Nazi POW’s and Jim Crow, Black Fantasy, She Slapped an Israeli Soldier
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hey everyone,
This week, Trump declared his third run for the Presidency attempting to yet again turn every camera and eyeball towards him. But in the Kingdom of God, Our Father’s gaze is firmly on the margins. So with our highlights this week, as with our anthology and all that we strive to do at KTF Press, we will center and elevate marginalized voices. This is a great one to forward, and just a reminder that you can click here for a free month!
And now, this week's highlights!
Suzie’s recommendations:
This thread by political anthropologist and physician Eric Reinhart lays out succinctly what Black communities and scholars have been saying for years: the carceral system in the United States is not only driven by racism, but it is also counterproductive and deadly. Mass incarceration actually contributes to crime rates rather than reducing them, provides a breeding ground for infectious diseases, and punishes rather than providing for the needs of the most vulnerable. As Reinart argues, US jails and prisons function as “irrational substitutes for adequate healthcare & social welfare systems.” For those who view prison abolition as a naïve pipe dream at best and dangerous at worst, the resources and arguments here provide a powerful rebuke and rebuttal.
Back in September, Code Switch host B.A. Parker moderated a fascinating panel on Black fantasy at the National Book Festival. The conversation between her and authors Leslye Penelope and Tochi Onyebuchi is eye-opening. Penelope talks about flipping the script on the white default in literature, choosing instead to write Black characters and Black stories that provide insight into issues of racial conflict, but that also go beyond Black pain. Onyebuchi reflects on the inescapably colonialist origins of science fiction and what it looks like to write in this genre as “children of empire.” He also talks about how it’s easier to imagine a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world than one free of colonization and racial strife, along with the important work that activists and abolitionists do to expand our moral imaginations. It is a quick, thought-provoking listen worthy of your time!
At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a video circulated of a brave young girl confronting a group of soldiers. The thing is, that video is actually ten years old, the girl is not Ukrainian but Palestinian, and the soldiers she is confronting are Israeli. Her name is Ahed Tamimi. Tamimi garnered international attention back in 2012, when the video first went viral. But the footage captures just one of many incidents that have defined her life under Israeli occupation. She was imprisoned at 16 years-old and witnessed the incarceration of both parents as well as the killing of multiple family members. All of this and more is chillingly chronicled in her recently published memoir, They Called Me a Lioness. Tamimi is well aware that her proximity to whiteness contributes to her place in the spotlight as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Palestinian. She recognizes that her story is just one of millions who suffer under Israeli occupation and apartheid. Thus, the book, in many ways, tells not only her story but the story of her family, her village, and her people.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
As we head into the holiday season, pumpkin spice lattes are seemingly ubiquitous and so are the culture wars. This post on Instagram and Twitter by Pastor Ben Cremer is a helpful reminder that context matters and in many cases, “Happy Holidays” might be a more genuine invitation into a season of love, justice, and incarnation than a dominance-seeking “Merry Christmas.” And, as he puts it, “[w]e Christians should be more concerned with keeping Christ in ‘Christian’ than we are about the culture keeping Christ in ‘Christmas.’” We, at KTF, could not agree more. And, if you found this thread helpful, I highly recommend subscribing to Pastor Cremer’s mailing list here.
Last week, as we celebrated Veterans Day, I was reminded of the women and men who gave their blood and bodies for a country that segregated and stratified them based on race, gender, class, and ability. This piece from Time magazine highlights how the egregious practices of Jim Crow defined the radical differences between the treatment of Black soldiers versus Nazi prisoners of war. Corporal Rupert Trimmingham famously noted in Louisiana in 1944 that the only boss was “Old Man Jim Crow.” Black soldiers were put under armed guard for minor infractions while Nazi prisoners of war roamed the base camps freely. Whiteness trumped any idea of battlefield camaraderie. As we engage with the complexities of military power, service, and conquest, it is helpful to remember that all people engaged in an armed conflict come to it from different social locations. And white supremacy and the Jim Crow South superseded allegiance to the Allied forces.
There is no place on the planet that has not suffered the effects of colonization. If not directly through spheres of influence and military power, then indirectly through oppressive and exploitative economic and environmental systems that make life apart from accumulated colonial power untenable. Thus, to paraphrase Nikki Sanchez in this TEDx talk, Decolonization is for Everyone, whether our ancestors were colonized or colonizers, trauma is in our bloodline and we are in desperate need of freedom and liberation. “This history is not your fault. But it is your responsibility” says Ms. Sanchez. And I believe that she’s right. To close the talk, she lays out five steps to begin the work of decolonization. So, as we prepare for Thanksgiving — a mythological, colonial holiday – let us reflect on these steps so that we can speak and live in light of our history instead of avoiding it.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
The KTF team