Trying to follow

A friend mentioned this book and I thought I’d probably be worth my while to pick it up and give it a read. So, I grabbed Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, by Bill Cosby, from the library and gave it a quick read. It was decent, but I’m not sure how I feel about it overall, this is a review, not an endorsement of Cosby or the book.

As Cosby has begun speaking out on issues within the black community, the biggest critique he’s received is that the issues he’s addressing our ‘in house’ issues, for the black community, not society at large. He’s airing the dirty laundry in front of everyone, which leaves justification for the society at large not to address more systemic issues. Basically, his speaking out gives many white people a token person of color to point to that they agree with, and let’s them off the hook from addressing the issues of systemic racism that they are in a position to address. And, in large part, I’d agree with this critique.

The book is good. It covers a lot of issues, suggests solutions, encourages action, but overall I think it was a poor choice of medium for the message. I don’t believe the book will reach it’s intended audience. Interestingly, I’ve only heard Cosby’s name and his statements referenced by white people, when his audience is clearly African American’s who have been the victims of oppression for years.

So, whether you read this book or not, understand this it isn’t intended to let anyone off the hook. It should simply be an encouragement to everyone that we are all working on and making an effort to address the problems that exist in our neighborhoods and communities.

A couple quotes I found interesting. The first is to counter what people commonly refer to as Cosby’s critique of Hip-Hop. He actually has some positive things to say about Hip-Hop; his critique is mainly against the misogynistic, violent, drug-promoting and demeaning lyrics of some more popular rap music. Here is a brief quote:

Expressions like “right on,” “give me some skin,” “give me a high five,” not to mention “cool” and “hip” and “jazz” for that matter, all drive from the black experience. No ethnic roup in America has had nearly our influence on spoken English, much of it energizing. In music, the use of black vernacular in the lyrics of blues, jazz, and today’s hip-hop are a part of the richness of American culture that has been embraced by people around the world. Black people can be proud of their contributions to American language and speech.

And this one I just appreciated,

Parents and caregivers, have you heard a kid say, “well, I can either flip burgers or go out here and make some real money selling drugs?” When you hear that, do you stop the child and say, “Wait a minute, fool. You don’t flip burgers for the rest of your life. You flip them to become the manager of the place. You flip burgers to move from manager to owner of the damn franchise”?

You have to say this to your kids more than once. So do their teachers. If the kids give you lip, ask them to identify a middle-aged, home-owning drug-dealing grandpa with a family that loves him. That will keep them quiet-and busy.

That’s for you folks who work and raise kids who brought up that question, not for those standing from afar critiquing the community.

This might seem like a slight tangent from the topic of politics, but I assure you it is not. I’m kind of hoping someone else can lend some insight into this.

After reading the gospel and finding no way to reconcile “love your enemies” with going to war, I started looking for some theological insight that would make sense of how we as a religion had come to this point. Someone suggested a fascinating book called, The Powers That Be, by Walter Wink, which contained this brilliant quote:

Christianity’s weaponless victory over the Roman Empire resulted in the weaponless victory of the empire over the gospel. A fundamental transformation occurred when the church ceased being persecuted and became instead a persecutor. Once a religion attains sufficient power in a society that the state looks to it for support, that religion must also, of necessity, join the repression of the state’s enemies. For a faith that lived from its critique of domination and its vision of a nonviolent social order, this shift was catastrophic, for it could only mean embracing and rationalizing oppression.

It was this “victory of the empire over the gospel” that had been nagging at me so much. It seems that we’d been given an opportunity at power, military power through our voting, that we chose to embrace rather than relinquish.

Where this plays out today is the constant talk you here about “protecting our freedom” not just on news and from politicians, but from pulpits and pastors. Another terribly theologically incorrect statement. As Christians, we believe true freedom comes through Christ, and that freedom is not furthered nor protected by military might.

And yet, as much as I insist on the above statement, it is only ‘lip service’ to an idea, because whether I ask for it or not, the military is ‘protecting my freedom’ by violent domination over it’s enemies, which runs completely counter to the gospel I insist to believe in.

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Food Court Musical

Cleaning Up Circulars (is this wrong?)

Kerri Pomarolli

With the conventions inching upon us (and VP nominees to come), November will probably be here before we know it. I believe discussing politics is important, if for no other reason then to be actively in touch with our society. I have friends that think it is our ethical duty and Christian obligation to vote, and others who have the same motivations to abstain from voting. I know some here are staunch democrats, others Republican, and a few third party stragglers.

What I want to begin writing and dialogging about here is not primarily about Obama and McCain and the ‘08 Elections, though I’m sure that will be discussed. What I’d like to do mostly is to discuss the issues, ones that are hot button issues for many Christians. I’d like to discuss the political system, voting, parties, and our role in general. I’d like to try and articulate some of where I am at currently, but in an honest and open way, that is willing to change. More then anything though, I’d like to talk about these things in a way that acknowledges that whoever is elected president in November, our votes, and political process is not the primary way we display or further our Christianity. I think being an active citizen is important, but it pales in comparision to the importance of living out our Christian faith.

Voting for a democratic candidate who supports universal healthcare does not negate our churches duties to care for the sick, the poor, the orphan and the widow.

Voting for an anti-abortion republican candidate does not relieve us Christians of our call to support, love and care for women and their children from pregnancy onward.

Voting, elections, candidates, all of these are issues of the kingdom of the world. They are things we are free to be involved in, but they are not how we are to show or spread the love of Christ.