“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
How serious are we about “Black Lives Matter”?
How serious are we about “Black Lives Matter”?
If some of you reading this are like me following too much news in Canada and the U.S. I wonder if we ask ourselves if we really are serious about racism in any form. Just this past week the police have used excessive forces that ended the life of more black Americans, more indigenous people in Canada, and with live video coverage of these events. People all over the world are protesting under the banner of ‘Black Lives Matter” but it will take more than street protests for us to recognize the systemic racism and bias that is built into the systems that structure our lives and our countries. All this unrest is happening at the same time that a serious pandemic is pulling the curtain back on communities that are more adversely affected by this virus. Those communities do not have the same access to goods and services that most of us take for granted. We are learning how more poor, black and Hispanic and some Indigenous communities have suffered more deaths from this virus than white more affluent communities. At the same time, many of the essential services needed during these past months are done by people of colour, putting themselves and their families at risk.
Black Lives Matter protest, London Ontario, June 6, 2020
I was at the rally and march in Victoria Park in London where an estimated 10,000 people attended raising our voices saying enough is enough! But, if that is true, then that march is only the first step in recognizing the deep change that needs to happen. In every system that structures our lives - police, education, health care, social services, religion, politics, and more - we must uncover the inequities in opportunities, in funding, in services that put more of our people with less opportunity at risk. The work of changing our systems in a long hard task that will take careful thought, the ideas and time of many people, and resources needed to create more inclusive communities. I hope the rally at Victoria Park in London and hundreds of rallies all over the world is a commitment that by taking this first step, the next ones will follow. After all, creating a better world benefits every one of us. It is a journey worth walking.
-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ
Black Lives and Catholicism
A black Sister, Theresa Maxis, founded the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Michigan. Her name was suppressed in history. Here is a link to an article about her in America magazine -
What a forgotten black nun can teach us about racism and Covid-19
There is also a book titled “Building Sisterhood” for those who are interested.
Another book to check out is “Hidden and Forgotten: African Absence in the Consciousness of the Catholic Church in Canada” by Dr. Iheanyi M. Enwerem, O.P.
During these times of people rising up against racism and oppression, it is a good time to examine our roles as people of faith, and the history of our institutions. We can heal from learning about history, and go forward more truthfully, prepared to serve as restorers of the breach. According to Isaiah 58:
Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the accusing finger, and malicious speech;
If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and satisfy your thirst in parched places,
will give strength to your bones
And you shall be like a watered garden,
like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.
Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins;
the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”
For those who want to join me in taking part in the digital Poor Peoples’ March on Washington on June 20, 2020, please visit https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
- Mary Kosta, Congregational Archivist
The Liberating Breath of God
Pentecost is the celebration of the liberating breath of God. We sing words like, “Breathe on us breath of God.”
I can breathe now
I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. These were the last words of George Floyd as he lay dying in front of a number of people and now in front of the world.
Perhaps what we have been hearing during this time of pandemic is a voice, a new mantra being spoken by so many in this world. “I can’t breathe.” And along with that outcry goes the added, “Can’t you hear me? Can’t you hear us?”
So many writers have spoken about how the pandemic is revealing all the fault lines in our world…the fault lines of poverty, of race, of the earth being treated as a commodity. Perhaps the mantra of it all has been given to us by George Floyd, “I can’t breathe.” We can hear those living in poverty saying, “I can’t breathe.” Indigenous peoples in Canada, “I can’t breathe.” The over 400,000 people who have died globally in part because human beings did not believe in the possibility of such a destructive virus also were saying, “I can’t breathe.” Our planet being choked by human activity, “I can’t breathe.” And perhaps when we hold ourselves as powerless, “I can’t breathe.” For, after all, one can only hold one’s breath for so long.
The story of the pandemic, the story of racism in Canada, and beyond, the story of us is still unfolding…and the Pentecost story again shakes us into participating in a way that we might do the hard, searing, and transformative work of ushering in a new mantra:
I can breathe…I can breathe…I can breathe.
-Sister Margo Ritchie, csj
The Transformative Energy of Black Lives Matter
As we experience the transformative energy of the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping around the world, it is a critical moment to reflect on unconscious bias and the racist assumptions which affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities in our own city and country. It’s not an easy thing to do. Our cultural tendency to view things through the lens of the individual blinds us to much of what’s going on in society, including systemic racism. It can also blind us to the graced potential for transformation which exists even within imperfect social actions such as protests marred by the violence of a few. The challenge is to focus on and follow the graced energy for transformation which is working to bring about greater wholeness and justice. In that spirit, we revisit this short excerpt from a 2019 newsletter from the Federation Office for Systemic Justice.
Robin DiAngelo, who is white, wrote a book called White Fragility (2018). She insists that white people are all racist, and whites who think they’re not racist cause the most damage of all. DiAngelo explains “we are taught to think about racism only as discrete acts committed by individual people, rather than as a complex, interconnected system”.
The individual framing of the issue means we can focus on changing a few individuals who say or do hateful things. It means we don’t have to examine our own unconscious racist assumptions. It means society doesn’t have to change, just individual ‘bad’ persons.
In our society, whites have held, and continue to hold, nearly all the positions of social, political, and economic power. So, the pre-judgements (thoughts, feelings and assumptions into which we are socialized) which whites tend to hold about people of colour have become institutionalized; that is, white prejudice has shaped the structures and systems of our society.
DiAngelo points to a New York Times article from 2016 which illumines the degree to which white people still hold the seats of power. The article is based on the U.S. context but is relevant to Canada. Here are a few examples:
Ten richest people - 100% white
Highest-levels of politics – 90% white
People who decide which television shows are available – 93% white
People who decide which books are available – 90% white
People who decide which news is covered – 85% white
Teachers – 82% white
These statistics reveal “power and control by a racial group that is in the position to disseminate and protect its own self-image, worldview, and interests across the entire society”. Whiteness becomes the norm, while other races are ‘othered.’ The impacts can be devastating:
• Racialized people in Canada are significantly more likely to live in poverty. The 2016 Census showed that 20.8% of peoples of colour are low-income compared to 12.2% of non-racialized people.
• In 2015, there was a 69% high school graduation rate for Black students and 50% for Indigenous students, versus 84% for White students.
• People of colour living in Ontario have higher unemployment rates than White residents. Racialized men are 24% more likely to be unemployed than non-racialized men. Racialized women are 43% more likely to be unemployed than non-racialized men.
(https://colourofpoverty.ca/)
-Sister Sue Wilson, csj