms of being overwhelmed, upset, feeling out of control, or a sense of impending death.  Sometimes fear stems from real threats, but it can also originate from imagined dangers.  Additionally, we can learn to become afraid of nearly anything.  Depending on what we have learned in the past about what can protect us in dangerous situations, we are capable of doing many things we wouldn’t typically be able, or willing, to do in order to stop the threat.  When we are able to cope with the threat, this lessens or removes the fear.  Alternatively, when we are helpless to decrease the threat of harm, this intensifies the fear. 

Fear often oscillates with the experience of anger when we are blocked from pursuing a goal and/or treated unfairly.  The primary message of anger communicates anything from mere dissatisfaction to threats and violence.  White fear is triggered when our cultural norm of white-body superiority is questioned or threatened.  This individual fear has been historically consolidated within groups, fueled and targeted with deadly results.  In her book White Rage, author Dr. Carol Anderson highlights our racial history of white responses to Black advancement.   Since 1865 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, every time African Americans have made advances towards full participation in our democracy, white reaction has fueled a deliberate and relentless rollback of their gains. The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was greeted with lynching, massacres of whole neighborhoods, the Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes and Jim Crow.   The Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was met with the shutting down of public schools throughout the South while taxpayer dollars financed segregated white private schools, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 triggered a coded but powerful response, the so-called Southern Strategy.  Dr. Anderson also uncovers the rhetoric and policies that have supported our whiteness culture throughout our history.    Carol Anderson: White Rage - INTERVIEW!!! - YouTube 

Reflection Questions:

How has your body reacted when surprised?

Think of a recent situation that made you uncomfortable.  What sensations were triggered within your body?

How did you calm yourself?

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

I will not be silenced by fear.                                                       A trembling voice is still sacred.

Inhale:                                                                                                  Exhale:

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 8/7/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What is the basis for this white fear and our subsequent reactions?  As part of our socialization in the United States, we are exposed to various social identity groups which assist in the rapid determination of safe/dangerous body meetings.  These messages are conveyed starting in childhood through media, books and family interactions.  Attached to each group are unconscious assumptions and stereotypes acting as systemic forces to cloud our shared humanity.  In her Tedx Talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD5Ox5XNEpg author Debby Irving explores her story of race and the misperceptions she acquired while growing up in her white suburban bubble.  Which identity groups/stereotypes resonate with your experience?

            Our unconscious preferences for or prejudices against any group comprise our implicit bias.  Some characteristics of implicit bias are that they operate at a subconscious level; often run contrary to our conscious stated beliefs; and trigger behaviors through rapid and automatic mental associations.

We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it? | Dushaw Hockett | TEDxMidAtlanticSalon - YouTube

This “us versus them” way of reacting is also tied up in our biology.  Our vagus nerve is the unifying organ of our entire autonomic nervous system.  It is where we experience our felt senses of compassion and fear, among other emotions which make us human.  One of its purposes is to receive fight, flight or freeze messages from our lizard brain and spread them to the rest of our body.  Its other purpose is to receive and send the opposite message that we are safe and can relax.  It does not however connect to our thinking brain.  In “My Grandmother’s Hands”, Resmaa Menakem calls this our soul nerve (page 148).  When we encounter an unfamiliar body, our body goes on alert until our lizard brain discerns, ASAP, whether the other is safe or dangerous.  One shortcut to this determination is how closely this body matches mine.  The lizard brain then tells the body to either relax in recognition or constrict in self-protection. (page 96)  Our implicit bias is stored in our lizard brain for speedy reactions, not in our thinking brain which operates at too slow a speed from the perspective of our survival instincts.  (Try Menakem’s Body Practice on pages 32-33 for an example)

            By increasing our awareness of these forces at work within ourselves, we are better able to intentionally alter our implicit bias.  We can begin by normalizing our visual images to include a broader representation of what is expected.  Our stereotypical images of expected/unexpected body meetings can be retrained to include all of our siblings not just a limited few.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP-cqFLS8Q4

Resource:

BE MORE with Anu - Breaking Bias, DEI, Unconscious Bias, Antiracism Trainings by Scientist, Lawyer & Educator Anu Gupta

Lectio Divina

What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.  If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish.  The obligation of anyone who thinks of oneself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it — at no matter what risk.  This is the only hope society has.  This is the only way societies change.  (James Baldwin)

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. (Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 7/31/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            Woke seem to be the four-letter insult of the day.  Politicians, journalists, broadcasters and social media commentators have all jumped on the woke bandwagon.  The woke label seems to be played whenever one’s position on a subject is challenged by another.  But what does it really mean and where does it come from? 

The word has a long and serious history in Black culture.  It was used in Black protest songs dating back to the early 20th century, including by Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, the singer of the 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys.”  In simple terms, it just means being politically conscious and aware.  Be careful.  Stay woke.  Keep your eyes open.  The Scottsboro Boys were nine Black teenagers who are accused of raping two white girls in what is widely seen today as one of the worst cases of racist legal injustice.  It helped spur the civil rights movement and loosely inspired the book and movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.”  Woke comes out of the experience of Black people knowing that you have to be conscious of the politics of race, class, gender, systemic racism, and other ways that society is stratified and not equal.  Modern Black activism and the Black Lives Matter movement used it widely as a rallying cry.

Woke has been co-opted from its original meaning and used primarily to trigger white fear in response to activism by African Americans as well as to changing cultural norms.  Because woke is associated with Black people, it’s been a useful club for those who want to beat those seeking justice over the head with white grievance politics to win elections without deploying explicitly racist terms.  Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs have faced backlash from critics, who have also moved to boycott companies making commitments in these areas.  State legislatures have passed laws impacting public education, books in libraries and company marketing programs.  They have also banned some companies from operating in their states including banks and investment firms with restrictions on oil, firearms, mining or timber operations.  In addition, many state lawmakers want to pull pension funds out of Wall Street money managers who factor climate change risk into their investment strategies.

When white superiority/power/control is questioned or threatened, white fear sets in.  White fear distorts and clouds our vision of the daily reality faced by people of color.  White fear also blocks and deadens the voices of those on the margins of power within our whiteness culture. 

Resource: 

What does the word 'woke' really mean, and where does it come from? : NPR

What does 'woke' mean? How ideology is being used ahead of 2024 | USA TODAY - YouTube

How laws against 'woke' banking, investing impact everyday people from school kids to retirees | Here & Now (wbur.org)

Lectio Divina

What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.  If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish.  The obligation of anyone who thinks of oneself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it — at no matter what risk.  This is the only hope soci

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 7/24/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

          Who gains by stoking fires of white fear?  What systems of power remain in control?

Which parental protective instinct is being intentionally manipulated to enrage and engage constituents across the country? 

Local school board meetings have become battlegrounds for various scenarios of toxic panic.  The justification for this contentious outrage resides in the adult responsibility to protect children from any activities that threaten their innocence.  The censorship of school and public libraries are a growing target.  A record number of book challenges emerged across the country in 2022, with more than 2,570 unique titles targeted, according to new data from the American Library Association.  The most common titles targeted in these bans address race, gender identity, sexuality and reproduction. 

            During the 17th century, a typical form of book censorship in the United States was book burning.  In October 1650, William Pynchon’s pamphlet, The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, was criticized and promptly burned by the Puritan government. This book burning in Boston, Massachusetts, is often referred to and even considered the first book burning in America.  Currently, school boards have frequently been involved in litigation involving the rights of freedom to read, which is considered by some organizations to be encompassed in the First Amendment.  Some legal cases, since the 1920s, have reached state supreme courts and the United States courts of appeals.  Censorship has also been addressed by the United States Supreme Court in the case Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982.  The Court ruled that, under the First Amendment, “Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books” and that the library is a distinct institution representing the First Amendment’s “role in affording the public access to discussion, debate and the dissemination of information and ideas”.

            Books are often challenged by concerned parents who desire to protect their children from the themes or content within books. Books can be banned for more than one reason as well.  According to the American Library Association (ALA), there are more than 20 reasons for censorship, including the material containing or being: anti-ethnic, cultural sensitivity, racism, sexism, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, other offensive items, abortion, drug/alcohol/smoking, gambling, gangs, violence, suicide, homosexuality, sexually explicit, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, occult/Satanism, unsuited for age group, inaccurate, technical errors, and other objections.  Legislative efforts in some states have also aimed to restrict the lessons and content educators could teach that include certain perspectives on race, gender and sexual orientation in the classroom.

            Therefore, authors whose works threaten our “white American superiority” myth must be eliminated.  Local school board members and librarians must be constrained by harassment and threats if necessary.  Because, whoever gets to limit and sanitize what kids are reading gets to shape the definition of “the real America” and to show who belongs in the halls of power and who doesn’t.

Resource: 

American Library Association | Awards, publishing, and conferences: ALA membership advocates to ensure access to information for all

2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA (pen.org)

Amanda Gorman's famous poem is restricted in a Florida school : NPR

Lectio Divina

Excerpt from “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We've learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
And the norms and notions of what “just is”
Isn't always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow, we do it.
Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed
A nation that isn't broken, but simply
unfinished.

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 7/17/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What recent incidents highlight the consequences that Black Americans have experienced while trying to legally exercise their Second Amendment Right to bear arms?

            The murder of Philando Castile at the hands of a Minnesota police officer brings to light the distrustful dynamics at play between the police and the African-American community.  The fateful exchange between the two men was livestreamed by his fiancée and showed Castile buckled in his car and bleeding to death after informing the officer that he had a legally permitted, right-to-carry, concealed gun in the car.   That statement and his skin color triggered a lethal, automatic fear reaction by the officer that proved catastrophic and all too familiar.   Combined videos show fatal Castile shooting - YouTube   This aura of Black threat was also displayed in the killing of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice who was shot by police because he carried a toy gun on his person.  A “good Black guy with a gun” seems to be an oxymoron in our whiteness culture.  It doesn’t matter if you are Army veteran Emantic Brandford Jr. moving shoppers to safety, uniformed security guard Jemel Roberson subduing an active shooter or a police officer responding to a crime, as a Black person with a firearm you are seen as a threat, and you will be shot first. (page 162)

            The Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground Laws seem to collapse in the face of anti-Blackness.  Both address immunity from prosecution in the use of deadly force against another who unlawfully and forcibly enters a person’s residence or threatens another with imminent injury or death regardless of location.  No-knock warrants executed by police on innocent Black residents in their homes have proved deadly.  Awakened by “intruders” entering her house, ninety-two-year-old Kathryn Johnson fired a shot from her revolver and was killed by police in a hail of bullets.  Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend were similarly killed by police when they tried to defend themselves during what they perceived as a home invasion.  Both warrants proved to be flawed and based on faulty information.  As author Carol Anderson notes, the descriptors that often provide a cover of innocence--elderly, teenager, child, health care provider, mother--when applied to African Americans, were no match for the societal fear of Black people. (page 158)

            That fear however galvanized a swift change in California gun legislation when a legally armed group of Black Panthers showed up at the State Capitol in 1967 to voice their concern about police violence towards the Black community.  With police backing and support by the NRA, the Mulford Act which outlawed the carrying of loaded weapons in public passed swiftly.  The Panthers were labeled thugs and hoodlums for exercising their right to bear arms while the Proud Boys were presented as patriots during their armed insurrection on January 6, 2021.  From my perspective, it seems that our unconscious white fear is often triggered intentionally and used as an added weapon to maintain power and control in our whiteness hierarchy.

