KTF Weekly Newsletter: Occupying Haiti, Criminalizing Volunteers, This War Had to End
August 26, 2021
Hi everyone,
We’re just going to jump right in this week. Here are your resources for leaving colonized faith for the Kingdom of God.
Sy’s recommendations:
We have a lot on Afghanistan this week, but they are all great pieces coming at recent events from very different angles. This one will teach you a lot of US imperial history and make connections I’m fairly certain you won’t find elsewhere. Jonathan Katz, a reporter whose work is always worth reading, published an article last Friday that dove into America’s occupation of Haiti from 1915 – 1934. He argues that many aspects of that occupation –the colonial and business interests that drove it, the military tactics developed during it, and the devastation wrought by its incompetence – formed a blueprint for future invasions like that which just ended in Afghanistan. He also traces the damage done by the continuous US interference in Haiti from that occupation right up until today, creating conditions that magnified the devastation of last week’s earthquake. He thus identifies significant links between the two seemingly far-flung tragedies that recently dominated headlines.
As we have discussed before on Shake the Dust, the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated the gaps in our societies’ existing hierarchies. One particularly nasty instinct we have seen over and over is people’s dismissal of the value of elderly, sick, or disabled lives in the shaping of public health policy. An article in The Nation this week reports on some of the ways legal advocates are fighting back on behalf of disabled students. The argument is straight forward enough. Federal law guarantees a safe educational environment for students with disabilities, and many disabled students are highly vulnerable to COVID-19. So if we’re going to school in person, we’re going to need some mask mandates. But the situation and the politics are more complicated. The article gives a good glimpse into the thinking and strategy of advocates doing important work on behalf of people whose needs many are more than happy to ignore.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
There have always been prophetic people willing to speak truth to power and hold it to account. A voice that cries out from North Carolina is Reverend William J. Barbour II. Barbour, the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, wrote an article in The Atlantic that makes plain the reality that no shalom has ever come from a bullet or the barrel of a gun. Barbour states clearly, “It was a mistake to believe that bombs and missiles and drones and tanks could ever bring peace.“ The piece is titled “This War Needed to End,” yet because Jesus is consistent, the essay is a clarion call to end all wars; and do right by all people caught up in armed conflict including in this case, our neighbors in Afghanistan.
In the Gospels it says that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” So if we were to analyze the political discourse after Obama’s campaign touting “hope and change,” what would we discover? It is plain that our political dialogue is at best uncivil and at worst calling for violence against those who the speaker deems to be on the other side. This raises the question that CNN’s John Blake analyzes in his recent article. The question is: will the United States ever galvanize again around the prospect of a unified future marked by optimism and a sincere desire for things to be better for all people? Blake highlights voting restrictions, the insurrection, and continued disunity on how to stop the spread of COVID, or in some cases, COVID’s existence at all! This piece is an important invitation from a Christian journalist to a larger reflection on our political past and what’s on the horizon, as well as a challenge to reach for hope in Christ from a writer leaning in for a brighter future.
Suzie’s recommendations:
One month ago, Israeli military abducted 21-year-old Layan Nasir from her home in the early hours of the morning. She is now being held in a military prison along with seven other young women for participation in an “unlawful association.” The association in question is a student union at their local university- the Democratic Progressive Student Pole (DPSP). Their crimes? Activities like environmental volunteer work and aiding fellow students in procuring school supplies. In his poignant piece published this week in Mondoweiss, Fr. Dr. Fadi Diab reflects on the impact of the Israeli occupation on the life of this young member of his parish, the arbitrariness of her detention, and the Christian theology that led her to take part in such student volunteer work despite the grave repercussions.
As the world continues to reel from the scenes of chaos and desperation coming out of Afghanistan, the voices of Afghans themselves is often missing from the story. However, this recent article from The Boston Globe centers the experiences of Afghan Americans as they reflect on the events unfolding in their native country and share the ways that they are responding. Reading their accounts presents an important opportunity for deeper empathy, solidarity, and prayer.
Shake the Dust preview
Tomorrow, the team discusses American imperialism overseas and the end of the war in Afghanistan. We talk about Americans’ naiveté regarding the United States’ capabilities and altruism, the colonialist mindset underlying much media commentary on the end of the war, how Christian nationalism contributes to the persecution of the Church abroad, how Jesus leads us in a different direction, and a lot more.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!
The KTF team