Reckoning

The Black Americans whose names could share this space with George Floyd is dreadfully particular to their families and friends. Generation after generation, an endless roll of our Black American neighbors plucked from this life and from their lives, and from those who loved them … or might have, had we only known.

But we witnessed the killing of George Floyd with our own eyes — you and me. We don’t have to take anybody’s word for it: a smirking, flagrant, public lynching.

Which, now, makes us answerable for what we do about what we witnessed.

 

What do you call it when you don’t have to care?

“... I would ask whites what they would have us do to secure their tepid and revocable support for the notion that we shouldn’t be gunned down by the police. Not get shot in the back by the cops? Yeah, we’ve tried that. Not get pissed off when we get shot in the back? When that happens, y’all just let our murderers go back to the work of murdering us. Protest, but don’t be civilly disobedient when we do? We do that, and those protests are never covered. The only time the media shows our daytime protests is when Bill Barr gasses them so the president can take a photo-op. 

....

“There is no way to protest white supremacy in a way that will meet the approval of white supremacists.”

— Elie Mystal . The Inevitable Whitelash Against Racial Justice Has Started . The Nation . AUGUST 31, 2020

What a Difference Two Years Makes ... or Not

Two years ago, today, I posted:

Are all the president’s loved-ones accounted for? Surely there must be a stress-induced explanation for what he did, and failed to do, standing next to Vladimir Putin today in Helsinki....

The gag was an implication that the Russians must have kidnapped a member of the president's family as leverage. How else to explain the events reported, also two years ago today, by the BBC in a summary of the strange behavior of the President of the United States at a summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

In addition to the 12 indicted Russians mentioned briefly in the July 16, 2018 BBC story, the Mueller Investigation would go on to secure confessions or trial convictions against eight US citizens (plus federal charges against another dozen Russian individuals and entities.

Later, after reading the redacted report of that investigation, I concluded that, were I seated on a grand jury presented with the volume and specificity of the evidence in the report, I would be compelled to vote for indictment in most, if not all, the instances the report detailed.

Roger Stone, whose sentence was commuted last week — was prosecuted and convicted by a jury of seven felony crimes. Commuted - not pardoned - Roger Stone remains a convicted felon who will do no jail time or reparation for his offenses.

Today, the American president continues taking the side of Vladimir Putin against the investigative findings of the US Intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the president continues taking the side of confessed and convicted criminals working against US interests in and in parallel with his administration.

Other than that, I imagine the president's first instinct every day is to put America first; unless it isn't.

If I heard Mr. Mueller’s case on a grand jury...

After chewing on the Mueller Report for a month, it occurred to me to ask: 

"If you were seated on a grand jury and heard this case from prosecutors, how would you vote?" 

My answer is: 

"On the weight of this evidence I would vote to indict Mr. Trump for obstruction of justice."

Youth Workers may never see a more teachable moment than this weekend to talk about Christian behavior toward classmates, friends + neighbors

Youthworker friends - this weekend is your clearest shot at guiding your group to a fresh understanding that there is nothing Christian (nothing authentically American for that matter) about hate speech, intimidation, vandalism, or personal violence. Going a step farther, if the biblical text is to be believed, there's something profoundly Christian about defending the weak, the poor, the sick, the broken, the captive, foreigners, widows, orphans, strangers.... If you don't have a better idea, call it Safety Pin Sunday. Put a largish safety pin on your shirt, dress, or jacket, and offer one to anybody willing to identify himself or herself as a safe person at school and in the neighborhood for friends and neighbors who feel unsafe because of the present turmoil ... in particular: Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, immigrants, pretty much anyone with dark skin, women and girls, sexual minorities - whoever in your community feels at risk ... in some communities it may be Trump supporters who feel at greater risk this week than before the election.

