tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46304540837272525762024-03-28T20:29:57.699-07:00Easy Yolksoul scrambles from a cracked post-evangelical shellTom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-86725397165134889032024-03-24T06:04:00.000-07:002024-03-24T06:04:59.063-07:00The Exploiters and Oppressors<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwEdeCJR1zigoYSxMQV7uQST88UUTtd9D6trvT4qhF-CsViLArPcGvuF6oAFLIiSJCF2v4-n2HPvq45ywRoJokYlj9dXWoqBZkaNb_v7OIcdw8rDdmxoAmuugMPZB5bmVVzw3xx8iW5WWKsJFkIrljAP5CAFS6WqEs0J-7jM084LTyvdmeMrHFuf040yo" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="760" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwEdeCJR1zigoYSxMQV7uQST88UUTtd9D6trvT4qhF-CsViLArPcGvuF6oAFLIiSJCF2v4-n2HPvq45ywRoJokYlj9dXWoqBZkaNb_v7OIcdw8rDdmxoAmuugMPZB5bmVVzw3xx8iW5WWKsJFkIrljAP5CAFS6WqEs0J-7jM084LTyvdmeMrHFuf040yo=w271-h180" width="271" /></a></div>On Palm Sunday, Jesus led a parade on his way to publicly confront the exploiters and oppressors in Jerusalem. In fact, many of his followers along the route were day laborers waving leafy branches cut from the fields where they were exploited and oppressed from nine-to-five. Unfortunately, many Christians worship a Jesus who avoids politics. I get it. The polarization is real. There’s just so much disinformation and division driven by the culture war. The good news is that, in the Gospels, Jesus was dedicated to a different kind of political fight. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The politics of Palm Sunday side-eyes a culture war sponsored by the exploiters and oppressors. Instead, we can spend our time turning over the tables with Jesus. Because the system will never protect and serve those being exploited and oppressed unless it is transformed. Is this politics of collective liberation polarizing? Absolutely. Because a large portion of the Christian population supports (and/or benefits from) the exploitation and oppression - including most of those who “avoid politics” or “stay neutral” so they won’t offend their friends and family. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">A Christian politics of collective liberation springs from a subversive spirituality that binds our worth and identity to Something Else. I know that I will never be able to muster the courage and strength to break rank with exploitation and oppression unless I breathe with a Power of love that’s greater than the supremacy stories that have taught me to avoid conflict to maintain my social respectability and financial security. These strong tendencies enable exploitation and oppression in fields and factories and ghettos and Gaza – and atrophy my soul at the same time.
</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-60693698634978621222024-03-17T06:27:00.000-07:002024-03-17T07:20:19.887-07:00Crossing Over For Ramadan<div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzzs9-GwNaMahVcsE3GERUDvhPOzvQPx0Gt3MuBI4l1ivNQadOLpALMkfrnTrYpELJgxbjHLHrMDbU2zslX3DWXPwUOtrHxfYSiLonT2mpNUrjsFxZbxQLzz0C4jAvQpMdZzSMfP5mW5-nTAGtYvJecf2rbTLoy1zYn-l9e8yNuJU2NA0ltiupr80-yZk" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzzs9-GwNaMahVcsE3GERUDvhPOzvQPx0Gt3MuBI4l1ivNQadOLpALMkfrnTrYpELJgxbjHLHrMDbU2zslX3DWXPwUOtrHxfYSiLonT2mpNUrjsFxZbxQLzz0C4jAvQpMdZzSMfP5mW5-nTAGtYvJecf2rbTLoy1zYn-l9e8yNuJU2NA0ltiupr80-yZk=w148-h197" width="148" /></a></div>I am connecting with a couple dozen folks of faith and conscience who are crossing over and committing to some form of fast during the daylight hours of Ramadan. It’s a small step towards strengthening our solidarity with Muslims in Gaza, the West Bank and around the world. We are giving up food or caffeine or alcohol or sex or something else - or all of the above. I am abstaining from eating food and scrolling on espn.com and social media. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our goal is simply to deepen our spiritual and political commitments to collective liberation. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">A week before Ramadan, we joined a protest for Palestine in Orange County. There were probably five hundred "protestors" taking up the four corners of a suburban intersection, filled with flags and beautiful signs. When I parked and started walking over, a teenage boy walked beside me with a huge smile on his face. He told me he just left his mosque and he drove by the protest and just had to stop and join in. He said he did not know it was happening and he could not believe how big it was. That young Muslim man melted my heart - so did many of the other people, mostly Arab-Americans, in the small crowds on each corner. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">We are one week into Ramadan. In the waves of early afternoon weakness, I have consistently been washed over with feelings of deep respect and reverence for the fact that Muslims fast during the daylight hours</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">for an entire month every single year</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">. I continue to hear about this Palestinian virtue they call “sumud.” It means something like steadfastness or resilience. Ramadan</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">must</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">play a crucial role in cultivating their capacity to creatively resist what the Western world has done to them for the past century.<span><a name='more'></a></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></span></div><p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">This whole thing is just so damn inconvenient. I traveled this week from Orange County back to Detroit. Time zones could care less about Ramadan. It’s been hard, the past three days, to wake up before the butt crack of dawn to eat my bowl of oatmeal. The clock says 6:30am, but my body feels a lot more like 3:30am. There were two times this week that I really wanted to eat French fries off the plates of the people I went to lunch with – and the plates of people sitting at other tables too. Ramadan has helped me realize more that I have a really hard time holding the holy tension between discipline and pleasure. I also see, more clearly, that I have this strong tendency to just follow the rules - instead of feeling what is going on inside me. </span></p><p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"> </span></p><p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">More than anything, I am spurred on towards love and good deeds by being connected to other non-Muslim people who are breaking rank with conventional wisdom and participating in Ramadan. This tradition too easily becomes an individual spiritual practice for me. I know in my head that Ramadan is a deeply relational and communal experience, embedded in the fabric of Islamic culture. But my habits are held captive to a Western world fueled by fragmenting supremacy stories. Ramadan offers the real thing, what my soul hungers for most: a consistent, </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">cohesive connection with others - where Something Else is experienced <i>together</i>.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">. </span></p>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-18683376855910780992024-03-11T09:26:00.000-07:002024-03-11T09:26:00.136-07:00Lifting Up Our Gaze to Gaza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFAN65vMRacvisMLjWnX0CuEnDidUfPxznpNVoFkpYsmEDSP7MwCVTfVMO9H1xgSnVhLWOeuf6Yx_KMPGgUifqVOrCIotRAysGAv6NH46OCODxbUp846kI1gcIZCAtyCV1XQ8rY54uBDtdVDPbxEhPU4r3ljx_KwgHSBy61aPDHjDHV0lVBeaIlBWWsqM" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="744" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFAN65vMRacvisMLjWnX0CuEnDidUfPxznpNVoFkpYsmEDSP7MwCVTfVMO9H1xgSnVhLWOeuf6Yx_KMPGgUifqVOrCIotRAysGAv6NH46OCODxbUp846kI1gcIZCAtyCV1XQ8rY54uBDtdVDPbxEhPU4r3ljx_KwgHSBy61aPDHjDHV0lVBeaIlBWWsqM=w237-h158" width="237" /></a></div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Over the next three weeks, the Christian season of Lent will overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started yesterday at sundown. Yesterday. When a billion Christians read the Gospel text where the radical rabbi Jesus tells the wealthy and powerful Nicodemus that Jesus himself must be lifted up on a cross – just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Jesus was giving a little sermon on the story in the Hebrew bible about the post-exodus Israelites getting bit by poisonous snakes. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole and raise it up whenever someone gets bit – so they can look up at the snake and be healed. Jesus says that he is now playing the role of the bronze snake. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">In the Gospel story, Jesus will inevitably be lifted up on a cross. Because he paved a path that threatened those who clung to their privilege, power and wealth. Radical Christian spirituality roots salvation in gazing at Jesus up on that imperial cross. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We gaze to get out of denial. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We gaze to remember who empire is crucifying – and resist it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We gaze to get healed from the ways that empire </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">gets inside of us and makes us spiritually sick. