Disabled Refugees, Alabama v. Black Midwives, Hip-hop’s Selective Resistance
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hey everyone!
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And now, to this week’s highlights!
Sy’s recommendations:
At the intersection of ableism and anti-immigrant bigotry sits this horrifying center in the UK for disabled asylum seekers. Stories of the privately-run center include people who cannot leave or go to the bathroom because they have no wheelchairs or other mobility aids, a woman begging for food around the neighborhood because the facility barely feeds her, and at least one death due to the building having absolutely no healthcare staff. One local Brit attacked a resident on the street for not speaking English. As the above-linked article notes, this state of affairs results from the feverish anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain and the austerity of British conservatives when it comes to social services. Let us pray against the idols that repeat these patterns of nationalist and ableist oppression globally, and pray for the many volunteer workers from the community around the asylum facility trying to fill in the service gaps created by apathy and hatred.
If you’ve been listening to Shake the Dust this season, you will already know from this episode about the incredible power of thoughtful, culturally-competent birthing services, particularly for Black women. But as this article notes, there are a few states in the South trying to close down Black midwife-run birthing centers for fear that they are unsafe, despite studies showing they have better health outcomes than hospitals and save Medicaid about $2,000 per patient. For context, Black women have the worst birth outcomes in these states, these states have some of the worst birth outcomes in the country, and this country has some of the worst birth outcomes of any wealthy nation. And America has always been hostile toward institutions that effectively create greater autonomy and dignity for Black people. Fortunately, the birthing centers filed a lawsuit with the ACLU and won a temporary injunction against the regulations taking effect while the suit is pending. Pray they win.
Sojourners’ Sandy Ovalle Martínez recently wrote a great, short piece on how Latine faith often incorporates traditional practices and wisdom that Western Christians demonize. She discusses the journey of relearning how to trust herself and her culture after encountering White Christianity. She says for many, this journey is also a reclamation of that which most helped their ancestors resist the effects of colonization and cultural dominance. The piece gives those of us immersed in dominant cultures a framework for understanding differing but no less faithful expressions of Christianity, while, I hope, bringing a sense of validation and healing to Latine and other marginalized people in the Church.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Senator Diane Feinstein passed away last week. One of her most consequential contributions to public life was spearheading the investigation into the CIA’s and the US military’s torture of suspected terrorists. This Frontline documentary from 2014 exposed the government’s grotesque violence and negligence of its duties. It stopped me in my tracks when I first watched it. The investigation also uncovered that the torturers gained no useful or reliable information to aid any counter-terrorism operations, and they actively hindered other national security efforts. So along with its moral repugnance, torture was ineffective. I’m grateful to Senator Feinstein for resisting the institutional pressure to drop the investigation and to keep the investigation’s findings from the public. The legacies of legislators can be complicated. But for many, this report broke the facade of American exceptionalism and supremacy surrounding the officials who refused to acknowledge the truth. May more politicians choose to protect vulnerable people by risking their positions of power.
(Content warning: police brutality and explicit language) “How long, oh Lord?” is a powerful question that rises from Psalm 13, and it’s a piercing refrain in this song by the band The Underlay. The song is called “F**k Your Breath,” a quote of a Tulsa deputy sheriff’s response to a Black man saying he was losing his breath as he lay dying after another deputy shot him for no reason. The song laments that the fullness of the kingdom of God has not come, and that brutal systemic racism still crushes the image of God in people. The whole album is worth a listen, but this song especially invites meditation and grappling with the reality of suffering. You can also see a video of a live performance here.
In this episode from the Vulture podcast Into It, hip-hop scholar Jason England says, “How could we say hip-hop was ever progressive if it was always so deeply homophobic and misogynist? … Hip-hop has always had a radical posture. That doesn’t mean it was radical in action.” I find it a helpful way to understand many of our ostensibly progressive institutions. For the right amount of money, fans, or status, many hip-hop artists have been willing to forget the genre’s record of resistance against police brutality and racial oppression, the entertainment industry has minimized artists’ unchecked homophobia and misogyny, and nobody acknowledges the greed and materialism in all of this. I love Hip-hop. But I want consistency in its artists fighting all kinds of oppression and institutional greed. and I want to see accountability when there is inconsistency. Jesus testifies that a tree will be known by its fruit. We must be wary of putting up the appearance of care for the marginalized while behaving in ways that betray our true desires.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy