White Homework

If you've listened to the last two episodes with Andre, you know I've been wrestling with what it looks like to respect all people while also acknowledging that power disparities have an impact on how we engage with harm. I say it all the time, but I want safety and security for all people, even if they disagree with my politics.

Like most of you, I've had Palestine and Israel on my mind for the last few weeks. Like a lots of you, I grew up with a theology around the state of Israel that made it - not unlike the US - incapable of wrongdoing.

While I was processing this, I put up a few threads on twitter but I wanted to have a conversation with someone who actually knows what they're talking about. So I reached out to Khaled Beydoun to chat about history, justice, and colonization. Thankfully he will gracious enough to discuss this with me! I'm grateful to be able to connect with people who see respect for all people as a non-negotiable even as we reckon with the legacy of colonization.

Here are a few places you can find Professor Beydoun online

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When we see injustice in the world and want to fix it, how do you keep from becoming the thing you hate? I can't stop thinking about this so I invited Andre Henry back to discuss how we create a better world without, as Audre Lord puts it, the master's tools. 

I can't stop thinking about the issue of moral responses to violence. Where, to ask the correctly panned question, is the line? How far can the people go in their resistance before we circle right back to where our oppressors began? Who do we want to be on the other side of this?

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There are a lot of ways to protest and trying to figure out what the appropriate violence is feels overwhelmingly difficult. When the state is inherently violent, how are people committed to non-violence supposed to respond? Capitalism, the law, personal property are all values in American culture all have more value than nonwhite Americans. As Dr. King said, we have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws. So how do we do this? I spoke to Andre Henry about how we move forward in this inherently violent culture. We discuss the different moral frameworks we can try on, and the different applications of non-violent resistance. 

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Thanks all for your generosity and patience as I'm getting stuff situated over here!!

I had a conversation with Corey Leak about how we left white Jesus and moved into a space that is committed to material equity. We need creative imagination to create a world where no one is a commodity, no one is a product, no one is just the labor they produce. Oppressive systems need to be completely reimagined and rebuilt from the ground up.

Check out Corey on all the things!

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This week, I had a conversation with Dr. Bradley Onishi. Brad is a professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, and the host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus. I think it would be safe to say - and I've told Brad this several times - that I am a little bit of a fangirl. As someone who grew up in white evangelical spaces, I'm kind of obsessed with their origin story and their devotion to empire. (You know, the thing that Jesus preached against constantly?) It's a story that feels thoroughly American.

Please check out Brad's work. I'm a patron of his and his work is truly incredible. You can check out Straight White American Jesus podcast. I learn SO much from it.

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Hey y'all! Had a great conversation with Blake Chastain several months ago about the slow merging of evangelicalism and nationalism. We're currently watching evangelicalism in the US move from being a religious or spiritual identifier to a political identifier. For those of us who grew up in white evangelical spaces this isn't surprising.

After the election of Barack Obama, white evangelical churches began closing ranks much faster than they had been before. In the 90s and 00s, there was a more room for liberal believers in white evangelical spaces but as the culture wars began to heat up with the election of the first Black (and, according to 25% of Republicans, secret Muslim) president, political "purity tests" became much more frequent.

Check out Blake's work!

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Taking a little break from our "racism doesn't exist" series to talk to Jo Luehmann about justice, joy, liberation, and accountability. I reached out to her originally because I am obsessed with her work around decolonizing theology. As a nonbeliever, we have nothing (to my knowledge) on the matters of joy and liberation for all people. But these are some of our shared values so I knew I had to chat with her. We had an amazing discussion and Jo blew my mind on several occasions, as she does. :)

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Alice joins me to talk about the abundance data proving the rampant discrimination in hiring and employment. "There are way too many Black men named Steve." I yell out into the universe while lecturing people about... name shaming? Apologies I'm still working on this.

Workplace Discrimination Is Illegal  (But Still Happening)

Discrimination Hasn't Gone Down in Two Decades

Black people get fewer callbacks for job interviews

White women are the primary beneficiaries 

Black, Latino Two Parent Families Have Less Wealth Than White Single Parents - NPR

GI Bill Was Racist In Its Implementation

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OMG WE HAVE A NEW FORMAT!! I'm really excited. I mean, it's possible that we COMPLETELY bombed it but at some point we'll get it under control and it'll be a good thing.

Get ready to talk about housing discrimination (and javalinas and Black pioneers in Oregon and a million swears) with Alice and me.

My notes are from the following sources.

Smithsonian Magazine report on the destruction of Vanport

History of Black Portland 

Undercover Investigation in Racial Discrimination in New York

Black and Latinx families charged higher interest for mortgages

College admissions favor rich white kids

Small Update! I am going to try to link all the book suggestions I share to Black and Indigenous owned bookstores! This week's is Loyalty Bookstore in Washington, DC.

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

When Affirmative Action was White by Ira Katznelson

White Homework for the week: if you live in a US city, what's the history of segregation in your city? Extra credit for including a link!

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Happy Black History Month! This week we're starting a new series! We're calling this one "Racism Doesn't Exist" since so many white Americans believe that racism ended with MLK. So we're diving into the data and examining the disparities that exist between white people and Black people in every area of society. This week we're talking about the treatment of nonwhite patients in the medical field.

Additional reading

Disparities in maternal mortality

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