Thanks Marshall. I heard an expression the other day that seems to fit this situation: "These folks give white trash a bad name." On Tue, Sep 26, 2017 at 2:49 PM, via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

I go to a progressive women's huddle meeting every two weeks. Many of these groups spun off the Women's March on January 20. I'm in Devin Nunes' congressional district, the other women are in Kevin McCarthy's, so we in this Huddle are a small minority in our community.

One woman left her Hillary sign in her yard after the election and was harassed and even threatened by neighbors not unlike yours. She purchased a sophisticated alarm system that included 12 cameras. The harassment stopped.

Look for a Huddle group. We welcome men. Our first strategy is to canvass and to set up registration booths in farmers' markets to register people who didn't vote last time.

I personally haven't been confronted with hatefulness of this sort. I'd aspire in that case to take a step back, pray for the misguided soul, surround myself with as much positive energy as I can muster and imagine an energy vortex over his/her head, a tornado drawing up and out the distorted thinking and replacing it with energy drawn up from the Earth beneath their feet. I'd want my own tiny tornado above my crown as well.

I'm on 5 calls.org. They give me suggestions for calling my reps every week. I often call Nunes' office, but don't bother with our senators, Feinstein and Harris.

This is probably not your style at all, Marshall, but if I were you, I'd smudge myself and the periphery of my property with burning sage or other fragrant herb and put an energetic barrier between my house and theirs.

Thanks for sharing this. I hope we do get a lively conversation from this.

Jann McGuire, who was born to a poor white family in West Texas. Were we ever called "trash"? I can't know. Just glad we had our church community. I remember how shocked my mother was when she met her first Republican, my girl scout leader who had moved to Odessa from Oklahoma.[image: Blush]

-----Original Message----- From: W. J. via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: W. J. <synergi@yahoo.com> Sent: Mon, Sep 25, 2017 8:19 pm Subject: [Oe List ...] conversation on white trash racism

Last night I was stunned to overhear my next-door neighbors sitting on their front porch and loudly spewing forth their toxic honky racist shit. This was in the wake of Trump's Alabama comments that stirred up a lot of racist indignation that *denied there was anything 'racial' involved in protesting against racism*. It was not just the nasty content, but more the tone of their comments and their South Carolina accents that were just so offensive to have to overhear. I closed my window, but that didn't stop their conversation from seeping into my living room like sewage in a Texas flood. Among their themes: 1. They're still fighting their version of the Civil War, which was not about slavery, since "poor white folks had to pick cotton too". 2. They still hate Martin Luther King, Jr. and resent the fact that everywhere they go, there has to be a 'Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard' in town. 3. Their sense of white entitlement allows them to consider themselves 'better than' black people or more 'civilized'. 4. Their cultural values--including their racism--are considered normative. Thus their racist biases are invisible to them. 5. Other racial groups are considered intruders (unless they are 'silent' and subservient and don't 'rock the boat' of white superiority). 6. Genocide is implicitly OK--especially if it can be justified under 'war' conditions. There was a story about Marines wiping out one quarter million Muslims on an island. That was a good way to 'fix *that* problem'. Other racial/ethnic/religious groups are considered subhuman and can be treated accordingly. I could go on, but my point is that I just don't *like* these neighbors. Fortunately, they're not around that often. And since they're old, they will soon die off, taking their racist prejudices with them. They are shrinking minority desperately holding out against cultural change. But they--and millions like them--elected Donald Trump. So we have to deal with a white racist cultural backlash with global implications. So here I am, surrounded by Trump voters like Davey Crockett at the Alamo (yes, I'm aware of the racist imagery <https://www.texasobserver.org/remember-alamo-differently/> here). And even if these folks never say another word, they still *think* like racist 'poor white trash <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash>' who had to compete with other economically disadvantaged groups. I realize that I benefit enormously from 'white male privilege'--including the advantages of a perspective informed by global experience, advanced education, a multicultural context, and a determination to examine and confront my own implicit/unconscious assumptions of white racist privileging. I'd like to begin a conversation that will explore how to survive and thrive and even support cultural change/transformation in this context--without getting pot shots aimed at my living room. Marshall Jones