Resource: 

About — Carol Anderson (professorcarolanderson.org)

White Supremacy and the Second Amendment - YouTube

Activists accuse NRA of racism for silence over Philando Castile | CNN Politics

The Woman Who Live Streamed Philando Castile’s Death Talks Mental Health - YouTube

Breath Prayer  (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

There is more for us.                                                                       We get free together.

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

I will not protect the lie.                                                                 Our stories are sacred.ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 7/10/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What happens when Black Americans try to defend themselves by legally exercising their Second Amendment Right to bear arms? 

  In her book “The Second”, author Carol Anderson explores some of the consequences exacted on our Black siblings throughout history and into the current day when the historical white fear of slave rebellion is triggered.  After the Civil War, white fear was activated by the sight of armed Black Union soldiers marching through the streets of the South in order to protect the newly freed people who were being Black coded and butchered back into slavery.  The presence of Black troops was destabilizing, especially because the aura of authority and power they carried directly contradicted the stereotypes of African Americans as “shaggy, slovenly creatures not far removed from the primitive days of savagery”.  The very existence of African American troops was an affront to white supremacists and a threat to the law of the land that only gave white men the right to bear arms.  Unfortunately President Andrew Johnson did not believe that the freed people had rights, and by mid-1866, he had removed all Black troops from the interior of the South to outposts on the coast. (page 92-93)  With no federal protection, violence against Black people was commonplace, brutal and sadistic.  In the KKK stronghold of South Carolina in 1871, five hundred masked men attacked the local jail and killed African Americans for shooting at whites in self-defense.

After World War I, returning Black troops refused to accept the fractured citizenship America offered when they came home.  Arch-segregationist President Woodrow Wilson knew that trouble was brewing.  The Red Summer of 1919 proved to be a nationwide orgy of lynching, terror and racial pogroms to beat and burn the very idea of equality right out of African Americans.  Red Summer of 1919: How Black WWI Vets Fought Back Against Racist Mobs - HISTORY.

Unfortunately angry white mobs have been terrorizing black communities for generations.  Below are links to other instances that you probably never encountered in your United States history classes.  During reconstruction in Colfax Louisiana, approximately 150 black men were murdered at a courthouse in April of 1873.  Some of those killed had been democratically elected to hold local political offices which posed a clear threat to white control.  Many of the bodies were dumped in the Red River.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVcK2MZWoE&t=213s  How about the Wilmington North Carolina massacre of 1898?  Another thriving black community posed a threat to white control resulting in a democratically elected government being overthrown and hundreds of black residents killed.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVQomlXMeek&t=8s

Then there’s the Atlanta Georgia Massacre of 1906?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khs0xU935n8

What about the Elaine Arkansas Massacre of 1919, the 1921 Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa or the Rosewood Florida Massacre of 1923?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TXj90wvCT8   For a current example of a white mob that feels its white racial frame is under attack look no further than January 6, 2021.  The thread of terrorism by white mobs runs through our history and into the present day.  (next week some current examples of Black people bearing arms)

Resource: 

About — Carol Anderson (professorcarolanderson.org)

Breath Prayer  (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

There is more for us.                                                                       We get free together.

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

I will not protect the lie.                                                                 Our stories are sacred.ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 7/3/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

             Do Black Americans have the right to bear arms?  What was the racial and political climate leading up to the ratification of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights? 

  In her book “The Second”, author Carol Anderson unpacks the history of race and guns in our fatally unequal America.  About — Carol Anderson (professorcarolanderson.org)  By the time of the ratification of our founding documents in 1788-1791, slavery had been an established reality within this country for more than 150 years.  As early as 1639, Virginia prohibited Africans from carrying guns because of the white southerners’ fear of retaliation against both the system of slavery and those who fought to defend it.  Additionally, in 1680 its legislature crafted a law denying enslaved and free Blacks the right to self-defense if attacked by their ‘master’ and/or whites.  From 1671 to the early 1700s, the colony of South Carolina worked to build, adjust and overhaul its slave-patrol guidelines by deputizing all white males and increasing slave patrols to promote white community safety.  However, insurrectionist scares rattled the colonies in the first half of the 1700s.  Although slave rebellions were quashed, the realization that the enslaved would actually rise up showed how precariously perched the entire institution of slavery really was.    (page 12-16)

            Slavery was the largely unmentioned monster in the basement of our new nation.  The drafters of the Constitution went to great lengths not to mention it directly in our founding documents but its paradoxical presence was everywhere.  Twenty-five of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves, including George Washington who brought three of his enslaved people with him to Philadelphia.  There were also two divergent goals at play within the Constitutional Convention.  The Deep South was intent on strengthening the slaveholders’ power and the institution of slavery while the other delegates were determined to create a viable nation.  If America wanted a United States, it was going to cost Black people dearly. (page 25-26)  When it came to the method for allocating congressional representatives based on a state’s population, the South, which had previously argued that the enslaved were nothing but untaxable property, made a complete about-face when counting its number of inhabitants.  This resulted in the three-fifths compromise and the cosmetic language in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, which addressed the counting of those ‘bound to Service for a Term of Years’ as three fifths of a free person. (page 27-28) The Racist Origins of the Second Amendment - YouTube  Stay tuned for more next week.

 Resources: 

The US Constitution, 3/5, and the Slave Trade Clause: Crash Course Black American History #9 - YouTube

The Racist History of the Second Amendment - YouTube

Breath Prayer  (Cole Arthur Riley) 

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

There is more for us.                                                                       We get free together.

Inhalation:                                                                                          Exhalation:

I will not protect the lie.                                                                 Our stories are sacred.

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 6/26/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            As mentioned previously, it is past time for the Christian church to join in affirming the gifts and dignity of our siblings in the LGBTQIA+ community.  Initial steps may include congregational education about the LGBTQIA+ community through book discussion groups that intentionally focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals and themes.  Books that speak to a wide variety of human experience send a message of openness to everyone in your community and expand the horizons of those in the book group. 

How extensive are your pronoun options in prayers, hymns and liturgical readings?  Do you invite congregants to identify themselves with non-gendered pronouns?  One easy way to make this statement is to provide name tags that are already printed with a range of pronouns and invite people to select and to use the ones that best fit them.  Walking in the door and seeing that a congregation has already prepared this means of welcome sends a tremendous message about who you are.  Make sure that you ask everyone if they would like to state their pronouns, not just those who are transgender or non-binary.  This process goes a long way in raising consciousness about pronoun usage.

            Know the history of Pride as a commemoration of the Stonewall riots that began on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.  Participate in Pride events in the community.  This is critical to counteract the ongoing fallacy that all, or even most, people of faith stand in opposition to LGBTQIA+ rights.  Pride festivals are also a way to reach out to the LGBTQIA+ community and to let others know your inclusive stance.  This witness sends the message that people of faith can be accepting and supportive of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. 

How can preaching reflect and fully incorporate LGBTQIA+ people?  Queer theology offers a lens to view Biblical texts in a fashion that is inclusive to individuals’ sexual and gender identity and allows the LGBTQIA+ community to reclaim their rightful space in Christianity.  It is a perspective done by, with and for LGBTQIA+ individuals which seeks to bring value and broader knowledge of marginalized voices and experiences.  It also challenges and deconstructs harmful and historically imposed boundaries, particularly with respect to sexual and gender identity.

 Resources: 

Resource Categories 52 Ways to Expand Your Welcome to LGBTQ+ People and Our Families - CLGS

“Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics” by Linn Marie Tonstad

“The Queer God” by Marcella Althaus-Reid

About | Many Voices

 Queer Faith Haiku by Pat Deeney

Sacred dignity                                                                    Creation’s vessels

Moved by fierce inclusive love                                    Celebrated and worthy

Wonderfully made.                                                         With no one left out.

Queer Faith Haiku, Columbus Women's Chorus 4/23/23 - YouTube

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 6/19/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

             Today is Juneteenth, a day which celebrates the freedom of Texas’ more than 250,00 slaves held in bondage until news of President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation was announced by General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865.  Enforcement of the proclamation relied on the advancement of Union troops through the slave states with Texas being the most remote.  Therefore, news of freedom was delayed for two and a half years.  Celebrated annually throughout the country, Juneteenth commemorates the liberation of all those who had been enslaved in the United States.  Henry Louis Gates Jr. on the significance and history of Juneteenth - YouTube   In her book “On Juneteenth”, author Annette Gordon-Reed weaves together family chronicles, personal memoirs and Texas history to revise conventional renderings of our national story.  'On Juneteenth' Historian Examines The 'Hope' And 'Hostility' Toward Emancipation : NPR

            Is this anniversary even on the radar of white Americans who typically equate Independence Day with July 4th?  Frederick Douglass noted this dichotomy during his speech before the Rochester Ladies’ Antislavery Society on July 5, 1852.  He asked “What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?  Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?  What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?  I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” ‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass' Speech | NPR - YouTube

All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday, ceremonial holiday, or a day of observance.  In addition, a growing list of American companies has declared Juneteenth as a paid day off.  President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a bill into law to officially designate Juneteenth as an American federal holiday.

Federal holidays, such as Juneteenth, usually apply to government workers, including those working for the U.S. Postal Service, law enforcement, public health and clerical workers at various government agencies.  Federal holidays can consequently mean non-essential federal government offices are closed and banks, post offices and schools may be closed as well.  David A. Bateman, an associate professor of Government at Cornell University, believes Juneteenth should have been marked officially a long time ago.  After more than a century and a half of either brushing off slavery or of pretending it wasn’t that big a deal, this federal holiday invites the historical perspectives and memories of Black communities which are long overdue.  Which states recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday? | Pew Research Center

Reference: 

We asked Americans how they feel about the U.S. flag. It got interesting : NPR

Slave cases are still cited as good law. This team is trying to change that : NPR

Juneteenth 2023: What the Holiday Represents and How to Celebrate | Entertainment Tonight (etonline.com)

Visio Divina

"We Built This" - Musical Performance from black-ish Season 4 Premeire - YouTube

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 6/12/2023

 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

The Christian church in the United States has historically relegated non-white individuals to a less-than status within its confines. White Christians, as the dominant cultural power, have helped to sustain the idol of whiteness within the American story and to incorporate the superiority of whiteness into America’s identity over the decades.  What message has the Christian church offered to those who are non-white and who also identify with the LGBTQIA+ community?  The American Christian church has been wrestling with a male/female gender binary since colonial times, often with a coercive and religious conforming agenda.  Many congregations believe that they are welcoming to all but do not, in reality, fully affirm the expansive breadth of sexual expression in Divine creation.  Denominations are having schisms over this question and are often complicit in violence towards these LGBTQIA+ children of God.  Unfortunately, the black Christian church has also been influenced by the white systemic perspective at work within the United States.