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">For far too long, Western Christianity has counterfeited the gaze. It played the role of imperial savior instead of being the balm that heals the world of the imperial disease of supremacy. It has signed off on Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Black racism. It has sanctified the colonization and crucifixion of Muslims all over the world. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">For the next three weeks, what if radical disciples in the West set our Lenten intention to gaze at the crucified people of Gaza? Gaza, where Muslim Palestinians - forced into famine - will be fasting during daylight hours. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We gaze. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We mourn. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We metabolize. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We mobilize. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We are not playing the role of imperial saviors. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We are getting saved from empire itself. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Which might get us crucified in the process.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-26472525455680664202024-02-18T08:05:00.000-08:002024-02-18T08:05:53.885-08:00All It Takes<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhReSAnjj_F9IFytFuU4qruaApXG1KeTWvkLOmALgUcS1YVF0z4FW88oENxbvahAoEsrKrFtUX3ZeShL-c_8vE6-9DNa0IZmmOgtM9HHBInvzcFOQF6TEusyKsEXPDLSGjMKm4DvIfN1hTk-L5HkW3a1fAi2eJBZR6akQw8ljyxTXWirqjvcRSDIJgePS0" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhReSAnjj_F9IFytFuU4qruaApXG1KeTWvkLOmALgUcS1YVF0z4FW88oENxbvahAoEsrKrFtUX3ZeShL-c_8vE6-9DNa0IZmmOgtM9HHBInvzcFOQF6TEusyKsEXPDLSGjMKm4DvIfN1hTk-L5HkW3a1fAi2eJBZR6akQw8ljyxTXWirqjvcRSDIJgePS0=w262-h147" width="262" /></a></div>What you’ve been doing for decades has not worked. If you really want to make your world safe and secure, all you need to do is stop excluding, exploiting, imprisoning, bullying, bombing, terrorizing, torturing, starving, scapegoating and stealing from your neighbors. Just shift your posture. Give them dignity. Honor their humanity. Invest in their future. That’s all it takes</span>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-25285771186338128942024-02-08T05:36:00.000-08:002024-02-08T05:36:46.589-08:00A Different Definition of Power<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixRCZNbMA7NLLhv-PIBH7H2iuJHSNw8-2zV7tDGrAJCIOEJfxa1yBsq5wqIDqTpJpw_oofKXiSq8sKhgMnltkYpj8LxUyMxs3G-wEjx_UdhUZiyC90vnMrX8mZVC5rWpU1IMIYGgKU2jlJ8I3U0ZIqBdfuNJbYLVJijJuiWIwvjvkgBbI4bb25wfLNKH4" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixRCZNbMA7NLLhv-PIBH7H2iuJHSNw8-2zV7tDGrAJCIOEJfxa1yBsq5wqIDqTpJpw_oofKXiSq8sKhgMnltkYpj8LxUyMxs3G-wEjx_UdhUZiyC90vnMrX8mZVC5rWpU1IMIYGgKU2jlJ8I3U0ZIqBdfuNJbYLVJijJuiWIwvjvkgBbI4bb25wfLNKH4" width="192" /></a></div>Back in 2016, I met up with an old friend in Orange County for a breakfast burrito. I was wearing a Black Lives Matter button on my hoodie. He was obviously disturbed by it - and he told me so. He said, “When you say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ it means that white lives don’t.” I’ve heard a lot of white folks say the same thing since. Over the past few months, some of the same people have extended this peculiar moral logic, saying that social media posts advocating for a free Palestine are antisemitic. They claim that chanting “From the River to the Sea” means that I want to wipe the state of Israel and Jewish people off the map. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Our world is divided over different ways we define “power.” Leaders of liberation struggles are not interested in obtaining the kind of power that has been used against them, that has been used to put other people in their place, or to violently force someone else into submission. They are fueled by an empowerment framework. They want a world where power is equally distributed. Where decisions are made for the dignity and well-being of everyone. Where the common welfare comes first, as we say in my 12-step program. Only this kind of power leads to collective liberation. Our only hope for survival on this planet.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-79428939759932621332024-01-31T07:26:00.000-08:002024-01-31T07:26:20.155-08:00Let Us Descend<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHp1BTzZiZHFvA1zFz9Z2-cyTd4cpa7lbj6mA4_fenDgoO4EGshh-KAtW6KZBT_Wd_JVHCK01std46mbzgekJt22TTZ2Gz1qGHDTS8MbutKSrIr0kEv2hU0Od48hsgYxrvGQFgMu1Sto3DILaQfcbunSV4lshVsGKlaUrNLahgDz8krJSXsbC5iLZyIpI" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHp1BTzZiZHFvA1zFz9Z2-cyTd4cpa7lbj6mA4_fenDgoO4EGshh-KAtW6KZBT_Wd_JVHCK01std46mbzgekJt22TTZ2Gz1qGHDTS8MbutKSrIr0kEv2hU0Od48hsgYxrvGQFgMu1Sto3DILaQfcbunSV4lshVsGKlaUrNLahgDz8krJSXsbC5iLZyIpI" width="157" /></a></div>My friend Bill Boyle inspired me to start reading 10-15 pages of fiction every night this year. I finished my first book last week. It took Jesmyn Ward six years to write this masterpiece. Her partner died suddenly right in the middle of the whole process. Grief penetrates every page. The main character is a young women, enslaved and surviving the terror of the plantation. Like every historical novel, this book is not just about back then. It is about right now too. Because our world – from the Gaza strip to Detroit - is still possessed by a plantation perspective. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The beauty of this book, however, is that hope, healing and liberation - for ourselves and our society - come when Something Else is centered and summoned. Something other than white skin and the profit motive. This story descends with the power of Black women moving together, accompanied by the more-than-human world of bees, trees, water, wind, soil and ancestors. The lone ranger and superhero are left out. <i><a href="https://www.blackstonebookstore.com/book/9781982104498?fbclid=IwAR3zNqWyN2ZhBk8aJk1zLp1tW9w9rAujxZuu-LabXh-_HaiqiplQeHly0gU">Let Us Descend</a></i> is a 300-page invitation to seek and find companions who have historically been held in low esteem. This is the only way we’ll rise.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-65229280628932260452024-01-22T07:27:00.000-08:002024-01-31T07:30:13.994-08:00Nineteen<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjumj19xZevydfoXpxd3lLqA3PzDIgZLonhyzjL-RTfFesxmrpF1LQogIcwyTn3wpS2tU1sHQzo7au5eHVksnZHegQjc3AuGWJASxZU5lzpxMViABBBj97zA7auogFBa4ZfXq8Y2tGxl5s_CiF24kGgGwg5_cAsCrZgytBiA2JNmY02zyR0I2Xu9rsxdic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjumj19xZevydfoXpxd3lLqA3PzDIgZLonhyzjL-RTfFesxmrpF1LQogIcwyTn3wpS2tU1sHQzo7au5eHVksnZHegQjc3AuGWJASxZU5lzpxMViABBBj97zA7auogFBa4ZfXq8Y2tGxl5s_CiF24kGgGwg5_cAsCrZgytBiA2JNmY02zyR0I2Xu9rsxdic" width="320" /></a></div>We turn nineteen today and I am
finding it hard to even fathom how
much we’ve transformed together –
which sure as hell does not mean that
we see or feel the world the same way. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"> </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The good thing is that the divine
design is drawn up with a box of
crayons that have colored our life
way outside the borders and
binaries we used to believe in. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"> </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">You steer our wabi sabi balancing act
away from a watered-down compromise
towards a more radical collaboration that
engages the roots of everything we see and feel. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"> I get wide and you go deep. I push through and
you drop down. I tell the overstory while you tend
the source where no one has the time or energy to
go digging, all the way to things in the dark that
are deliberately silenced and preferably unheard. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">You tackle the truth in love with your laughter,
your tears, your words, your alternative medicine,
marching, boycotting, refusing to do the things that
“they” say we are supposed to do because “they”
are just concerned with protecting their privilege,
power, status, success and social respectability. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I am clear about this – and eternally grateful: you
care about Something Else, about collective liberation,
about creating a world where Gaza is free, where
Flint is unleaded, where DTE doesn’t exist, where
covid and corporate greed are cut off, where everyone
talks about codependency more than the weather. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">We are far from perfect and perfect for each
