If i die in police custody…

If i was a pastor in Americaland this coming Sunday, my sermon would definitely contain the words ‘If i die in police custody’ which is a trending hashtag on The Twitterer right now.

TAKE A MOMENT WITH THAT. #IfIDieInPoliceCustody

Last Friday, a black woman was returning home from a job interview in Waller County, Texas, when she was stopped by police after failing to properly signal a lane change. Two days later, she was dead in a jail cell, and Black Twitter wants to know why. [Dexter Thomas, Black Twitter demands answers: What happened to #SandraBland?]

In fact, just take five minutes to log in to your Twitterer account and search for the hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody and read what is going on there:

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don’t let them tell the world who I was. You tell the world who I was.

[Why So Serious? ‏@The4th_Duck]

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody it had nothing to do with my pants sagging, rap music, or black on black crime. Don’t let them derail.

[W.E.B DemBois ‏@Phil_Cosby_]

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody is a trending hashtag.

Let that sink in.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody IS TRENDING.
People are afraid. Change is needed.

[J. Shwah ‏@J_Shwahh]

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don’t try 2 use my background and education to say I didn’t deserve this. I didn’t deserve it without degrees either

[E. Little ‏@ItsMrLittle]

And on and on it goes… with this one by Michaela Angela Davis perhaps coming closest to summing it all up.

I actually can’t take the realness of #IfIDieInPoliceCustody right now so many young Blk people prepping for that possibility is so painful

[MichaelaAngela Davis ‏@MichaelaAngelaD]

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Next thing you know, people are once again adding the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and it won’t be long before a ‘well-meaning’ white person jumps on to reinvigorate #AllLivesMatter as a direct response.

Of course all lives matter, that should go without saying. The reason #BlackLivesMatter keeps coming back is because white people are not feeling the need to write tweets under the hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody.

LET THAT SINK IN.

We don’t need to. Because, for the most part, if a white person is arrested and put in prison, the likely scenario is that we deserved to be there. We weren’t put behind bars [and whatever else might follow and need to be ‘explained’ or justified later] because of our whiteness. People of colour don’t have that luxury.

So yes, All Lives Matter, but the ones that seem to be needing more fighting done for them in Americaland right now are the black ones [and other minority groups] and so #BlackLivesMatter – deal with it.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody tell the media to use the 1st pic and not the 2nd

[king fee ‏@kingfee901]

King Fee speaks to the reality of pictures used by the media whenever a person of colour is arrested, put in jail or killed. It is far easier for us to feel like he deserved it when we see the drug smoking ‘thug’-image poster on the right than if the story of another death is accompanied by a guy wearing a suit looking all cleaned up.

The hashtag is also filled with tweets talking about people struggling with depression or being a veteran [don’t let them say it was my PTSD] begging not to let any of those reasons be used as the reason for ‘my suicide’. In fact tweet after tweet down the line echoes the cries of black people saying ‘if I die in police custody, know that i didn’t commit suicide.’

THERE BE ANGER

Then there are the angry tweets. The ones calling for violence. These are harder to read and take in. My gut reaction is, ‘No, you can’t do that. You have to show them you are better. You have to respond peacefully.’

Yet week after week as yet another incident happens, typically involving white police officers and people of colour and a new hashtag trends to be replaced by the new one before it has even grown cold, then even though i absolutely don’t condone the violence, i start in part to understand the anger and the calls for it.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody blow up the nearest police prescient.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody: do everything possible to make them wish that I didn’t, and bring all nine circles of Hell to their doorstep.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don’t cry for me, comfort my mother and father, and burn the city to the ground. Tell @donlemon to go to hell.

YOU STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND?