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My own experience has been that people who live in different worlds have more that a little difficulty talking with each other. I have more than a few relatives and others who live in a racist world with far different views on the economy, the poor, etc. They sometimes use the same words and mean the opposite. I do not find they are up for conversation, idea sharing or interest in learning other views. I have never found any of the religious or spiritual approaches do more that aggravate the relationship. They know who you are, just as you do them. Polite passing of words is about all you can do. On a rare occasion I have had one or two seek me out after a severe trauma in their life. Even then, sorting out the fears and looking for new horizons can be a difficulty because they sense disloyalty to their ideology and their friends. I remember an HIV patient's father I was attending back in the 80’s, his father cursed him out on his death bed for being gay, while his mother wept. It was more than a tragic scene. But there is always hope. Almost 5 yrs. later attending a meeting of parents with HIV children the couple showed up very positive and supportive. Never learned what caused the turn around. George Holcombe geowanda1@me.com "Whatever the problem, community is the answer. There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Margaret Wheatley

On Sep 27, 2017, at 5:53 AM, mary hampton via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

Marshall, Many colleagues have sent words of wisdom.

I would add only one piece of founder’s wisdom – from George Fox, Quaker, aka Religious Society of Friends. “recognize that of God in every person” and if that is not hard enough “Go cheerfully through the world, recognizing that of God in every person.”

Obviously the rub is when every or any person does not mirror an aspect of God we admire or want to see!

Grace, Peace, Love and Light Mary hampton Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

From: W. J. via OE <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2017 10:19 PM To: W. J. <mailto:synergi@yahoo.com> Subject: [Oe List ...] conversation on white trash racism

Last night I was stunned to overhear my next-door neighbors sitting on their front porch and loudly spewing forth their toxic honky racist shit. This was in the wake of Trump's Alabama comments that stirred up a lot of racist indignation that denied there was anything 'racial' involved in protesting against racism. It was not just the nasty content, but more the tone of their comments and their South Carolina accents that were just so offensive to have to overhear. I closed my window, but that didn't stop their conversation from seeping into my living room like sewage in a Texas flood. Among their themes: 1. They're still fighting their version of the Civil War, which was not about slavery, since "poor white folks had to pick cotton too". 2. They still hate Martin Luther King, Jr. and resent the fact that everywhere they go, there has to be a 'Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard' in town. 3. Their sense of white entitlement allows them to consider themselves 'better than' black people or more 'civilized'. 4. Their cultural values--including their racism--are considered normative. Thus their racist biases are invisible to them. 5. Other racial groups are considered intruders (unless they are 'silent' and subservient and don't 'rock the boat' of white superiority). 6. Genocide is implicitly OK--especially if it can be justified under 'war' conditions. There was a story about Marines wiping out one quarter million Muslims on an island. That was a good way to 'fix thatproblem'. Other racial/ethnic/religious groups are considered subhuman and can be treated accordingly. I could go on, but my point is that I just don't like these neighbors. Fortunately, they're not around that often. And since they're old, they will soon die off, taking their racist prejudices with them. They are shrinking minority desperately holding out against cultural change. But they--and millions like them--elected Donald Trump. So we have to deal with a white racist cultural backlash with global implications. So here I am, surrounded by Trump voters like Davey Crockett at the Alamo (yes, I'm aware of the racist imagery <https://www.texasobserver.org/remember-alamo-differently/> here). And even if these folks never say another word, they still think like racist 'poor white trash <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash>' who had to compete with other economically disadvantaged groups. I realize that I benefit enormously from 'white male privilege'--including the advantages of a perspective informed by global experience, advanced education, a multicultural context, and a determination to examine and confront my own implicit/unconscious assumptions of white racist privileging. I'd like to begin a conversation that will explore how to survive and thrive and even support cultural change/transformation in this context--without getting pot shots aimed at my living room. Marshall Jones