other. I love you. Let’s do nineteen more.</span></div></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-79865333225000304772024-01-11T10:55:00.000-08:002024-01-11T10:55:16.100-08:00Five Reasons Why<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaHgEZrVORpeRrNmw-NxHv_waljCpeuPMMtCOxEGvYJbPGHiy0HAO5FwkNWhHP7KQFNk92pMavfYy5oc5khlK7pZdL1Xl1HamrqZcHaolw8UxWiuJEdYCmQokxq8yAda-tvo1qc3zXBwV18YNI8Imjb13xFJtP5SP3PiGMC7XH_OD7P2Lf6_3eIpXHj9E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3580" data-original-width="5340" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaHgEZrVORpeRrNmw-NxHv_waljCpeuPMMtCOxEGvYJbPGHiy0HAO5FwkNWhHP7KQFNk92pMavfYy5oc5khlK7pZdL1Xl1HamrqZcHaolw8UxWiuJEdYCmQokxq8yAda-tvo1qc3zXBwV18YNI8Imjb13xFJtP5SP3PiGMC7XH_OD7P2Lf6_3eIpXHj9E=w279-h187" width="279" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The upcoming MLK holiday will mark the 100th day of a full-fledged genocide in Gaza. Here are five reasons why I believe that white progressive Christians in the US should break our painful collective silence and publicly advocate for a permanent ceasefire – and the full protection and liberation of Palestinian people going forward: </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">1. Jesus told his disciples that God is partial to the poor, the persecuted and those who mourn. 11 Palestinians have been murdered every hour since October 7. Every single one of these lives was created in the image of God – an image that literally looks a lot more like Jesus than the white savior that American churches have stamped into our imaginations. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">2. Jesus told his disciples to stop focusing on the splinter in other people’s eyes and to take the plank out of our own. Remember how we felt for four years when Trump lied every time he opened his mouth? We were horrified by our white cousins and co-workers who justified it all. Well, that’s what’s happening now with Biden and most Democrats in Congress. For 100 days, they've repeated Israel’s lies – while tens of thousands of Palestinians have died. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">3. Jesus told his disciples to stop celebrating the deeds of their ancestors who killed prophetic movements. Many of our ancestors refused to join Black-led movements to abolish slavery and end segregation. They stayed silent in those historic moments - for the same reason that many white progressive Christians stay silent in this historic moment. They said the situation was “complicated.” It was not complicated back then – and it’s not complicated now. It's amazing how moral courage can clarify matters. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">4. Jesus told his disciples to be the light of the world and to get up on the lampstand and expose what darkness is hiding. For decades, white Christians have hidden under a bushel basket what Israel and the US have done to the Palestinian people. When we expose this truth, privileged and powerful white people will want to crucify us. This is what Jesus meant when he told us to deny ourselves and take up the cross. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">5. This weekend, we will celebrate the life of one of the most compelling US Christians in recent memory. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took up the cross. He also lamented the lack of white Christians participating in the Black freedom struggle. In an attempt to recruit them to the cause, he told white Christians that everyone is caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects someone directly, affects all of us indirectly. Plain and simple: our souls suffer when we seek to compartmentalize the suffering of others. </span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-70872489278499133932024-01-06T08:26:00.000-08:002024-01-06T08:26:40.688-08:00A Threat to Democracy<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbLFr_keoOhXBhyXpxTmeB_QlYYSP6LjXHRJ2JRSC0i0qTyfGZtSewO2NvmA1zwFMRaNeGjzYHwPGSOxx_wkFpavvft3bDbUbKbmmzUelFqvTX7ktGsiNwekyupwlKz4iSeNlrXncpkTIA5llhftz86fG34MoahLtkRRGr5QMRwJZfGJgusrZL_iqi79k" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbLFr_keoOhXBhyXpxTmeB_QlYYSP6LjXHRJ2JRSC0i0qTyfGZtSewO2NvmA1zwFMRaNeGjzYHwPGSOxx_wkFpavvft3bDbUbKbmmzUelFqvTX7ktGsiNwekyupwlKz4iSeNlrXncpkTIA5llhftz86fG34MoahLtkRRGr5QMRwJZfGJgusrZL_iqi79k=w253-h190" width="253" /></a></div>It’s the third anniversary of the Jan 6 insurrection. We were hiking with our young nephews that afternoon. I checked my phone frequently. These days, there’s a lot of talk about how democracy is threatened by Trump, white male militias and all sorts of other supremacist nonsense coming from conservative homes, churches and media outlets. I take all of this seriously. But I am also super jaded by the whole “you gotta vote for Joe Biden or else” script. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Biden is polling horrifically with young people, Arab-Americans and anyone else who genuinely cares about Palestine, the poor and other oppressed people. His unpopularity makes perfect sense. Among other things, Biden is supporting a genocide in broad daylight. He’s even bypassing Congress to send weapons to Israel - which is a threat to democracy. Also, the Democratic Party refuses to host primary debates. This is a threat to democracy too. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The Dems desperately need a new strategy. Biden should drop out. Not because he’s too old. But because he’s a totally uncompelling candidate. My nephews (and democracy itself) deserve someone far better. The good news is that we’ve got 304 days until the election. The Democratic Party can still pivot. But if they don’t do something different, Trump will probably win - and they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-30096741485236229742023-12-27T08:27:00.000-08:002024-01-06T08:31:49.434-08:00The Entire Journey<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6MIQswllyymPZSVCHYYtMOmcgbZz1lTN4W2SgGQs2q1-1id6aJqezYOE5kix_6DGOWH2unJpfccJPWpgef6Sqk5AloIdRbJDMXyOKT7_3CVFsxu8NIcGfyxKw51dIJ4jXKKDbid9XehyzyX93PVasqltNE53Ce9t9HPXasASmTl6OUPVp4YWe2EQwWs4" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1440" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6MIQswllyymPZSVCHYYtMOmcgbZz1lTN4W2SgGQs2q1-1id6aJqezYOE5kix_6DGOWH2unJpfccJPWpgef6Sqk5AloIdRbJDMXyOKT7_3CVFsxu8NIcGfyxKw51dIJ4jXKKDbid9XehyzyX93PVasqltNE53Ce9t9HPXasASmTl6OUPVp4YWe2EQwWs4=w274-h182" width="274" /></a></div>Munther Isaac’s penetrating Christmas <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md_hw_A-oIs">sermon</a> from Bethlehem has gone viral. In it, he proclaims that Jesus is found under the rubble in Gaza. I am magnetically drawn to how his message subverts the atonement theology of empire that hyper-focuses on the death of Jesus as the means for a future salvation in heaven. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">There is a dissenting opinion! The point of the cross is not that it atones for sin. The cross points to a God who is at-one with the marginalized, suffering, oppressed and displaced. But God never works alone. Jesus called his followers to “take up the cross” and be at-one with them too. No matter what it costs. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">This is just the start of the story. There is hope. Not in heaven, but right here. Because God is all about composting what empire is crucifying. Like Rev. Isaac promises in the sermon, the Palestinian people will rise again. The cross calls us to join them for the entire journey. Not just after they win.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-61943370602158214192023-12-12T07:45:00.000-08:002024-01-06T08:37:31.433-08:00The Real Antisemites<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitLdf-nppYZjwFTKSkUkANFnaOFElBBpv212eJx7FtGk5FBKDAa--1DECYrwX8-oao6XbyBGziCoTIC-lg1Y77GrK9hSxzKe3BrouAD0St0eB9ym658RCe1mYMh6dMi7y6XTvDAQHvthWQ1-yYCquZQC9bUwllhjeVAJiiVBg57dVKBDxfxVkcM-oKJyI" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="500" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitLdf-nppYZjwFTKSkUkANFnaOFElBBpv212eJx7FtGk5FBKDAa--1DECYrwX8-oao6XbyBGziCoTIC-lg1Y77GrK9hSxzKe3BrouAD0St0eB9ym658RCe1mYMh6dMi7y6XTvDAQHvthWQ1-yYCquZQC9bUwllhjeVAJiiVBg57dVKBDxfxVkcM-oKJyI" width="320" /></a></div></span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Antisemitism is real and every single one of us should take it seriously. The painful irony, for me, is that the most antisemitic people I know are unconditionally pro-Israel. White Evangelical Christian Zionists. Many of these people believe, based on a ridiculous interpretation of the last book of the bible, that God will restore the nation of Israel before Jesus comes back to bring all of his true believers home to heaven. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I grew up in this subculture. I was taught that Jewish people were not “saved” – but because they were God’s chosen people, they would get one final opportunity to accept Jesus as the Messiah and their personal lord and savior. But if they don’t, they will go straight to hell. Does it get any more antisemitic and genocidal than this? </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Here’s what I know: when white Christian Zionists say that Israel Matters, it really does mean that Palestinian lives do not – and it does not even mean that Jewish lives matter either. This is what I believed back then – and it is what white Christian Zionists really believe right now. I followed Jesus out of white evangelical Christianity when I finally realized how destructive and dehumanizing this supremacist belief system actually is. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Today, I can testify that there is a palpable contrast between the white evangelicals who pastored me in adolescence and the people who I’ve met on the streets of Detroit chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada.” Many of these multi-racial and interfaith gatherings have been organized by Jewish folks and prayed over by Jewish rabbis. They are obviously not calling for Jewish people, or the state of Israel, to be wiped off the map. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">These people of faith and conscience are simply demanding that Palestinian people be given full humanity, dignity and freedom. When they say that Palestinian lives matter, it absolutely does not mean that Jewish and Israeli lives do not. Because these folks fundamentally believe in the sanctity and value of every human life – no matter where they were born, what they look like, or who they worship. I bear witness: this is a compelling love ethic that the real antisemites know nothing about.