Israeli Apartheid, Arizona Prison Labor, Google’s Caste Controversy
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hi everyone,
Before we get started, we are thrilled to announce the birth of Sy’s baby girl! Both baby and mama are doing well. While we miss having Sy around, we are grateful to support him in this season of adjusting to his newest role as #girldad. Congratulations, Sy and Gabrielle!
Now, let’s get to it.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Jayland Walker was unarmed when 60 bullets cut through his body in Akron, Ohio a few weeks ago. He was laid to rest last week and this song from Grammy-nominated Sweet Honey in the Rock is one that rings true as much today as it did in the 1960’s when it was released. The lyrics begin with “we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes” and verse one ends, “until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons.” Members of this all-female, African-American acapella group sang behind Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and their songs push us forward today. This song presents both a depressing dichotomy and a prophetic call to action that things are not as God intended, yet we must press on until the fruit of His Kingdom comes in full.
The United States is not the Kingdom of God and neither is the State of Israel. These are true statements that should not be radical. But in today’s landscape of political and theological enmeshment, when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) acknowledges the very real reality that Palestinians live in an apartheid state, it is controversial. Eetta Prince-Gibson of the Washington Post highlights that declaration and some of the pushback. To leave colonized faith requires clear and fervent statements like this one and our prayer is that there may be more.
Often, the mix of racism and religious nationalism is framed in a black-white binary and interpreted as a uniquely American problem. Unfortunately, the temptation to supremacy is a global issue, and that is the subject of Slate’s What Next: TBD podcast episode which exposes how the Hindu caste system influences the tech sector to toxic results. Lizzie O’Leary interviews Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Executive Director of Equality Labs and a key figure behind Dalit History Month, in a jarring conversation that invites us to center a minority of a minority and love our neighbors as Jesus commanded through listening, learning, and advocating for equity and justice.
Suzie’s recommendations:
Earlier this month, the federal government made provisions that allow states to stop charging biological parents the cost of having their kids in foster care. Yes, you read that correctly. Prior to this new guidance, parents who had their children removed and placed in the foster care system were also required to foot the bill. And that is still the default today, unless states choose to operate otherwise. Not only do these fees compound the pain of having one’s children forcibly removed, but they are utterly counterproductive as many of the reasons for removal are related to poverty. So many cases of neglect are a matter of families struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Systems like this achieve little more than punishing the poor rather than providing them with the assistance they need to survive and thrive. How different would our cities and communities look if we pushed for policies that toss a lifeline to families who are floundering rather than forcing them even deeper into debt?
While Americans protest against inoculation, people in the developing world are dying for a COVID vaccine. This Atlantic article by Vidya Krishnan lays out the infuriating saga of WTO negotiations to waive intellectual property rights to aid developing countries fighting the pandemic. Over the nearly two-year period of wealthy Western nations haggling over terms and conditions, less privileged countries like India and South Africa have witnessed the deaths of millions to preventable COVID cases. As Krishnan writes, not only is this drawn-out battle immoral, but it enables the breeding of new strains and global infection resurgences. The process has also laid bare, not for the first time, the global power imbalance that medical ethicist Harriet Washington has aptly dubbed “medical apartheid.” Lord have mercy on the lives lost while we in the Western world continue to put profits over people.
The Arizona Republic and local KJZZ News station recently reported on a yearlong investigation into the use of prison labor across the state. What they uncovered was even more pervasive than originally anticipated, with local prisons farming out incarcerated individuals to over 150 private companies for a broad gamut of services, often for less than $1/hour. Individuals in one state-run prison labor program are additionally charged for their living expenses, paying over $700/month for their own cell. Moreover, while incarcerated laborers theoretically have the same occupational health and safety protections as any worker in America, this often does not bear out in reality. For example, testimonies of uncompensated work-related injuries are the norm not the exception. In the age of mass incarceration in America, we must be aware of the many ways that profit is extracted from the prison-industrial complex, and we would do well to remember that care for the poor and those in prison are the true marks of the righteousness.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
The KTF team