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Thanks for your thoughtful provocation of this dialogue, Marshall. As has often been the case you pose difficult and profound issues. I apologize if my initial response seemed to trivialize the genuine concern (“those folks give white trash a bad name”), but sometimes a bit of humor buys time for more thoughtful consideration. Here’s the current result of that, and thanks again for initiating the conversation. I was reminded of the occasion in Malaysia when, en route to facilitating a conference of 35 CEOs from a holding company, I discovered our rental car had 3 tires and the spare tire stolen. Later lamenting to a friend, I said, “What kind of person would do such a thing?” His answer that stopped me was, “A desperate person.” So perhaps the apparent hatred coming from your neighbors – and, as you say – from many others, is an expression of desperation, and the question becomes, “For what?” Any attempt to address the situation cannot be direct or rational. These people and the hoards like them care about something that is being taken away. Clearly much is – jobs, status, and influence being among the major items. And it’s not minorities, immigrants, or government that’s doing it: those are only scapegoats. Technology and globalization are the more likely “culprits,” but they’re more difficult to blame. A thorough and sensitive analysis of this tendency towards prejudice is in William Cash’s classic *The Mind of the South*, (New York: Random House, 1941). So what to do? Obviously, I don’t know. But there is a classic sociological principle that goes “Groups attacked from the outside tend to unify themselves.” That seems to be what the administration is trying to do in making N. Korea into a (real) threat, and villainizing immigrants. Another more helpful principle is that people of the widest possible diversity can work together effectively on a goal to which all aspire. That’s the one thing that our society seems to be lacking, and which POTUS tried to supply with his (empty) slogan. Maybe our facilitation colleagues can help contribute to the development of a vision to which we can aspire. Thanks again for initiating this conversation. John Epps On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Ken Fisher via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

Friends,

Both through recent experiences and 'our daily Rohr', I’d like to share with you my wording of a current secular ‘pater noster'.

Compassionate cosmos...

In which we live,

and with whom we find our meaning,

Grace us with your presence.

Support our freedom to be love as we are loved.

Trusting in your never-ending hospitality,

So be it.

And, as I have already shared, I love this poem by Hafiz.

The sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.

Look what happens with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

Feeling the warmth of the sun (the immediate sustainer of our habitat) and wanting to ‘be sun too’,

Ken

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I’m finding that the GOD lecture to be helpful. When I look at one small slice of a happening, I get a warped view of things—either upwardness or downwardness in the cycle of things. Taking the history-long view provides some perspective and mystery. All will pass. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. ~~ Joseph Campbell ❤ Frank

On Sep 27, 2017, at 10:38 AM, W. J. via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

John, I liked that you wrote "hoards" instead of "hordes". Right on target with your homonym! Or malapropism. And very appropriate, given the context. It takes a spark of genius to (mis)use a word that makes us think twice. You're being malaprophetic. Marshall

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 11:42 AM, John Epps via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

Thanks for your thoughtful provocation of this dialogue, Marshall. As has often been the case you pose difficult and profound issues. I apologize if my initial response seemed to trivialize the genuine concern (“those folks give white trash a bad name”), but sometimes a bit of humor buys time for more thoughtful consideration. Here’s the current result of that, and thanks again for initiating the conversation.

I was reminded of the occasion in Malaysia when, en route to facilitating a conference of 35 CEOs from a holding company, I discovered our rental car had 3 tires and the spare tire stolen. Later lamenting to a friend, I said, “What kind of person would do such a thing?” His answer that stopped me was, “A desperate person.”

So perhaps the apparent hatred coming from your neighbors – and, as you say – from many others, is an expression of desperation, and the question becomes, “For what?” Any attempt to address the situation cannot be direct or rational. These people and the hoards like them care about something that is being taken away. Clearly much is – jobs, status, and influence being among the major items. And it’s not minorities, immigrants, or government that’s doing it: those are only scapegoats. Technology and globalization are the more likely “culprits,” but they’re more difficult to blame. A thorough and sensitive analysis of this tendency towards prejudice is in William Cash’s classic The Mind of the South, (New York: Random House, 1941).

So what to do? Obviously, I don’t know. But there is a classic sociological principle that goes “Groups attacked from the outside tend to unify themselves.” That seems to be what the administration is trying to do in making N. Korea into a (real) threat, and villainizing immigrants. Another more helpful principle is that people of the widest possible diversity can work together effectively on a goal to which all aspire. That’s the one thing that our society seems to be lacking, and which POTUS tried to supply with his (empty) slogan. Maybe our facilitation colleagues can help contribute to the development of a vision to which we can aspire.

Thanks again for initiating this conversation.

John Epps

On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Ken Fisher via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote:

Friends,

Both through recent experiences and 'our daily Rohr', I’d like to share with you my wording of a current secular ‘pater noster'.

Compassionate cosmos... In which we live, and with whom we find our meaning, Grace us with your presence. Support our freedom to be love as we are loved. Trusting in your never-ending hospitality, So be it.

And, as I have already shared, I love this poem by Hafiz.

The sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.

Look what happens with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

Feeling the warmth of the sun (the immediate sustainer of our habitat) and wanting to ‘be sun too’,

Ken

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