{"id":2199,"date":"2014-01-20T18:45:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T23:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oshetablogs.wordpress.com\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2014-01-20T18:45:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T23:45:44","slug":"this-is-how-we-do-it-a-compilation-of-voices-for-reconcillation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shalominthecity\/2014\/01\/this-is-how-we-do-it-a-compilation-of-voices-for-reconcillation\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is How We Do It! A Compilation of Voices for Reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Yesterday in church we had a guest speaker, Efrain Alicea, \u201cBrother E\u201d,\u00a0 pastor of Elements Church in the Bronx<\/a>.\u00a0 His church uses hip hop to reach the 18-25 demographic and he shared a powerful story of how he found his voice and calling in hip hop while on a date with a girl. Right before he went in to \u201cmake his move\u201d\u00a0 he heard these words by Wonder Mike in \u201cRappers Delight\u201d playing from the street:<\/p>\n

I am Wonder Mike, and I\u2019d like to say hello,
\nTo the black, to the white, the red and the brown,
\nThe purple and yellow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brother E\u2019s life was changed by the barrier-braking power of those words.\u00a0 He was invited into the hip hop community with a welcome and a promise.\u00a0 A promise from Wonder Mike that he belongs, even though he as a young Puetro-rican man was hard-pressed to find representation of his brown skin in media, this space called hip hop was for him and all people regardless of the color of their skin.<\/p>\n

When I heard his story I realized reconciliation begins when we acknowledge one another as equals and invite them into community with us with a welcome and a promise that they belong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s\u00a0 post feels like that moment to me.\u00a0 In response to \u201cOh Honey\u201d posts and pingbacks from white bloggers began rolling into my inbox.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a> The barrier-breaking words of these dear sisters reminded me of Brother E\u2019s sermon, so sat back and said, \u201coh my word\u201d.\u00a0 Reconciliation was happening.\u00a0 Community was being inaugurated.\u00a0 We were welcoming one another and promising that regardless of our skin color\u2014we belong.<\/p>\n

These women are seeking reconciliation, they want to do shalom with me, and even though so many emailed me saying, \u201cI want to start the conversation, but I don\u2019t know how\u201d, they put their brave on and wrote some amazing pieces.\u00a0<\/strong> So, this morning, I put a call out to my blogging friends to share with me anything they\u2019ve written on racism and reconciliation, first with my sisters in the Story Sessions<\/a> and then a few others via email.\u00a0 And true story, y\u2019all: when their stories came in, I stood up and did a dance to Montell Jordan\u2019s, \u201cThis is how we do it\u201d!<\/p>\n

\"this-is-how-we-do-it-o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes! This is how we do it!\u00a0 This is how we do Shalom<\/a> together. \u00a0 For those of you who want to write about race, but feel at a loss, here are some of my friends\u2019 words.\u00a0 I hope they inspire and challenge you like they did for me.<\/p>\n

First up, the post the inspired today\u2019s post from Sheri Dacon Let\u2019s Talk About Race {Oops, My Privilege Is Showing}\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

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For what it\u2019s worth, I for one, am sorry.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m sorry for burying my head in the sand and thinking that just being nice would make hundreds of years of persecution and injustice go away.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry for mistakenly assuming that since it wasn\u2019t my generation who inflicted the pain, that I am free to ignore the past.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry for blindly and glibly assuming that my successes and advantages in life had nothing to do with society\u2019s assessment and expectations of me based upon my skin color.<\/p>\n

I want to understand.\u00a0 I want to listen.\u00a0 I want to notice and to have conversations and to live the truth, especially in front of my children<\/em>, that there is no \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>There is only \u201cwe.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free,\u00a0nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong>Galatians 3:28<\/b><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Esther Emery: The Scariest Thing I Saw on Halloween (this is about racial reconciliation)<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know much about racial reconciliation. But this is what I know so far. Somehow we have to reverse the flow of energy. Historically it has run white into dark, conqueror into conquered, North into South. But I know what it feels like, when it flows the other way. And I want that. And in some profound way\u2026the only way I can get it is to be invited.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Adela Just: Healing the Race Wounds<\/a><\/p>\n

