Tag: racism

Donald Trump is a racist…duh.

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Donald Trump is a racist.  Not a surprise, not news (fake or otherwise) this is a fact.  He is also not the first racist to occupy the Oval Office.  The troublesome part is that there are so many people with a variety of kinds of power who are willing to just give him a pass on his racism and his fanning the racial flames, because they’ve “got more important things on their mind” or so said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex) recently.  But isn’t that how racism has always worked?  From compromises in the US Constitution to the tacit acceptance of “separate but equal” by the abolitionist North, or Congress’ inability to pass anti-lynching legislation, to the more recent removal of voting rights protections, the separation of migrant families, the restriction of Muslims and the expulsion of legal immigrants…racialized white culture in the United States has always had “something more important” on its mind than brown folks.  And it is clear that that “something more important” is intimately connected with maintaining Laura Ingraham’s “America that we know and love”.

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Rep. John Cornyn

Racism is America’s greatest problem but it is also its foundational premise. Because of this, racism is a problem for those of us who are targets while it is the most powerful tool in the box for those who have power…regardless of racial or ethnic identity.  The targets of racism are those of us who refuse to adopt whiteness as the framework our lives.  If, however, one is willing to buy into the racist ethic that is built on assumptions of whiteness and privileging proximities to whiteness (through behavior, values, language, etc.), you can succeed wildly.

Racism is not Donald Trump using the word nigger on tape.  Racism is not white supremacists marching in the streets.  Racism is not the attempt by the Republican party to erase the legacy of the United State’s first black identified President.  Racism is not putting brown children in cages separated from their parents in a foreign country.  Racism isn’t even referring to other human beings as “vermin”.  Racism is looking at all of this, these vile and inhuman actions and words and crimes against humanity and saying you have more important things to worry about.

 

Black in White Spaces

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Yesterday, I offered a message at First Parish in Cambridge based on my thoughts around being black in white spaces.  In January, I consciously chose not to mention Black History Month until the very last Sunday of February.  I wanted to see how people responded to my not naming it.  We still brought plenty of black history through the month, but I wanted to “normalize” the inclusion of black history into our basic worship experience.

Black and other clergy of color serving largely white churches have a particular set of challenges. Among those challenges is being able to invite direct communication and even criticism from our congregants and staff.  It is a challenge because too often I have heard of these communications not happening because white congregants and colleagues believe they will be perceived as being racist.  Being criticized for our work as ministers or being called into covenant is not racist.  Being lied to, worked around or having information witheld from us is racist.  It is an expression of mistrust based in seeing someone as the “other”.  If you are being racist (or sexist, or abelist) we will tell you and we deserve the right to do so, just as you must tell us when we are doing the same…which we do.  We are human.

After a brief discussion about Black History Month yesterday, I offered a poem: BLACK IN WHITE SPACES. The following is the final stanza of the piece and the poem in its entirety is available here: Black in White Spaces – Poem.

Black in white spaces
Has for me been a painful blessing
A journey of understanding
Of self and surroundings.
I’m sure this equation is shifting
My observations will soon be obsolete
But in the meantime, I am happy to be a guide.
And isn’t it ironic that the “black power” child
May be the one holding the candle in the darkness of white spaces.

-ALD