Without Ambiguity. Black Lives Matter

Evening thoughts. June 29, 2020

Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Seth Godin and the 2020 legislative session.

Black Lives Matter.

During my Sunday run I found an audio performance of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast. After listening to it I decided to pull a few excerpts into my latest blog. I won’t attempt to annotate Dr. King’s words other than to say that, like passages from James Baldwin and Langston Hughes I’ve shared recently, some of these words could have been written last week. Reading more Black authors is one of the best things I’ve done this year. Below are my selected excerpts. The hardest thing was trimming the list down. The full performance is here: https://soundcloud.com/williejackson/dr-martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail

·       I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.

·       Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.

·       You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being.

·       Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

·       History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.

·       There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair.

·       I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the…Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;

·       We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people

·       In your statement you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But can this assertion be logically made? Isn't this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?...Isn't this like condemning Jesus because His unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to His will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion

·       Was not Jesus an extremist in love? -- "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice? -- "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

·       So the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

And a long passage on the church…

·       I have been disappointed with the white church and its leadership…all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

·       In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with,"

·       The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.

 

Performed by: Winnie Kao, Mike "Ambassador" Bruny, Doc Waller, Darius Gant, Garfield Hylton, Jermaine Maree, Shaun King, Pamela Slim, DeRay McKesson, Dr. Ivor Horn, Charlie Gilkey, Neal Ludevig, Charles Davis, Soledad O'Brien, Greg Hartle, Kimberly Nadia Scott, Lisa Nicole Bell, Paul Drayton, Codie Elaine, André Blackman, John Montgomery II, Daniel Jarvis, James Lopez, Donna Queza, Marc Aarons, Stella Santana, Alex Chavez, Spencer Pitman, Ankit Shah, Cliff Worley, Keylor Leigh, Stephanie Hasham, Willie Jackson, Don Pottinger, Rachel Rodgers, Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin, Akilah Hughes, Diana Alvear, Danielle Jenene Powell, Emmanuel Azih.

Read the whole thing here. http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/letter_birmingham_jail.pdf

 

The 2020 Legislative Session

A weak Hate Crimes bill passed, overwhelmingly, but without the support of any of the Forsyth County delegation. I’ve mentioned my call with Todd Jones and Greg Dolezal a couple of weeks ago. Their rationale for voting against the bill? It should follow Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act (translation, don’t include LGBTQ, who, thankfully, after the recent SCOTUS decision are now covered under the Civil Rights Act). Also, you shouldn’t value one life over another in sentencing (translation, All Lives Matter). These guys all have to go.

 

More from Seth. Seth Godin says more in a daily 100 or so word blog than others say in pages of prose. From a recent blog (https://seths.blog/2020/06/without-ambiguity-black-lives-matter/):

Without Ambiguity…Black Lives Matter.

The systemic, cruel and depersonalizing history of Black subjugation in my country has and continues to be a crime against humanity. It’s based on a desire to maintain power and false assumptions about how the world works and how it can work. It’s been amplified by systems that were often put in place with mal-intent, or sometimes simply because they felt expedient. It’s painful to look at and far more painful to be part of or to admit that exists in the things that we build.

 

From the Cape Up podcast. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post, interviewing Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility:  “And I would just ask, what happened to us that we don't have an emotional reaction to (George Floyd) being murdered in front of our eyes? But we have a emotional reaction of some people taking some food out of a shop or breaking a window?” Full podcast. https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/cape-up/the-author-of-white-fragility-doesnt-think-most-white-people-care-about-racial-injustice/

 

 

 

 

 

Evening thoughts. June 16, 2020

Evening thoughts. June 16, 2020

Cumming, GA

Rashard Brooks, the budget and Dave Chappelle

Thinking about Rashard Brooks and three of the times I got pulled over by the police. First time was in college. I was not driving, but I was in a car full of drunks. One of our number was getting sick and we had to pull over so he did not puke all over us. While we were pulled over a Clarke County Deputy pulled up behind us and came up to the car. I am sure it reeked. He checked on us and sent us on our way (note, one of my regular readers, long-time friend and Facebook friend was with me in that car 30+ years ago). Time 2. Still in college, coming back from Atlanta. I had one beer to drink at the event and by that time it was at least a couple of hours later. I got a breathalyzer out of that. I was way under the legal limit and he sent me on my way.

Time 3…about a year ago. I’d been driving all day. It was about 2 am, I had dropped Claire off at her dorm and was about a mile from my house. I was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy. He asked if I knew why he pulled me over. I had no idea. Turns out I ran the red light coming off 400. I had no recollection of it. I am sure I fell asleep. In one day I had driven from Cumming to Dahlonega to Statesboro attended a funeral drove back to Cumming to Dahlonega and back to Cumming. The last two hours were fueled by Diet Mountain Dew and Milky Ways. The deputy checked my license and plates and let me drive the rest of the way home. Only about a mile at that point.

All this to say, at none of those stops was my car ever inspected, was I ever frisked, cuffed, etc. It’s really not even in my imagination that that would happen, even though it very easily could have. That is some SERIOUS White Privilege.

Which brings me back to Mr. Brooks. He falls asleep in a parking lot and then he’s dead. Let the man walk home. Better yet, offer to take him home. Even better…just knock on the guy’s window and check on him. Why does this call for police response and an arrest? This is why policing needs to be completely overhauled. Seems an arrest should be a last resort, not a first.