Black, Gay, & Christian: Creating Affirming Spaces | Noah Mitchell | TEDxKingLincolnBronzeville - YouTube

Let’s explore how the Christian church has treated its non-white, transgender members.  Like American society-at-large, the church has been especially challenged by the transgender community.  Even congregations that are accepting of gay and lesbian clergy are finding it difficult to be affirming of transgender individuals.  It wasn’t until 2018 that the Presbyterian Church (USA) passed an overture that specifically named trans and non-binary folks as beloved by God and worth advocating for in the public square.  In 2019, the first white openly transgender ministers were ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  This discrimination is compounded when the transgender clergy is non-white.  Many seminaries, even those governed by denominations with inclusive policies, have yet to welcome transgender students fully, and systemic racial barriers to admission make seminaries less accessible to Black transgender applicants.  In addition, certain requirements for ordination may pose added difficulties such as a psychiatric evaluation that describes being transgender as a form of sexual deviancy.  A chaplain placement for Clinical Pastoral Education credit may also prove difficult in hospital locations that have strict dress codes or prefer individuals that fit traditional gender expectations.  Non-white, transgender seminary graduates are forging ministry opportunities outside the traditional church environment where new sacred spaces can be created.  Black Trans* Lives Matter | D-L Stewart | TEDxCSU - YouTube

It is time to not only be affirming and inclusive on paper but to actually recognize and embrace the full humanity and gifts of trans people to lead this next stage of the reformation.  Maybe it’s time to let go of our willful indifference and to move to a space of conscious compassion.  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Stated Clerk urges Kentucky governor to veto anti-trans bill (pcusa.org)

 Reference: 

Texas Baptists expel two more churches for welcoming LGBTQ Christians – Baptist News Global

 Queer Faith Haiku by Pat Deeney

Sacred dignity                                                         Creation’s vessels

Moved by fierce inclusive love                           Celebrated and worthy

Wonderfully made.                                               With no one left out.

 Queer Faith Haiku, Columbus Women's Chorus 4/23/23 - YouTube

Pat Deeney & Sheena Phillips, both members of Westminster are too modest to toot their horn so I will! Pat wrote a power poem and Sheena composed music for multiple voices. Please check out the video of the Columbus Women’s Chorus the production is very powerful!!!

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 6/5/2023

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

                         The LGBTQIA+ community is being attacked on multiple fronts these days.  Books are being banned.  State Legislatures are passing bills that impact the health of transgender youth.  The activities of drag performers are being inhibited, and other restrictions to the civil rights of our LGBTQIA+ siblings are on the horizon.  What’s fueling this hysteria?  Who gains by stoking these fires of fear?  What systems of power remain in control?

            The parental protective instinct is being intentionally manipulated to enrage and engage constituents across the country.  Local school board meetings have become battlegrounds for various scenarios of this toxic panic.  The justification for this contentious outrage resides in the adult responsibility to protect children from any activities that threaten their innocence.  The censorship of school and public libraries are a growing target.  A record number of book challenges emerged across the country in 2022, with more than 2,570 unique titles targeted, according to new data from the American Library Association.  The most common titles targeted in these bans address race, gender identity, sexuality and reproductive health with Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” receiving the most challenges. 

The scripted accusation that is often leveled against those who support LGBTQIA+ rights such as teachers, companies, politicians, is the incendiary buzzword “grooming” which occurs when adults take advantage of a child’s vulnerability to manipulate and coerce the child into sexual abuse.  Now that meaning has been warped and corrupted to broadly smear the motives of LGBTQIA+ people and those who oppose anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.  Accusing LGBTQIA+ people of “grooming” or “recruiting” children to become gay or transgender is an age-old trope that feeds off fear.  The “grooming” smear often expands to include accusations of pedophilia and sex trafficking.  WATCH: Michigan lawmaker says, ‘We will not let hate win’ - YouTube

Unfortunately, this rhetoric has led to a disturbing spike in threats and assaults against LGBTQIA+ people.  In response to this wave of hate, the advocacy group GLAAD has launched a media campaign, with a public service announcement airing nationwide.  Texas Mom Amber Briggle calls on media to tell trans stories at the GLAAD Media Awards - YouTube 

Let us join in affirming our LBGTQIA+ siblings’ full dignity and humanity, their full inclusion in all human rights, and their giftedness for service.  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Stated Clerk urges Kentucky governor to veto anti-trans bill (pcusa.org)

Resources: 

How many book bans were attempted in your state? Use this map to find out | PBS NewsHour

Book bans are getting everyone's attention — including Biden's. Here's why : NPR

LGBTQ advocates fight the homophobic 'grooming' narrative : NPR

 Reflection

“Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” I think you’re focusing on the wrong shit.” (Wanda Sykes)

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 5/29/2023

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

We’ll finish out Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage month by remembering the lives and service of two immigrants from the country of India.  Bhagat Singh Thind was an Indian American writer and lecturer who served in the United States Army during World War I.  After the war he sought to become a naturalized citizen, following a legal ruling that Caucasians had access to such rights. However in 1923, the Supreme Court ruled against him in the case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which retroactively denied all Indian Americans the right to obtain United States citizenship for failing to meet the definition of a “white person”, “person of African descent”, or “alien of African nativity”. 

Thind remained in the United States, earned his Ph.D. in theology and English literature at UC Berkeley, and delivered lectures on metaphysics.  In addition, he campaigned for Indian independence from colonial rule.   In 1936, Thind applied successfully for U.S. citizenship through the State of New York which had made World War I veterans eligible for naturalization regardless of race. Bhagat Singh Thind - YouTube

Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.  After moving to the United States in 1982, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984, a second Master’s in 1986 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder.  After becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in April 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps.  She joined the corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator on Space Shuttle Columbia.

Her second flight was on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia, in 2003.  Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003.  Her remains were identified along with those of the rest of the crew members and were cremated and scattered at Zion National Park in Utah in accordance with her wishes.  Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Remembering Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian American to go to space - YouTube

Resources: 

U.S. v Thind - YouTube

(Eng)Kalpana Chawla-Biography - YouTube

 Lectio Divina

Do something because you really want to do it.

If you're doing it just for the goal and don't enjoy the path, then I think you're cheating yourself.

(Kalpana Chawla)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 5/22/2023

 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 Born  October 7, 1896, in Guangzhou during the Qing dynasty of China, Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee came to the United States as a child and lived with her parents in New York City’s Chinatown.  She attended the City’s public schools, including Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.  In 1913, Lee began attending Barnard College where she majored in history and philosophy.  She joined the Debating Club and Chinese Students’ Association. She wrote articles for The Chinese Students’ Monthly, in which she championed for woman’s suffrage and argued for equality as necessary in a democracy.  While at Barnard College, she also received a master’s degree in educational administration.

In 1917, Lee was admitted to Columbia University for a doctorate in economics.  Impressed with her research in the agricultural economy, the Chinese government granted her a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship another first for a woman.  She was the vice president of the Columbia Chinese Club and became associate editor of The Chinese Students’ Monthly.  After earning her Ph.D. in economics in 1921, she was selected by the Board of Council of Columbia University as the University Scholar in Economics for her research work in agricultural economics.  This was the first time a Chinese student was given this award.

After the sudden death of her father, she was appointed by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to take on her father’s duties and became chairperson of the Morning Star Mission and a Baptist minister in 1924.  She went on to lead the First Chinese Baptist Church for forty years, while additionally becoming an advocate for the Chinese community in New York and for the residents of Chinatown through the Chinese Community Center.  An early supporter of the suffrage movement, Lee herself was unable to exercise that constitutional right because of the discriminatory federal naturalization laws of the time. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was not repealed until 1943, barred Chinese immigrants from the process of naturalization.  While Lee fought for equality and the right to vote, she and other immigrant women were unable to reap the benefits until years later.  Mabel Ping-Hua Lee Fought for Voting Rights on Horseback (Narrated) - YouTube

Lee’s view that there needed to be a Chinese Christianity and not a European American Protestantism sometimes brought her into conflict with the City’s larger white-led Baptist mission.   She was able to launch the First Chinese Baptist Church on Pell Street in New York City as the first self-supporting Chinese Church in America.  Over the years, the Church has provided English language, typewriting, broadcasting, and carpentry classes among other useful skills.   The church continues to function as a social service center for the Chinese community to this day. 

 Resources: 

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee ’1916: A Pioneer of the Suffrage Movement | Barnard Magazine

Biography: Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (womenshistory.org)

The Places of Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Lectio Divina 

The fundamental principle of democracy is equality of opportunity ... It means an equal chance for each individual to prove their merits and what they are best suited to do.  (Mabel Lee)

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 5/15/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 Born in 1949, Haunani-Kay Trask was a Native Hawaiian activist, educator, author, poet, and leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom of Hawaii out of a desire for sovereignty, self-determination and self-governance.  She was professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she founded and directed the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.  After retiring from her director position in 2010, Trask continued teaching native political movements in Hawaii and the Pacific, the literature and politics of Pacific Islander women, Hawaiian history and politics, and third world and indigenous history and politics as an emeritus faculty member.    

Trask hosted and produced First Friday, a monthly public-access television program started in 1986 to highlight political and cultural Hawaiian issues.  In addition, she co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning 1993 documentary Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation; wrote the 1993 book From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi; and published two books of poetry, the 1994 Light in the Crevice Never Seen and the 2002 Night Is a Sharkskin Drum. 

Trask received numerous awards and recognition for her scholarship and activism, both during her life and posthumously.  In March 2017, Hawaiʻi Magazine recognized Trask as one of the most influential women in Hawaiian history, and in 2019, Trask was awarded the Angela Y. Davis Prize from the American Studies Association in recognition of her application of her scholarship for the public good.  Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask passed away - YouTube

 Resources: 

In memoriam: Haunani-Kay Trask, exemplary Native Hawaiian scholar | University of Hawaiʻi System News In memoriam: Haunani-Kay Trask

Remembering fearless Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask - YouTube

 Lectio Divina

 Our story remains unwritten. 

It rests within the culture, which is inseparable from the land. 

To know this is to known our history. 

To write this is to write of the land and the people who are born from her.

 (Haunani-Kay Trask “From a Native Daughter”)

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.

Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 5/8/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) are an integral part of the American cultural mosaic, encompassing a wide range of diversity. AANHPI communities consist of approximately 50 distinct ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages, with connections to Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Hawaiian, and other Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries.  Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - YouTube 

Unfortunately, our historical actions toward these cultures have been less than sterling.  On January 16, 1893, United States troops invaded the Hawaiian Kingdom without just cause, which led to a conditional surrender by the Hawaiian Kingdom’s executive monarch, Her Majesty Queen Lili‘uokalani, the following day.  The influence of the United States in Hawaiian government began with American-born plantation owners, driven by missionary religion and the economics of the sugar industry, advocating for fair representation in the Kingdom’s politics.  The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a coup led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents and six Hawaiian subjects of American descent.  The insurgents established the Republic of Hawaii, but their ultimate goal was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which occurred in 1898.  The 1993 Apology Resolution by the U.S. Congress concedes that “the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States”.  How the US Stole Hawaii - YouTube

            Anti-Asian violence has roots in our nation’s earliest history as well.   In 1871, a white mob attacked and murdered 19 Chinese residents in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, including a 15-year-old boy, a reflection of the growing anti-Asian sentiment that came to its climax with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  The act banned the immigration of Chinese laborers, much as the Page Exclusion Act of 1875, the nation’s first restrictive immigration law, had prohibited the entry of Chinese women.

