[Oe List ...] Being Black in the Order Ecumenical

[Charles Hahn]

Marshall, your words are profound and moving.  Thanks for the reflective
dimension you bring to our conversation.
Charles Hahn

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 7:00 AM, Ken Fisher <hkf232 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Well said.
>
> Thank you, Marshall.
>
> Ken
>
>
> On 2012-06-05, at 3:05 AM, W. J. wrote:
>
> I was surprised that the question about what it was like to be black in
> the O:E really was not addressed by black colleagues. Instead it became a
> conversation in which white people TALKED about black people, remembering
> their names and unique contributions.
> We didn't really articulate how critical black order members were/are to
> bailing us all out of our unconscious cultural reductionisms. I write, of
> course, as one of the "pinkies" who showed up in 5th City after the 1968
> riots. It was absolutely essential that black colleagues in the community
> and in the Order gave their permission for us crazy white people to stay in
> 5th City. They claimed us as colleagues, they put up with us, they
> protected us, and they confronted us with our unconscious embodiment of
> white male privilege and racism. They grounded us in the experience of
> suffering in the community and joined with us in working to transcend the
> internalized racist stereotypes we were all struggling with. I suspect
> people of color in the Order had an often unacknowledged burden to bear in
> dealing with white male dominance.
> It wasn't just that people of color were just as totally on top of
> everything as the white male leadership was (in other words, comfortable
> operating with the rational gifts of the white Ur). More importantly,
> coming from another profound experience of humanness, these colleagues
> often surprised us in their freedom from being stuck in "white man's
> consciousness", so to speak.
> I'm trying to get beyond being yet another white person talking about
> black people. Several years ago I had the privilege of working with Lela
> Mosley, Ruth Carter, and Verdell Trice in getting the 5th City film
> released on DVD. Lela was at the end of her days, in and out of the
> hospital, and on oxygen, but she could sometimes talk with me on the phone.
> We were going over a list of deceased 5th Citizens whose contributions
> would be honored on the DVD. I would say, "What about So-and-so? Is she
> dead yet?" And Lela would say, "No, she's still kicking!" We would laugh.
> And it was kind of funny, you know, just to be standing in the Awe of all
> those people who had decided to give their lives in that geography. Not
> that they were black or white, economically advantaged or not. OR: In the
> Order. Or not. You get that? No difference (despite the difference). I tell
> you we will be highly privileged to join that company of 5th City Pioneers
> some day.
> Joe Mathews said that what he was most proud of was being a 5th Citizen.
> Not of being the Dean of this crummy outfit called the Order. But (I would
> say) of standing his ground and being his "be" with the profound humanness
> we discovered and celebrated in 5th City. And if I can have just a tiny
> taste of that in my privileged white man's life, and if I was able to add
> just the smallest bit to the 'miracles' that we all participated in
> creating together, I think that would be enough for me.
> Marshall Jones
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