Black Pastors & White Money, Focus on Jada, Cole Arthur Riley's Instant Classic
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hi all,
If you haven’t yet had a chance to look at Suzie’s incredible article from yesterday on her thoughts about the politics of white motherhood, please do give it a read! And here are this week’s highlights to help us leave colonized faith.
Sy’s recommendations:
A quick round-up on some thoughts I think are helpful about the slap heard ‘round the world. First, here’s an article with the perspectives of several Black women on Chris Rock’s misogynistic and racist bullying of Jada Pinkett Smith, and another on the disability she has that leads to the hair loss which Rock demeaned. This is a fantastic Twitter thread about how the reaction of the Academy and many white commentators to Will Smith’s slap is both wildly hypocritical and deeply rooted in racism. And here’s another thread on some very thoughtful, emotionally healthy reflections on why the wisest move for white people when it comes to this incident is to be quick to listen and slow to become angry. The thread reaches way back to some fundamental principles for white people engaging with matters of race, including the crucial insight that we have to begin with the notion that we are all, unavoidably, at least somewhat racist. Confused? Give it a read!
More disability-related content from the Oscars. The winner in the best picture category was the groundbreaking CODA. The filmmakers took the exceedingly rare steps of portraying multiple, three-dimensional deaf characters in one film, casting deaf actors to play them, and having those actors sign a huge portion of the movie’s dialogue. Nevertheless, one thoughtful commentator writing in the Atlantic asks the simple question: “Who is this movie for?” He discusses the movie’s focus on the experiences of the otherwise deaf family’s hearing daughter and the difficulty she has living with her disabled loved ones. He also points out that the filmmakers were not going to hire deaf actors beyond Marlee Matlin until she threatened to leave if they didn’t. I think the author strikes a good balance between celebrating the historic aspects of the movie while leaving room to still critique a good thing and push Hollywood to do even better. Also, fair warning: spoilers for the movie in this article.
Suzie’s recommendations:
Part of the vital work of decolonization is learning to be attentive to prophetic voices on the margins. The work of pastors, activists, and academics in the Middle East, particularly Lebanon and Palestine, have deeply shaped my own faith. This recent post on the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary blog by Dr. Martin Accad speaks to growing disillusionment with religion due to its close association with violent and authoritarian political movements across the region and beyond. In the face of such a challenge, Accad offers a defense of political theology rather than a complete abandonment of either politics or faith. He also references what he describes as “something of a political manifesto that calls on the church in the Middle East to adopt a renewed framework for public theology” recently penned by various Arab theologians. One of the document’s authors is Rev. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian theologian and former guest on Shake the Dust. I highly recommend sitting with Accad’s article as well as this extraordinary manifesto.
In the first edition of our newsletter Sy recommended a podcast episode of Jemele Hill is Unbothered in which Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza says that one reason many Black activists left the church was its refusal to include the LGBTQ+ community. The podcast Truth’s Table is currently going through a series called “State of the Black Church,” and one of its first episodes is an interview with Dr. Korie Little Edwards that offers another reason for this phenomenon. Edwards is the co-author of Smart Suits, Tattered Boots: Black Ministers Mobilizing the Black Church in the Twenty-First Century. Her research is data-driven and thorough. She argues that the Black church ceased to represent the vanguard of justice movements in part due to a pivot from Black church affiliations with “independent Black-led civic groups toward white-controlled faith-based organizations” that likely contributed to the spiritual and financial de-prioritization of such initiatives. As Christena Edmondson says in the episode, “Much pay, much say.”
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Cole Arthur Riley’s, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, is a book that I will be reading and reflecting on for years to come. Its passages are painful and healing. There are phrases that pull you into the darkness of this world and illuminate it at the same time. Like Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Riley describes in beautifully harsh details the struggles of being a Black woman in a world that is at war against her. And like Baldwin, she wrestles with a God who won’t let her go. Its 15 chapters are distinct yet connected stories that will leave you full and longing for more at the same time. The book is not a light read, nor should it be taken in one sitting. But it is certainly one to return to like the liturgies that ground so many faith communities. Because that’s what this book did more than anything – it grounded me. And I think it will do the same for you.
Covering race in the United States as a journalist is not an easy task. The difficulty compounds when you are a Black journalist reporting on the confirmation hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the murder of George Floyd, or the presidency of Donald Trump, and the professional expectation is the appearance of objectivity. In this podcast, the Daily Show correspondent, Roy Wood Jr. interviewed Yamiche Alcindor from Washington Week on PBS, Vladimir Duthiers from CBS News, and Symone Sanders from MSNBC for a candid conversation on race, journalism, and the difficulties of doing and keeping a job in an industry rife with obstacles for the Black community. It is tempting in our every day to overlook the humanity of those delivering our media to us, or to take for granted the cost of different vocations. This is a temptation that we must resist to love our neighbors well.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
The KTF team