Racism, White Privilege and Black Lives Matter

“As I see it”

Racism, White Privilege and Black Lives Matter

Live from Lynn, it’s “Godspell”.

Hello, this is Fr Paul Bresnahan, priest of the Episcopal Church.

It has been a few weeks since we last visited. I took a break for Father’s Day and some  family time.

Welcome back to “Godspell”: a time to spell it out.

Who is God, and how is God involved in our lives?

“Godspell” is a nice old English word for the Gospel or, what I call, the language of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Silence

Blessed be God; The Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. 

And blessed be God’s Kingdom for ever and ever. Amen

Collect at a time of Conflict: 

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us,

in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront

one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work

together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42

Jesus said; ’Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

In the Name of God; The Most Holy, Undivided, and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Friends I begin a new segment today; “As I see it”; Racism, White Privilege and Black Lives Matter

While I was the rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Euclid, Ohio in 1983-1990, the question of Integration came up in the city schools. The Clergy Association wanted to avoid the subject. So the Black Baptist Minister, The Rabbi and and I went to work on a collaborative effort. Yes I know; “the minister the rabbi and the priest” sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Well we did have fun together. We took on the school committee, the city government and yes, in the end we integrated the public schools peacefully. Each of us, by the way had children in the system, so we put ourselves and our families on the line.

There is always an undercurrent of Racism going on in every corner of life and at all levels of society. Once Sunday just before the Eucharist, a parishioner approached me seething with contempt; “You G. D. Irish, you’re just an N-word turned inside out.” I was somewhat taken aback, but thankfully I did have the presence of mind to thank him for the compliment. 

Racism friends. We were brought up with it and live in it as a reality. My grandmother played the N-word pool. Nowadays that is called the State Lottery. The N-word and other epithets were used frequently. After my mother re-married and we became solidly middle class; my step-father who was an executive in a major corporation used to say “Why don’t those lazy epithet deleted go to work?” and then almost in the same breath he’d say “I would’t hire one of those lazy epithet deleted to work for me!” I did have the presence of mind to challenge him saying “How then can a black man get a job in your world?” 

Racism is alive and well in our whole white world.

Therefore, especially in the context of this moment in history I would like to begin by speaking with you my white friends about White Privilege. You may or may not realize it but we are all children of extraordinary entitlement.

In my case alone let me describe where I began my journey as a child of White Privilege. To be sure, it was a modest beginning in a Blue Collar family on a single parent’s income.

My mom did have a full time job with full benefits including health care, sick leave and paid vacation. She worked payroll in a bank and was paid a different pay scale than men doing the same work. She was told the men had families to support. My mother asked: “What do you think I have; sliced liverwurst?” This often repeated story led me to become a feminist of sorts if you want to call me that.

We had three squares and a roof over our heads. There were two grocery stores within walking distance of our home. My mom eked out enough to buy a modest house in a working class neighborhood in West Somerville which is close to Boston where she worked. 

We had outstanding health care. We had a family doctor and when there were health issues we all went to Massachusetts General Hospital. That’s la crème de la crème of health care in the United States.

Our schools required the best of us. There were good teachers, new text books and clean buildings. We were instilled with confidence in our future and we were disciplined firmly but fairly. 

On the matter of public safety, the police were there to serve and protect us. Jimmy the cop knew us by name and if there were scrapes with the law, he’d take us by the ear to the house where we received yet more discipline. He was one of us. All of our police were one of us in those days. Irish ones of us. On the way home from school Jimmy often gave us a few M&M’s and stopped the traffic to make it safe for us to cross busy Somerville Avenue. We all loved Jimmy because he loved us. Perhaps you are beginning to see where I am coming from and where I am headed with this notion of White Privilege. 

The bus to Lechmere station was a block away. We had access to the entire subway system that could take us to the Beach, all the Boston Museums or to downtown shopping. All within a short walk away. We were welcome everywhere. It was all ours. 

We were free go to the public parks and play in safety. While we had to be street smart, we never had to fear anything like drug dealers or serious crime of any sort. That kind of thing was unheard of then. 

We all paid our taxes. During the Eisenhower years the Rich paid a whole chunk of taxation, far more than they pay now.