</span></div></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-44779835325659233852023-12-09T07:45:00.000-08:002023-12-12T07:50:09.801-08:00These People Have Paid the Price<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzLK643i_C1WzVj5X4vmPOzxQtsQsxj9IH-6ecj-LH6Uvaym9FzC9w8CvCmH7k0EscuS_9oleLAZ_mVS7SS6TRqSr098rrjxsyPUj7z0s_ZD-bSDpUJYkwxCCe1ou0p8tZwb1v0v8DD_ew7XcNoRYSzSjBG1m5K4a6oQa_hMxgrejDbJf50m6U93_jpa8" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzLK643i_C1WzVj5X4vmPOzxQtsQsxj9IH-6ecj-LH6Uvaym9FzC9w8CvCmH7k0EscuS_9oleLAZ_mVS7SS6TRqSr098rrjxsyPUj7z0s_ZD-bSDpUJYkwxCCe1ou0p8tZwb1v0v8DD_ew7XcNoRYSzSjBG1m5K4a6oQa_hMxgrejDbJf50m6U93_jpa8" width="155" /></a></div>It’s been nine weeks since October 7. During this season, I am deeply grateful to have spent significant time studying what’s going on in the occupied Palestinian territories. I do not trust corporate media outlets. Because they rarely scrutinize US and Israeli agendas. I’ve seen clips. There’s so much propaganda out there right now. It just feels like a big power game that serves the status quo, seeking to comfort the conscience of mostly white people who absolutely do not want to be troubled with any serious reporting of a genocide. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I am far more interested in books and longer articles and listening to interviews with scholars and journalists who have immersed themselves in this issue. I bear witness: these leaders carry themselves with integrity and possess a passion for justice. They have studied every side, but they also take a clear, unequivocal stance. Because this is what love demands. Many of these people have paid the price, in one way or another, for speaking up for Palestinian people. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I am talking about Noura Erakat, Rashid Khalidi, Zachary Foster, Norman Finkelstein, Miko Peled, Ali Abunimah, Marc Lamont Hill, Nick Estes, Dylan Rodriguez, Steven Thrasher, Amanda Gelender, Gabor Mate and Gazans on the ground like Bayan, Bisan, Motaz and Mosab Abu-Toha. Amy Goodman, Briahna Joy Gray and Chris Hedges have been brilliant. None of these leaders are perfect. But it is clear to me that each of them actually cares about the truth - and they are willing to put their careers on the line for it. They have had a profound impact on my spiritual life.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-91227685052808734792023-11-29T09:17:00.000-08:002023-11-29T09:17:28.531-08:00A Mass Movement Christians?<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZf5wxyCHX85YE7xTq6uKk_dGakOkAtC0f7wLR65aRyvW2_hxP1P0fEc5iDHiiPZLgpaeA9BwtFwZte9qNrzAwYmGRxweYSHl4uqszovusUfAtTOOlb8jRrkDKBPR_cMizScAjH9VuQSbVm1Oi8PxYi_VDjs7pxs80RD7f4863WlJ9RO6iDf4XM6g9EFE" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZf5wxyCHX85YE7xTq6uKk_dGakOkAtC0f7wLR65aRyvW2_hxP1P0fEc5iDHiiPZLgpaeA9BwtFwZte9qNrzAwYmGRxweYSHl4uqszovusUfAtTOOlb8jRrkDKBPR_cMizScAjH9VuQSbVm1Oi8PxYi_VDjs7pxs80RD7f4863WlJ9RO6iDf4XM6g9EFE=w301-h201" width="301" /></a></div>Jewish orgs like JVP and If Not Now have been doing a brilliant job of organizing North Americans of conscience to rally, march and protest for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation in Gaza. Some people are asking why there is not a mass movement of Christians actively resisting the Zionist policies and pathologies of Israel and the US. It’s a great question and I’d love to hear what other Christians are thinking and feeling about this right now. Here’s my short explanation – and I am specifically speaking about predominantly white middle-class American expressions of Christianity. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Evangelical and conservative Catholic Christians have notoriously bought into Zionist theology. This is the tradition that I have been resisting, recovering from and reconstructing for the past two decades. Unfortunately, most liberal Catholics and those in Protestant denominations stay silent about Palestine. As far as I can tell, guilt and fear are strong motivations. Guilt for what American Christians failed to do for Jewish people in Europe in the 1930’s and 40’s. Fear that speaking up for Palestinians will offend their Jewish friends and colleagues – and white folks in their congregation. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">There’s also this. A multitude of middle-class people who were raised in either conservative or liberal Christian homes have left the church. They just stop being “Christian.” I am seeing a lot of secular, atheist and agnostic Jews organizing for Palestine right now. They do not attend synagogue, but being Jewish still matters. It is still a crucial part of their identity. Not so for many post-evangelicals and recovering Catholics and those who were confirmed, a long time ago, as Lutherans or Methodists or Presbyterians or Episcopalians. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">These folks simply cut-off from Christianity. Most of them generically blend into society, describing themselves as spiritual-but-not-religious – or none-of-the-above. Some post-Christians are going public for Palestine. But I believe that many would not be interested in a movement organized by Christians. It is far less triggering for these folks to have a rabbi or imam at the mic than some pastor speaking any dialect of Christianese. And I totally get it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">A few of us who are post-evangelical or post-liberal have remained in the fold. We have followed Jesus to the left of the liberal denominations and the Democratic Party. We are committed to living for collective liberation, in the name of Jesus. We are anti-racist, anti-capitalist, anti-nationalist, anti-zionist, anti-supremacy-of-every-sort. Anchored in agape love, we are building a world that works for everybody. There are a few collective liberationist pastors doing this thankless prophetic work within institutional church structures. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">However, most of us are conspiring outside the church to create new wineskins that pour out these fermenting possibilities. Many of us collective liberationists who are still rooted in the biblical tradition are also uncomfortable calling ourselves “Christian.” There’s just been so much supremacist baggage associated with it on North American soil since 1492. Some of us prefer to be called “followers of Jesus.” Others are just Jesus adjacent, without the labels. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">All this to say, when it comes to Palestine, there are a few Christian voices in the wilderness who have been holding it down for decades. Their work has been overlooked and underappreciated - and often dismissed and demonized. Many Christians like me have benefited tremendously from their commitment to truth and justice. Because many Christians like me have been way behind on this issue. Many Christians like me are concretely going public for Palestine for the first time. Confession must be a crucial part of our Christian witness. Confession rooted in grief, not guilt. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">This horrifying and humbling season, however, has given me hope that, someday, there will be a mass movement of North American Christians doing something serious about Palestine. Perhaps we are a decade away. Jewish Voice for Peace has been around since the early 90’s. One thing is for sure: the various work of Jewish activists, Black people and Palestinians in the US and on the ground in Gaza has done something to the souls of a lot of Christians like me – and we will never be the same.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-81022781208993546732023-11-19T09:19:00.000-08:002023-11-29T09:24:03.890-08:00A Vigil<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMFtas1nOmVzN6MP9whPtiXR5_B9a2i15XHJYdKU_qE7s0jU8XbFzs6nB1yZlx7_CaobSjPMVyApK9fr7TD_eN--kylpOG-68tji_-3amfCjHX5WFIPs8Nrzyzxl2FM-OQWH-FVPSmRDL6GPtbDU5ilyGbKIFkMjrhP9uL3QG3yR6UM06V2JTGplapx0A" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMFtas1nOmVzN6MP9whPtiXR5_B9a2i15XHJYdKU_qE7s0jU8XbFzs6nB1yZlx7_CaobSjPMVyApK9fr7TD_eN--kylpOG-68tji_-3amfCjHX5WFIPs8Nrzyzxl2FM-OQWH-FVPSmRDL6GPtbDU5ilyGbKIFkMjrhP9uL3QG3yR6UM06V2JTGplapx0A" width="180" /></a></div>A few nights ago, there was a vigil in downtown Detroit to honor those who have been murdered in Palestine since early October. People were invited to step up to the mic and share about their family members back home. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">A guy about my age said that he could not get a hold of his sisters and nieces for the past week. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Another talked about his uncle, a dentist and a father of young children, who was found dead under the rubble. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">One young woman named her dad, her mom, her sisters, her cousins. All of them murdered by Israeli missiles. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">A big screen scrolled the names and ages of children. Now gone. The screen kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">There is no legitimate justification for the loss of these precious lives. There is only a gigantic deficit of love and justice. A deficit dug by the distortions and lies of Israeli and US leaders.