            In modern American history, Asian Americans have been regularly scapegoated during periods of national duress.  World War II saw the forced internment of about 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast — an estimated 62 percent of whom were U.S. citizens — in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  After the Vietnam War, refugees from Southeast Asia faced routine discrimination and hate, including attacks by Ku Klux Klan members on shrimpers in Texas.  And in 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was beaten to death by two Detroit autoworkers who thought he was Japanese.  The killing took place during a recession that was partly blamed on the rise of the Japanese auto industry.

The Roots Of Anti-Asian Racism - YouTube

            Asian American, Pacific Islander and South Asian neighbors have become the latest target of our whiteness culture’s racial hatred and abuse.  Since the early days of the pandemic, in most major cities, there has been an increase in violence against Asian Americans.  Verbal harassment is by far the most common but shunning, physical assault, workplace discrimination, barring from establishments and vandalism have all been reported as part of this rise in anti-Asian violence.  Hate crimes against Asian Americans surge, FBI reports – AsAmNews.  There has also been an inequitable allocation of resources for Asians in research and social services impacting their opportunity to improve their health and quality of life.  In addition to federal legislation signed by the President, all Americans need to voice their support and stand with the Asian and Pacific Islander community for racial justice and equity.

 Resources: 

How Native Hawaiians have been pushed out of Hawai'i - YouTube

A Proclamation on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2023 | The White House

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2023 (asianpacificheritage.gov)

Lectio Divina

One child has brown eyes,

one has blue

One slanted, another rounded

One so nearsighted he squints internal

One had her extra epicanthic folds removed

One downcast, one couldn't be bothered

One roams the heavens for a perfect answer

One transfixed like a dead doe, a convex mirror

One shines double-edged like a poisoned dagger

Understand their vision, understand their blindness

Understand their vacuity, understand their mirth 

(One Child has Brown Eyes by Marilyn Chin)

 Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.

Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 5/1/2023

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 The major accomplishments of the civil rights movement outlawed racial segregation in the public sector: first in public schools, with the passage of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954; then in public parks and buildings, as well as restaurants and theaters, with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; then in housing, through the Civil Rights Act of 1968, better known as the Fair Housing Act.  Whites responded to racial integration by withdrawing from public spaces, then from entire cities, taking their tax dollars with them.  Court-ordered desegregation of public spaces brought about a new division in which the public world was increasingly abandoned to Blacks and a new private one created for whites.  In public schools, white parents either retreated into private schools or decamped to the suburbs. School Segregation and Brown v Board: Crash Course Black American History #33 - YouTube

Unfortunately, a negative consequence of Brown v. Board of Education has been the loss of Black teachers and administrators in our public schools.  While the legislation mandated the integration of the nation’s schoolchildren, it said nothing about the teacher and administration labor force.  A study done by the Pew Research center in 2021 analyzed three decades of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) survey data, and found that 79% of U.S. public school teachers identified as non-Hispanic White while fewer than one-in-ten teachers were either Black (7%), Hispanic (9%) or Asian American (2%).

A principal source of school segregation is the persistence of residential segregation in American society; residence and school assignment are closely linked due to the widespread tradition of locally controlled schools.  Residential segregation is related to growing income inequality in the United States.  Acknowledging the re-segregation of schools and the disproportionate allocation of resources is crucial to addressing how the achievement gap is concentrated in underserved urban communities.  Factors like pollution, perceived safety, proximity to other students, and healthy learning environments can all affect academic outcomes.  Also, in high poverty environments, students are likely to face various obstacles that prevent effective learning environments including food and housing insecurity.  How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner - YouTube

What entities profit from our segregated public school system?  How does our segregated public school system reinforce our American culture of white superiority?

Resource:

Trenton, NJ + Equity focus schools projects | DonorsChoose

Lectio Divina

“I sometimes forget that I was created for Joy.

My mind is too busy.

My Heart is too heavy for me to remember that I have been called to dance the Sacred dance of life.

I was created to smile, to love, to be lifted up and to lift others up.

Oh Sacred One, untangle my feet from all that ensnares.

Free my soul that we might dance and that our dancing might be contagious.” Hafiz

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

Inhale:  I feel my breath deepen.                                Exhale: The slowness is sacred.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 4/24/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

Slum exploitation in America has a long history with the Great Migration beginning in 1915 through 1970 when approximately six million Black people moved from the American South to Northern, Midwestern, and Western states. ( The Great Migration: Crash Course Black American History #24 - YouTube )   Looking for economic opportunity and greater safety, Black Americans found limited housing options in the industrial cities of the North.  The racist policies which limited where Black families could live were often written into law, thus giving ghetto landlords a captive tenant base.  This led to the lowest paid people being forced to pay the highest rents for the most dilapidated housing. 

Redlining in the United States is a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as “hazardous” to investment because of the significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, and low-income residents.   With the National Housing Act of 1934, the federal government began to be involved in the practice and the concurrent establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  The FHA’s formalized redlining process was developed by their Chief Land Economist as part of an initiative to develop the first underwriting criteria for mortgages.  The implementation of this federal policy accelerated the decay and isolation of minority inner-city neighborhoods through withholding of mortgage capital, making it even more difficult for neighborhoods to attract and retain families able to purchase homes.  The discriminatory assumptions in redlining exacerbated residential racial segregation and urban decay in the United States.  The impact on segregated housing was not limited to inner cities as evidenced by the dilapidated housing here in Lawrenceville, NJ in the 1940s that was available to Black citizens in the historic Eggerts Crossing neighborhood and separated from the rest of the town by the tracks of the Johnson Trolley Line.  The history of Eggerts Crossing Village is shared by long-time resident - centraljersey.com

Unfortunately, the racism and discrimination baked into the federal government’s housing policy has ramifications into the current day with appraisal bias, fees on home buyer assistance, and even the way in which student loan debt is calculated in loan applications.

Resource:

The Great Migration and the power of a single decision | Isabel Wilkerson - YouTube

Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History | Code Switch | NPR - YouTube

2022-State-of-Housing-in-Black-America_V4.pdf (nareb.com)

Lectio Divina

“I am often struck by the dangerous narcissism fostered by spiritual rhetoric that pays so much attention to individual self-improvement and so little to the practice of love within the context of community”  bell hooks

Breath Prayer (Cole Arthur Riley)

 Inhale:  My practice is love.                                                          Exhale: We get free together.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 4/17/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

So, who profits from poverty?  Who profits from racism?  Who profits from both poverty and racism?  In his book “Poverty By America”, author Matthew Desmond explores why the United States, as the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy.  Rather than an economy of abundance, we have bought into a fabricated sense of scarcity or as Desmond defines it, the “scarcity diversion”.  We have accepted a tax structure that provides loopholes for individuals and corporations to avoid taxes as much as possible or entirely, and then we limit our funding of needed social programs within fictitious fiscal constraints. 

            Desmond writes that scarcity pits issue against issue, neighbor against neighbor, white worker against Black, native against newcomer.  Racism thwarted the rise of a multiracial mass labor movement and the creation of integrated communities and schools by ghettoizing poverty and urban Black poverty in particular. (page 174)  We constrain and exploit the poor.  We limit their choice and power in the labor market, the housing market, and the financial market.  We drive down wages while forcing the poor to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit (check cashing outlets and payday loan outlets).  As consumers, we buy cheap goods and services that the working poor produce, and invest in companies that exploit their employees to raise profits.  We embrace exclusionary zoning policies and upscale communities with good education opportunities, well-run soccer leagues and safe neighborhoods.  Racism and exploitation feed on each other.  Black families don’t have much choice when it comes to where they can live.  They continue to face routine discrimination when searching for housing.  They are excluded from home ownership because banks aren’t interested in financing the kind of homes available to them as the bank can make more money elsewhere.  Unbanked Americans are a target for high-interest services due to their financial insecurity. Desmond on how the effects of poverty differ by race - YouTube

Desmond notes that the majority of Americans believe the economy is benefitting the rich and harming the poor.  What are we, as individuals, institutions, companies, political parties and governing bodies, doing to divest from poverty?  Why are the top 25 billionaires in this country white? Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond urges individuals to commit to abolishing poverty

Resource:

Matthew Desmond: The Privileged are Complicit in America’s Poverty Crisis | Amanpour and Company - YouTube

'Poverty, by America' author Matthew Desmond examines inequality's root causes : Shots - Health News : NPR

One reason why America's wealth gap persists across generations : NPR

End Poverty in America (endpovertyusa.org)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 4/10/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            April 2023 has been designated as National Arab American Heritage Month by Presidential Proclamation.  This annual recognition provides an opportunity for all citizens to learn about Arab American identity and culture while encouraging Arab Americans to take pride in their contributions to America’s diverse society.  The achievements of Arab Americans are reflected in the arts and sciences; in business and faith communities; in classrooms and hospitals; in government; and in police stations, firehouses and every branch of the military. 

            Arabs are united by culture, history and the Arabic language.  The Arab World consists of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.  While most Arabs are Muslims, there are also millions of Christian Arabs and thousands of Jewish Arabs.  Arab Americans are Americans of Arab descent. There are Americans with roots in each Arab country, but most originate from Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. There are also substantial communities from Egypt, Yemen and Iraq.  The first immigrants arrived in the late 19th century.  A second wave of immigration started after World War II, and still continues. The largest communities of Arab Americans live in the Detroit-Dearborn area.

            A University of Illinois Chicago report captures the conditions and experiences of Arab Americans in Chicago and its suburbs.  The report uses demographic research, surveys, focus group data, as well as expert commentaries by organizers and academics to analyze how systemic inequities and anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism affect the lives of Arab Americans in employment, education, health care, housing, and policing.  The report engages with the diversity of experiences among Arab American communities and their common challenge in navigating being at once hypervisible as a result of commonplace stereotypes as well as invisible due to being classified as white by government agencies and due to the general lack of knowledge about Arab Americans in our society.

            Some Arab Americans that you may recognize are consumer advocate Ralph Nader; Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician whose research exposed the Flint water crisis; Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, representing Michigan’s 12th Congressional District; and Nujoud Merancy, the Chief of Exploration Planning for NASA’s Artemis mission.

Resource:

Why We Need Arab American Heritage Month | NowThis - YouTube

Chicago Arab Americans face widespread racism, report finds - CBS Chicago (cbsnews.com)

State of Racial Justice Reports | Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy | University of Illinois Chicago (uic.edu)

Breath Prayer

Inhale:  Now I am revealing                                                         Exhale: new things to you.