All this was a given. Good Jobs. Good Food. Excellent Health Care. Good Public Education. Cops who cared. Good public transportation. Free Access to Parks and Recreation, Beaches and cultural enrichment. And the Rich paid their taxes and paid the bulk of the bill.

Listen up my fellow white folks. All of this is denied. Let me repeat; All of this is systemically denied to Black folks, people of color and other minority people. As to Native folks, they didn’t even get that far but were herded off to reservations to fend for themselves. To be sure there has been some progress. But to be very sure the vast majority our our sisters and brothers of color have been been given the very short end of the stick.

We’ve been down this road before. Race riots are nothing new in America. The Tulsa event is just one of many. After the Chicago Race Riots of 1919, a panel of 6 blacks and 6 whites met to make sure this would never happen again. In that case, a black teenager went swimming and strayed into the white section of a beach in Lake Michigan. He was stoned and drowned. The police refused to arrest anybody. Riots ensued. Pent up rage burst forth. The final report of 1921 urged us to be fair to black folks and make sure they had jobs, health care, decent housing and good public education. You guessed it. Nothing happened. Chicago and other American cities continue on their merry de facto segregated way denying the basics of what White Privilege gives to us as a matter of course.

For Black Lives to Matter we white folks need to step up to the plate and make sure Black Lives Matter. I know All Lives Matter. But when you say that to me, you’re letting yourselves off the hook. We cannot say All Lives Matter until we put some heft into the words Black Lives Matter. We cannot erase 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism without making things right.

If you want Peace here’s what’s going to happen. You must step up to the plate and provide Justice first. Here is a partial prescription.

One. You must provide good paying jobs to everyone in this country who wants to work. The rate of pay must be at least twice the poverty rate. After all the years of slavery, this is the least you can do. Make sure everybody has a good job. This means all poor folks in Appalachia too who have been sold a bill of goods by that New York snake oil salesman. The rate of unemployment in the Coal Fields of West Virginia still remains near 70%. 

Two. Make sure there are Black owned, Black managed and Black staffed grocery stores in every inner city neighborhood. Same thing in Appalachia and all of rural America…local ownership, management and staff.

Three. Provide good housing throughout America. Locally owned, built by local tradesmen and women. 

Four. Make sure everyone has first rate health care. Period.

Five. Provide first rate public schools. Led by and taught by people from the neighborhoods. 

Six. Rethink Public Safety. As a priest of 48 years, I’ve had to do”pa-lenty” of soul searching every step of the way. At the very least the police should be from and live in the neighborhoods they serve and protect. 

Seven. Provide good public transportation to make sure everyone can get to work, shop, cultural attractions, parks and recreation and churches, synagogues, and mosques. 

Eight. Provide nice Parks and Beaches and Cultural enrichment for all.

Nine. You may ask; how are we going to pay for all this? That really is quite easy. You pay for it. In your taxes. There was a time when rich folks paid their fair share and it wasn’t all that long ago. In the fifties during the Eisenhower Administration, you rich folks ponied up big time and there was a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the rest of us. 

It is time again for you to pony up. After 400 years of slavery and oppression all we are asking for is a fair shake. Did you notice? Jesus said so in today’s Gospel; “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

When I was growing up, one income provided for all the necessities of life; housing, food, education, health care, vacations and so on. I could work summers and pay for my tuition and housing. No more. The Reagan “trickle down” sleight of hand has hood winked us all into quiescence. Now we’re working two and three jobs just to tread water. The harder we work the further behind we get.

This is the essence of the Green New Deal but I hasten to add we cannot merely ask for it politely. We will have to “take it”. One thing I do know about White Power is that mere moral suasion is not sufficient to effect change. We have known the difference between right and wrong for a very long time. And still we traded in human lives as if they were property. If anyone knows about “taking” what’s theirs it would be the Irish. We simply took over the government and it was ours!

No. It is time for us to vote. Black and white, rich and poor, male female and every orientation in the rainbow, young and old alike. Honorable and decent people everywhere must be done with this national nightmare that has so clouded the good name of America to make us the Pariah among Nations. 

