[Oe List ...] Auburn letter

[Jaime R Vergara via OE]

A draft for Marianas Variety publication 02.07



Auburn to White Christians
 
It came in the form of a letter, a confessionalstatement from White Americans that began: Fiftyfour years ago this coming April, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote a letter fromthe Birmingham jail to white Christian leaders on issues of racial justice andthe future of our nation. …  AuburnSeminary … pen(ned) a letter to white Christians. The white Christian vote wascrucial to the election of Donald J. Trump, who … disparage(s) anddisrespect(s) people of color, women, and many others.
 
Theletter lives off the reputation of MLK Jr. whose mark among Whiteys put Obamato office, though heavily laced with guilt.  Threatened and defensive, Whitey chose Trump to pacify its fears.  Not a very smart choice, understandable buthardly justifiable.
 
Thismissive was not intended as a window-dressing letter.  With John Lewis finding himself in a tiffwith The Donald, the issues raised are very relevant.  While it did not exhibit the language of theexistential angst of those who echoed Moltman’s half-a-century old theology ofhope, or the theistic thoughts of Bultmann, Tillich, Bonheoffer and Niebuhr, itdid invite White Christians to examine whereof they cast their votes.  We shall not even venture into themetaphorical death-of-god expressions of Gabriel Vahanian, Thomas JJ Altizer,et al, whose movement since Time Magazine focused on it, changed Whitey’secclesiology big time. 
 
… let’s prepare ourselvesfor action. Let’s stop hiding the ugly and racist dimensions of our past.  Instead, we can tell the truth about itopenly, with repentance and humility.  Let’s get ready to protect vulnerable peoplewho are threatened by hate and injustice.  Let’s take to the streets in protest whenevernecessary.  If people are being harmed orthreatened, we should have the courage to stand with them… (underliningadded).  The signatories were Austin,Bass, Evans, Harvey, McLaren, Messina, Scharen, Volf, and Whitmore, allEuropean-sourced (Latin, Teutonic, Scot-Irish, British) sounding names.
 
Inthe midst of the assault on the numinous status of Hispanic immigration (TheDonald justified the building of a wall as a prerogative of a nation to setboundaries; there are no visible barriers or walls between Canada and the US),an Iliff Seminary Professor penned the theology of hopelessness that iscurrently in the silent halls of medieval theological schools.  It reflects today’s mind and behavior as earthboundin significance and meaning, not the infinite and eternal wonder of Santa inthe Sky.
 
Duringthe Women’s March after Trump’s inauguration, a colleague used a quote from afemale Aussie aboriginal:  If you have come to help me, you are wastingyour time.  But if you have come becauseyour liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together. 
 
Whiteyis not seeking help or protection from the Donald.  It is seeking liberation from the illusionthat “America is White”, its pet racial prejudice.  Yes, “in White America” is a desperateholding-on to New England’s heritage, packaged well by the Kennedys and theircohorts but nonetheless, still in Whitey’s overcoats.
 
Trumpcannot liberate Whitey, unless by a miracle, Trump himself acknowledges that heneeds liberating from the limits of his relationships to women and minorities,and when Whitey realizes that the source of its strength in race relations inthe triumph of the Union vs. the Confederacy, and the Emancipation Declarationof Abe, is also its known Achilles heel.
 
AChinese Hotel Intern who participated in an NMC English Language DevelopmentCourse I facilitated, stumbled on the transcendent perspective on humanity inthe language of G-O-D, and did not know what to do with her “belief” structuresince the sociological “salvific-redemptive” nature of being part of acongregation is foreign to her.  Iremember walking out of such orientation more than a decade ago; “Church”remained an imperial force.  But there itwas, the human experience that hungered for form to contain and maintain itsspirituality.
 
Trump,viewed as a liberator, will be a dictator. Whitey seeking liberation by forsaking any dependency on any externalforce other than its own enlightenment shall be greatly served to walk proudlyinto the future, and will be devoid of what has so far been the comforting armsof an Uncle Sam, or the theoretical dependence on a deity that assuredcertitude.  Any minority group seekinganother MLK, Jr. to hold its hands will be grossly disappointed.  
 
MLK’sletter from the Birmingham jail was of one refused entry into Whitey’s world.  He was liberating himself from the illusionsof “America”.  The Auburn letter is ofWhite Christians struggling with a faith that shakes its imperial orientation;if it is a liberation of themselves that is at stake, the work ahead is full.  
 
Realityrears its authentic head often, devastating comfort.  I hold no hope for the liberation of WhiteChristians and Trump, but it is a delight to be proven wrong.  Thanks, Auburn.  Your turn, Whitey!
 


wangzhimu2031
earthrise consciousness, a gift; earthbound commitment, my choice
yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!









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From: via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
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Sent: Fri, Jan 27, 2017 4:50 am
Subject: OE Digest, Vol 58, Issue 37



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