Ursula Le Guin’s haunting story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” imagines a village where everyone is happy, fulfilled, loving and loved. The price for this happiness is revealed to young people coming of age (spoiler alert!) They learn that there is a child living in abject misery. As long as this one child is suffering, then the rest of the community can be happy. At this coming of age moment, the young person must decide: to stay, content and in a beautiful happy village, or to leave. They must decide if this one miserable, dirty, despairing, life matters. If they stay, they have assented: This life does not matter.
People like me, who have been living in the happy world of middle-class white existence, are having our coming-of-age moment. It’s true that I’ve been exposed many times in my life to the the reality that there are those whose lives don’t matter.
I saw it when I learned about slavery, the Civil War, the Jim Crow years, the Civil Rights struggle, the Rodney King beating and trial. I saw it when I learned about the Holocaust. I experienced it when I came out as a lesbian, became friends with gay, bi, and trans people. I faced it again when I used a wheelchair, lost some of my hearing, nearly lost my sight. I lived it when my income dropped dangerously low.
Each of those times I faced the decision. Would I focus on the illusion of the American Dream and continue to be complicit in the idea that some lives don’t matter, or would I walk away from the social contract that requires some to suffer in order that others might live well.
Each time was an opportunity to act against the belief that some lives mattered less. Sometimes I squandered my opportunity.
Right now, we all have an opportunity. This is our coming of age moment. This is the moment when we who are “white” can answer the question “How would I have responded if I lived during the Civil Rights struggle?”
My siblings of color have been, like the child in the Omelas story, suffering. They continue to suffer and to die. As in the story, it is hard to put one’s finger on who is the ultimate author of that suffering. But it is easy to allow it to continue.
When I look away, I am complicit. When I focus on, “Can’t we all just get along?” I am complicit. When I say, “I wish the activists would just focus on being peaceful” I am complicit. Inaction and complaints are not undoing oppression. Statements like these blame the oppressed for not struggling against their oppression the “right” way. Enough.
I wish to be one of the ones who walks away from Omelas.
Won’t you join me?
I continue to search my heart and conscience about how I can best contribute to creating the world we dream of: a world that does not rely on the belief that some lives don’t matter. But, I am not waiting until I have the perfect answer (that way lies inaction). I am doing my one small thing each day.
The CUUPS membership will be able to do one small thing next week when we vote to endorse a #BlackLivesMatter statement. It is immediately below. Please make sure to vote YES.
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The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Inc., affirms the intention of all members and friends to be in solidarity with those seeking justice and an end to violence. We are called to dialogue, action and maintaining a “a strong voice” to end systematic dehumanizing of anyone due to race, religion, or the prejudicial thinking we put between ourselves and others. We honor all members of the human family on our beloved planet called Earth.
We, the members of CUUPS, Inc., are witnesses and call on members and friends to act as partners in the work to create more justice in our broader communities. We wish to express our deep sadness and outrage in the wake of the numerous and ongoing deaths of black and brown people. None of us can be truly safe or free when some lives have value and others don’t. The sacred value of a human life is not superficial.
We must each find the way in which our own gifts meet the need of the world. For some that will be participating in protests on the streets. For some that will be supporting the protesters through concrete or emotional means. For some it will mean writing and talking. For some it will mean getting educated further about unlearning racism. For some it will mean doing research into root causes or effective ways to create more justice; or creating safe spaces for the anger and rage and violence within to be expressed and released. For others it will be providing training and learning opportunities for others.
In particular, we call on every white person to boost the voices of people of color, to renew soul searching for the dimensions of your own white privilege, to find the ways you are called to interrupt the culture of racism, and to take action.
Those of us who look to earth-based or Pagan spiritual sources have particular resources to offer. We offer the soul-enriching connection to earth. We offer ritual and pageantry. We offer theo/alogies of celebration of difference.
Whatever the shape of your calling, follow it. Let us remain faithful to the work that must be done and dedicate ourselves to building a world where injustice is only a memory. We urge all siblings in the human family to return to the sacred sources that feed our deepest selves and remind us that we are beloved children of the divine, woven into one tapestry. Our world can be a better one. We must do the difficult work to make it so. #BlackLivesMatter
Suggested actions include:
- Connect with the group “Showing Up for Racial Justice” www.showingupforracialjustice.org
- Partner with others in your faith communities to read and reflect together on a book such as one by Ta-Nehesi Coates, Michelle Alexander, or Crystal Blanton.
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