If there are any white people who have gotten this far and still don’t understand [i imagine if you don’t then you likely haven’t gotten this far], this excellent article shared with me by my friend Megan Furniss, is one of the best pieces i have read on this, especially the powerful last paragraph:

Risk the Truth: There was a Suicide – by Abe Lateiner

Seriously, read that one, and there are so many other powerful posts around that if you realise the seriousness of this all and the need to catch up a little, here are two more powerful pieces worth giving yourself time to really digest.

I, Racist by John Metta

Letter to my Son by Ta-Nehisi Coates

i don’t think we have the same story in South Africa as in Americaland right now. But i feel like there are some strong overlaps. And it has felt important to me for a long time to keep an eye on what is going on over there to somehow be able to understand a little bit better some of the principles and machinations of what is going on over here in our stories. i feel completely helpless in terms of being able to make any difference to the people of colour in Americaland, but i do want them to know that i am an ally and if using my blog can potentially help open the eyes and then actions of one more white person, and hopefully then white people, well then that is one small step in the right direction.

We need to hear the cries of our black brothers and sisters and if they don’t feel like brothers and sisters, then we need to be reaching out and seizing opportunities for deeper relationship, because perhaps the moment they move from ‘people of colour’ to ‘my friend and my family’, perhaps then i will be more urgent about getting off my butt and doing something that actually makes a difference.

it feels like there is still so much more to say, but i don’t know if i’m the equipped to say it well, so i’ll keep reading and sharing and rallying and praying and hoping… and i’ll end off with two more tweets that no doubt will punch you in the face, like they did me…

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody put on my tombstone, “Arrest in peace”

[cumeron ‏@buckner7cameron]

Elderly White people write wills. Young Black kids tweet #IfIDieInPoliceCustody

Aila ‏@Retrominx13

[For a variety of thoughts from a number of different people on other and similar Race-related topics, click here]

In the wake of Charleston

We are angry. We grieve, mourn, weep. But we also choose to remember these dear sisters and brothers. Rest in peace.

Cynthia Hurd [54]

Tywanza Sanders [26]

Sharonda Singleton [45]

Myra Thompson [59]

Ethel Lance [70]

Susie Jackson [87]

DePayne Doctor [49]

Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr [74]

Rev. Clementa Pinckney [41]

[From Eugene Cho, who is a man i greatly respect and admire:  @EugeneCho]

i think it is strongly significant to start a conversation about the tragedy that happened when a young white guy [who shall remain nameless] walked into a black church in Charleston, South Carolina and shot and killed 9 of its members who were busy having a time of prayer. i don’t know any of those people, but taking a moment to recognise their humanness and the loss of their lives and taking a moment to think of their families and friends as well as the wider black community is an important thing to do.

We lament with America as America laments. And hope that once more it is not simply black America lamenting, but that all of us who are here right now are taking a moment to grieve and to consider the much wider implications of this moment.

i don’t believe my words are going to be of any use or carry any legitimacy here and so instead of sharing my own thoughts, i want to direct you towards some of the many helpful and truth-bearing posts that have been written to try and help Americans process yet another needless act of terrorism [for how can be described as anything less than an act of pure terror?] – there are many more, but these are some that i came across, and while i share snippets which carry the heart of the message that resonated with me, please make some time to go and read the full piece…

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

What I need you to say in response to the shooting in Charleston by Osheta Moore

These are the critical hours that sets the trajectory of this new conversation on racism in America.   These are also the hours our helplessness rises to the surface and we’ll use our words to alleviate it.  

As a white person, you may have heard Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech and thought, “yes, that’s a nice sentiment.” That “nice sentiment” is a defining dream for the African- American community.  We don’t want to be angry anymore.  We’re tired of being afraid.  We’re tired of these headlines.  We want to have peace.  We believe, we dream of unity too.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

After Charleston: An open letter to white christians from a white female pastor, Liz Verhage, shared by Eugene Cho on his blog

I am grieving and lamenting and beyond angry over what feels like open season on the Black Community/Church right now in the United States.