Lectio Divina

(If You are Seeking, Seek Us with joy by Rumi)

If you are seeking, seek us with joy

For we live in the kingdom of joy.

Do not give your heart to anything else

But to the love of those who are clear joy.

Do not stray into the neighborhood of despair.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 4/3/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

A passionate justice advocate, Sunyoung Yang (she/they/ella/elle) is the Political Director overseeing the development of the Political Formation School and the Political Education programming for the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) membership base. The GGJ is a multi-racial, multi-sector alliance of more than sixty grassroots-organizing members committed to building a popular movement for peace, democracy and a sustainable world.  Its work is intergenerational and utilizes the leadership of women, gender non-confirming people, the LGBTQIA+ community and historically marginalized individuals in the United States.  In addition, the GGJ strives to develop the capacity for grassroots organizations to engage strategically with movements abroad in what is called Grassroots Internationalism by bringing these leaders together in a working relationship and a reciprocal solidarity model.  For example, GGJ connected movement leaders fighting against the destruction of hydroelectric dams in Latin America with community members organizing around solutions to water shut offs in the low income communities of Detroit.  GGJ’s core work pillars are: DemilitaRise, Feminist Organizing Schools, Global Wellbeing, Grassroots Feminism and Movement Building.  Our Work - Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (ggjalliance.org)  

Prior to GGJ, Sunyoung shared her expertise for nearly a decade with the Los Angeles Labor/Community Strategy Center (LCSC) and the Bus Riders Union (BRU) as the lead organizer for both its transit justice and climate justice campaigns. Bus Riders Union – The Labor Community Strategy Center (thestrategycenter.org)  In addition, she participated in the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Community Systems’ horticulture apprenticeship and worked as a food justice organizer. About the Center for Agroecology (ucsc.edu)

An active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in the City of Trenton, Sunyoung also gives generously of her time and energy to a Korean diaspora activists collective bridging Korean social movements and members of the United States Korean diaspora in order to connect around reunification, peace, and justice.

Lectio Divina 

Song of a Poor Woman by Heo Nanseolheon

Who’d say I’m not a beauty enough

And I’m good with a needle and loom

But for I come from a poor family

No good matchmaker will see me

Weaving without pause into the night

The loom sobs with cold clicks

This swathe of silk on the loom

Shall make some lucky lady’s clothes

But with the scissors in hand

My ten fingers grow stiff this cold night

Making a bridal dress for someone

Every year I’m to sleep alone

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/27/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

Born in 1930, Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Association.  In 1955, Huerta began her career as an activist when she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which led voter registration drives and fought for economic improvements for Hispanics.  She also founded the Agricultural Workers Association.  Through a CSO associate, Huerta met activist César Chávez, with whom she shared an interest in organizing farm workers.  In 1962, Huerta and Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW), which formed three year later. Huerta served as UFW vice president until 1999.

Despite ethnic and gender bias, Huerta helped organize the 1965 Delano strike of 5,000 grape workers and was the lead negotiator in the workers’ contract that followed.  Throughout her work with the UFW, Huerta organized workers, negotiated contracts, and advocated for safer working conditions, including the elimination of harmful pesticides.  She also fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers.  Huerta was the driving force behind the nationwide table grape boycotts in the late 1960s that led to a successful union contract by 1970.

In 1973, Huerta led another consumer boycott of grapes that resulted in the ground-breaking California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which allowed farm workers to form unions and bargain for better wages and conditions.  Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Huerta worked as a lobbyist to improve workers’ legislative representation.  During the 1990s and 2000s, she focused on electing more Latinos and women to political office and on championing women’s issues.  Dolores Huerta reflects on history of activism, next generation's fight: Part 1 - YouTube

Recognized with an array of awards and honors, Dolores Huerta is also the founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation which seeks to organize and inspire communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice.  Its social justice grassroots organizing work is focused on Civic Engagement, Education Equity, Health and Safety, and LGBTQIA+ Equality.  About | Dolores Huerta Foundation

Resource:

How to End Racism | Dolores Huerta | TEDxOakland - YouTube

Dolores Huerta: The Civil Rights Icon Who Showed Farmworkers 'Sí Se Puede' : The Salt : NPR

Lectio Divina 

Dry Rain by Carmen Boullosa

Rain of Flowers in Brooklyn. 

Minute white petals fall heralding the spring,

bathing us without water in fresh laughter.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/20/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            Sarah Eagle Heart (Waŋblí Šiná Wíŋyaŋ, Eagle Shawl Woman), Oglála Lakota, is an Emmy Award-winning social justice storyteller, entrepreneur, and philanthropic leader.  She utilizes storytelling to amplify the Lakota worldview and to uplift critical issues that affect Indigenous Peoples, including in such projects as “Crow: the legend”, “Lakota Nation vs. The United States”, and the books “Warrior Princesses Strike Back” and “This is How We Come Back Stronger”.

             Ms. Eagle Heart is the co-founder and Senior Advisor to Return to the Heart Foundation which focuses on resourcing innovative Indigenous women led projects.  The Foundation’s 2021-2022 micro grantees focused on health and healing with initiatives such as traditional plant medicine gardens, wellness retreats, caretaking of bees, knowledge sharing, and Lakota songs for healing to name a few.  The Society | Return to The Heart Foundation (return2heart.org) 

Prior to this role, she served as CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy, a national nonprofit that focuses on investment in Native American communities. LeaderStories: Sarah Eagle Heart on Transforming Hearts - YouTube  With more than a 30-year presence in the field, the NAP has worked closely with other counterpart organizations advocating for Tribal communities. The cornerstone of their work is their relatives and networks. NAP supports several communities of stakeholders that work together to build knowledge, community, priorities, and power in the sector. These networks include Native professionals in philanthropy, elected Tribal leaders, Native youth leaders, Native philanthropic executives and board members, and Native nonprofit leaders.  Our Mission - Native Americans in Philanthropy (nativephilanthropy.org)

She also served as the Team Leader for Diversity, Social Justice and Environmental Ministries and Program Officer for Indigenous Ministry at The Episcopal Church, New York, New York.  Under her leadership, The Episcopal Church became the first major denomination to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery in 2009 and presented oral interventions at the United Nations in 2012.  Doctrine of Discovery Archives – The Episcopal Church

Resource: 9 Native American Women Leaders, Founders, and Fighters | Ellevest

Lectio Divina  (Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo)

To pray you open your whole self to sky, to earth, to sun, to moon, to one whole voice that is you.  And know there is more that you can’t see, can’t hear; can’t know except in moments steadily growing, and in languages that aren’t always sound but other circles of motion.  Like eagle that Sunday over Salt River.  Circled in blue sky in wind, swept our hearts clean with sacred wings.  We see you, see ourselves and know that we must take the utmost care and kindness in all things.  Breathe in, knowing we are made of all this, and breathe, knowing we are truly blessed because we were born, and die soon within a true circle of motion, like eagle rounding out the morning inside us.  We pray that it will be done in beauty.  In beauty.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/13/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            Regina Jackson and Saira Rao are the authors of “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better” and the founders of Race2Dinner, an organization which facilitates conversations between white women about racism and white supremacy.  Saira Rao grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Indian immigrants and the only South Asian in her school.  For forty years, she wasted her precious time aspiring to be white and accepted by dominant white society, a futile task for anyone not born with white skin.  Several years ago, Rao began the painful process of dismantling her own internalized oppression.  Rao is a lawyer-by-training, a former congressional candidate, a published novelist and an entrepreneur.  A black descendant of slaves, Regina Jackson was born in Chicago in 1950, and remembers an America where everything was in Black and white.  Burned into her memory are; the beatings and horrific treatment of civil rights workers throughout the south, the Goodman, Chaney & Schwerner murders, the murder of Viola Liuzzo, the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the murders of President John Kennedy and his brother Robert.  The violence perpetrated on innocent people going about their lives, by white people.  It is these memories that drive Regina to push for real change in America, which is why she co-founded Race2Dinner. Race2Dinner asks white women to speak up against racism - YouTube

During their interactions at Race2Dinner events, Regina Jackson and Saira Rao have noticed white women’s tendency to maintain a veneer of niceness, and strive for perfection, even at the expense of anti-racism work.  In their book, Jackson and Rao pose these urgent questions: how has being “nice” helped Black women, Indigenous women and other women of color?  How has being “nice” helped you in your quest to end sexism?  Has being “nice” earned you economic parity with white men?  Beginning with freeing white women from this oppressive need to be nice, they deconstruct and analyze nine aspects of traditional white woman behavior--from tone-policing to weaponizing tears--that uphold white supremacy society, and hurt all of us who are trying to live a freer, more equitable life.

The documentary “Deconstructing Karen” is a filming of a Race2Dinner event.  On its surface, the film is an invitation to view a transformative experience for a group of questioning women.  But it’s more than that.  It is a challenge to every viewer, whether mainstream liberals or radical activists, to resist complacency and to participate in the discourse assuming that white people are almost always part of the problem.  It is also an invitation to take responsibility and to become more active in the fight against racism.

New documentary "Deconstructing Karen" chronicles women speaking up and being heard | The Social - YouTube

Resource: Data is Love Book Preview: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism And How To Do Better - YouTube

Lectio Divina

White supremacy means that white people are raised to see their white lived experience as the default lived experience of everyone.  So until and unless you white people start to see yourselves as racialized beings like everyone else, you cannot even begin the process of dismantling the white supremacy that is baked into your bones.  (page xxii)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.c

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 3/6/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 Julieanna L. Richardson is an American Harvard-trained lawyer and the founder and executive director of The HistoryMakers, a nonprofit committed to preserving, developing, and providing easy access to an internationally recognized archival collection of thousands of African-American video oral histories.  With more than 2,000 life oral history interviews with well-known and unsung African-Americans, The HistoryMakers is the nation’s largest African-American oral history collection of its kind.  In February 2000, she conducted her first interview with the black radio executive Barry Mayo.  Other subjects followed, many of them well known: Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee and Julian Bond.   But an encounter with William Thompson, a veteran of World War II’s all-black Tuskegee Airmen, convinced Richardson that The HistoryMakers was about more than just celebrities.  When they met, Thompson told Richardson about the Golden 13, the thirteen black men commissioned as officers by the Navy during World War II including William Sylvester White, a Chicago judge, who she also went on to interview.  The HistoryMakers: Documenting untold stories of African American achievement - CBS News

The organization consists of several sections such as Medicine, Politics, Business, Law, Science, Theater and Entertainment.  With education as its mission, The HistoryMakers’ one-of-a-kind collection is housed permanently at the Library of Congress and provides an unprecedented and irreplaceable physical and online record of African-American lives, accomplishments and contributions through unique first-person testimony. 

