On the morning after Trump was elected President for the second time, I am trying to find my courage and resolve.
I will work to understand what people voted for. What do they want that they believe he can provide? And if it's a return to white supremacy and the violence of exclusion and racism, I will work to understand the fear that drives that anger. I will work on releasing the fear that drives me to reject difference and focus on what connects, what softens, what embraces.
I'm hearing the quote by civil rights activist Ruby Sales from the podcast On Being that I keep returning to:
How is it that we develop a theology or theologies in a 21st-century capitalist technocracy where only a few lives matter? ... What do you say to someone who has been told that their whole essence is whiteness and power and domination, and when that no longer exists, then they feel as if they are dying? ... I don’t hear any theologies speaking to the vast amount — that’s why Donald Trump is essential, because although we don’t agree with him, people think he’s speaking to that pain that they’re feeling.
...Where is the theology that redefines for them what it means to be fully human? I don’t hear any of that coming out of anyplace today.
There’s a spiritual crisis in white America. It’s a crisis of meaning. We talk a lot about black theologies, but I want a liberating white theology. ... I want a theology that begins to deepen people’s understanding about their capacity to live fully human lives and to touch the goodness inside of them, rather than call upon the part of themselves that’s not relational. Because there’s nothing wrong with being European-American. That’s not the problem. It’s how you actualize that history and how you actualize that reality. It’s almost like white people don’t believe that other white people are worthy of being redeemed.
It is okay to be white. It is not okay to be white and wield disproportionate power to exclude non-white people and disavow past injustice that led to the inequality for BIPOC today.
It strikes me that I've wasted time not learning how reconciliation worked in Germany after the Holocaust, or in South Africa after apartheid. On a micro level, I'm thinking about Brené Brown's emphasis on boundaries being the prerequisite of compassion.
We can't want what's best for someone different from us unless it's clear that there is space for each of us to thrive.
And I want America to thrive as a place that believes in one person, one vote. How radical that seems in this dark moment. Justice and freedom for all. Not some. Not those who win. All. And not just freedom to oppress but a promise that rights will not be abridged. The land of opportunity.
I will work for systems that promote justice.
I will work on softening myself to stay open to connection and love. I will look for the good in everyone.
I will practice calming myself and acting out of a boundaried place that leaves space for everyone to thrive. That is the American Dream I believe in.