White Christians, this is the time to pay attention and be part of our nation’s struggle to understand and address the continual violence happening against our black sisters and brothers. When one part of the Body hurts we all hurt – when one part of the Body is repeatedly targeted, killed, not protected, pulled out of swimming pools, seen as threats when unarmed – and then misrepresented, silenced, or made small through ahistoric excuses, side-stepping through political mess, or any other form of evil – we need to stand up. We need to show up – loudly. We need to demand a different response – and start with our people in the church.

Ask about this reality of race and death at your church – where will it be addressed within worship this Sunday?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The Only Logical Conclusion by Austin Channing Brown

Within just a few minutes new reports started pouring in that the suspected shooter had been captured. As various officials were interviewed there was a resounding theme. “Safety has been restored.”

“Our community can now come together.”

“Now the healing process can begin.”

“The threat is now over.”

Though I understand what these officials meant. I want to say that safety has not been restored. I am glad the suspect is in custody. I really am. I am glad for the country, but I am mostly glad for the community of Charleston and anyone that was afraid their home, church, community center or neighborhood might be another target. But my gratefulness does not extend far enough to create any sense of safety. For the next few weeks, maybe even months, black churchgoers will not feel safe because we know the threat is not over.

Though the weapon is the same, gun violence, this is different because the driving force was white supremacy, this act the epitome of racism, the goal to kill black people. The level of terror that black people feel in America at this moment cannot be underestimated. Because when the driving force of such a massacre is the very thing imbedded in the roots of America, thriving on the branches of generation after generation, sitting in the pews unchallenged every Sunday morning in white churches- there is no reason why black Americans should feel safe.

Every time I write about race, someone white says “just know it isn’t all of us,” believing this will bring me comfort. It is offered as balm, but fails miserably. I would much rather people say, “I see this sin in my own heart, my own life, my own church and I am working to uproot it. I don’t want to be this way, and I will do the work to submit this ugliness before Christ.” That’s what I want to hear. Creating distance from it doesn’t serve me, doesn’t bring me comfort. Because it is in all of us. White supremacy has infected all of us who know America. If I have to deal with the white supremacist notions within myself, than I don’t want to hear about how “its not all of us”. It is. It is all of us who must learn to love blackness as an equal and authentic image of God.

I wrote on twitter that every church in America should be talking about this shooting on Sunday. But you know what? My real fear isn’t that churches will ignore the shooting. My fear is that churches will underestimate it. I fear that it will alter one Sunday’s plans and nothing else. I fear that the words will be reduced to one lone shooter, to one silent moment, to one prayer. I fear that it will change nothing about every Sunday thereafter, that it will inspire nothing of lasting significance, that no one will make a declaration to kick racism out of the pews. My real fear is that this moment will slip by just as so many others have, that white churches will refuse to see their own reflection. Or that they will and simply turn away.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Mark Charles, who is a Navajo man i greatly respect had these words to say which i feel go way beyond this incident and address the conversation as a whole. A lot of which relates to us back in South Africa and some of the conversations we are still needing to have:

I lament that our nation continues to celebrate its racist foundations with holidays like Columbus Day, sports mascots like the Washington Redsk*ns and the putting of faces like Andrew Jackson on our currency.

I lament the words of our political candidates who promise to lead America back to its former “greatness”, ignorant of the fact that much of America’s “greatness” was built on the exploitation and dehumanization of its people of color.

I lament that today the dominant culture in America is in shock because in the city of Charleston South Carolina one individual committed a single evil and heinous act of violence, while minority communities throughout the country are bracing themselves because the horrors of the past 500 years are continuing into their lifetime.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

i was also deeply moved by Jon Stewart’s opening monologue on The Today Show where he dropped the jokes and spoke from his heart some agonisingly truthful thoughts:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Even, and maybe especially, to the language and the imagery that the media uses to give completely biased and racist renderings of different events that happen, painting them with different brushes to pursue an agenda:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

White people in Americaland. Let’s begin with what Osheta suggested:

 I’m sorry. I’m listening.

