McCain, Joe the Plumber TV Ad

Has anyone seen this new TV ad from the McCain campaign? It makes a simple point and makes it clearly. Several people in the ad say, "I'm Joe the Plumber," and every one of them look the same (they are all white Americans). Now this is not about racism to me at all. This is about a failure to understand the makeup of America today, which is crucial to understanding the issues that challenge ALL Americans. America is White, Black, Asian, Latino, African, and all of these categories break down 20 times or more... including Arab... America is also Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, etc.

A fundamental problem with "McPalin" is that they don't speak to all Americans. Palin makes this clear when she differentiates true Americans from other Americans. Even if they acknowledged this only superficially as a strategic trajectory, at least they would be demonstrating intelligence and awareness. Perhaps "Tito the Builder" is a perfunctory attempt to do this?

I'm reading "Dreams of My Father" this week, and I have a greater sense of Obama's perspective. As a transnational, biracial, socio economic status straddling, class climbing, spiritual journeyman, American who has lived in places where his national origin and ethnic ambiguity has always been a cause for deep personal reflection on issues that many Americans are afraid and often don't know how to talk about, he is in many ways the very epitome of America.

Against All Odds

Poor African American males living in urban settings in the United States face a myriad of social, cultural and historical stigma, which influence and alter the ways that they engage the world around them. They face the obstacles of trying to find personal social relevance in a world that devalues them by and large. This devaluation comes primarily as the result of a legacy of racism in America. Not only are they trying to find a personal level of comfort and belonging, but they too are seeking the American Dream. It is in attempting to navigate the dominant culture in the pursuit of this dream that they often come to identify themselves as the “strange other.” This term is indicative of the fact that black males are imaged as altogether different, and perhaps even more different than any other racialized group in America. They are so different in fact that they are estranged from many other groups. They are frequently known only through stereotypical images, and framed as undisciplined, incapable of conforming to social norms, ignorant, violent, lazy, and unintelligent. The media parades images of thugs, drug dealers, and corner boys on the one side; and athletes, entertainers, and fabulously flashy preachers on the other side. One set unlawful and another set lawful, but all disparaging to some degree. Rarely are the paraded images those of scholars, doctors, lawyers, teachers, activists, and African American male professionals. It is amidst these images that many African American males fall by the wayside, while some still manage to achieve against the odds.



I have been trying to succeed against all odds ever since I was 4 years old and decided that I was the "man" of the house because I was the only "male" in the house. When I think back to my childhood growing up in Jersey City, I realize that there were a myriad of forces aligned against me... such that, just surviving to live a somewhat "normal" life is a tremendous triumph. I'm happy to be able to walk down the street, to be fairly healthy, and have my mental faculties mostly intact... Then, to have a good job, to have somehow graduated from college and gone on to graduate school, to have a good wife, own a home... things that many Americans take for granted is a bigger deal -probably- than it feels like to me. They say that I have beat the odds. They say that I should not have made it this far. They say that I am a statistical anomaly.



In a recent sermon I preached in Washington, DC, I noted:

Black men make up 6% of the general population U.S.…
…a full 35% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the U.S…
…a full 67% of all stroke victims in the U.S….
Black men are twice as likely to get cancer…

Over 70% of the black men in the U.S. are unemployed….

49% of the murder victims in the US are black, mostly male and 93% of them are killed by other black people…

Black men make up over 40% of the prison population in the U.S….
There are in fact 25% more black men in prison than in college…
AND In fact, according to statistics, only 37% of the black men enrolled in college in 2008 will actually graduate…

The odds are not on our side... But I've never been a betting man, and so, odds never meant much to me.

Palin is a Domestic Terrorist

Sarah Palin referring to Barak Obama's acquaintance with Bill Ayers as "palling around with domestic terrorists" is deplorable. It is irresponsible, offensive, and in my mind, it amounts to an act of domestic terrorism. If sitting in the Whitehouse no matter how unqualified you might be... If being so desperate to win an election that you would resort to what amounts to grade school mud slinging... If attempting to catapult yourself into a position that could, due to your ignorance, jeopardize the safety and well being of every American citizen is not an act of domestic terrorism, than I don't know what is.

Her feeble attempt to discredit Barak Obama by associating his name with the word "terrorist" is an overt act of racism that the Republican Party must denounce. It is an attempt to get people to associate Barak Obama with Islamic extremists (who by the way don't reflect the views of all Muslims), and play on a fear and contempt that many Americans have towards Arabs due to 911. A fear and contempt that aside from being greatly exaggerated, spills over to other groups who fit into stereotypical essentialist biological categories of "race" associated with an outdated archaic definition of the word. The Republican base finds this perfectly acceptable and even laudable, but if Joe Biden or Barak Obama were to make a statement that through spin and tweaking and manipulation could be made to sound sexist -like "pigs with lipstick"- then they cry foul.

