What words could a white post middle-aged baby boomer utter that would make a difference in the tumult of violence swirling ever maddeningly around us? I don't know. I'm kind of flying in the dark here.
I could say that it is incumbent upon white folks to step up and use the power their privilege provides to engage in the authentic struggle for justice for African Americans. For all people of course....but let's be starkly candid here and acknowledge the continuing devastation of a people by slavery, ongoing entrenched racism and a culture that simply won't confess the horror and make amends. If anyone has the power to bring about justice and doesn't use it, they are in league with the oppressor. Indeed. One could say that they are the oppressor. And yep. I'm sayin' that.
I could say that it might be a good idea to peel back the layers of the onion and see what's going on under the blur of media fibs and Facebook ad-libs. Someone or some entity is benefitting from the death and mayhem, from the division and rancor. Who is that? What is the perceived benefit derived from the rending fabric of a society? Is it the Koch Brothers and their stated objective to dismantle the "dominant paradigm?" Is it the arms industry and their various lap dogs such as the NRA and countless lobbyists beyond? Yep. I'm sayin' that too.
I could also say that what we are reaping is, in some ways, the harvest of a deeply imbedded narcissism within our society. Some people would have you think the original sin has something to do with sex or some other puritanical thing. I disagree. I think our primal sin is the sin of individualism. The idea that each person can and should do what they want regardless of the impact on others is insane. Not only is it insane, it is suicidal. And yet, our mercantile, materialistic culture drives us ever on to do for ourselves first. To get what we want. To surrender to the tyranny of our own desires regardless of the consequences. It matters not what your faith or philosophy might be, we must come to grips with the fact that we are a communal species. We exist among, with, and for one another. The welfare of one person is intimately connected to the welfare of all people. This isn't just gooey feel good optimism, it's real. There is an ecology of the human community that is constructed upon our interdependence, upon our need for one another. And the answer to this is community. Yep I'm sayin this.
We are wired to be in community.
Community is a place where there is a common and dynamic sense of mutual care and commitment. Community is a place of safety. Not always comfort....but certainly a place of safety. Community is a place, not of radical independent freedom, but a location of mutual exploration and discovery. Community is a place where everyone has enough. Authentic community does not allow or support the inequity of some people wallowing in abundance while others suffer from hunger and homelessness. And friends, authentic community is a place where all people - that's right - no exceptions...where all people are loved and accepted, not for who we wish them to be, but for who they are in their own right.
And yep. I'm sayin' that too.
Our work is to be weavers.
Each one of us has the capacity to join in the shared work of weaving a dense and lovely tapestry of human community and we need to be about it now. Not later, not in our dreams, but now. Together we can forge the joy and wonder of a community based on mutuality and hope. On our own, we compete for evermore mountains of "stuff." Together we can stand with the oppressed and work for healing. Alone, we participate in the oppression.
And yep.....I am saying this as well. But it's time to begin the weaving, to walk the walk, to be community together.
sr