And then let’s show up at this conversation and be prepared to own what we have inherited in various forms and systems and places. And let’s be prepared to get our hands dirty. And to become uncomfortable. And for this to get a little [more] messy, but for us.

Charleston 9 – we remember you…

[For an example of how we remembered Charleston, click here]

[For a variety of other conversations relating to race and privilege, click here]

How to overcome our biases by walking boldly towards them [Verna Myers]

i know not everyone has the time or internet capacity to watch video clips online, but if you do then i encourage you to watch this one.

It speaks directly into the Americaland conversation at the moment in terms of violence from police offers on black young men but also just a greater focus on the bias of society, and particularly white society when it comes to black young men.

i believe it has a lot to say to our present conversation in South Africa as well, so please give it a watch:

Three points that jumped out at me, which are deeply relevant to our country were these:

[1] “Biases are the stories we make up about people before we know who they are.” – this is so relevant to South Africa at the moment – if you don’t have friends from other race groups and cultures, then before commenting on them, intentionally seek to build bridges and pursue friendships with people that are different from you so that the stories you tell and feel can be more truthful and realistic.

[2]  “You’re not going to get comfortable before you get uncomfortable.” – this is perhaps one of the lessons the majority of white folks in this country need to hear. It is incredible to me, how knowing and understanding just a little of the broadest strokes history of our past and how people who were not white were treated, we can expect everyone to just quickly get over it, or that transition would ever be easy. Conversations are going to be awkward and uncomfortable and some actions that probably need to be done are likely to need to be uncomfortable as well. We are trying to fix something that was really really broken and to expect it to come at the wave of a wand or an election, or even twenty years time [in which we have all largely avoided the uncomfortable] is a little bit ridiculous.

[3] “When we see something we have to have the courage to say something, even to the people we love.” – this is huge. The example that Verna gives is the gran or the uncle at the dinner table calling someone something [“We don’t call them that any more.”] or using some kind of racist slur [“We don’t use that kind of language.”] and being bold and brave enough to call them on it. You can still love someone and not find the words or names they use acceptable and this is something we need to do more work on – at the family dinner table, at the water cooler at work, with our mates watching sport. Sitting by and allowing racist speech to happen unchallenged is tantamount to producing it ourselves.

Engage, engage, engage. This is key for me. If you are not intentionally building relationships with people from other races and cultures then i really don’t know that you have the right to comment or that your comments need to be taken seriously. We need to be building friendships which in turn will make building bridges so much easier for everyone concerned.

[For some other thoughts and posts shared on South Africa with particular focus on race conversations, click here]

Pearls before Superbowl

This is a classic from Stephan Pastis and i am posting it in honour of all my Americanese friends over there [and some crazy South Africans and Americans over here] who will be completely glued to their television sets in a few hours time, for a few hours time…

On the one hand it is so much of completely true:

And on the other hand, it’s going to be pretty much the same from my side [and others around the world] in just a few weeks time when MY South African Proteas cricket team [you know, the one i own] beats all the other countries in Australia/New Zealand and brings home the world cup…

So your chance today, but know that mine is coming. May the right team win.

[For more fun Pearls before Swine strips, head on over here]

An open letter to my White friends, in South Africa and Americaland…

This morning i was browsing Facebook and i came upon a status from my friend Nkosivumile Gola [who has written a number of posts for this blog] that read like this:

The land question is very personal, the land includes my whole being it is the very me. The land question is very emotional its not an intellectual talk. I don’t have a nice way of saying we want the land, I can’t smile when I’m talking about land.

Followed by 50 or so comments [and still going on] of which i think i was the only white person engaging. Trying to listen and really hear and understand.