Safety Pin people will protect anyone who needs protecting by 

• standing with them
• eating with them
• walking with them
• sharing a ride with them
• dialing 911 for them
• recording video of anyone who threatens them
• taking screen shots of anything that expresses violent intentions towards them online
• standing up to online bullies and trolls
• not allowing them to be physically isolated or cornered by anyone who means to harm them

At the end of the day - whoever they are - if people who need help can't get it from folks who say they know a little something about God, then where exactly are they supposed to turn in your community? There may never be a more teachable moment than this weekend to help your group understand and embrace this sort of proactive peacemaking right where they live.

Keep It To Yourself | Blind White Theologizing

My FaceBook feed is awash in, I presume well-meaning, platitudes from White people about just how all right everything is going to turn out in the wake of the 2016 elections. This strikes me as a particularly unfortunate form of whitesplaining.

Daniel Lee at Fuller Seminary posted overnight:

If your basic humanity is not threatened by Trump, does it make sense to invoke Christ's Lordship at this moment? Theological truth misused becomes a lie.

Wisdom for those with ears to hear.

It seems to me that any authentically Christian theology is necessarily incarnational - it's baked right into the word, "Christian," isn't it.... 

I don't see how any White - especially male - Christian who will not do everything possible to enter into the anguish of everyone who perceives the President Elect as an existential threat has any standing to speak theologically in this moment. And I think such people may forfeit that standing perpetually until the lessons of incarnation are internalized and subsequently expressed as compassion, and solidarity with those who suffer today.

To extend Daniel Lee's construct, "If you can't say something genuinely true, please don't say anything at all until you can." And I'll add that I'm pretty sure the promise of pie in the sky in the sweet by-and-by is cold comfort to people who hunger to see the self-described followers of Jesus embody the values and practices of God's kingdom right here and right now for the common good. Pie in the sky is junk food.

in the wind | tweets from the space ending 05.17.15

The last study guide you'll ever need jimhancock.blogspot.com

T or F: The main reason teenagers don't use birth control or protection is fear their parents will find out http://buff.ly/1IpAbzT 

Muslims say they denounce terrorism + then get lambasted for failing to denounce terrorism http://buff.ly/1K1NKYl #Ignoranceispissed

degrees of difference | HuffPo surveys changes in college students + college life 2005-2015 http://buff.ly/1zTkeAA 

Mixed Mesages | or, A note from Chicago about white privilege http://buff.ly/1cro4G8  h/t Polly Toner

Reading Rainbow The Next Generation | Launching Today http://buff.ly/1Jdl5hG 

The Science of Scarcity | a provocative read on cycles of poverty http://buff.ly/1e1YWae

jim hancock: New Data | Generational Shifts in American Adolescents' Religious Orientation from 1966-2014 jimhancock.blogspot.com

The Post-Ironic Millennial Speaks | Updated jimhancock.blogspot.com

Nones, Dones, and Flannel Graph Jesus | http://jimhancock.blogspot.com 

in the wind | tweets from the space ending 02.14.15

Are expressions of contrition and humility off-limits at the national prayer breakfast? 
http://wapo.st/1vdQOWc 

while white people watched | new research documents lynchings of 3959 black Americans 1877-1950 http://bit.ly/1DBxIjF 

white male privilege + the benefit of the doubt jimhancock.blogspot.com

blinded by...what? | a week in denial observed jimhancock.blogspot.com

white male privilege + the benefit of the doubt

This week, Arthur Chu writes:

The single greatest “privilege” of a privileged class is the benefit of the doubt. And the message that the “outrage brigade” is sending is a simple one:

Either, at long last, as Martin Luther King called for in the stirringly utopian climax to his famous speech, we finally achieve a culture where every hill and mountain has been made low, every rough place made plain, justice flows like a rolling stream and we all get the benefit of the doubt…

Or, in the meantime, no one does.

in the wind | 17 favorite posts from 2014

A selection of most-read and most-important-to-me posts from the year just passed.

Christmas Memory | if my father is a...

