Category: people of color

A Free Country

.Reading time 5 minutes.

grim-reaper-2974959_1920I have been intentionally silent through the Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump.  I wanted to see how it would play out.  I was also exhausted.  Exhausted by the rhetoric, by the continual tossing of the fact salad and the micro splicing of reality by the Trump team.  I was also exhausted by Democrats presenting an unrelenting cascade of rational, reasonable realities and sounding a bit too much (and looking a bit as well) like the reincarnation of the last Unitarian to run for President, Adlai Stevenson.

And today we watch while the self declared “Grim Reaper” of the US Senate waves his scythe and strikes down his ultimate target: Democracy for all the people.

In my work I am also relentless.  As a preacher, I constantly drive home the message of how “relationships” must sit at the heart of community.  This seems like an obvious no-brainer, but in today’s world, it is incredibly easy to lose track of.  I often frame this in terms of a contrast between relational and transactional.  For me, ‘relational’ draws on first hand personal knowledge and (yes) feeling.  It draws on ideology and values and a sense of shared obligation.  Again, seems obvious…yet, it is clear by the current occupant of the White House that these simple goals have been devalued (like the Rush Limbaugh Prize…formerly the Medal of Freedom.)  I’ve written the following before: Donald Trump is not the problem, he is the symptom.  A society that has become dangerously transactional is the real problem.  Transactional so that health care is primarily about what you can afford, not what you need; transactional so that gun ownership is not about an actual threat but about possessing superiority over the perception of threat; transactional so that merely being an observer to the piling on of wealth for the 1% is framed and then received as a benefit for all; transactional so that womanhood is prioritized by its ability to fulfill male pleasure and male centered procreative ambition.

The demonic nature of the ‘Transactional States of America’ underlies the entire impetus behind an ad that aired for the Trump campaign during the superbowl.  This ad featured Alice Marie Johnson who’s prison sentence was commuted by Trump at the urging of Kim Kardashian.  This ad is meant to appeal to black voters.  I have no issue with Alice Marie Johnson, more black people out of prison is great.  And still, I have to weigh these facts: Kim Kardashian (who may be a perfectly decent human being) has a media presence that is built entirely upon appropriating and glomming on to blackness.  Kim Kardashian is not black…but her social media persona sure wants to be.   Next, Alice Marie Johnson being freed from prison is a good thing, but most black people aren’t in jail.  Although we recognize the very real greater threat of incarceration of black people (based on racist policies that are protected by the government)…it is not a top line black “kitchen table” issue; racism and systemic issues of objectification and disenfranchisement are what matter to most blacks on a day to day basis.  Finally, images of grateful, weepy black people have been used for a literal century to prop up the fragile white savior trope.  This is closely related to the same mentality that says things like “slaves didn’t have it so bad” and “blacks were better off on plantations.” All of this is 100% transactional.  There is no love lost in these relationships.  I guarantee you that given 6 black women of similar size and stature, I’m sure Trump couldn’t pick out Alice Marie Johnson.  She is only worth what he is able to get from her: enough black votes to win.

It is a free country.  People can vote for who they want.  Alice Marie Johnson and Kim Kardashian can be boosters for any candidate of any party they wish.  Yet, we all must remember that if we continue to prioritize transactions over relationships, all of us (academic elites, farmers, day laborers, corporate CEOs) will be reduced to only the value that can be extracted from us, which is the very same formula that drove plantations.

If this is a free country, why would we actively vote to be slaves?

–ALD

 

Rev. PrEP

.Reading time 5 minutes.

20191201_074739_li.jpgHIV continues to disproportionately impact black communities.  Regardless of sexual orientation, black men have a 1 in 22 chance and black women have a 1 in 54 chance of contracting HIV in their lifetime compared with general population (1 in 68 and 1 in 253 respectively[1].) There is an urgent need for better information and access to testing, prevention resources and treatment options in black communities. Black clergy have the unique opportunity to activate their power within black communities to make a difference with HIV.

I serve as Lead Minister of a church in one of the most liberal and affluent cities in the United States.  I am Ivy League educated and male which affords me incredible levels of access and privilege.  But I am also black and single and sexually active.  Until there is another alternative, I take Truvada* for what is commonly called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) because as a black man, I recognize that along with safer sex practices, this medication will help keep me and my sexual partners healthy where professional, social or economic privilege cannot.

*“TRUVADA FOR PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is indicated to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV‑1 in adults and adolescents (≥35 kg) who are at risk for HIV, when used in combination with safer sex practices.”[2]

Coming from a generation that entered its sexual awakening in the 1980s concurrent with the global explosion of HIV/AIDS, my decision to begin taking PrEP was deeply personal. From a very early age, I had to find the deepest compassion and face the reality of close friends and even partners who became infected.  I had to accept what HIV/AIDS had the potential to do to my own body, I had to learn how to grieve sudden inexplicable loss and I had to learn how to move on just to survive.  I prayed for some kind of cure or vaccine to stop the spread of what felt like a Biblical plague.  I lived the entirety of my formative years and most of my middle age with HIV/AIDS lurking behind some of my most intimate moments.  When a reliable form of medical defense against HIV presented itself in the form of PrEP, I immediately got on board.

24….But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. – 1 Corinthians 12:24

As a spiritual leader, this Bible passage calls me to share the reality and the responsibility for managing HIV. “[I]f one part suffers, every part suffers with it….” I believe that as long as even one person carries the virus, our entire society is HIV+. This belongs to us all. This scripture also tells me that we can beat HIV, because “if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” Too often scripture and dogma have been used to unjustly shame and isolate people.  Faith leaders have an urgent spiritual mandate to do more as a society to understand HIV, to celebrate our ability to resist new infections and to live God’s compassion by keeping everyone healthy regardless of their status.

More black clergy of all faiths and denominations need to become educated about HIV. Spiritual leaders must use their theology to promote a language of proactive compassion and support so that more people will be tested for HIV and seek available, appropriate, confidential services for prevention and health maintenance.  Clergy can become as publicly fluent, well informed and pastorally competent about HIV as they are becoming about diabetes, mental health and addiction. In an age where access to healthcare is a national crisis, particularly among people of color, the message from clergy about the totality of embodied health cannot afford to be selective condemnation, hesitation or reluctance.  Our message must be action, compassion and salvation. Clergy are uniquely positioned to make a dramatic difference because of ordained privilege. At all costs, we must resist the temptation to ever use that privilege as a weapon, especially against our own communities.  Delivering a saving message about HIV treatment and prevention will literally save black lives.

[1] https://www.truvadahcp.com/hiv-statistics

[2] https://www.truvadahcp.com/about-truvada-for-prep