Having opened my blog up somewhat to conversations about Race-related themes and issues over the last few months, and having connected with some new friends and been talking about race i have come to realise that for many black people in South Africa, land reform and restitutional justice are huge topics. I don’t know of many of my white friends that even have an opinion or understanding of this. Or how deep the hurt related to this topic lies

 

 

AMERICALAND 

As far as Americaland goes, it is becoming difficult to keep up. Last week it was the news that Darren Wilson [the white police officer who was responsible for the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson] was not going to be indicted. Today it is the somehow more surprising news that Daniel Pantaleo [the white police officer who allegedly put an illegal choke hold on Eric Garner which led to his subsequent death] was also not going to be indicted, despite there being quite clear video footage of the incident [that to my reckoning shows a blatant choke hold].

#Ferguson, #MikeBrown,#BlackLivesMatter, #EricGarner, how many hashtags do we need before significant change starts to happen?

As i have been following Ferguson pretty closely, and especially the Christian voices on it, I have noticed that the black voices are very vocal, where for the most part [and there are some incredible exceptions], the white voices are remaining silent.

Austin Channing, who is one of the people i have a lot of respect for in this conversation, tweeted this a couple of hours ago:

I need this to matter. What use have I for a Church that doesn’t believe I am worthy of justice, love and humility? [@austonchanning]

 

 

CHURCH

South Africa… Americaland… i imagine these conversations need to be had elsewhere, but these are the countries i have spend time in the last couple of years and so they are forefront in my mind and heart.

The contexts are quite different in some ways [Majority Oppression vs Minority Oppression, Restitution vs Present Day Justice] but there are some eerie similarities:

# For the most part a lack of white interest, engagement, outrage, action. There are white people who are involved and are making waves and using their platforms and showing up, but they are way too much the exception.

# A seeming lack of joining the dots of what is happening in the country politically being linked in any way to what we, as the church, believe, or should believe based on
 

 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

[Micah 6.8]

Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

[Isaiah 1.17]

The righteous care about justice for the poor,
    but the wicked have no such concern.

[Proverbs 29.7]

 

And then Jesus aiming this at the religious ones of His day, in Matthew 23:

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

 

As white people [those who in many instances hold the power for change in both situations] it is not good enough for us to sit back and be uninvolved and unengaged and let injustice go on around us.

In terms of the land reform conversations that need to take place in South Africa, i do not even come close to knowing the answers, but i do know that i am not informed enough, and so one thing i can do is this action based on this status i stuck on to Facebook a few hours ago:

Have decided if i truly am for unity, reconciliation and justice in my beloved South Africa, that i have a bit of reading to do. There is a lot i need to hear and understand from different voices to the ones that informed me growing up. So i could use some suggestions of good books to start with and interested to know if any of my white friends would be up to journeying this journey with me and maybe we could book club it [even if we’re in different parts of the country] so that we can share the costs of a big pile of books. My first recommendation was ‘Sobukwe led the road to Robben Island’ by Dr. Motsoko Pheko – what else do you think would be helpful?
 
I was reminded of this great quote which sums up the work ahead.

‘Freedom is not free. The price of freedom is selfless service, suffering and sacrifice.’ [Dr. Motsoko Pheko]

 

Getting involved, putting your hand up, being informed and taking action are not easy or comfortable or free things. There is a cost and it will require effort and time and buy-in and some form of sacrifice along the way. It requires us to get intentional about how we do or don’t engage with this much needed conversation.

In Americaland, the church at large needs to get involved. We need to hear outrage from white people [the black people are already there and have been for so long and are dying for us to pitch up and listen and hear and feel and cry out alongside them – they are not needing you to lead this revolution, they just need you to show up!]

 

Here are some more tweets from Austin Channing, which i found devastating, more so because of how true they are:

Are you really okay that policing for black lives is different than policing for your life?

Is it okay that our sunday school children have to split up by race to receive different lessons on what to expect from police?

Show us. Show us that its not ok. Stand with us. Let us mourn. Hell, why aren’t you mourning? Let us be angry. You should be angry too.