OK, so I'm paying more for health coverage each month (sort of)

the new apostles creed | what orthodox Christians have always believed

...and that's when it occurred to him... | the Bible

waiting for the end | a poem before Easter

we've seen worse | John Green on myths of doom

sophisticated innocents iii | a small idea from Raising Adults

all weather is local | three maps that have nothing — and everything — to do with youth work

easy lessons from other people's pain

Gospel Stew | letter from a new Christian

MINO vs CINO | Do you believe everyone who claims to be a Muslim is, in fact, a Muslim?

nothing inevitable | on choosing to vote for the common good

You will know the truth and the truth will make you flinch before it sets you free | thoughts on torture as an American policy

God help us | Letter to Mr. Lord re: 10-year Priorities, 2005-2014

from Erica Lafferty, whose mom was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary | via Everytown.org

rage against the rage against the machine | Jon Stewart gives Andrew Hawkins the final word

On White Privilege

rage against the rage against the machine | Jon Stewart gives Andrew Hawkins the final word

The Daily Show

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

in the wind | tweets from the space ending 12.13.14

over it? Bloomberg survey finds ½ of American don't want their sons to play football http://bloom.bg/1vQsPjA

...and the truth will make you flinch before it sets you free | thoughts on torture as American policy jimhancock.blogspot.com

God help us | Letter to Mr. Lord re: 10-year Priorities, 2005-2014 http://jimhancock.blogspot.com 

@commonsense picks for best 2014 movies to watch with your children, tweens + teens http://bit.ly/1DpaeQB

@commonsense picks best holiday books for children, three - nine years http://bit.ly/1DpbNOB

This is not the conversation parents are supposed to dread http://jimhancock.blogspot.com 

This is not the talk parents are supposed to dread

shutdown vs bank bailouts | a letter to my senators

December 12, 2014

Senator, the last government shutdown cost billions, but the last bank-precipitated financial crisis cost trillions.

I hate the prospect of a shutdown, but I urge you: Don't put the course of our economy back in the hands of actors who demand their exercise of high-risk investment schemes be backstopped by taxpayers.

Sincerely,

Jim Hancock

God help us | Letter to Mr. Lord re: 10-year Priorities, 2005-2014

December 15, 2004

To: Mr. Lord

From: USLT

Re: 10-year Priorities, 2005-2014

Dear Mr. Lord, 

As the year draws to a close, no one knows better than you that our branch is working with limited resources. With competing interests in the Morals & Ethics department and insufficient bandwidth to tackle everything, the team could use a quick reality check.

If, for the foreseeable future, we have to choose between A and B, do you want us to prioritize:

A. Speaking against the torture of suspected terrorists by employees and agents of the government in the US jurisdiction

B. Speaking against equal protection under the law for LBGT citizens in the US jurisdiction 

[Or perhaps there's a "C" that we missed? (wouldn't be the first time, lol)]

Sorry to put you in this position so late in the year. Hopefully, we’ll have greater resources as our real estate and other investments begin paying out, but until then...

Awaiting your reply, 

The US Leadership Team

p.s. Candidly, some in the branch feel like we’re getting mixed messages from you and your son. It would nice to clear that up at some point.

p.p.s If we don’t see you, Merry Christmas!

[h/t @JanaRiess <http://janariess.religionnews.com/2014/12/10/mormonism-responsible-torture/>]

in the wind | posts from the space ending 12.06.14

I am not a cobbler | Seth Godin http://bit.ly/1wYt5ws

nothing inevitable | on choosing to vote for the common good jimhancock.blogspot.com 

it's on us | sexual assault + the casual bystander jimhancock.blogspot.com

slap a banker | Colin Farrell + global corruption jimhancock.blogspot.com

Ferguson Grand Jury | an honest mistake? jimhancock.blogspot.com 

Who's picking up the slack on World AIDS Day 2014 jimhancock.blogspot.com 

(RED) | a more hopeful note on World AIDS Day jimhancock.blogspot.com

If Eric Garner is not my brother, is there any reason to believe God is my father? jimhancock.blogspot.com 

If Eric Garner is not my brother, is there any reason to believe God is my father?

