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I am taking a class on Black Church Theology. We have read many difficult pieces. Here are my thoughts about readings this week:
When I was teaching third grade here in North Carolina in the nineties, I would get so angry in February because it was Black History month. While I was glad that teachers did mention the accomplishments of Afro-American people, I saw it and still see it just as a continuation of the typical paternalistic, racist Anglo worldview. Because Black History month exists, it is then ok to ignore Afro-Americans the other eleven months of the year. When Martin quoted Butterfield, that scenario popped into my mind immediately. Butterfield writes, “Black autobiographies fill in many of the blanks of America’s self knowledge… [because of the] blind spot toward Afro-American culture” (Martin, 16). Black History month has us put on our special 3-D glasses so that we cannot see the huge eraser marks in our history books, magazines, and neighborhoods.
How can we mitigate or modulate the damage or fill these holes in our history? As Martin suggests, writing spiritual autobiographical pieces allowed Afro-Americans to process the pain and suffering and begin to heal from it. Writing “also provided a vehicle through which their authors could gain literary power and authority in the language of the dominant culture” Martin, 21). The writing can cause healing in the writer as well as drawing the reader into the life and struggle of the writer. Perhaps if we look at the writings of Afro-Americans as writings and not as something out of the ordinary to be pulled out of the drawer only in February, we can begin to see people as people and not stereotypes. I remember noticing the lack of race playing a factor in a character in the movie, Much Ado About Nothing. Denzel Washington plays Don Pedro of Aragon, one of the lords of the manor. However, the part was not a “black” part. In fact, Washington’s portrayal had nothing to do with the color of his skin. I remember marveling at that in the first five minutes of the movie and completely forgetting about skin color the rest of the movie. I am not suggesting that racial identity and cultural heritage should be sanitized, but I wonder what we would gain by treating people like people and reading literature because it is literature not merely because of the cultural heritage of the writer. Martin writes, “Liberation from suffering, evil, and oppression was thus perceived to represent only the beginning of a journey wherein one acts with God to exemplify the realities of freedom and justice and community formation within the sociopolitical and religious institutions of a society” (Martin, 24). Are we merely at an early point of the journey from slavery to freedom? How can the church push the culture to move further and faster on that journey?
Sometimes it seems like we merely spin wheels on the journey rather than making real progress. For example, minorities feel trapped by the assumptions about their minority and by their status as a smaller group. The squeaky wheel gets fired, harassed or even lynched. As Stewart writes, “The reason why our distinguished men have not made themselves more influential, is because they feel that the strong current of opposition through which they must pass would their downfall and overthrow” (Stewart, 73). I immediately connected to Stewart’s analogy of Solomon and the temple and whites and America. Solomon got all the credit for the temple and lifted not a finger to build it. America, especially the South, was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of Afro-Americans yet whites can resent their presence in positions of power in the very communities they built. White minds seem to easily regale Afro-Americans to sub-human status yet are unable to change the mindset back. Similar to the shop manager’s comment in Gilke’s piece, if it wasn’t for Afro-Americans, we wouldn’t have a society (Gilke, 1). What skills are being underutilized? Gilke goes on to say, “Black women know how radically dependent their churches and communities are on their presence and actions for both organizational integrity and effective mobilization” (Gilke, 7). How can we turn this tacit dependence into acknowledged power in the church?
If we won’t do things such as this, who will?
Peace out,
Mary