The cycle of systemic racism and interpersonal racism are robbing the lives of black people and robbing the humanity of white people.

Either you believe we are all created in the Image of God and should be treated accordingly or you do not.

Don’t you see, we all lose? Don’t you see why the Church cant ignore this issue? Cant you see why being “apolitical” is not an option?

Because that’s really the point isn’t it? “Oh no, church and politics shouldn’t mix.” What verse was that from again? While there might be a place where church and politics mixing is not the heathiest of ideas, this goes beyond that.

This is about justice. This should concern all of us, but especially for people who call themselves followers of Jesus, this stuff should be in our D.N.A. This is what we’re about.

 

Kimberley Brusk just nailed it – this is the point – what is your response going to be?

Justice won’t be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. BE OUTRAGED #ICantBreathe @peaceforus4ever

 

My white friends, my white family, white strangers who i don’t yet know, but who some reason have landed in this place, we are the unaffected ones [directly] and it is time for us to be outraged and informed and engaged.

Or may God have mercy on us.

Oscar Pistorius, Mark Driscoll and i walk into a bar.

 

There have been two stories dominating my Facebook feed the last day or so [i’m not even going to touch on the Renee Zellwegger face thing – we created that circus!] and they are both ones i have tried to keep largely clear of. Until now.

OSCAR GOES TO…

The Oscar Pistorius sentencing saga [because if the Twitterer is to be believed, it WAS that] which has been lurking on news headlines stuck to lampposts, Tweet Hashtags and Facebook status updates, meant that the whole trial soap opera [because it really became that, i imagine that so many of the people glued to their screens might have forgotten at some stage that they were watching a murder trial] from a year or so ago, was brought back ‘for a new season’ complete with media attention and cliff hanger.

Soon there was  commentary happening all over the place on how just or unjust the sentencing was and comparing this case to other ‘less serious’ cases with bigger sentences and focusing on how soon he will be able to get off and so on.

In the midst of it all, there was a much forgotten woman, and murder [or culpable homicide] victim, named Reeva Steenkamp. Who, in many stories had simply become ‘the girlfriend’.

This article by Kat Lister on the Huffington Post provided helpful commentary in terms of reminding us that as much as the media [and many of us] made the whole thing about Oscar, the famous guy, the celeb, the international athlete, at the heart of the story was a woman who was killed – people lost a daughter and a sister and a friend. How this has “ruined Oscar’s career” should not even be up for discussion.

Within minutes of the sentencing there were jokes happening all over the internet, with the delightful Twitterer tag #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence leading the way, because ‘humour helps us deal with tragedy’ or some other crap like that.

The reason i avoided [as much as was possible] the trial from the beginning was because of the vile fact that because Oscar Pistorius was a celebrity meant that his case was going to be treated differently. Because, having lived through O.J.Simpson and other celeb murder trials, it was obvious that it was going to become entertainment from early on. Entertainment. A murder trial. Can we just take that in for a second?

THE MARK OF GRACE

Meanwhile, across in Americaland, Mark Driscoll had finally been relieved of his position heading up one of the larger church congregations over there. Another celebrity, some less serious but still completely significant crimes and misdemeanors. There had been a number of incidents over the past couple of years and more so in recent months and eventually someone saw fit to pull the plug on is ministry.

Then today a mate posted this video where Mark was attending a conference and was called on to stage by Robert Morris, who is one of the pastors helping him through this difficult time, with this quote from Morris who says, “We’ve always got two reactions to someone in the spotlight falling…. crucify them, or forgive them, like we’ve been forgiven.”

Having followed a little bit of the Mark Driscoll story, mostly through different articles people post or tag me in, that statement really concerned me to some extent. I finally got to watch the video clip this evening and they basically call him on stage, to a standing ovation, and give him the mic, so he can talk about how badly his family has it at the moment [which is a really tragic thing on the one hand, but after announcing that Mark was humbly attending the conference just like a normal person, they then allowed the spotlight to once again be put firmly on him].

