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Our highlights this week include:
- Abu Ghraib Victims Finally getting a Day in Court
- The history of America’s widespread Nazi movement
- Why baseball should stop romanticizing integration
- When gossip is actually good
- And Jonathan keeps us grounded with some moving testimonies
Jonathan’s Recommendations
Abu Ghraib Victims Finally Get Their Day in Court
As the United States is once again entangled in war in the Middle East, I think it is important to acknowledge that the conflicts of the past still sit unresolved and unreconciled. Many of you will remember the horrific images of torture and abuse that emerged from the Abu Ghraib prison 20 years ago. Well, in 2008, three of the victims brought a civil suit against a military contractor involved in operating Abu Ghraib, and the case just went to trial this week. The three Iraqi men are finally having their day in court, and they will relive the atrocities they faced in the hope of getting some kind of restitution. Both the defendant and the US government claim the military and its contractors are immune from suit here. But a judge for the first time ever ruled that neither the military nor its contractors could assert immunity when the plaintiffs allege violations of established international norms like torturing prisoners. Now, after no less than 20 failed attempts by the defendant to toss out the case, a trial will move forward. We pray for peace, justice, accountability and reparations for these three and all the other victims waiting for redress. And we pray against the perpetration of more torture and abuse by the US military, military contractors, and the many armed groups resourced by the military industrial complex. Lord have mercy.
America’s Nazis
“Nazi Town, USA” from PBS is a documentary about The Bund, a pro-Nazi organization with many dozens of chapters across the United States in the 1930’s. The film helps us understand America’s fascination with fascism and devotion to Nationalism, as well as the religious and historical threads that hold this greedy, hate-filled, fearful tapestry together. It makes clear the terrible antisemitism, anti-Blackness, and nativism that pervaded the people from Europe—particularly those from Germany—as they settled in the post-colonial, deeply segregated United States. Understanding the past can help us make sense of the present, especially as we contemplate civil unrest, a lack of trust in our institutions, and political upheaval. And processing this historical knowledge alongside a community can help us make spaces more inclusive, kind, and peaceful toward all.
Sy’s Recommendations
Romanticizing Baseball’s Integration Story
On Monday, Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day, commemorating the day in 1947 Robinson suited up with the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first Black MLB player. But, like most celebrations of racial progress in America, the festivities tend to emphasize the moment racism was overcome at the expense of teaching historical context. Fans can come away with the impression that the baseball world was a kind of neutral party in the story of Robinson’s rise, realizing quickly after he began playing that discrimination had been wrong the whole time. Enter the Equal Justice Initiative’s Calendar of Racial Injustice, which helpfully reminded us on Tuesday that the Dodgers were not the first team to scout Robinson. Two years earlier, under political pressure, the Boston Red Sox held a fake try-out for Robinson and two other Black players, before ghosting all three. The Sox were the last team to integrate, and only did so in 1959 under threats of legal action from the NAACP and the Massachusetts government. To this day, Black MLB players expect racism from Boston fans, including Boston’s own Black players. Now, am I harping on Boston because I’m a Yankee fan? Partially, of course. But the Yankees are far from innocent, having played 7 seasons sharing a physical stadium with the Negro Leagues team called (and I am not making this up) The Black Yankees. These are just a few of many, many facts I could raise demonstrating my point here, which is that romanticizing civil rights victories can diminish our understanding of what oppression was (and is) actually like. And this in turn reinforces America’s tendency to avoid serious self-reflection about our history, increasing our likelihood of repeating it.
When Gossip Is Good
There was a great post recently by Karen Gonzalez, who writes one of our recommended Substacks, on the power of gossip and trickery to do good in the world. She points out that the way we in churches often admonish people (almost always women) for gossiping often serves to silence the spread of information that helps keep people safe from actors or institutions that would harm them. Think, for instance, how an institution might react to women quietly letting each other know about sexual harassment from a leader who is the face of a ministry overly concerned with its reputation. There are a number of great thoughts in this post helping us weed out those accusations of slander that actually serve to insulate the powerful rather than help the community flourish. And Gonzalez goes further to give us examples of women in scripture who actively use deception and trickery to subvert oppressive structures and assert their power to just ends without any condemnation from the text. She invites us to think a bit harder about who we condemn and why in order to better understand our own priorities for ourselves and our communities.
Staying Grounded with Jonathan
Scripture says that we are to be witnesses who testify to the good news of Jesus. And I find myself most grateful, not for the stories from professionally produced Christian media, but for the stories shared with me at church, over coffee, or across a kitchen table. Recently, my church held what it calls Story Sunday, a service featuring personal testimonies instead of a sermon ( the testimonies start at about the 24:30 minute mark in the linked video). One story was of a young man who fled from violence in the Congo years ago, and the other was of a woman who had to fight sexual harassment at work. I was reminded that all of us, through Jesus’ spirit, can point to the transformational power of God’s love for us. Testimony can encourage, comfort, and equip us for today and the days ahead. May you be strengthened in your own faith journey, and reminded that, through him and in community, we can make it through.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy