Build a Bridge and Cross It

"I unironically embrace the bashing of rural Americans," Kernion wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "They, as a group, are bad people who have made bad life decisions...and we should shame people who aren't pro-city."
--Jackson Kernion, Graduate Student Instructor at UC-Berkeley

The above tweet showed up in a post made by a rural friend of mine on Facebook. This was his posted response:

"I REJECT AND DENOUNCE this statement! As someone who advocates for one of the most rural parts of our country, I denounce this ignorant statement. This is why I am very sceptical of the "enlightened". I am so thankful for my rural heritage and those who have invested in me. They are some of the best people in the world. Salt of the earth!"
The following is my response which is a bit too long for the comment section.

Dwayne, I could not agree with you more. I too reject and denounce this statement and I agree with you that it is an ignorant statement. As a person who was raised primarily in rural communities in the Midwest, have lived part time in a rural community for the past 13 years and full time for the past 4 years, and have visited & spent time in numerous rural communities all around this country, I have the highest regard for people who live in our rural communities - their values, their ingenuity, their resilience, their determination, their hospitality, and their commitment to the values of our country.

And, as a person who lived in the city of Chicago for 30 years, I reject and denounce these same statements made by rural people about people in our cities. These same statements when made by rural people about city people are equally ignorant and I equally denounce them as ignorant. As a person who lived for 30 years in the city, raised my children in the city, and have visited and spent time in numerous cities and their neighborhoods all around the country, I have the highest regard for people who live in our cities - their values, their ingenuity, their resilience, their determination, their hospitality, and their commitment to the values of our country

I have been blessed with the opportunity to see and experience the amazing similarities between rural and urban people. Similarities that most of our political & faith leaders, regardless of their political and theological persuasions deny. Instead they focus on stereotypes and biases (as this professor did).

In my previous ministry role with the Christian Community Development Association, I found myself during that time (as an urban dweller) being the inside voice advocating for our rural communities and rural practitioners. Now as a rural dweller with an outside voice, I continue to advocate for our rural communities and rural leaders when I am in an urban environment. AND I now find myself advocating for our urban communities and urban leaders when I am in a rural environment.

I believe with all my being that if we could bridge the rural/urban divide by creating spaces for urban & rural to listen to one another and understand each other and their similarities, the “enlightened” on both sides of the divide would lose their power and we would discover a path forward out of this mess we find ourselves in.

Unfortunately the impediments to building this bridge and then crossing it are great and the desire to build this bridge and then cross it is minimal on each side.

So I stand in the middle crying out to any who will listen, “Build a bridge, cross it, listen, learn, understand, and embrace those you see as the ‘other’."

The Word of the Lord . . .
God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, tell her, ‘You’re a land that during the time I was angry with you got no rain, not so much as a spring shower. The leaders among you became desperate, like roaring, ravaging lions killing indiscriminately. They grabbed and looted, leaving widows in their wake.

“‘Your priests violated my law and desecrated my holy things. They can’t tell the difference between sacred and secular. They tell people there’s no difference between right and wrong. They’re contemptuous of my holy Sabbaths, profaning me by trying to pull me down to their level. Your politicians are like wolves prowling and killing and rapaciously taking whatever they want. Your preachers cover up for the politicians by pretending to have received visions and special revelations. They say, “This is what God, the Master, says . . .” when God hasn’t said so much as one word. Extortion is rife, robbery is epidemic, the poor and needy are abused, outsiders are kicked around at will, with no access to justice.’

“I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one. So I’ll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crisp with my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they’ve done. Decree of God, the Master.”

Ezekiel 22.23-31 (The Message)

The Stare and The Stiffened Knee . . . Part I

The image appeared in my news feed. A young white teenager standing toe to toe with a Native American / Indigenous elder, staring directly into his eyes with the same smug smile I have seen time and time again during my 40 years of working with youth in multiple diverse contexts. I studied the picture, looking around at the people gathering around this young boy and saw his friends laughing, grinning, looking at each other with that look that says, “Check this out! Look what Nick is doing to this old man.”