Does Sarah Palin not realize that the majority in America will soon be the minority? Maybe not, she lives in Alaska!!!! She does not identify with any ethnic or religious minority in the country, which by the nature and make up of a 2008-2012 and beyond America means that she doesn't identify with America. Hint... hint... unless you are a conservative Christian white woman from a culturally/socially/politically/economically monolithic place, then she doesn't know who the hell you are... nor does she seem to possess the intelligence to learn. Well, she did learn that one speech real well, as she shows by repeating it every time she's in front of a crowd...

...I digress... furthermore... what kind of Christian ethic does this woman represent... I am a Christian, and political preferences aside, I am ashamed whenever she talks about her faith... not just because her faith is ill informed, many of us can stake that claim unfortunately... but the most basic characteristics of the Christian faith should expound humility, kindness, gentleness, compassion, peace... Sarah Palin is arrogant, divisive, coarse, and offensive.

These are the facts Palin, "Saturday's New York Times reported this about Obama's relationship with Ayers, now 63... the article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.'"

Someone who stokes the flames of racism to win an election is not what America needs in the Whitehouse. I'm praying for you Sarah. I hope you see the light!

Quitting Graduate School

Last week I considered quitting graduate school.

I started working on a 96 credit masters degree in 2004, finished that up in 2007 and went straight into a doctoral program. In that same span of time, I got married, changed jobs, moved to another state, been ordained by two different denominations, and probably several other significant things that I have forgotten. Did I mention that I drive a few hundred miles a week to get from home to work to school to home to work to school, etc.?

People often ask me,

How do you do it?

My typical response,

I love my studies. They motivate me. They give me life. When nothing else in life is going right, my studies give me a sense of purpose.

What happened? Did I stop believing this? No way! I still believe it, but I'm tired. My body is tired. I'm not eating right. I can never get to the gym to shed this 10 pounds that I hate... and while I have been diligent in my studies, I have become slothful in some other areas.

My spiritual life is in a funk. I'm not remaining vigilant...

I got an email on Friday from someone who finds inspiration in me for some reason... a classmate from last semester. Someone who's life story is parallel to mine in many ways. He said,

I miss big bro you?

I told my wife that I had considered quitting grad school, and she laughed and said,

Right?!

I said,

No seriously, but my lil bro told me not to. He didn't know it, but he did.

LOVE!!!

Democrats Get Out Your Gloves

I am very much disappointed with the lack of fight in the democratic party right now. They are allowing their thunder to be stolen by a "hockey mom." Unleash your "Righteous Rage" Obama!



I understand "race" politics, and Obama's desire to avoid doing anything that would cause him to be labeled the "angry black man." I live with this dilemma day in and day out. Making a conscious decision to keep silent for fear that my passion would be labeled as anger, and my convictions would be called "scary." I know what it feels like to want to respond and yet feel handcuffed at the same time. If that's the real issue, then Joe Biden should be the mouthpiece. Where are you Joe? What kind of wingman are you that doesn't fend off the wayward blows being thrown out by a rival? AND race politic and all doesn't mean that they can't hammer McCain for lying!



McCain wants a town hall meeting, dammit give it to him right now and attack every lie his campaign has sponsored for the last 2 weeks!

Blog Block

For some reason I haven't been able to consistently sit down and blog. I would really like to, so I'm not sure what the problem is... I love to write and can write lengthy pieces very easily, so that should not be a hindrance. As a matter of fact, I would rather read my writing, than to hear myself talk. LOL. Except when I am preaching. I like to hear that because it helps me to identify things I need to improve on. Perhaps its because I feel that a lot of my ideas are extreme and oppositional to the status quo. Maybe I am afraid that if the part of America that I try to appease by "doing the right thing" would frown upon hearing what I really feel. My wife would say, "since when do you care what other people think?" That's kind of my mantra... not that I completely don't care, BUT I don't care if you disagree with me so I say what I say. You know? I do so with discretion though... I mean, I don't think that everything you want to say should be said. By the same token, everything that you want to write or blog shouldn't be written down or blogged... especially not blogged. Because the world has access to your thoughts when you blog. Some things are still private... even in the age of information... unless you are running for president that is... Stay tuned...