The budget. I was discussing this with some friends this week. The issue is not that there isn’t enough. The issue is how we choose to spend it. At the federal level we spend it on wars and weapons and tax cut and don’t have enough for healthcare and education. At the state level we can spend a billion dollars on sports stadiums and cut taxes, but we can’t pay our teachers or expand Medicaid. In my town our kids go to school in trailers but we get a snazzy new $100 million jail. A dollar is a dollar, it’s how we choose to spend it. Personally, I’d prefers schools, education and healthcare to bombs, fighter jets, wars, stadium, jails and tax cuts.

Last, this Dave Chappelle clip is raw. It’s from his new Netflix special 8:46. He goes off on George Floyd’s murder about 4 minutes in, starting with the 35 seconds of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. “the wrath of God…it’s not for a single cop, it’s for all of it, fucking all of it…this is the streets talking for themselves” https://youtu.be/3tR6mKcBbT4

 

Louie Giglio needs to go to the church of Dave Chappelle and Killer Mike.

Morning thoughts. June 14, 2020

Cumming, GA

 In 2020 it seems almost quaint to refer to the headline in today’s paper, but here they are, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC).  “Shooting Angers City; Police Chief Steps Down” and “Killing Rocks an Already Outraged Community”. The story starts with a man falling asleep in a parking lot and ends with him dead. Seems there were many chances to de-escalate the situation before that occurs.

 There is so much happening right now, I can’t hope to hit it all.

 Also from the AJC. “Pressure builds for a Georgia hate-crimes law” (https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/the-follow-pressure-builds-for-georgia-hate-crimes-law/OY413zDmqzKBXusWwoB8fJ/). The legislature is back in session on Monday. Several top legislators have stated passing a hate crimes bill is a top agenda item. Two Thursdays ago I spent nearly an hour on the phone with my local state rep and senator, much of it with them trying to explain why they were not supporting the current hate crimes bill. While I disagreed with them at the time, now I have to say I agree, but not for the same reason. Georgia must pass a Hate Crimes Bill, but HB 426 (passed, without my local rep’s vote) and SB 166 (in committee) are shit. It would be among the weakest hate crimes laws in the country. As I read them, all they do is slightly increase the minimum penalties for various infractions that have a hate crime component. That’s not what we need. We have the time and if we have the will power and focus we can do much better. Read the bills, here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/184241.pdf) and here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/182492.pdf).

 At one point in the discussion Todd and Greg tried to explain that it was not right that hate crimes bills valued some lives more than others by increasing penalties for certain victims. In their imagined scenario, I am running with a black friend, a Jewish friend and a gay friend (we never walk in to a bar). We are all shot, but the shooter gets a longer sentence for shooting my friends vs. me. For the record, if that were to happen, I’d be a-ok with it. And while you’re at it, please politicize the shit out of it to help get guns off the street.

 Last thing on this. The house and senate bills both include sexual orientation and the senate bill includes gender identity. These need to be covered explicitly in any bill that is passed. Again, the legislature goes back in session tomorrow (June 15). Keep an eye on these bills.

 Back to cops and police brutality. Not sure how I feel about the whole “defund police” movement. We have to have some sort of law enforcement. I do think we need to significantly shift funds toward community engagement, education, mental health, etc, and away from policing in it’s current state, criminalization and incarceration. Let’s start by de-militarizing the police. I am reading The New Jim Crow right now. In 1998 the Cato Institute reported 1.2 million pieces of military hardware, include planes, helicopters, grenade launchers and M-16 rifles were delivered to local law enforcement agencies. That’s unacceptable for a civilian  police force. And police should not be outgunned by criminals. We need massive gun law reform to keep them safe.

 I heard an interview with a white preacher today. He told his congregation that he would not talk about racism and racial reconciliation. He said the problem is sin. Ok. And The Beatles said all we need is love. Both are true, but I think God expects more precision and action in our diagnosis and solution.

And…more and more of our faith leaders are speaking out, and I love it. The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church posted “A Call to Repentance and Pledge from The Bishop and Cabinet” on Tuesday (June 9). It says, among other things…

“Through the ages, race has been used to divide and conquer. This country, for much of its history, identified those who are White as enslaver, and therefore superior, and those who are Black as enslaved persons, and therefore inferior. This construct has permeated our culture, our politics, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our educational systems, our financial systems, our churches, and sadly, our very souls.

Injustice is also alive and well in the life of our Church. Racism permeates our system

We will refuse to allow the Church to dismiss abolishing racism and racist policies as “too political” in order to avoid taking action. We call upon the Church to better balance personal piety and social holiness.  The Early Methodists invested their blood, sweat, and tears in a relentless movement to abolish slavery in the British Empire. We, their spiritual descendants, act squarely in the Methodist tradition by working relentlessly to dismantle and eradicate the insidious evils in our culture born of the enslavement they so detested.

They discuss Ahmaud Arberry, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by name. It’s a bold, brave statement. My church is far from perfect. There are internal struggles with recognizing our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and they are not mentioned in the statement. But this is a strong start. It’s worth reading the full post. https://www.ngumc.org/newsdetail/statement-and-pledge-14020488

 Finally, a scripture that’s been on my mind. Luke 16:19-31. The story of the rich man and Lazarus. Briefly, Jesus tells the story of an unnamed rich man and Lazarus, a poor and sick beggar who laid at the rich man’s gate begging for crumbs. Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man goes to hell. The story never mentions the rich man helping or even seeing Lazarus. I’d take it one step further. The rich man chose not to see Lazarus. And when the rich man wanted to see his brothers, to warn them, Abraham knew they would choose not to hear. For a long time, many of us have been saying we did not know, see, hear. We don’t have that excuse anymore. As Will Smith said, “racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed”. If we don’t see-hear-act now, it’s because we choose not to. That did not end well for the rich man and his brothers.

 Amen.