I left that night feeling the grief and heaviness. I left that night knowing that Gaza would serve as a spiritual and political litmus test for the rest of my life.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-24437732725124854192023-11-08T06:22:00.002-08:002023-11-08T06:22:53.012-08:00Just One Day<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNvcf4cizcEwFqtzKD11XfxS1jHhJTDL99a_Jod78mGoi5mlGSsu5dj7XP-lkOOl5v-7__4EqLWziiVvy7ytIB8ObNimusSjbjQ0Zu80iO4-vAI8AxOLn3i_AHRIwQj0q3XYhELCmS8XjaIgjbFauIIi9fHNuMmr5d8_ByWua0DcyFF8v3Rw0qCphFpUc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNvcf4cizcEwFqtzKD11XfxS1jHhJTDL99a_Jod78mGoi5mlGSsu5dj7XP-lkOOl5v-7__4EqLWziiVvy7ytIB8ObNimusSjbjQ0Zu80iO4-vAI8AxOLn3i_AHRIwQj0q3XYhELCmS8XjaIgjbFauIIi9fHNuMmr5d8_ByWua0DcyFF8v3Rw0qCphFpUc" width="276" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Yesterday in Detroit. On the street in front of Rep. Thanedar’s office. A rally and vigil organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. We prayed and sang and demanded a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. A woman read the names and ages of 101 Palestinian children murdered by IDF bombs. She said her list represented one day of deaths. Just one day out of thirty. There are many adjectives I would use to describe what is happening in Gaza. “Complicated” is not one of them. </span>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-26761860697612595952023-11-05T07:08:00.001-08:002023-11-05T07:08:10.084-08:00There's a Huge Difference!<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVmUIP1yxk7W38t832C9PaToMyKEt7DMJ9k4MRJEdDTaWPn9dOyRu3H_9uzKiE7KarfvAu5M2CZ9AQzuAQA9Q38jCF29HC58fYwp9hGxjSo4U5j6raWH5ThjJsjz3VOrK58kxinCkVLR9TSPa6qZIN5ww44SfanVxWU9WGublLAk3ekwkfgReJNd88Yio" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVmUIP1yxk7W38t832C9PaToMyKEt7DMJ9k4MRJEdDTaWPn9dOyRu3H_9uzKiE7KarfvAu5M2CZ9AQzuAQA9Q38jCF29HC58fYwp9hGxjSo4U5j6raWH5ThjJsjz3VOrK58kxinCkVLR9TSPa6qZIN5ww44SfanVxWU9WGublLAk3ekwkfgReJNd88Yio" width="320" /></a></div>300,000 people marched for a free Palestine yesterday in D.C. Millions more marched in cities all over the world. We joined the masses in Hamtramck, Michigan. Unfortunately, there are still folks (mis)characterizing this pro-Palestinian movement as some sort of antisemitic side hustle celebrating Hamas. It’s just the opposite. In fact, right now, so many Jewish people are calling for a ceasefire and an end to the decades-long occupation. They know, better than anyone, the difference between Judaism and Zionism. There’s a huge difference! </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I heard one young Jewish-American say, just the other day, that they are afraid of the rising antisemitism in the U.S. It’s real! They also lamented that the rise in antisemitism is being weaponized to mute every critique of Israel. They said that chanting “from the river to the sea” at a protest is not stoking antisemitism. They said that the real cause of the rise in hate is what the state of Israel did to the people of Gaza before October 7 – and what the state of Israel has done to the people of Gaza since October 7.</span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Unfortunately, far too many folks, on both sides of the aisle, struggle to differentiate between Israel’s government and actual Jewish people. It would help, I think, if there was a lot more reporting in the corporate media about the surge of Jewish leaders, in North America and in Israel, who are publicly calling out the policies and pathologies of the Israeli government – and who are affirming the full humanity of Palestinian people (not just paying lip service to their “plight”). </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">But instead, the “news” fuels the ghosting and the gaslighting and the mindless mischaracterizations of Palestinian-Americans like my congressional rep Rashida Tlaib. In this wildly anti-Arab and Islamophobic cancel culture, the willingness for Jewish folks to courageously stand up and speak out is incredibly inspiring. They are willing to lose everything. Everything except their integrity, dignity and humanity. I am following their lead.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-20247007385409589122023-10-18T08:32:00.004-07:002023-10-18T08:32:49.702-07:00Love. Compassion. Truth. Justice.<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHQzdhHnmFzhveeL9Uj1j4ErPtqNbbQMFwJaKNAnzZ_a9qZKb9Vpo8vVB23RFr4RZRq3xAOhhTLhclgnlM14flq69DgpA_A9zz-Z51nj7ZmYU-EhfpZI3dMU8p9B1759dRT31vchLGk7Qf_zYD6S7esPLyMq-LsObN_Gr8JDqq4HNKNq9y5kqt3OM3yjA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHQzdhHnmFzhveeL9Uj1j4ErPtqNbbQMFwJaKNAnzZ_a9qZKb9Vpo8vVB23RFr4RZRq3xAOhhTLhclgnlM14flq69DgpA_A9zz-Z51nj7ZmYU-EhfpZI3dMU8p9B1759dRT31vchLGk7Qf_zYD6S7esPLyMq-LsObN_Gr8JDqq4HNKNq9y5kqt3OM3yjA=w277-h208" width="277" /></a></div></span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I am committed to a spirituality and politics of love, compassion, truth and justice (as opposed to something that serves the interests of my family, my nation, my race or any other tribal identity). I believe that everyone is a sacred child of God, no matter where they live, who they love, or how they worship. So I cannot support what the state of Israel has done in Gaza over the past ten days – and what the state of Israel is about to do to Gaza in the days to come. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I cannot bear to read the news of Palestinian people being uprooted and murdered while white Christians and white liberals pledge their full support for the state of Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Murdering civilians and cutting off all access to food, water and electricity has nothing whatsoever to do with defending itself. What this government and their military (with the full support of the US) have done for the last 75 years to the Palestinian people is reprehensible. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I confess. I used to be one of these white Christians who supported Israel no matter what. Because my pastors told me that’s what the bible says we must do. But then I started studying the scriptures and the history of Palestine. I started listening to other people. I learned that what my pastors told me was totally whack. So I changed my mind. Now I stand for Something Else – even though it is unpopular. Because this is what love, compassion, truth and justice demand. </span></div></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-22407132761244755882023-10-13T13:53:00.001-07:002023-10-13T13:53:10.849-07:00Absolutely Secure<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIU5I9G-YsUeDd2gmYtefKgLaaGa3NbZTcvGVD4711xJjT5re-Zq1gnOGoK-m4ULlcaKv6iHWkZPinp8aqwBVwD26Vz1Cv-iaapD9II-elIppVIzr9L3hVuytWcpQF_idqDTUZ3wl5MtExa-hvkPQcwpUwVxyWpdhxLzznEkjGznfNYP68FEodKedrh9k" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIU5I9G-YsUeDd2gmYtefKgLaaGa3NbZTcvGVD4711xJjT5re-Zq1gnOGoK-m4ULlcaKv6iHWkZPinp8aqwBVwD26Vz1Cv-iaapD9II-elIppVIzr9L3hVuytWcpQF_idqDTUZ3wl5MtExa-hvkPQcwpUwVxyWpdhxLzznEkjGznfNYP68FEodKedrh9k" width="178" /></a></div>"I want to feel completely vulnerable, completely naked, completely exposed and absolutely secure." This is what Howard Thurman said was the one thing he desired most in life. I desire this too, and I am deeply grateful for the kindreds who consistently love me into this reality.
</span>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-83150178642843511162023-09-22T08:28:00.003-07:002023-09-22T08:28:38.919-07:00Scrutiny<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO-RwNPynhXl-U6BBH2G7qCrtXfeqpeANYD9Xc01wsf_qiIXVG0vvEZ-FzhUOubud_u-fgtBf1Pcu_7yr9mXxveiQN_nR4vtHuNGlnMF3bFETQL4hj5nSKcCv4-bT34C3d0kRxb_Clw3KQHHwzg-422dmWFg0zs_En_OTzWGE729vaW6UQI08qgUS7BcU" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1023" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO-RwNPynhXl-U6BBH2G7qCrtXfeqpeANYD9Xc01wsf_qiIXVG0vvEZ-FzhUOubud_u-fgtBf1Pcu_7yr9mXxveiQN_nR4vtHuNGlnMF3bFETQL4hj5nSKcCv4-bT34C3d0kRxb_Clw3KQHHwzg-422dmWFg0zs_En_OTzWGE729vaW6UQI08qgUS7BcU" width="320" /></a></div>If you were raised in a conservative church (like I was) and you start to change the way you think about God, the bible, heaven and hell and homosexuality, the rapture, racism, abortion, America, social justice and gender, then you will be side-eyed by your tight circle of friends and family members. You are now the sinner, the tax collector, the leper, the liberal. Because evangelical christianity is a cancel culture, a fear-based system fixated on right belief. If we change what we believe, everything is at stake. Even eternal life! </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Scrutinizing fundamental beliefs that are destructive to ourselves, other people and the planet is socially ostracizing. But scrutiny is the seed of soul growth. We stop repressing our deepest feelings. We start trusting Something Else. We cultivate new convictions based on love, liberation, open-heartedness and genuine humility. The post-evangelical path will not look the same for everybody. Some of us will stay “Christian.” Some of us won’t. But whatever we do, we cannot walk alone. We need each other. I’m realizing it’s the only way to heal the evangelical trauma – and truly get free.