Nana

I grew up with a grandmother who is spiritual to the core. Not so much in her church going habits, her religiosity, or her high moral standards, but in her clinging to her faith as the only truth that was really worth anything. No matter what, there were Bibles on the kitchen table, and they were never for show. She read these Bibles over and over, year after year. They accompanied her through life’s ups and downs and when she found herself laying face down in one of life’s valleys, she would open up these Bibles and just read them. She read them laughing... She read them crying... She read them to herself... She read them out loud... She them when she needed an answer... She read them to find a question... She read them... and she still does. They gave her peace. They instilled something in her that stilled the stormy waters of her not so perfect life and helped her to get up every time she was knocked down. Just a few days ago she was telling me that she was talking to God, and she is so certain that God hears every word. Ever so sincere and unpretentious as she is. She’s just a simple woman, but there is something within her that shines through and enables her to see beyond life’s disappointments to something greater, and whether you agree or disagree about what that something is, you feel the energy and power that it generates in her. She can touch you and heal your broken heart. She can speak a word to you to encourage your wounded soul. Its something wonderful that God put inside of her. Its like a balm that heals the oppression of dreams unfulfilled and hopes deferred. It's one of the things that makes me believe "I can." That's Nana, and I am a better person from knowing her.

The Korean Concept of Han

Andrew Sung Park makes a compelling argument for a rereading of the scriptures by most western Christians. He argues that the scriptures clearly show that Jesus came into the world to free those who have been wronged from the grief they suffer and the burdens they carry from having been wronged, and to forgive the wrongdoers.

Citing Mark 2:17 (New King James Version)

17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

If the major concern of the Bible is caring for the afflicted, liberating the downtrodden, and freeing the oppressed, then surely we must learn to read the Bible from the perspective of the oppressed. Unfortunately, traditional Christian theologies have typically read the Bible from the perspective of sinners (oppressors), “emphasizing Jesus’ redemptive work for them.”

"Whenever the powerful exercise control over the interpretation of the Bible, the interpretation is usually bound to be unilateral for them."

Those in power often used the Hebrew Scriptures as a tool of oppression and captivity, and it was often the voice of the Old Testament prophet who cried out against this type of oppression and called people to account for their misuse of God’s name. Jesus was such a figure in the New Testament. He protested the mistreatment of the people, the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the impoverished, who were suffering at the hands of the religious elite. He demanded that people be freed from the tyrannical laws, abstruse codes, and ritualism imposed on them by the religious folk – This should be scaring some people.

Constantinian Christianity has always focused of the powerful -- Those who beg forgiveness without giving due heed to the “deep pain of the sinned-against.”

"Whenever the Bible was in the hands of religious leaders and political rulers, its hermeneutic was in danger of being distorted."

We live in an age marked by clear division between the “haves and the have-nots.” When interpretation of the Bible is in the hands of the “well to do,” they will inevitably understand the Bible from the perspective of their own experiences, and this will only lead to neglect of those who Jesus came to touch, to heal, and to deliver.

“Han” can be described as the “the experience of the powerless, the marginalized, and the voiceless in the world.” It is the painful scar of having been sinned against. It rests as a yoke on the neck of the oppressed. It looks like helplessness, and it partners with despair. It is a void.

"The abysmal darkness of wounded human beings."

"Han is a physical, mental, and spiritual repercussion to a terrible injustice done to a person, eliciting a deep ache, a wrenching of all the organs, an intense internalized or externalized rage, a vengeful obsession and the sense of helplessness and hopelessness."

Those who suffer at the hands of Han can resolve it in one of two ways… they can seek revenge, or they can use it as a source of transforming power. Holding on to Han only deepens the pain.

The New Testament was primarily written for a people who were “persecuted and sinned-against;” however, the keepers of Christianity today have often failed to uphold its tradition in the west. We have taken Christianity and used it as a tool to free us from the guilt of our own sin, the culpability of the misuses of our time, our resources, our talents, and our energy… We have failed to reach out to the orphan, the widow and the stranger in our midst. The sin of alienation, mistreatment, and marginalization can cause a human being to become maladjusted, but is one to be blamed for this maladjustment? Does this maladjustment have anything at all to do with an inner attitude of defiance or anger, or of a self imposed alienation? OR is this psychological alienation the result of a society alienated from one who it sees as less than, as not good enough, as not wealthy enough, as not beautiful enough, as not white enough, as not thin enough, as not smart enough, as not strong enough, as not from the right side of town, as not…

…Justice will never be accomplished with a unilateral view of sin… we must strive to see sin from the side of the persecuted, the guiltless… the victims of sin, if we are ever to see the “captives set free."