So listen up all you who have taken to the streets. Keep it up. Don’t let up for a minute. March, organize and vote and then as the Good Book says; “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” ~Amos 5:24

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

Amen.

Prayers for the Church and the World.

I ask you prayers for Jackie Smith Miller form First Parish Church in Duxbury. She had a massive stroke last night and is not expected to live beyond today. Peace be upon her and may light Perpetual shine upon her. 

And for Nicolina recovering from surgery in North Caroline. Please say a word for her too.

Lord’s Prayer

A Blessing

See that ye be at peace among yourselves, 

and love one another.

Follow the example of the wise and good

and God will comfort you and help you,

both in this world

and in the world which is to come.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

May He bring you home rejoicing

once again into our doors.

And may the Blessing of God the Most holy undivided and everlasting Trinity be upon you this day and always. Amen.

God  Bless us everyone!

Fr Paul

Red Headed Women and Whiskey!

Red Headed Women and Whiskey!

Jesus said; “Love your enemies.” 

I find that difficult to do sometimes, particularly in the present political context in this country. We are so divided now. Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, Citizens and Immigrants, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Atheists. The rancor among us is palpable.

All this made me think of a time when I found myself in the hotbed of controversy over the building of a homeless shelter in Saint Albans, West Virginia. Our church operated what was called Christ’s Kitchen, a free breakfast and lunch program for the poor in the midst of a challenging neighborhood. There were a number of homeless folks who lived along the riverbank and under a bridge. One especially stormy night a small band of homeless folk put together a makeshift shelter of cardboard boxes. They set a fire to keep warm. Things got out of control and when the smoke cleared three people had died. 

The press came by to investigate. We went over to the site of the fire and in what was one of the most pitiful things I’ve ever seen, I watched as the department of Public Works cleared the scene of all the worldly possessions of the homeless and the police gave tickets to them for littering and vagrancy. Not only had they lost their friends in the fire, all their worldly possessions were gone and they were facing court action and fines for the crime of being homeless. The reporter and I documented and published the sequence of events.

We went back to Christ’s Kitchen to collect ourselves in the aftermath of all this trauma. And then in a moment of inspiration, I said; “Give me your tickets!”. The reporter and I went out to the front steps of the church and I brandished the tickets in front of a camera and announced that the police had harassed the homeless at the direction of the city authorities, and that I had taken the tickets into my possession and if the courts wanted to collect fines they’d have to get the money out of me. The story made it to the front page of the Charleston Gazette

The response from the city was predictable. The next morning I arrived at my office to see my secretary in tears and she told me that the President of the City Council had called and and was in a state of outrage. He said to her and I quote; “Those Irish, the only thing they brought to this country was red headed women and whiskey”. The press were there waiting for a quote from me. I was ready;

“I’ll have one of each!” said I.

Thus began a sequence of events that led to the building of a homeless shelter. I shall never forget all the parishioners, community leaders, lawyers, police, civic leaders and so on who became a part of a collaborative effort to build that shelter. What had begun in controversy and confrontation, eventually became a galvanizing rally point for constructive cooperative ministry. It began however with with my willingness to serve as a lightning rod!

When Jesus tells us to turn the cheek and to love our enemies, I don’t think he means that we are to roll over and play dead in the midst of conflict. Rather I think Jesus wants us to engage one another honestly and creatively in a way that leads to reconciliation. That’s how it all worked out for us in Saint Albans. West Virginia. 

Things don’t always work out so well. When Jesus confronted the religious authorities of his day, he overturned the tables in the Temple precincts and then there was the trial, the execution, and the dreadful death of Jesus.

But even then, even then at the very point of his deepest moment of suffering Jesus found it within him to say; “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

“You have heard that it was said of old ‘An eye for an eye’”

The bankruptcy of that ethic was clear to Jesus. As it was to Mahatma Gandhi who is quoted as having said;

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth merely leaves the whole world blind and toothless!”

Jesus insisted that we love our enemies.

Is such redemption possible in this nation and in this world of mutually exclusive opposites; particularly when our President seems to revel in insulting and alienating so many? Not only are we a divided nation, but the wedge between us seems to widen by the day. 