            Julieanna L. Richardson created a unique path to founding and heading up the largest national collection effort of African-American video oral histories on record since the WPA Slave Narratives.  Richardson graduated from Brandeis University in 1976 with her B.A. degree in Theatre Arts and American Studies.  Richardson received her J.D. degree in 1980 from Harvard Law School and began her career as a corporate lawyer at the law firm of Jenner & Block prior to serving in the early 1980s as the Cable Administrator for the City of Chicago’s Office of Cable Communications. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Richardson has received three honorary doctorates of humane letters – from Howard University, Dominican University and her alma mater, Brandeis University, where she served as the 65th Commencement speaker in 2016.  She was awarded the 2014 Legacy Award from Black Enterprise Magazine, and was profiled in 2014’s American Masters: The Boomer List, a PBS documentary and exhibition at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.  Richardson is committed to preserving and sharing this history and is leaving a unique and lasting legacy for generations to come.   Homepage | The HistoryMakers

Lectio Divina

(Blessing for a Leader by John O’Donohue)

May you know the wisdom of deep listening,

The healing of wholesome words,

The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,

The decorum of held dignity,

The springtime edge of the bleak question.

May you have a mind that loves frontiers

So that you can evoke the bright fields

That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

May leadership be for you

A true adventure of growth.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

Sent from Mail for Windows

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/27/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            This week I will be highlighting Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills, the authors of “If These Stones Could Talk” for their efforts to uncover the presence of African Americans in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountains and beyond.  As board members of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association, which was officially founded as a burial ground for African American residents and veterans in 1858, they were asked to search for gravestone markers in the Sourland Mountain cemetery.  This began their decades of research, collection of oral histories, and discovery of land deeds, church records and preserved plots which traced the legacy of slavery in small town USA. The Price of Silence: Part One | NJ PBS Specials | NJ PBS 

                Elaine Buck is a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association.  Along with her husband of forty years and two sons, Elaine is the third generation to live in her Hopewell Borough family home.  Beverly Mills, who retired as the Director for the Workforce Development Board in Mercer County, is also a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-five year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association. Beverly is the first African-American woman to hold the elected position as a Councilwoman in Pennington Borough, her ancestral home since 1911 and current residence.  Married for forty-five years, she is the mother of two and the grandmother of five.

The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum’s mission is to educate the community about the unique culture, experiences and contributions of the African-American Sourland Mountain community.  The museum site at the historic Mt. Zion AME Church in Skillman is still under development and not yet opened to the public.  After restoration, the Museum will present exhibits, lectures, programming, and cultural activities.  In addition, the museum will use its unique surroundings and valuable community partnerships to offer a glimpse into the past while simultaneously educating its visitors on the merit of preserving vital historical traditions.

Resources:

A Proud Heritage | Sharon Buck & Beverly Mills | TEDxHopewellValleySchoolWomen - YouTube

Discovering Black Voters in Early New Jersey with Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills - YouTube

Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum | History Museum | Montgomery NJ (ssaamuseum.org)

Stoutsburg Cemetery – "A slice of heaven in Hopewell Valley"

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

My soul expands.                                                             There is more for us.                      

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

I protect my story.                                                           I honor my pain.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

Sent from Mail for Windows

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/27/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            This week I will be highlighting Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills, the authors of “If These Stones Could Talk” for their efforts to uncover the presence of African Americans in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountains and beyond.  As board members of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association, which was officially founded as a burial ground for African American residents and veterans in 1858, they were asked to search for gravestone markers in the Sourland Mountain cemetery.  This began their decades of research, collection of oral histories, and discovery of land deeds, church records and preserved plots which traced the legacy of slavery in small town USA. The Price of Silence: Part One | NJ PBS Specials | NJ PBS 

                Elaine Buck is a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association.  Along with her husband of forty years and two sons, Elaine is the third generation to live in her Hopewell Borough family home.  Beverly Mills, who retired as the Director for the Workforce Development Board in Mercer County, is also a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-five year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association. Beverly is the first African-American woman to hold the elected position as a Councilwoman in Pennington Borough, her ancestral home since 1911 and current residence.  Married for forty-five years, she is the mother of two and the grandmother of five.

The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum’s mission is to educate the community about the unique culture, experiences and contributions of the African-American Sourland Mountain community.  The museum site at the historic Mt. Zion AME Church in Skillman is still under development and not yet opened to the public.  After restoration, the Museum will present exhibits, lectures, programming, and cultural activities.  In addition, the museum will use its unique surroundings and valuable community partnerships to offer a glimpse into the past while simultaneously educating its visitors on the merit of preserving vital historical traditions.

Resources:

A Proud Heritage | Sharon Buck & Beverly Mills | TEDxHopewellValleySchoolWomen - YouTube

Discovering Black Voters in Early New Jersey with Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills - YouTube

Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum | History Museum | Montgomery NJ (ssaamuseum.org)

Stoutsburg Cemetery – "A slice of heaven in Hopewell Valley"

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

My soul expands.                                                             There is more for us.                      

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

I protect my story.                                                           I honor my pain.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

Sent from Mail for Windows

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/27/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            This week I will be highlighting Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills, the authors of “If These Stones Could Talk” for their efforts to uncover the presence of African Americans in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountains and beyond.  As board members of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association, which was officially founded as a burial ground for African American residents and veterans in 1858, they were asked to search for gravestone markers in the Sourland Mountain cemetery.  This began their decades of research, collection of oral histories, and discovery of land deeds, church records and preserved plots which traced the legacy of slavery in small town USA. The Price of Silence: Part One | NJ PBS Specials | NJ PBS 

                Elaine Buck is a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association.  Along with her husband of forty years and two sons, Elaine is the third generation to live in her Hopewell Borough family home.  Beverly Mills, who retired as the Director for the Workforce Development Board in Mercer County, is also a co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and a thirty-five year Trustee of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association. Beverly is the first African-American woman to hold the elected position as a Councilwoman in Pennington Borough, her ancestral home since 1911 and current residence.  Married for forty-five years, she is the mother of two and the grandmother of five.

The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum’s mission is to educate the community about the unique culture, experiences and contributions of the African-American Sourland Mountain community.  The museum site at the historic Mt. Zion AME Church in Skillman is still under development and not yet opened to the public.  After restoration, the Museum will present exhibits, lectures, programming, and cultural activities.  In addition, the museum will use its unique surroundings and valuable community partnerships to offer a glimpse into the past while simultaneously educating its visitors on the merit of preserving vital historical traditions.

Resources:

A Proud Heritage | Sharon Buck & Beverly Mills | TEDxHopewellValleySchoolWomen - YouTube

Discovering Black Voters in Early New Jersey with Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills - YouTube

Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum | History Museum | Montgomery NJ (ssaamuseum.org)

Stoutsburg Cemetery – "A slice of heaven in Hopewell Valley"

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

My soul expands.                                                             There is more for us.                      

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

I protect my story.                                                           I honor my pain.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

Sent from Mail for Windows

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/20/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            This week I will be highlighting the ongoing efforts of Stephani Register as the founder of Recovery Is Essential (RIE), an organization committed to helping everyone experience a recovery route free of addictions.  RIE’s mission is to live and spread the good news of living a clean and sober life without shame and guilt and how living the clean and sober life is essential.  Using a twelve step model, RIE’s objectives include: 1. Admit it; 2. Believe; 3. Use what helps; 4. Forgive; 5. Make amends; 6. Remove defects; 7. Remove shortcomings; 8. Make amends; 9. Respect others; 10. Self inventory; 11. Prayer and meditation; 12. Spread the word.

            RIE seeks to provide a safe space for those in recovery.  It also acts as a conduit for information about systems of care and about health-care services tailored for the recovery community.  Substance abuse disorder education happens through webinars, podcasts and in-person events such as the Let’s Talk Recovery series, Kitchen Table Talks and the Black Sisters Rock Ecosystems of Care event.  In addition, RIE sponsors an annual Sober Soiree which offers the sober community a safe and supportive evening out with food, music, mocktails and live performances by talented Trenton youth. Recovery is Essential to Host 3rd Annual Sober Soiree - TrentonDaily

            Recognized with an array of awards and honors, Stephani Register is also on the Advisory Committee of NJ CARS, a diverse group of experienced recovery support practitioners and providers from around New Jersey, comprised of, at minimum, 75% peers. The Advisory Committee seeks to engage all segments of the recovery community around the state and works collaboratively to define CARS structure, strategy, and goals.  CARS mission is to provide an inclusive platform to celebrate the hope of recovery, promote the value of individuals with lived experience, and to incorporate and strengthen recovery support services across the continuum of care for substance use disorders throughout New Jersey. About the New Jersey Coalition for Addiction Recovery Support (nj-cars.org)

            A loving and caring grandmother, mother and mentor, Stephani has also shared her time and energy as a Worship Leader and vocalist at Westminster Presbyterian Church and as a Trenton City Planner.

Resources:

"RECOVERY IS ESSENTIAL" | Facebook

Recovery Is Essential - Stephani Register - YouTube

Trenton 365 Recovery Is Essential Stephani Register - YouTube

About The Founder – RECOVERY IS ESSENTIAL (recoveryisessentialblog.software)

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

I was not made to be perfect.                                      I was made to be loved.                

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

This flesh is sacred.                                                          It contains the divine.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/13/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            For the remainder of February, I will continue to focus on Black women that I respect and admire for their ongoing contributions to Black history within our community.  Today I’ll be highlighting anti-racism consultant Dr. Nathalie Edmond, a licensed clinical psychologist, experienced yoga teacher and Ewing practitioner, who takes an integrative perspective to her consultations and trainings.

Dr. Edmond’s vision for racial and social justice states:

“I want to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed.  Our society may tend to focus on white, cis, male, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied individuals in subtle and not so subtle ways. By doing this we miss out on the gifts and talents of many people who are marginalized or invisible.  We may be unaware of the ways white supremacy and anti-blackness culture show up in our spaces.  I help practices and groups center the experiences of people who have felt not seen, oppressed, targeted or not allowed to be their full selves.  When you work with me we explore areas of privilege within ourselves as well as how our many identities intersect.  We specifically name the impacts of: racism, sexism, white privilege, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ageism, ability, body size, and social class.  I seek to make space for everyone and honor their individual histories. We want to awaken the parts that have been silenced and hear their stories. We honor the inherent worth and dignity of all beings and recognize we are all connected though we are not all valued and treated the same.  We acknowledge that energy has to be placed in becoming anti-racist and there is no room for neutrality as that creates harm.”

            Recognized in 2021 by the Princeton YWCA with its Tribute Award, Dr. Edmond is the founder of the group practice Mindful and Multicultural Counseling in Ewing, New Jersey. This group of therapists values building mindfulness into identities and relationships; moving intentionally from surviving to thriving; welcoming one’s whole self into more spaces; balancing acceptance and change; and mind, body, spirit harmony.  In addition, Dr. Edmond provides a variety of basic information on racism, anti-racism and how this all relates to racial justice on the group’s website.   Anti-Racism Resources - Mindful and Multicultural Counseling (609) 403-6359 (mmcounselingcenter.com)  The offerings are extensive and include a short history of racism and white supremacy in the U.S. and video presentations on The Untold History of Racism, Understanding White Supremacy, healing racial trauma, critical race theory, and anti-racism parenting.  There are also wide-ranging tools for anti-racist ally development and the opportunity to join the Anti-Racism Revolution Membership Community. Antiracism Revolution membership community - MINDFUL ANTI-RACISM AND TRAUMA TRAININGS WITH DR NATHALIE EDMOND (drnatedmond.com)

                Dr. Edmond also regularly leads anti-racism, trauma informed and diversity trainings for clinical practices, libraries, school districts, religious groups, corporations, nonprofits, activism groups and yoga communities. 

