Southern Baptists, Black Panther Breakfasts, Pro-Life Regrets
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hi all,
On the one hand, it’s hard to believe that we’re coming to you just after a mass shooting for the second week in a row — the year’s most deadly attack, in Buffalo, immediately followed by the year’s new most deadly attack, in Uvalde. On the other hand, it isn’t hard to believe because America has had more mass shootings than days in 2022, 27 of those shootings in schools. Words continue to feel insufficient. But continue to speak them — to pray, to mourn, to advocate, to seek justice, to bring comfort, to live in solidarity and love. We hope that what we provide helps ground you when you are disoriented, resonates with you where you need validation, and challenges you where God is already working. We pray and work alongside you for a world a little closer to the Kingdom of God.
Sy’s recommendations:
I don’t feel like there is anything I can do about the shooting in Uvalde, Texas other than lament. Or at least, not anything that is feasible. There are many things we could do to prevent these tragedies, which are the unsurprising result of policy choices. But the strength of the forces aligned in favor of an endless supply of guns is itself yet another tragedy. That’s why I’m recommending this piece from yesterday by Talia Lavin. She writes of the ceaseless grief Americans feel, or should feel, as we survey the consequences of our actions, beginning the piece by reflecting on Francisco de Goya’s painting “Saturn Devouring His Son.” It’s a chilling post, but it helped me name feelings and articulate thoughts about the horror in which America has decided it is necessary to live. I hope it can do the same for you.
This week, I came across this recent essay about the Black Panthers and all they managed to accomplish through mutual aid before the racist government campaigns that ended their existence. Their nationwide free breakfast program, their organizing tenants with negligent landlords, their work fighting the use of lead paint, their drafting the original Patient’s Bill of Rights, and so much more — they did it all through the simple act of asking about and directly responding to community needs. And they accomplished these things in the face of powerful opposition because their actions in their communities spoke louder than the FBI’s threats and disinformation. This piece is a reminder of the power of community and solidarity to help people make it through suffering and oppression. Not to end the oppression, but to provide presence, attentiveness, and care. This is what our God always does for us and for the people Babylon routinely crushes.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Everything from our daily luxuries to our country’s financial stability are intimately linked with generational exploitation; but rarely are those links made plain for us. The New York Times in its series on Haiti draws clear connections between the opulence of France and the poverty of Haiti. Most notably, the piece highlights the “double debt” where France forced Haiti to pay enslavers for its freedom under threat of invasion following the Haitian Revolution, and then lent Haiti the money to make that payment at predatory rates. This was extortion on a monumental scale that is still happening. We must interrogate, identify, and resist the ways colonization is still at play in the world. This series tells the story of white, Western powers, enraged and terrified, punishing Black people who dared to assert independence, and continuing that punishment without remorse or relief until today.
It is often easier to read the commentary and opinions about a given subject than to engage with the subject directly. This is especially true when considering hard topics like sexual assault. I urge you to resist that temptation and review the independent report on the Southern Baptist Convention and its institutional avoidance, dismissal, and cover-up of sexual abuse and violence. What the witnesses and interviewers have to say is infinitely more important than the opinions of pastors, pundits and politicians that did little to nothing to protect them. If we are to leave colonized faith, we cannot do that without dismantling systems and structures that lack integrity, accountability, and real oversight or consequences. As in this report, the voices of victims must be paramount in determining what constitutes truth and justice.
Suzie’s recommendations:
Two weeks ago, Haitian-American Karine Jean-Pierre became the first Black and openly LGBTQ person to take on the role of White House Press Secretary. The loudest voice against her appointment was that of former US envoy to Israel David M. Friedman who declared that she “hates Israel.” In response, veteran journalist Peter Beinart tweeted an article he wrote in 2020 when former Senator Kelly Loeffler made similar accusations against Senator Raphael Warnock. Beinart argues that the criticism that Black government officials and politicians are anti-Israel, and therefore anti-American, is a strategy employed since the Civil Rights era that “keeps US foreign policymaking white.”
The Washington Post recently featured Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Professor Karen Swallow Prior in a profile that highlights her fears about the future of the pro-life movement, though she has ardently advocated against abortion for years. Prior, a former Liberty University professor, initially rejoiced at the news of the leaked ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. But she is now asking herself if it was worth the cost. She looks back over roughly three decades of antiabortion work, and sees a pro-life movement laser focused on a single Supreme Court ruling, bereft of a holistic pro-life ethic. Prior recalls a particular turning point while chaperoning a bus load of Liberty students at the 2020 March for Life. She watched Trump take to the stage to address a sea of MAGA hats. “I had this moment of realization: We got what we asked for, and I want to take it back.” The piece depicts the dawning disillusionment of someone who devoted their life to a cause, only to find that they’ve been a pawn in someone else’s chess game the whole time.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week.
The KTF team