I believe it takes much conflict and confrontation to work out the particulars of our reconciliation. We must be outspoken in our advocacy. Particularly as Christians and other folks of faith, we must speak up on behalf of the poor, the outcast, the marginalized and the alien among us. The ethical biblical mandate requires us to do so.

You did hear that verse from Leviticus in today’s first lesson? When describing the farmer’s duties when harvesting, the Biblical ethic requires that the margins of the farmer’s field be left for the benefit of the poor and the alien among them. And then the Scripture says; “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself!”. 

No doubt you will remember that when Jesus described our neighbor he singled out the Samaritan. Samaritans were despised by the general population of the day. They were foreigners, and their religion was “different”. I’m sure there were those who would have deported them all back to Samaria if they had it in their power to do so.

Foreigners! My grandmother, God rest her soul, used to say that it was the Irish who ruined Boston. That tells you what she thought of my dad especially after that nasty divorce.

She also made me promise on the family bible that I would never marry an Italian. I promised! Obviously I broke that promise. And I’m glad I did. But my grandmother is fine about all that now that she’s got it all straight in heaven. 

There always has been  prejudice based on race, ethnicity, class, national origin, language, gender and orientation. There always will be. Folks have put folks in pigeon holes for ever.

But what of Jesus? Did he reject the outcast, the sick, the poor, the blind, the lame or the lepers. Did he reject the prostitutes or the tax collectors or look his nose down at common fisherfolk?

Who did Jesus reject?

The only folks Jesus had trouble with were the religious literalists of his day who kept trying to catch him up in his words. Ultimately, he found a way to love them too!

Is there any hope for America and our sad divisions?

There is this one thought. It is a reach but let me mention the hope I have for this country. The American Bald Eagle. It is a magnificent symbol for this nation. Ben Franklin thought it might be safer to use the Turkey as the symbol of this nation given the factious nature and level of intelligence of far too many.

But if we could be inspired by the symbol of our nation’s greatness, then hope is possible. Look what it takes for an Eagle to fly. It takes both wings; the left wing as well as the right wing. And no matter how far out those feathers are, they all work together for a purpose. 

Dare we hope that we could honor one another in this country, and across the great divides that appear to be at such variance? This is a great dare. I’m not sure we can do that. But if we could, the Eagle would do more than fly, it could soar!

Clearly this is one of the reasons Jesus told us to “Love our enemies”. He also told us that he expected us to be perfect as God in heaven is perfect. This is where I fall short of the mark. I can get hurt. I can get angry. My feelings can even verge far too close to hateful. This is not what Jesus had in mind when he asked me to be perfect. 

When I become aware that I have strayed a bit too far from the desirable perfection that Jesus has in mind, I look for a way to return to him with all my heart. Righteousness is a corrective then to our behavior. When I veer off to the left or to the right of that righteous line, Jesus beckons me to return. After all we are called to be perfect even as God in heaven is perfect. 

When the Chief Executive governing officer of these United States of America revels in mockery and disparaging disrespect we have a problem at the very heart and soul of the nation. Likewise the Press, and all up and down the body politic of this nation. Are we enemies who insist on our hatefulness? Or can we find our way to Peace once more with Freedom and Justice for All?

Will this Eagle soar? Or will its broken wings confine itself to the ground? 

It took some time, everyone had to swallow some pride but the President of St Albans City Council and I came to a deeper understanding, appreciation and respect for one another. So too with the Police. I often brought donuts to the break room as a peace offering. And when a K-9 was cut down in the line of duty, the Baptist minister refused to bury the dog. Apparently the dog was not regarded as having a soul. But one of the police officers knew I’d bury the dog. Fr. Paul, they knew had a heart for all God’s creation.

All in God’s good time. All is made well. Peace reigns. The homeless shelter is built. Perfection is Present to us even if only for a brief and fleeting moment. 

What of America here and now? Will we seek peace and justice once more? Or rather will we insist on characterizing one another as enemies. Jesus tells us that we must love our enemies. Jesus tells us to be perfect as God in Heaven wants you to be Perfect. Will we seek God's will or our own? How we answer that question will make all the difference.

In the Name of God the most Holy, Undivided, and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.