Resources:

MINDFUL ANTI-RACISM AND TRAUMA TRAININGS WITH DR NATHALIE EDMOND - Home (drnatedmond.com)

Mindful and Multicultural Counseling (609) 403-6359 - Mindful and Multicultural Counseling | Ewing, NJ 08628 (mmcounselingcenter.com)

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

Sorrow is not my name.                                                 I am worthy of rest and healing.                               

Inhale:                                                                                  Exhale:

We are more than our pain.                                         I make space for beauty.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 2/6/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8  

ROSES 

by Amanda Gorman from “Call Us What We Carry” 

Riots are red

Violence is blue

We’re sick of dying

How ‘bout you

Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in United States history with her 2021 poem “The Hill We Climb”.  She is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality and gender justice.  Gorman is the author of the children’s book “Change Sings” and a poetry collection “Call Us What We Carry.”

Resources:

Amanda Gorman on her rise to fame: “It felt like I was kind of shot out of a cannon” – YouTube

Amanda Gorman: Using your voice is a political choice | TED – YouTube

Amanda Gorman | Roar | Moth GrandSLAM – YouTube

Breath Prayer (by Cole Arthur Riley Cole Arthur Riley  )

Inhale:                                                                       Exhale:

I will not protect the delusion.                            My anger is sacred.

Inhale:                                                                       Exhale:

God, my hope trembles.                                       Steady me as I wait.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/30/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            The Southern Freedom Movement was a quest for liberation in nonviolent and contemplative ways.  As Dr. Holmes notes in Joy Unspeakable, the world is the cloister of the contemplative.  Always the quest for justice draws one deeply into the heart of God.  In this sacred interiority, contemplation becomes the language of prayer and the impetus for prophetic proclamation and action. 

For years, the Black church had nurtured its members in the truth of their humanity and the potential for moral flourishing.  As with all great social justice movements, there came a time when worship practices and communal resolve coalesced. This dissenting community became willing to resist the power of apartheid in the Americas with their bodies. During this particular time in history, nonviolent initiatives seeded with contemplative worship practices became acts of public theology and activism for civil rights legislation.  Holmes posits that contemplation is a reflective activity that is always seeking the spiritual balance between individual piety and communal justice seeking.  The passive resistance of individuals, such as Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and the social protests of others, like Daniel Berrigan, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, and Nelson Mandela, can be linked to the interiority of these visionary leaders and their co-laboring communities. (page 113)

Another generation is on the rise, and they are confronting police brutality and advocating for Black lives through the Black Lives Matter Movement, its contemplative activism and deeply spiritual resistance.  The Black Lives Matter Movement is a new phase of the continuing communal resistance to the oppression of Black people in the United States while updating the art of contemplative confrontation and noncompliance with the status quo.  The Black Lives Matter activists are the progeny of the contemplative Black church.  They continue in the spiritual footsteps of their ancestors even as they innovate and break new ground.  They know that the only way forward is with contemplative activism that feeds the soul and encourages the community.  They know that resistance must be wise and unrelenting.  They also know that no person or community can be healthy in a constant state of resistance and that there must be respite, celebration and relief to maintain the wellbeing of the community. (page 161-162)

Resources:

Patrisse Cullors and Robert Ross — The Spiritual Work of Black Lives Matter | The On Being Project

The Religion of Protest: Finding Spirituality in BLM (thecut.com)

Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village with Barbara A. Holmes - YouTube

Lectio Divina

            For the tap dancing, boogie woogie, rap/rock/blues griots who also hear God, joy unspeakable is that space/time/joy continuum thing that dares us to play and pray in the interstices of life, it is the belief that the phrase “the art of living” means exactly what it says.

Joy Unspeakable is both FIRE AND CLOUD, the unlikely merger of trance and high tech lives ecstatic songs and a jazz repertoire.  Joy Unspeakable is a symphony of incongruities of faces aglow and hearts on fire and the wonder of surviving together. (page xviii)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/23/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            In Joy Unspeakable, Dr. Holmes states that the historical black church is the blessed legacy of the ancestors.  It carries with it the seeds of contemplative hope and empowerment.  In a deeply conflicted and pained society, the Black church offers guidance for inner habitation and responsive indwelling.  The elements that contributed to its emergence are familiar: a mix of diasporic people from the African continent, the crisis of isolation and oppression, the institutionalization of slavery, and the emergence of a spiritually diverse but coherent community. (page 90)

            Amidst the moans, rhythms and movements, the Black church evolved.  Outside the white gaze, it offered a place of sanctuary and community, nurtured its members in the truth of their humanity, and shone a light on their potential for giftedness and moral flourishing.  The Black church drew upon many interpretive resources as it encountered Holy Scripture.  These options included indigenous religious memory, contextual communal interpretation and creative syncretism.  Dr. Holmes has named this hermeneutical lens griosh, which is derived from the word griot, referring to African storytellers, who were also historians and keepers of cultural memory.  The sound sh is a symbolic marker of the hush arbors where Christian diaspora faith perspectives were honed.  Like lectio divina, griosh is a contemplative reading of Holy Scripture, a method of interpreting the incomprehensible situation of slavery.  A lens of suspicion allowed the emergence of liberation themes and the creative revision of textual meaning and praxis. (page 94)

            The early praise houses were simple wooden structures where the community gathered for prayer.  They also provided a space for ecstatic singing by a divinely anointed vocalist.  These consecrated singers created the potential for the indwelling of the Spirit and an atmosphere for transcendence.  In addition, the repetition of verses allowed for a contemplative pause where the individual could fill in their own story, silently or through cries of recognition and affirmation.  These were not performances by trained professionals but rather grace-filled offerings to a congregation that shared the same angst over the troubles of the world and the same need for reunion. (page 84)  Moreover, Theologian Dr. Howard Thurman saw in the spirituals the voice of a valiant people seeking God as a source of strength and pride amid degradation and adversity.

Resources:

Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village with Barbara A. Holmes - YouTube

Lectio Divina

            For African members of the “invisible institution,” the emerging Black church, joy unspeakable is practicing freedom while chains still chafe, singing deliverance while Jim Crow stalks, and trusting God’s healing and home remedies, prayers, kerosene and cow patty tea. (page xviii)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

 ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/2023

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

             What spiritual practices sustained Africans during the Middle Passage and supported them during their lives as slaves?  What spiritual practices nurtured their humanity in the Jim Crow south and emboldened them to demonstrate for their civil rights?

            As Dr. Holmes notes, for captured Africans there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude.  Crisis contemplation, centering in the midst of danger, became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space.  During the Middle Passage, captured Africans moaned and wailed in a forced community that cut across tribal and cultural lines.  For Holmes, the moan as a prayer of lament became the language of stolen strangers, the sound of unspeakable fears, and the precursor to joy yet unknown.  The moan is the birthing sound, the first movement toward a creative response to oppression, the entry into the heart of contemplation through the crucible of crisis. (page 52)

            On deck in the evening, the slaves were commanded to dance or sing.  The moans of lament below decks were given physical expression in the diverse rhythms and movements of their ancestral foundations.  Through dance, the body subjected to abuse also had a memory capable of inscribing in space the language of the human spirit.  Dance in Africa was the meeting ground for sacred and secular life, celebratory worship, an expression of freedom from oppression, and a confirmation of communal resolve.  Slaveholders failed to discern the power of physical movement without realizing the symbolic and religious significance of the dances.  Slave community dances connected the diaspora to early church movements and to African tribal history.

When one knows that this new world is not your home because you are deemed property by virtue of your color, one must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace.  During captivity, slaves gathered under the dense brush in the hollows to pray in communal worship and for refuge.  Prayer had to take place in secret.  Even when life was unbearable, expressions of praise were shared and enjoyed in these secret gatherings.  These experiences created an atmosphere for communal listening and responsiveness to the manifestations of the Divine.  During times of narrative mystery, all of the senses are needed to interpret and understand the movement of the Spirit.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

There is a bottomless resourcefulness in humanity that ultimately enables us to transform “the spear of frustration into a shaft of light.”  Under such a circumstance, even one’s deepest distress becomes so sanctified that a vast illumination points the way to the land one seeks.  This is the God in humanity; because of it humankind stands in immediate candidacy for the power to absorb all the pain of life without destroying joy.  (Howard Thurman, Deep River)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/9/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

             For Dr. Holmes in Joy Unspeakable, contemplation in Africana contexts is an act of communal reflection and reflexive engagement with both knowable and unknowable occurrences.  Contemplative practices can be identified in public prayers, meditative dance movements and musical cues that move the entire congregation toward a communal listening and entry into communion with a living God.  In the Black church, repetition is integral to the ministries of music and preaching.  Rhythmic calls to worship invite congregants to ride repetitions into the inner sanctum.  This inner journey requires a freewill decision to embark with yearning on an exploration of the interior reality of one’s humanity with honesty and grace.  It is not an escape from the din of daily life; rather, it requires full entry into the fray but on different terms.    

            African spirituality views the human being as embodied spirit and inspirited body involved in the worship of God.  This world view is one of connection and interdependence with seen and unseen energies in a cycle of spiritual seasons. Contemplation in many African communities presumes the transcendence of actual physical realities.  Behind the scrim of the ordinary world is another with portals accessible through dance, song, drumming, dreaming and divination.  In addition, rites of passage are transitional rituals that accompany changes of place, state, social position and age within a culture.  They demarcate life stages and teach the lessons of adulthood and test the resolve of those who will lead the community in the future.  These centered and reflective experiences unify body and spirit, enlighten the soul, and prepare the initiate for the constant interplay between mystery and everyday survival.

            Africa is a wellspring of contemplative practices that benefit the community as well as the individual.  What better way to engage a Divinely created vibrating universe than through a dance with mystery or by following the return beats of a drum to the space between breaths, the pause between thoughts and the silent rhythm of one’s heart.

Resources:

Ancestral Wisdom, Community Wisdom, and Discernment of the Spirit - YouTube

Love of Neighbor and the Practice of Social Renewal - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

For enslaved Africans during the Middle Passage, joy unspeakable is the surprise of living one more day, and the freeing embrace of death chosen and imposed.

For Africans in bondage in the Americas, joy unspeakable is that moment of mystical encounter when God tiptoes into the hush arbor, testifies about Divine suffering, and whispers in our ears, “Don’t forget, I taught you how to fly on a wing and a prayer, when you’re ready let’s go!”