</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-70855190854593414852023-08-28T08:32:00.001-07:002023-08-28T08:32:15.295-07:00The Roots<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUG5FNp4gx79Cz9R0pF6WU2vLSOHHce79pYYEM1Xlnda6CSFGwOcgDYaJxp35Fl33J-FAv9diF7z0N6_YD9fvOnhPDYuos0A7ak75w10OlAuxDtcdpGWivznWEe2-wYhAxiLiqZvwMfgeNdjsfKsvn_7ttneyROVxE8Cl0gAZKmYc9k9ZRuUElcw-yhwk" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1400" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUG5FNp4gx79Cz9R0pF6WU2vLSOHHce79pYYEM1Xlnda6CSFGwOcgDYaJxp35Fl33J-FAv9diF7z0N6_YD9fvOnhPDYuos0A7ak75w10OlAuxDtcdpGWivznWEe2-wYhAxiLiqZvwMfgeNdjsfKsvn_7ttneyROVxE8Cl0gAZKmYc9k9ZRuUElcw-yhwk=w281-h158" width="281" /></a></div>A white dude walked into a Dollar General yesterday in Florida and murdered three Black people. He had a swastika on his rifle and posted multiple manifestos online. But at the press conference, the sheriff said that “there is absolutely no evidence the shooter is part of any larger group.” This does not make any sense to me. His supremacy was not created in a vacuum. It was shaped by a culture. Like Jesus said, a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. This white dude was not just a bad apple. He's one fruit that comes from a tree rooted in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. The only way to become Something Else is to scrutinize the roots - and replace them with love.</span>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-91628881275694866422023-08-18T20:09:00.024-07:002023-08-23T08:50:10.333-07:00A Reading List for Repentance<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisohnja_qmy2ZAG1krKz8sK3wf4br3ZTGoV3rojjDn9PQks5014pdEHigvUlPrt8jYqoPp8AiOO9fQASaILf5wHC7lpaI060ykQyTnS_iiOF_60qcXdCzAd6VCLrGyOybzWgIEQ6HnTBolVU47PZBlqIn3iAXUAFj88GPbOrmUdGYy9EuREYqjWnR8Uik" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1665" data-original-width="2033" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisohnja_qmy2ZAG1krKz8sK3wf4br3ZTGoV3rojjDn9PQks5014pdEHigvUlPrt8jYqoPp8AiOO9fQASaILf5wHC7lpaI060ykQyTnS_iiOF_60qcXdCzAd6VCLrGyOybzWgIEQ6HnTBolVU47PZBlqIn3iAXUAFj88GPbOrmUdGYy9EuREYqjWnR8Uik" width="231" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I've been working on a book project over the past few years. It has evolved into a series of shorter reflections focused on <i>reconstructing</i> a biblical spirituality for those of us who have been in a process of deconstructing fundamentalist, evangelical, conservative Catholic or denominational expressions of Christian Supremacy. This reconstruction project pivots on the Power of love, the only force that can fuel us to live for Something Else. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I believe that this Something Else is rooted in the radical act of repenting from the American Dream, the corporate-sponsored conventional wisdom that comes at the awful expense of <i>this</i> agonizing statistic: the US and Canada comprise about <b>5%</b> of the world's population - and consume over <b>30%</b> of the world's resources. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">I am calling the North American context </span><b style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The 5/30 Window</b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">, a play on what my white Evangelical pastors referred to as "</span><a href="https://joshuaproject.net/resources/articles/10_40_window" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The 10/40 Window</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">," the African, Asian and Middle Eastern regions of "unreached" people who live between ten and forty degrees north latitude. I am flipping the script and saying that the souls of dark-skinned Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims who live on the other side of the world do not need to get saved. We do. </span></div><div><div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">By "we" I mean those of us in the 5/30 Window who have a semblance of privilege and are more progressive than our fundamentalist and fascist friends and family members. We do everything that we are <i>supposed</i> to do to make life matter - college, career, marriage, maybe kids, march at the Pride parade, make donations to important causes and keep up with social justice issues - but are left feeling exhausted, lonely, unfulfilled, stressed, depressed, anxious, addicted and/or insecure. We are weighed down by a soul dissonance. Because all our supposed-tos pile up and perpetuate an oppressive system. My spouse Lindsay, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist, says that if we remain in a </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">codependent</i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> relationship with a counterfeit system like the American Dream, then the counterfeit will inevitably come out sideways. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">When Jesus beckoned his disciples to repent, he was borrowing language from the battlefield. In the first century Roman empire, the soldier who repented was a traitor. He switched sides. He spoke treason. I believe that for people with a semblance of privilege (like me) living in the 5/30 Window, repentance is a call to break rank with the aspirational goals of achievement and upward mobility. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Because our success and social respectability are "earned" in a system addicted to the antithesis of love: <i>supremacy</i>. By this, I mean that it has a built-in pecking order, a kind of caste code that says that certain people are more deserving than others. This stubborn supremacy still reigns in systems dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion.</span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Repentance slowly erodes our obliviousness. When we switch sides, we see how the Dream excludes, exploits and extracts from the 10/40 Window and those Dr. King called "the other America:" the poor, the essential workers, Black and Native folks and other people of color. Jesus prescribed repentance because he knew the spiritual secret. If we do not openly oppose supremacy around every corner, then supremacy becomes a part of who we are wrapping itself around our souls like the arms of an octopus (as Anne Braden </span><a href="https://williamwolff.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fosl-narrative-2008.pdf" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">once wrote</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">). If we do not break rank, we drown in denial, dysfunction and/or drink. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The American Dream is a nightmare and those of us playing by its rules in the 5/30 Window are paying the price spiritually and emotionally. Because our lives are embedded in an interrelated structure of reality. The soul is not locked inside autonomous individuals. It is a web of Being that binds everyone to everything else. We are caught in what Dr. King called "the inescapable network of mutuality." Whatever affects anyone directly, affects everyone else indirectly. The excluding, exploiting and extracting of disproportionately dark-skinned bodies is inextricably connected to the excluding, exploiting and extracting of the souls of white folks and middle-class people. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Repentance is not fueled so much by what we are against, but <b>who we are for</b>. We can live for Something Else, a Power of love that compels people of faith and conscience to promote an alternative spiritual paradigm.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> It's not about aspiring for greatness, but </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">conspiring</i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> with the critical mass of people - disproportionately dark-skinned - who are being excluded, exploited and extracted. The word "conspire" literally means "to breathe with" (by the way, "aspire" means to breathe on, which brings up a whole cringeworthy history of diseases that white settlers have passed along to Native people, from 1492 to our present-day pandemic). So in a nut shell, repentance is breaking rank with supremacy and <i>breathing with</i> Something Else.</span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div>But here's where it gets really interesting. In a stubbornly anti-Black and settler colonial society like America, Something Else cannot possibly be colorless or colorblind. James Cone (writing three years before George Floyd and I were born) <a href="https://www.blackstonebookstore.com/book/9781626983854">forcefully suggested</a> that Something Else is Black - and that the salvation of white Americans depends solely on <b>joining the oppressed, becoming one with them and participating in the goal of collective liberation</b>. Cone outright rejected the idea that white people were supposed to lend a hand to unfortunate poor Black folks. He called these philanthropic and political acts “sin offerings,” used by white folks to assure themselves that they are good people. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cone went <i>even</i> further. He said that<b> white people must become Black like God</b>. Because Blackness is synonymous with salvation. Cone broke out the bible and compared it to the Philippian jailer’s question to Paul and Silas in the book of Acts, “What must I <i>do</i> to be saved?” The jailer's question implied that if he worked hard enough, or knew all the right things, he, too, could get saved. Paul and Silas told him that his salvation depended upon simply <i>believing</i> in Something Else. Cone wrote that Blackness is <i>that</i> gift from God. Believing entailed receiving the gift - and then reorienting one’s entire existence on the basis of the gift. </div><div><br /></div><div>Blackness is what the Wholly Otherness of God looks like. It’s the polar opposite of whiteness - not the skin color, but the spiritual condition connected to playing by the rules in an anti-Black, settler colonial system. To heal and recover from the American Dream, white folks and middle-class people must become Something Else. This is obviously controversial - and uncomfortable and inconvenient. But I believe that Cone was basically spot on. Very few white folks in American history have tried it - but the ones we know from history are tremendously compelling figures (for starters, look up John Brown, Laura Ann Haviland, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clarence Jordan and Braden - whose life was referred to as a "racial conversion narrative").