I did not need to watch the video, watch, listen, or read CNN or any other news source, understand the context, listen to the commentary, or read what people were saying on any platform. There is an old idiom full of truth . . . “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And so I posted the following:

I am angry. I am disgusted. I am heart broken. Regardless of your politics

or spirituality, if you do not condemn these actions, YOU are part of the

problem. The actions of these boys are beyond disrespectful. All of you who

question and challenge me when I write about white privilege . . . You are

staring at it in this video! And the fact that there was not one single adult with

this group with the where with all and righteous indignation to step into this

group of boys and shut them down and demand that they humble themselves

and apologize is beyond pathetic!

This is NOT who we have become. THIS IS WHO WE ARE AND HAVE BEEN!

It is time to listen, admit, confess, lament, and humble ourselves.

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison.

Responses have challenged and chastised saying I jumped to conclusions and didn’t take the time to know and understand the whole story. Others have demanded I retract my statement and apologize.

So I watched the full video. I read the other findings. I listened to the angry, foul & vulgar words of the African Hebrew Israelites. I watched the “school spirit chants”. I watched the interview with Elder Phillips. And I read Nick Sandmann’s statement.

And . . . I stand by my initial post with one addition. I now add heavy-hearted to what I feel.

I am angry, disgusted, broken hearted, and heavy-hearted because young white teenage boys only knew how to act and react in this inclusive environment the same way young white teenage boys, raised in exclusive white environments, have always reacted in our country. (Thus my statement: “This is not who we have become. This is who we are and have been.”)

I am angry, disgusted, broken hearted, and heavy-hearted because the adults (who are responsible for raising these young white teenage boys) are failing to educate and train them for interactions in inclusive environments and instead, are unwittingly or knowingly, teaching these boys to perpetuate the privileged and dominant culture that is at the root of why these African Americans and Indigenous Peoples groups were protesting in the first place.

I am angry, disgusted, broken hearted, and heavy-hearted because these young white teenage boys, empowered by their privilege and confidence in the superiority of their culture, took every action in their youthful repertoire – learned by careful observation of the adults in their culture – to respond to “attack” and re-establish their perceived loss of dominance instead of taking actions that would have brought knowledge, understanding and possibly developed community.

I am angry, disgusted, broken hearted, and heavy-hearted because of the combination of ignorance, naivete, and gall this young white teenager demonstrated by standing his ground and staring into the eyes of a Native American / Indigenous Elder with a smirk that every educator & coach can recognize a mile away and understand exactly what is happening. All while his friends surround them laughing, taking pictures, and nudging one another with that telltale “wink” that says, “Look what Nick is doing.” All extreme acts of disrespect and dishonor to any elder in any culture.

And after the past couple of days, I am angry, disgusted, broken hearted, and heavy-hearted because of the number of white people who are blinded by privilege and simply look past or don’t see the smirks and smug looks on the faces of these boys; who willingly disregard the disrespectful laughter and dishonoring stare into the Elder’s eyes; who refuse to ask, “Why were the four black men so angry?”; who are unable and unwilling to recognize the impact of the “spirit chant” upon this situation; and who stand with unbended knee – stiffened by privilege, ignorance, and membership in dominant culture – defending these white teenage boys instead of bending our knees and bowing our heads in humility, seeking to learn and gain Common Memory, working to build a new culture of community – the Beloved Community. 

I do not and never did condemn any of the people involved in this particular act in our Theater of Life. I do condemn the prideful and ignorant actions of these teenage boys. I do care about the actions and words of the other groups because I desire to learn why they are angry and why they are protesting. I care more about why my white dominant culture cannot bend our stiffened knees. And I stand by my initial statement. “If you do not condemn these actions, YOU are part of the problem. It is time to listen, admit, confess, lament, and humble ourselves. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison.”