Joy unspeakable is humming “how I got over” after swimming safely to the other shore of a swollen Ohio river when you know that you can’t swim.  It is the blessed assurance that Canada is far, but not that far.……..(“Joy Unspeakable” page xvii)

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 1/2/2023

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

            To begin 2023, we’ll be exploring the second edition of Joy Unspeakable by the Reverend Dr. Barbara A. Holmes who is a spiritual teacher, activist, and scholar focused on African American spirituality, mysticism, cosmology and culture.  She is a faculty member of the Center for Action and Contemplation, President Emerita of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and previous Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Memphis Theological Seminary.  Barbara A. Holmes | Theologian (drbarbaraholmes.com)

In this latest edition, Dr. Holmes expands her study of contemplative practices inside Black religious life to include chapters on twenty-first century contemplative activism within the Black Lives Matter movement and the formation of current Black leaders and artists.  Her ongoing research points to a mystical and communal spirituality, not within the exclusive domain of any denomination, that is built  into African American collective worship, the legacy of African monasticism, a history of spiritual exemplars, spiritual and political activism, and unique meditative worship practices.

            Reverend Holmes investigates how the Black church in times past offered a multilayered response to suffering and oppression and was crucial to the survival of Africans in the United States.  It was a dynamic religious entity forged by practices that were often covert and intuitive.  One of the few safe spaces, the Black church has been a spiritual wellspring central to the life of the community.  Through interviews with elders and lived experience, Reverend Holmes shines a light on the communal rituals and practices, both silent and oral, which comprise the unique Africana contemplative heritage.  She highlights a communal contemplation that takes focus, centering, energy and concentration.  This unique orientation includes the sacred elements of life and transcends the private imagination to become an expanded communal testimony through acts of shared liturgical discernment.  For Reverend Holmes, contemplative practices must do more than offer respite and space for retreat.  They need to be healing practices and transformative responses to issues that continue to divide our society. (page x)

Resources:

Barbara Holmes — Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org)

Experiencing God in the Thin Places: Teaching Beyond Boundaries | CONSPIRE 2021 | Day One - YouTube

Lectio Divina 

Joy Unspeakable is not silent; it moans, hums and bends to the rhythm of a dancing universe.  It is a fractal of transcendent hope, a hologram of God’s heart, a black hole of unknowing.

            For our free African ancestors, joy unspeakable is drum talk that invites the spirits to dance with us, and tell tall tales by the fire.

For the desert Mothers and Fathers, joy unspeakable is respite from the maddening crowds, and freedom from “church” as usual……..(“Joy Unspeakable” page xvii)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/26/2022

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

RESOURCES FOR YOUR CONTINUED ANTIRACIST SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Recap of books mentioned in this series:

“Waking Up White” by Debby Irving

“How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram Kendi

“White Fragility” and “Nice Racism” by Robin DiAngelo

“Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening” and “Mystical Hope” by Cynthia Bourgeault

“My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem

“The Wisdom Way of Knowing” by Cynthia Bourgeault

“I Bring the Voices of My People” by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

“The White Racial Frame” by Joe R. Feagin

“White Too Long” by Robert P. Jones

“The Color of Compromise” and “How to Fight Racism” by Jemar Tisby

“Change Sings” by Amanda Gorman

“Fierce Love” by Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

“Lent of Liberation” by Cheri Mills

“The ABCs of Diversity” by Dr. Y Joy Harris-Smith and Dr. Carolyn Helsel

“Faithful Anti-Racism” by Christina Barland Edmondson and Chad Brennan

“Psychology of Christian Nationalism” by Pamela Cooper-White

“Church of the Wild” by Victoria Loorz

“Freedom Farmers” by Monica M. White

“Farming While Black” by Leah Penniman

“Black Faces, White Spaces” by Carolyn Finney

“Golden: The power of silence in a world of noise” by Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz

For those interested in continuing with spiritual journaling using antiracist prompts:

“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad

“Be Antiracist” Ibram Kendi’s journal companion for his book mentioned above

Princeton Theological Seminary has established an Antiracist Formation Initiative following its slavery audit.  The link to this effort is:  https://antiracism.ptsem.edu/

In addition, the Seminary has compiled an extensive list of antiracist resources in various formats for children and adults.

https://antiracism.ptsem.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Antiracism_Resources_20200922b.pdf

Rider University’s Slavery Audit:  American paradox | Rider University

 PC(USA) RESOURCES:

facing-racism-study-guide.pdf (pcusa.org)

Waking up White study (pcusa.org)

www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/racism/

DEBBY IRVING 21-DAY CHALLENGES:

21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge© – Debby Irving

Daily morning intention:

Open my heart Loving Presence so that I may feel your Divine guidance to greater awareness of racial inequity and to my antiracist role this day.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 12/5/2022 

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 “Indian religion is interwoven into your life. Everything, the way you live, the way you sleep. Indian religion is a way of life. To call it a “religion” is misleading. Everything is close to Mother Earth, in accordance to the way we are taught.”  Ron Barton, quoted in The Sacred.

“The spirituality of indigenous people centers on a collection of beliefs shared by most tribes, with variations in details, rituals and ceremonies. Distinctions are often made, for example, between the Plains Indians of the Midwest, the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, and the Northern Woodland Tribes. Yet almost all tribes practice a modified monotheism — belief in the Great Spirit alongside an animistic belief in individual spirits residing in animals and forces of nature, none of which are seen as higher than the Great Spirit. As a result, Native American spirituality is nature-based, growing out of a strong sense of interrelation with the earth; shared communal ritual and sacred traditions are accompanied by the teaching of morals and ethics. This is especially true of North American Indians; Indians of Central and South America follow somewhat different belief systems. The Aztecs of Mexico, for example, who built much of their knowledge and belief on that of the Mayas and other Mezo-Americans (the Toltecs and Olmecs) worshiped over a hundred gods, ranked hierarchically and somewhat bureaucratically like the deities of ancient China.

Shamanism is one of the most widely shared components of Indian life. Shamans are spiritually gifted people who through a variety of means have acquired the ability to help others through trance and dream journeying. As in the ancient cultures of China, Tibet, and Northern Russia, North American shamans induce trance states in themselves to facilitate contacting the spirit world and to help heal the afflicted. Shamanic trances can be induced through a variety of techniques, including chanting or drumming, fasting, and in some cases the use of psychotropic substances, the mildest of which might be tobacco, but which can sometimes include entheogens such as peyote and ayahuasca. During these trance contacts, shamans may communicate with spirits of the dead or other spirits and learn what they need to know to help heal the body, mind, or soul of a patient, to locate game, or to predict the future. Because in many tribes almost all men, and some women, went on a vision quest and were said to have contacted the supernatural, sometimes the only difference between shamans and the rest of the tribe was the number or relative power of the spirit guides or helpers contacted by the shamans.

White anthropologists have often used the name “medicine man” (even though many were women) to indicate a mixture of shamanic and priestly capacities. In this context, priestly implies the use of rituals, songs, and verbal formulas learned from other priests in the manner of the brahmans of India. Although the term medicine man has acquired a derogatory overtone from countless bad Hollywood westerns, it does reflect that many tribal shamans were also knowledgeable in the use of hundreds of herbal remedies unknown to white explorers and settlers. The 16th-century French explorer Jacques Cartier, for example, had lost 25 of his men to scurvy when a band of Iroquois cured the rest by administering a decoction of pine bark and needles, a source of Vitamin C.”   Native American Spirituality - Caroline Myss

Lectio Divina:   Advent-Candles-Native-20181.pdf (myworshiptimes22.com)

There are many ways of learning about God. In Native American tradition, knowledge of the Four Sacred Directions was given by the Creator to teach us right ways to live; to “walk the good road.” This Advent, we will look at Christian and Native traditions side by side, giving us a new window into this holy season.

ADVENT 2:   Candle of Bethlehem / The Southern Direction (Energy)

The second candle on the Advent wreath is the Candle of Bethlehem. Jesus was born not in a palace, but in an ordinary little town. He comes to us, too, in ordinary places, among ordinary people. With this light, we honor the Southern Direction, the place of the spirit, the home of warmth and energy. The South teaches us to turn our energy to living in a good way among the people of our community. Creator God, who brought Jesus to life in an ordinary town, bless us as we turn to the South and dedicate our energy to living with honor in our community. Amen.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)

ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/28/2022

 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”  Micah 6:8

 Indian concepts of God may appear contradictory at times, probably because they derive from both patriarchal and matriarchal traditions. For example, Wakan Tanka, the Lakota Sioux name for “Great Spirit,” “Great Mystery,” or Supreme Being, is an amalgamation of a dominant Father sky god, Mother Earth, and numerous spirits who control the elements as well as human life. Other Indian nations since ancient times have believed in a Supreme Being whom they called “father” and thought of either as a man or an animal — especially a wolf — with human thoughts and speech. This creator god is addressed by the Shoshone, for instance, as Tam Apo (“Our Father”). Belief in a Mother Earth figure echoes the Neolithic Goddess culture in which women were essentially equal partners with men, and the feminine principle was openly acknowledged as the great source of human, animal, and vegetable life.

Indian culture also shows the impact, however, of the warlike post-Goddess era, with its violence and its masculine hierarchies, so any attempt to see Native American religion as a direct descendant of Goddess culture is awkward at best. And yet the male and female principles appear to be far more equitably balanced in most American Indian traditions than in Western historical religions. North American Indian culture is divided between primarily hunting and primarily agrarian tribes, patrilineal and matrilineal descent, and women are given a place of respect and influence rarely acknowledged in either the East or West.

The juxtaposition of a personal creator God and anthropomorphic animals derived from mythology is no more inappropriate, however, than the behavior of Christians at Christmas time who set out a creche depicting the birth of Jesus next to a Christmas tree derived from an ancient pagan festival. Native American concepts of life after death can also seem contradictory, incorporating elements of reincarnation (either as human or animal), a heavenly afterlife, and ghosts. The often-disputed Indian belief in a “happy hunting ground” is at least consistent with nomadic hunting cultures in Scandinavia and Asia, for whom the afterlife promises an abundance of game. Agrarian cultures, on the other hand, often saw the afterlife as a subterranean land from which the Mother Earth Goddess generated new life and vegetation.

  Native American Spirituality - Caroline Myss

 Lectio Divina:   Advent-Candles-Native-20181.pdf (myworshiptimes22.com)

 There are many ways of learning about God. In Native American tradition, knowledge of the Four Sacred Directions was given by the Creator to teach us right ways to live; to “walk the good road.” This Advent, we will look at Christian and Native traditions side by side, giving us a new window into this holy season.

ADVENT 1:   Candle of Prophecy / The Eastern Direction (Light)

The first candle of the Advent wreath is the Candle of Prophecy. God spoke through the prophets, promising them a Savior. With this light, we honor the Eastern Direction, the home of new light. When we see the sunrise we know the Creator has given us a new day with new possibilities. The Direction of East teaches us to place our trust in the prophecy of salvation. Creator God, whose prophets foretold the coming of Jesus, bless us as we turn to the East, remember the prophets, and await his coming.

Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below.  (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)