</div></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div><br /></div></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I do <i>not</i> think that repentance just happens. I do not believe that it is possible to just flip a repentance light switch. I think it is a life-long process that requires collective study, a commitment to practice and some sort of accountability (to kindreds, to the other America, to the earth, to the erotic and tender parts of ourselves). It simply cannot happen alone. I am convinced that this process, this training program, has the power to make us more humble, honest, open-hearted, tender, nurturing, courageous, compassionate, playful, present, centered and emotionally available. However, there is a catch. It will cost us everything </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Below, I've linked some readings that have formed a canon of repentance for me. This list is neither pure, nor exhaustive. But it's a start. All this to say: I am interested in committing to collective study with other white folks and middle-class people who are repenting from the American Dream too. This list will also be a part of a curriculum, in 2024, for the 1st Annual John Brown Society, a gathering of white boys who are breaking rank from the American Dream. Details to come.</span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-<i><a href="https://gphistorical.org/mlk/mlkspeech/mlk-gp-speech.pdf">The Other America</a></i>, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (March 14, 1968)</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">MLK gave this speech three weeks before his assassination in the wake of the Kerner Commission Report, a congressional study that proclaimed that white society was deeply implicated in the conditions of the ghetto. King spoke in the high school gymnasium in Grosse Pointe, the suburb directly east of Detroit. White people interrupted his speech multiple times.</span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Poor People's Campaign, <a href="https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-National-Fact-Sheet-Template_6-4-8.5-%C3%97-11-in-updated.pdf">National Fact Sheet 2023</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">The PPC publishes an annual statistics on poverty in America. These stats are absolutely abysmal - and I believe they affect us all at the soul level. </span></i></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><span style="background-color: white;">-Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2020/09/18/soul-talk-in-a-neoliberal-age-part-v/&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw1lgenSDyVx5yGvCcojjjn2" href="https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2020/09/18/soul-talk-in-a-neoliberal-age-part-v/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Soul Talk in a Neoliberal Age</a><span style="background-color: white;"> (a 5-Part Interview)</span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">No one has studied how the economy affects our souls quite like Dr. Rogers-Vaughn, a long-time psychotherapist and professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Kentanji Brown Jackson's <a href="https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/Jackson-dissent.pdf?fbclid=IwAR11R36YmLJjWGiz2AjM0SBkeyYSyFPQR6U-gsPmXD2zfbq6nfqBiuJwJTE">Dissent</a> in the SC Case Overturning Affirmative Action (July 2023)</b></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-The California Reparations <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/report">Report</a> (June 2023)</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>Cedric Robinson was the first to call the American economic system "racial capitalism." It is a system fueled by white racism from the very beginning. Nothing has changed this. Not the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement or the uprising after the viral police murder of George Floyd. KBJ's masterful dissent lays out the way that this works intergenerationally. For further study, dig into the forty-chapter report from the California Reparations Taskforce. The City of Detroit just started their own 18-month taskforce and I am trying to attend as many of its monthly sessions as possible</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b><span style="background-color: white;">-James Perkinson, </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2020/06/09/apocalypse-of-whiteness/&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw0CNQoMjiwUovTN7AAuXv8V" href="https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2020/06/09/apocalypse-of-whiteness/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">The Apocalypse of Whiteness</a></b></span></div><div><div style="background-color: white;"><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Imani Perry, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/racism-terrible-blackness-not/613039/">Racism is Terrible: Blackness is Not</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Biko Gray, <a href="https://tif.ssrc.org/2021/01/07/a-theodicy-of-the-unliving/">The Theodicy of the Unliving</a>, or Why I Won't Teach My Black Lives Matter Class Anymore</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>So much was written in the wake of George Floyd's murder. These are three of the very best, in my opinion. Perkinson is a white boy in his seventies who moved to Detroit from suburban Cincy in his early twenties. Black people on the city's eastside saved his soul. Perry is Black, Gen-X and from the South. She is a professor at Princeton University, and her book <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/south-to-america-imani-perry?variant=40425604120610">South to America</a> bowled me over last year. Gray is a professor at Syracuse and his essay here is deeply personal, reflecting on his experience teaching about Black life and death (to white students) in the classroom. </i></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-adrienne maree brown, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://adriennemareebrown.net/2019/05/28/relinquishing-the-patriarchy/&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw0wzU7qaCrz8Os7etQX4zcI" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2019/05/28/relinquishing-the-patriarchy/" target="_blank">relinquishing the patriarchy</a></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Audre Lorde, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/11881_Chapter_5.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw1P1oN-HsppPvBELWe6lrpq" href="https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/11881_Chapter_5.pdf" target="_blank">Uses of the Erotic (The Erotic as Power)</a></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-bell hooks, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sjugenderstudies.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/killingrage-bell-hooks.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw27GuWnV8r3JizJ2hSEhD9n" href="https://sjugenderstudies.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/killingrage-bell-hooks.pdf" target="_blank">Killing Rage: Militant Resistance</a></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bettina-love-discusses-we-want-to-do-more-than-survive/id1522592619?i%3D1000495271368&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw1VND_tSElcALADjk-i16Am" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bettina-love-discusses-we-want-to-do-more-than-survive/id1522592619?i=1000495271368" target="_blank">Bettina Love</a> on Marc Lamont Hill's Pod</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/05/claudia-rankine-by-white-privilege-i-mean-the-ability-to-stay-alive&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw2TTbBP-1RPpsO479q4hfnv" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/05/claudia-rankine-by-white-privilege-i-mean-the-ability-to-stay-alive" target="_blank">By White Privilege I Mean the Ability to Stay Alive</a>, an interview with Claudia Rankine</b></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";">-<a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/">The Combahee River Collective</a> (1977)</b></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Black women have endured the "double jeopardy" of being Black and female in a 5/30 Window that runs on racism and patriarchy. Lorde's essay on "the erotic" has been a monumental paradigm shift for me. Feelings - she writes elsewhere - are the fortresses and sanctuaries and spawning grounds for the most radical and daring of ideas. Our salvation will not come from head knowledge. Men: please read the piece from brown on patriarchy first! </span></i></div><div style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="background-color: white;"><div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-James Baldwin, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cwsworkshop.org/pdfs/CARC/Family_Herstories/2_On_Being_White.PDF&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw1D3jYaMUviCbtPFYRpTlN-" href="https://www.cwsworkshop.org/pdfs/CARC/Family_Herstories/2_On_Being_White.PDF" target="_blank">On Being White...and other lies</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Biko Gray, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bikomandelagray.medium.com/a-letter-to-white-liberalism-1864b28d7768&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw24aSsuVA7scP3oaVYLIIhF" href="https://bikomandelagray.medium.com/a-letter-to-white-liberalism-1864b28d7768" target="_blank">A Letter to (White) Liberalism</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Willie Jennings, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/whiteness-rooted-place&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw3kWqNPvXhsENwlW9e2J8Cs" href="https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/whiteness-rooted-place" target="_blank">Whiteness Rooted in Place</a></b></span></div></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Kiese Laymon, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.gawker.com/the-worst-of-white-folks-882334097&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw0dUITarsv4XbK7Zh5jmb1C" href="https://www.gawker.com/the-worst-of-white-folks-882334097" target="_blank">The Worst of White Folks</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-Kiese Laymon, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/23/black-churchesforgive-white-people-shame&source=gmail&ust=1691414582313000&usg=AOvVaw3LG2dpRlNXYOnyOJEBFZdh" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/23/black-churchesforgive-white-people-shame" target="_blank">Black Churches Taught Us to Forgive</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>These essays - all written by Black men - are some of the most poignant and accessible pieces I've read about what "whiteness" is and does to us. Please start with the short piece by Baldwin who left the land of the living four decades ago.