The context of this conversation was set against the deep racial wounds being exposed by the Trayvon Martin\/George Zimmerman trial.\u00a0 Truthfully, the depth of it all surprised me.\u00a0 Not because I\u2019m so naive as to think racism no longer exists in this country, but because I forget what a unique thing it is to grow up in an environment where racial differences were secondary to shared faith and purpose, where friendships were forged by what we had in common.\u00a0 And when challenges did arise, they were navigated in the context of covenant relationships<\/strong> \u2013 we were committed to each other no matter what.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Cari Adel:\u00a0 Faithful Slaves and Fugitive Whites \u2013 How Do You Remember the Past<\/a><\/p>\n

Time passes and history scars over.\u00a0 New subdivisions are built and the hanging tree is chopped down.\u00a0 And people talk about the good old days and how we can get back to them and how many laws will it take.<\/p>\n

But a nostalgic look at the past only serves to blind us to our own capacity for hate and fear.\u00a0 When we act like it was all \u2018back then\u2019, things are different now, the rebellion is over, the war is over, racism is dead, and we don\u2019t even care about the words we tell ourselves in our monuments, we aren\u2019t facing the fact that it isn\u2019t over.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Jen Hatmaker (I grabbed this one for the compilation. Although I love, love, love Jen,\u00a0 I don\u2019t want y\u2019all to think I roll with her like \u201cHey Jen, contribute to my post\u201d\u00a0 and she\u2019s all like, \u201cFo Sho, O!\u201d But this is one of the best examples of starting the conversation and acknowledging privilege I\u2019ve ever read):\u00a0 Dear Trayvon\u2019s Mom<\/a><\/p>\n

Sybrina, please envision me getting down on my knees in front of you, this white mama, and asking you to forgive me. I never understood the systemic racism that persists in this country, because I didn\u2019t have to<\/i>. The system is structured to grant me privileges and power through no merit of my own; simply by virtue of my skin color. This same system denies and protects this oppressive hierarchy, conditioning white people to not even see it.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Jane Argiero: Could George Zimmerman Be My Son<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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I am slow to interpret things as \u201cracist\u201d because, as a white person, I can be.<\/em> This is sobering realization. Once again, I see how easy it is for myself, as a Caucasian person, to remain oblivious to the bias of my perceptions. Without the mirror of Jason and other friends, I would never have to call into question my motives or assumptions, and I most likely would never be able to see the prejudices therein.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Nicole Jeanette: Thoughts on Dr. King From a White Woman<\/a><\/p>\n

It is of utmost importance to realize what an incredible influence Dr. King had on our country. To not look back today and recognize the progress in equality that we as a country have made would be to trivialize Dr. King\u2019s work. However, while as individuals we may feel that we are living in a post-racial era, I think we, people of all colors of skin, need to realize that as a culture we are just not there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This husband and wife response to racism and raising a mixed child moved me!<\/p>\n

From TJ and Jason Poon:<\/p>\n

Jason\u2019s thoughts: My Ethnical\u00a0Dilemma<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The message from these stories is clear to me: it\u2019s better to be white. You get the job even if you didn\u2019t work for it. You are marriage material. You don\u2019t get called names. So when I told TJ my hope for our daughter\u2019s appearance, I was wishing she wouldn\u2019t experience the same pains I did growing up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

TJ\u2019s thoughts: A Hard\u00a0Look<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Why was I more determined to defend a stranger than I was willing to put myself in my husband\u2019s shoes and try to see the situation through his lens? More importantly, how does my \u201cdefault\u201d setting to defend perpetuate the marginalization and silencing of ethnic minority voices, despite what my intentions are?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Lisa, writer behind \u201cLisa Notes\u201d: But what will happen to me? On discrimination<\/a><\/p>\n

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But what can I do about it?\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

I know the call.<\/a><\/b> It\u2019s to \u201cdo good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow\u2019s cause\u201d<\/i> (Isaiah 1:17<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But how?<\/p>\n