I don't think I'm too far out a limb here. An ancient proverb says:

The righteous care about justice for the poor,
but the wicked have no such concern.

Now, suggesting I'm righteous would be ludicrous, but holey moley...we can't get a jury trial from the physical evidence in this case?

As news on the Eric Garner Grand Jury decision broke yesterday in New York, Jon Stewart's emotional tone felt about right to me. Lord have mercy.

The Daily Show
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Ferguson Grand Jury | an honest mistake?

light the night | Energize Africa

29 July, 2014

Just about everybody enjoys a candle, a campfire, a flickering lantern. But I don't know anyone who wants to read by that light, or mend clothes, or give birth.

So, this from the good folks at the One Campaign:

Next week, 40 to 50 African leaders will be in DC for the first-ever US-Africa Leaders Summit. This is going to be a huge event.

But…

Next week the Senate will be gone. For the entire month of August.

So...

This week is THE week to get the Energize Africa Act passed.  

Send a message to your U.S. senators and tell them this is the week to stand up and support the Energize Africa Act. We've only got a few days to make this happen—but it's totally doable if enough of our senators hear from enough of us.

Here's the message I sent my senators—feel free to borrow and personalize it however you wish (I borrowed it from the One Campaign and added a tiny bit of a personal appeal).

I'm writing to ask you to co-sponsor and support S. 2508, the Energize Africa Act. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. Coons, Sen. Markey, Sen. Isakson and Sen. Johanns just introduced this bill, which seeks to reduce poverty, improve health and education, and bolster economic growth in Africa by ramping up U.S. involvement in promoting first-time access to electricity for at least 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.  

Similar bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2548, the Electrify Africa Act, was recently passed in the House by a bipartisan vote. The Electrify Africa Act is also aimed at bringing first time energy access to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, and according to the Congressional Budget Office, would actually reduce the budget deficit by $86 million over the next 5 years. Both bills represent a new approach to development aid that leverages the private sector to assist the world’s poorest.  

I hope you'll support the Energize Africa Act with the energy and imagination I so admire in you.  

Sincerely,
Jim Hancock 

Africa doesn't have to be in the dark; we can help turn on the lights.

if we act quickly | Another Way on Syria?

I'm happy to be one of 25 million people who trust the organization called AVAAZ to help us understand the subtext of global issues and to take direct action on our behalf in matters of justice and the common good.

Here's a message from Avaaz this afternoon that may point to another way in Syria. I've underlined a bit and added notes [inside brackets]. Avaaz has provided links to lots of supporting material at the end.

I hope you'll join me in asking President Obama and Iran's President Rouhani to lead us another way on Syria. Read on, then click to sign if you think it's a worthy goal.

Just weeks ago the kids in this image [omitted, but the images are widely available-jh] were gassed to death in their sleep, but it feels the world has forgotten them and got stuck in a debate between US strikes or doing nothing. Now there is a glimmer of hope for a peaceful way to stop these massacres. 

Syria's bloody war has been fuelled by rivalry between Iran, Assad's main backer, and the US and their allies. But this vile chemical attack has changed their discourse: Iran’s new moderate president condemned the gassing and Obama signalled he'd work with "anybody" to resolve the conflict. Let's urgently call on both leaders to sit down to talks and bring the warring parties together before any more lives are lost. 

Right now, the global drums of war are beating over Syria, but if enough of us make sure Rouhani and Obama know the world wants bold diplomacy, we could end the nightmare for thousands of terrified Syrian children under threat of new gas attacks. We have no time to lose. Click now to join this urgent call -- when we reach one million signers we will deliver the petition directly to the two presidents [And they will—I don't know anyone who has the kind of track record Avaaz has at getting their message directly to world leaders]:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/solution_for_syria_loc/?tIHiqab