</i></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>-<a href="https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/soledadbro.html"><b>Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson</b></a></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>This book, available online for free here, is a collection of letters written by George Jackson, a young Black man who was thrown into prison for petty theft in 1960. During the decade he was imprisoned, he spent seven-and-a-half years in solitary confinement. His diagnosis of the destructive American system is more important than ever. Jackson keeps the main thing the main thing - and the main thing is</i></span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> revolution. Which is just another word for repentance. </i></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i><a href="https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/478/the-geography-of-sorrow"><br /></a></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><b>-<a href="https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/478/the-geography-of-sorrow">The Geography of Sorrow</a>, an interview with Francis Weller</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><i>Last but not least, this interview is so important to me because I believe that a spirituality of repentance must be rooted in <b>grief</b>, not guilt. Especially for white people who have guilt burned into the basal ganglia of our brains. Weller, a psychotherapist in Northern California, writes about "apprenticing to sorrow." This is vital. Because as the bible says, only deep grief can lead to repentance. When we see the suffering, the only appropriate response is sorrow. Which should lead us to switch sides - and get saved. </i></span></div></div></div></div></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-3806728256879216202023-08-01T06:03:00.003-07:002023-08-01T06:03:27.762-07:00A Codependent Relationship<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKPpZJ_kxY4BPFGd4R3QJtefwYHgWxs-JYo_iKz8w1RtiDiP_z1Xg9kKkxTZenxaRmIe7XgMiPj6Ivsh6QHzw-OC3H14eS5itGKflKbLTMRUUlHAU2Bn02mYj6h5TE32UkmP4PhBmbfYT1WhaEBQt0qdGzyZmDiuE1lcA2C62U_upn7zldlU6R3b0aEpA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKPpZJ_kxY4BPFGd4R3QJtefwYHgWxs-JYo_iKz8w1RtiDiP_z1Xg9kKkxTZenxaRmIe7XgMiPj6Ivsh6QHzw-OC3H14eS5itGKflKbLTMRUUlHAU2Bn02mYj6h5TE32UkmP4PhBmbfYT1WhaEBQt0qdGzyZmDiuE1lcA2C62U_upn7zldlU6R3b0aEpA" width="320" /></a></div>Over the past few years, I’ve been doing a lot of 12-step recovery work as I wrestle with codependency, the curious ways I set-up, serve, prop-up, people-please and enable bad behavior in my relationships with individuals and institutions. I get stuck saying “yes” – even when everything in me wants to say “no” - because I believe I am supposed to, because I believe that things will be better. This time. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">In recent days, I’ve been thinking about how many Americans (myself included) are caught in a codependent relationship with electoral politics. I am positioned to the left of Bernie Sanders on the political spectrum. Like Dr. King, I am absolutely convinced that without a radical revolution of values, the US will never heal and real justice will never become a reality. One major obstacle to MLK’s radical revolution is that both major political parties promote profit motives and property rights over the needs of people. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I live in a swing state. So liberals tell me that I have to vote blue no matter who. I, of course, agree with my liberal-moderate friends: Republican policies are extremely destructive. But I’ve been paying attention to Biden - and Obama and Clinton before him. These Democratic Presidents – despite their campaign promises - continue to sell out poor and working people, over and over and over again. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Joe Biden had the power to raise the minimum wage, to guarantee sick days for rail workers, to cancel all student debt, to renew the child tax credit and more. He didn’t. Why? Because he is beholden to powerful interests that are solely concerned with one thing. Profit. Biden and Trump have this in common. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Both candidates are also committed to bloating the military budget, keeping taxes low for the 1%, increasing police presence and surveillance, building more prisons, supporting Israel no matter what, maintaining a “for-profit” healthcare system and funding an unequal public education system through property taxes. This is a super destructive bipartisan consensus that reverses King's revolution of values. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">I am not trying to be cynical. In fact, I am seeking agency and empowerment. Which always starts with the truth. Many of us who are serious about implementing progressive policies are stuck in a codependent relationship with the Democratic Party. Many of us are addicted to a corporate-sponsored "culture war." I am asking folks in a similar position on the political spectrum, in a similar emotional process. What is your strategy for the 2024 election?</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-70644208265857739622023-07-08T13:56:00.004-07:002023-07-08T13:56:54.141-07:00Her Dissent Does Not Disappoint<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNPoFk-ztBTW15k6XWFB5Sm9ffUAeLkkN8ppuvutNR3TWGI2L5hPbSHkY3Y-cv3B9ioSICDyQgHo1ry8n6CA6wOUzFwNTQNSZOyP3iKVkXQV0RWu8IrrKW44NEKlZp_SJ6Ahhb14ni0NJGFdr_uy-lpLjqk5rvA00m1RjIo72BLBt3m_bCdOkChHOCK6w" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNPoFk-ztBTW15k6XWFB5Sm9ffUAeLkkN8ppuvutNR3TWGI2L5hPbSHkY3Y-cv3B9ioSICDyQgHo1ry8n6CA6wOUzFwNTQNSZOyP3iKVkXQV0RWu8IrrKW44NEKlZp_SJ6Ahhb14ni0NJGFdr_uy-lpLjqk5rvA00m1RjIo72BLBt3m_bCdOkChHOCK6w=w271-h180" width="271" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">This morning, I finally got to read Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0wlNWmN-6f2O51bKXiWoo3iYLr8ckOlpXjh80a1wAKxzSA57uFs2puhiU">dissenting opinion</a> on the Supreme Court affirmative action decision handed down last week. Wow. Her dissent does not disappoint. It lays out a clear, compelling case for why race should absolutely be one component that colleges use to consider in the application process. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">KBJ dispels the myth that our racist past has nothing to do with right now. “History speaks,” she writes, “In some form, it can be heard forever.” White people like me still benefit from history's handouts: the free land, the GI Bill, the low-interest loans, the access to clean air and water, the non-competitive college admissions (and much more) that my ancestors cashed in on. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Race still matters. More than ever. Because this Supreme Court decision will inevitably widen America’s ominous racial gaps. KBJ’s dissent undoes the guilt and colorblindness, offering another way forward for people of privilege. A clear-eyed understanding of how history affects the present – and an open-hearted promotion of policies that work for everyone.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-36113103696676988012023-06-09T08:11:00.001-07:002023-06-09T08:11:21.957-07:00Predatory<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH3CMBeOiNFlfe6GZkl6g2rm50-6Q1fBh06yO1lIZc23XnA8tjj4NRNB1Kjw9Cl6F_U5lcqx7bHtFj1-602MqQtjI8G0XmTPI8P0j1kIWg29My5XuNhNezTKECN4XcxS5Ij48G5nTI67M1PdJSd_tRDjMqB_1Onh6DLgBvFVpmceBlIN581JIGwq-0" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH3CMBeOiNFlfe6GZkl6g2rm50-6Q1fBh06yO1lIZc23XnA8tjj4NRNB1Kjw9Cl6F_U5lcqx7bHtFj1-602MqQtjI8G0XmTPI8P0j1kIWg29My5XuNhNezTKECN4XcxS5Ij48G5nTI67M1PdJSd_tRDjMqB_1Onh6DLgBvFVpmceBlIN581JIGwq-0" width="320" /></a></div>Bernadette Atuahene moved to Detroit’s eastside for three years and interviewed residents who lost their homes to property tax foreclosures. As she listened to stories and studied the data, she discovered that between 2009 and 2019, 1/3 of all Detroit residents lost their homes because they could not afford to pay their property taxes. And get this: a huge percentage of these homes were overcharged by the city, in blatant violation to the state constitution. </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Most of these overassessments targeted the lowest income residents of Detroit, almost all of them Black. The city inflated property tax bills to make up for lost revenue – and to remake the city in another image. This is one of the (awful) ways that Detroit made its so-called “comeback.” The foreclosed homes were snapped up for cheap by wealthy developers and many were demolished by the city (to make room for more development). </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Bernadette Atuahene work is important because it calls bullshit on the racist myths that portray poor people as lazy and irresponsible. This <a href="https://www.nyulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/98NYULRev1.pdf">article</a> is long, but it’s worth reading at least the first few pages. As it turns out, these illegal antics aren’t limited to Detroit. The data reminds us that poverty is not the result of chronic laziness, but of corrupt leadership. Predatory policies grow poverty for many – so a few folks can become wealthy. This is how America’s economic system has worked for centuries. Our politics ought to reflect this truth.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630454083727252576.post-41803332925109791612023-05-01T07:15:00.003-07:002023-05-01T07:15:36.153-07:00Christo-Fascism<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4QlbHWTUfIemutLLT9XG1ZuDzQragmHcPxV0fsTuRdGBjrjLY1GZYH4aNjRCn_aWdrn7eCffQPkW8TobvQm0oF5pmqx2Kd5mDq7QDCGDIvB3RuIGUIlPlzWuep_mOq6tYpT2aUXINNPCfZ1JUeQq27cHLqDLyrDm_Eg2WdHce5AM4Brx9cfLu5adE" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4QlbHWTUfIemutLLT9XG1ZuDzQragmHcPxV0fsTuRdGBjrjLY1GZYH4aNjRCn_aWdrn7eCffQPkW8TobvQm0oF5pmqx2Kd5mDq7QDCGDIvB3RuIGUIlPlzWuep_mOq6tYpT2aUXINNPCfZ1JUeQq27cHLqDLyrDm_Eg2WdHce5AM4Brx9cfLu5adE" width="320" /></a></div>In Texas, a man shot and killed five neighbors from Honduras and he’s still on the loose. In a social media post, the Christian governor of Texas referred to the victims of the murder as “illegal immigrants.” This is the same governor who rounds up refugees and dumps them on the streets of Washington DC. It’s absolutely disgusting. A few decades ago, theologian Dorothee Soelle called this increasingly popular brand of bogus faith “Christo-Fascism.” </span><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">These folks worship work ethic, focus on their nuclear family and promote the greatness and innocence of America. When their versions of work, family and country are undermined or challenged or questioned, they find someone to scapegoat. Dark-skinned people. Poor folk. Powerful women. Anyone who’s not straight. You already know their dirty little secret. They will never call out the real predators: the wealthy and powerful corporate elites who fund their churches. </span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Book Antiqua;">Christo-Fascists blatantly counterfeit the biblical tradition to secure their status in society. Just study the Gospels and you will see. Jesus did the exact opposite of what this multitude of white Christians believe and say and do. Jesus moved on mercy, compassion, humility, open-heartedness and a ruthless critique of the wealthy and powerful. His radical love of neighbor broke the boundaries of work, family and country – and he expected those who bear his name to do the same.</span></div>Tom Aireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730577814110261081noreply@blogger.com0