--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)