My friend Micah J. Murray summed up my thoughts really excellently in his statement that reads, “When Jesus said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was talking about protecting vulnerable people from abusive religious leaders. He was NOT talking about protecting abusive religious leaders from accountability.'”

Yes, there absolutely must be grace and forgiveness for anyone who messes up [and especially one of our own, regardless of how ‘our own’ some of us might want to see him] but that does not mean giving someone licence to unrepentantly do the same things again.

AND ME

Because really, the only person i have any control over in this situation is myself.

With scenarios like the Oscar Pistorius trial, do i allow myself to be caught up in it until it becomes an entertainment thing and is that okay? i don’t think so.

Am i sharing, liking or retweeting the jokes that are being made at his [or maybe more accurately nameless Reeva’s expense]?

Do i get caught up in the mistaken belief that this case should be any more important than any of the other hundreds [thousands?] of murder cases that are being brought to court in South Africa [some that were presumably delayed so that Oscar’s could assume center stage]?

With a situation like Mark Driscoll, am i baying for his blood [not okay] or am i screaming that he should be forgiven and shown grace to the exclusion of any form of accountability, repentance, consequence to his actions [also probably not okay]?

Am i getting caught up in judging Mark Driscoll for his actions as if he was any worse than me? Or perhaps judging those who are judging Mark Driscoll and refusing to just let him be?

Both Oscar and Mark will stand before God one day and account for their actions. And i will do the same.

[For Micah J Murray’s post, ‘When we throw stones’ which i believe is very helpful and clear, click here]

[For a post i wrote a while back after a Joel Osteen hoax on Throwing Stones, with some helpful question checks, click here]

White Privilege: Other helpful posts to help you get it

While writing a piece on White Privilege for my blog, i  have been doing a lot of reading up on articles and posts relating to the whole Ferguson situation that has been playing out in Americaland and there have been a number of really helpful ones written and here are some of those:

I loved this piece which begins with an innocent ‘interaction’ in a coffee shop that opens up to the much more hectic conversation about Ferguson and the challenge for us to stop hiding:

http://culturemulching.com/2014/08/24/how-do-we-dance-after-ferguson-for-the-privileged-vacationer 

An excellent piece from a comparative perspective of ‘If this was a white kid it would not have played out this way’ which is White Privilege to the extreme:

http://blog.mattstauffer.org/182/first-they-came-for-the-black-people-and-i-did-not-speak-out

This is a very different perspective, shared by a mother of a six year old, Keesha Beckford, with some practical ideas on what we can do to make a difference:

http://www.bonbonbreak.com/dear-white-moms

This is the piece by Elizabeth Broadbent which i already referenced [under her alias of Manic Pixie Dream Mama] from the perspective of a white mother able to spot the difference:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-broadbent/a-mothers-white-privilege_b_5698263.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black+Voices

A helpful piece using the analogy of bicycle riding in a world designed for cars, helps to bring the point across:

http://alittlemoresauce.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/what-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege

This is a visiual of the difference in reporting language for white and black crimes that is heartbreakingly indicative of the fact of White Privilege:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/media-black-victims_n_5673291.html

Had to add this one which looks at 28 common racist attitudes and behaviours and while i don’t agree completely with all of them, i do see a lot of sad truth in most of them:

https://www.stcloudstate.edu/affirmativeaction/resources/insights/pdf/28ToolsChange.pdf

And i would love to hear from you – when it comes to ‘White Privilege’ and Race Conversations, what are the articles and blog posts that have influenced you or caused you to pay extra attention of late?

Finally, a reminder from pastor Martin Niemöller which was written about the Holocaust and a reminder why it is SO IMPORTANT for white people to be having these conversations and getting personally involved in action:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[There were just too many good ones so click here for four of the best posts i read on Race/White Privilege]

 [For my original post on White Privilege, click here]