Finer Music

Excerpts from Zadie Smith, at a speech in Germany in 2016, from the essay collection Feel Free. Progress is never permanent, will always be threatened, must be redoubled, restated and reimagined if it is to survive. People who believe in fundamental and irreversible changes in human nature are themselves ahistorical and naive. If novelists know anything it’s that individual citizens are internally plural: they have within them the full range of behavioral possibilities. They are like complex musical scores from which certain melodies can be teased out and others ignored or suppressed, depending, at least in part, on who is doing the conducting. At this moment, all over the world — and most recently in America — the conductors standing in front of this human orchestra have only the meanest and most banal melodies in mind. Here in Germany you will remember these martial songs; they are not a very distant memory. But there is no place on earth where they have not been played at one time or another. Those of us who remember, too, a finer music must try now to play it, and encourage others, if we can, to sing along.

Love and Justice

Love and justice.  We need both.  Love doesn't mean feeling a certain way. It means actions that care for others.  Justice doesn't mean an abstract notion of fairness, or punishing transgressors, but a system of government, laws, policy, enforcement, and public sentiment that prioritizes the well-being of all over the privileges of some.

We can disagree over specifics, but when we take one short step back from concrete policies to the values behind them, our blind spots come clear.  Just after a friend told me that his nephew had been shot dead by a relative, the New York Times reported that January 23rd had seen the eleventh school shooting in 2018.  To our shame as a country, we have failed to protect all citizens in order to privilege a virtually unregulated use of lethal objects by a few, and the profits of those who equip them.

While this injustice remains, love is at work. In a Momastery blog post called, "Share this with all the schools, please" Glennon Doyle explains the systematic efforts, over years, of one math teacher to identify and remedy the kind of alienation among her students that could lead to another Columbine-style school shooting.  With math! And love.
http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/30/share-schools/.

A Litany for Justice and Equality

Litany for Justice and Equality (in honor of Martin Luther King)            by Fran Pratt

Oh God, we are reminded today of Your infinite Love for all people:
         All races
All colors
         All political affiliations
All religious persuasions
         All social classes
All economic statuses
         All nations.
We confess our tendency to think that we are the best,
our perspective the most righteous.
         Forgive us our arrogance, Oh God.
We confess our tendency to judge others, and to condemn those we find unworthy.
         Forgive us our impertinence, Oh God.

We see others with criticism.
         You see us all with love-filled eyes.
We see only in part.
         You see the world with infinite wisdom.
We see the external.
         You see the heart.

Mold us to Your way.
         Form us to Your heart.
Shape us with love.
         Make us new with grace.

Our way is not of violence and empire, but in the power and beauty of the cross.
            Our faith is not in politics, but in the transforming love of Christ.
May we work diligently to help meet the needs of those You love,
 both physical and spiritual.
            May our eyes be opened to the value and worth of each person we meet. 
May Your kingdom come, Your will be done
            On earth as it is in heaven. Amen

Other MLK sermons, litanies and essays can be found at textweek.com.

Dorothy is Door-knocking!

I was catching up with friend and neighbor Dorothy over the holidays.  After we shook our heads over the political situation, I asked if she was taking any action.  Indeed she is!  She has been door-knocking on Saturday mornings for the Orange County Democratic Party.  She is using the "Neighbors in Action" approach of listening to people about what matters to them and building relationships, to prepare for political action closer to the 2018 elections.

I have heard all about this, but haven't quite stepped up to doing it myself.  Dorothy noted that door-knocking is out of her comfort zone, but that she has been pleasantly surprised that people are almost all friendly and want to be listened to!

We in Orange County are fortunate to be in a place where our action for the 2018 elections can make a difference.  Door-knocking is out of the comfort zone of most people.  But if Dorothy can do it, so can we!  (I'll let you know how it goes...)

Old Story, New Setting

Your inspiration for the week... or maybe just mine.

Joseph y Maria, Art by Everett Patterson.

Look closely for details of the bible story.  The need we have for hope that oppression, greed and violence can be overcome has been shared by most of humanity through most of history.  We are not alone.  

The Power of Story

Your inspiration for the week...

I spent all of Saturday December 9 in a tent with nearly 200 progressive organizers. In Newport Beach, California: who knew?  I was attending the largest session yet of the Western Organizing Workshop.

We walked through a process of crafting personal stories.  We were to describe a moment of challenge, and a choice we made that changed an outcome, that shows our values and our commitment for our democracy.  The purpose of the story is to inspire the listener to take action– that's what organizers do.

The leaders told us their stories: so inspirational!  As a table facilitator, my challenge was that nobody at my table thought they had a story worth sharing.   I refused to believe them.  "Start with a lousy story.  We'll help you make it better," I urged.  I had been given the tools in advance.  With some coaching and practice, they made it through round one.  They each had some kind of story.  We continued to refine: take a snapshot of a moment in time.  Express what you were feeling.  Then what happened?

By the end of the day we had a "cocktail party," with people mingling around the tent exchanging some pretty compelling stories.  Many of the them started, "On election night..." and moved through despair to "and here I am!"  The next challenge my table crew faces is to overcome their shyness about phone banking and door knocking.  Because talking to people is what gets them to take action.  The story continues...  

We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can quietly become a power no government can suppress, a power that can transform the world. 

— Howard Zinn, Historian

Making Lemonade

Apologies for going AWOL for a few weeks!  Here is your weekly inspiration for action...

On September 1, 2015, five UC Irvine police officers drew guns on a 20-year old Black man on the steps of his own home in university faculty housing. They did not allow him to produce ID.  They stood down when a neighbor from across the street vouched for the young man.  They had been called by another neighbor who thought the man was breaking into his own home.  The UCI newspaper describes the incident and what followed in depth here.

In response, concerned community members formed a "Community, Safety and Diversity working Group."  Among many activities, this group came up with the above flowchart (on a kitchen magnet) to invite neighbors to act responsibly.  I continue to benefit from their activities, and hopefully my young neighbors of color are a little safer in their own neighborhood.