Oliver Clark, the man who McCain said probably didn't know what Fannie Mae was before the financial crisis (at Tuesday's debate).
Unitarian Universalists have been accused of having an optimistic theology, but we have nothing on the G.O.P. which has put itself out there for totally victory over evil and greed! This is amazing theology. I wonder if the Evangelicals will condemn?
"Evil must be defeated!"
John McCain 8/16/08
"Enough is enough! We're going to put an end to greed!"
John McCain 9/17/08
By Tim Wise with additions by Jacqui C. Williams.
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are
looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will
help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin
and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a
personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents,
because "every family has challenges," even as Black and Latino families
with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible,
pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like
Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with
you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot
shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a
great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years
like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then
returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller
than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while if you're Black and believe in reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school, requires it), you are a dangerous and mushy liberal who isn't fit to safeguard American institutions.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people
immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an
extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union,
and whose motto is "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or
that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to
come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the
work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to
vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child
labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely
question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your
political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a
typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being Black and merely
knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a
hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a
great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a Black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.
White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk
about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no
substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be
considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour
speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on
several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would
do if elected.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose
pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological
principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're Black and friends with a Black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates
America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a
reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a
"trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word
answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question,
or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to
Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an
average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you "uppity," who probably looks down on regular folks.
White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college
class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that's OK,
and you're cut out to be president, but if you're Black and you graduate
near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make
good decisions in office.
White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured
in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."
White privilege is when you can develop a pain-killer addiction, having
obtained your drug of choice illegally like Cindy McCain, go on to beat that
addiction, and everyone praises you for being so strong, while being a Black guy who smoked pot a few times in college and never became an addict means people will wonder if perhaps you still get high, and even ask whether or not you ever sold drugs.
White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be
viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you "dangerously naive and immature."
White privilege is being able to say that you hate "gooks" and "will always
hate them," and yet, you aren't a racist because, ya know, you were a POW so you're entitled to your hatred, while being black and insisting that black anger about racism is understandable, given the history of your country, makes you a dangerous bigot.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and
experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser
adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her
convention speech.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow
someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because a lot of white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, is a problem that white people can't see unless they overcome their own denial. White privilege is not seeing your white privilege.
Renee Descartes absurdly observed "I think, therefore I am." This put the individual consciousness in contradiction to all that existed outside of that consciousness, to all "perceived" data and even to other people. The enlightenment world view that gained hegemony in the "Western" mind has been characterized by this subject/object split. We are part of nature, and we thrive when we are live in harmony with our natural world, with Mother Earth. However, the enlightenment world view makes identity with nature impossible, and results in a profound alienation from our interconnected cosmos, and from that which people call by many names, in our faith tradition many of us prefer "God," "the Holy," "the Creator," and "Source of all."
Unitarian Universalism arose within the enlightenment and shared the world view of subjective liberalism (the other is hostile to my freedom, that community is best that leaves me alone) as opposed to social freedom (I can not be free unless everyone else shares in freedom. Solidarity and mutual responsibility enhances individuals to realize their full potential.) In the last part of the twentieth century, Unitarian Universalists began to question their alienation from the natural world, and whether their embrace of subjective liberalism was compatible their longing for loving community.
What are the consequences of the Western or Modern world view, the view that objectifies Mother Earth and all creatures of the earth and sky? It strikes me that this world view alienates human beings from the creation, from each other, from their own inner most selves and from the mystery in which we live, and move and have our being.
Will Tuttle, Ph.D., 'The World Peace Diet' writes:
"The spiritual connection between animals and humans grows out of
understanding that we are all expressions of eternal benevolent
consciousness, and as we acknowledge this interconnection and live in
harmony with it, our lives become prayers of compassion and healing."
It is my contention that the enlightenment world view has rationalized racism, total war, and untold violence against human beings. In other entries I have and will develop these points more fully. But I wish to conclude with what it means to us to be alienated from our relatives, the animals.
The way we produce food and bring it to consumers is destructive to life and flows from profound alienation from our own nature. Unitarian Universalists now have the opportunity of discussing and acting on their own relation to the our Mother the Earth in a a study action initiative that many of our congregations are engaged in, Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice raises many possibilities of looking at our assumptions and make affirmative responses to restore our relation to the world, and that which we may call Holy.
Los Angeles lets goats loose on a downtown lot full of weeds. Maybe they can take care of the brush in the hills before the fires come this fall?
Jesus was a community organizer! on the front
Pontius Pilate was a governor! on the back
People should cut their consumption of meat to help combat climate change, a top United Nations expert told a British Sunday newspaper.
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told The Observer that people should start by having one meat-free day per week then cut back further.
The 68-year-old Indian economist, who is a vegetarian, said diet change was important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental problems associated with rearing cattle and other animals.
"Give up meat for one day (per week) initially, and decrease it from there," he said.
"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity."
Other small-scale lifestyle changes would also help to combat climate change, he said without elaborating.
"That's what I want to emphasise: we really have to bring about reductions in every sector of the economy."
Pachauri is due to give a speech in London on Monday under the title: "Global Warning: the impact of meat production and consumption on climate change".
Pachauri, who was re-elected for a second term six-year term as IPCC chairman last week, has headed the organisation since 2002 and oversaw its seminal assessment report in 2007 which gave graphic forecasts of the risks posed by global warming.
The IPCC warned then that without action the planet's rising temperatures could unleash potentially catastrophic change to earth's climate system, leading to hunger, drought, storms and massive species loss.
The organization also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with former US vice president Al Gore.
After several years of Association wide discussion we have a draft for discussion. I am love the draft because it includes are commitment to overcoming structures of oppression right into the principles and purposes.
This would come to General Assembly as a vote to modify the By-laws. It will require 2/3 vote.
ARTICLE II: Covenant
Section C-2.1 Purposes.
As a voluntary association of free yet interdependent congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Association will support the health and growth of existing congregations and the formation of new congregations. The Association will devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational, and humanitarian purposes. It will empower the creation of just and diverse congregations that enact Unitarian Universalist Principles in the world.
Section C-2.2 Identity.
The Unitarian Universalist Association is composed of congregations rooted in the heritage of two religious faiths: the Unitarian heritage ever questioning and ever seeking the unity in all things, and the Universalist heritage ever affirming the power of hope and God's infinite love. Both traditions have been shaped by heretics, choice-makers who in every age have summoned individuals and communities to maintain their beliefs in spite of persecution and to struggle for religious freedom.
Section C-2.3 Sources.
The living tradition we share draws from many sources.
Unitarianism and Universalism are grounded on more than two thousand years of Jewish and Christian teachings, traditions, and experiences. Unitarian Universalism is not contained in any single book or creed. It draws from the teachings of the Abrahamic religions, Earth-centered spirituality, and other world religious traditions. It engages perspectives from humanism, mysticism, theism, skepticism, naturalism, and feminist and liberation theologies. It is informed by the arts and the sciences. It trusts the value of direct experiences of mystery and wonder, and it recognizes the sacred may be found within the ordinary.
Wisdom and beauty may be expressed in many forms: in poetry and prose, in story and song, in metaphor and myth, in drama and dance, in fabric and painting, in scripture and music, in drawing and sculpture, in public ritual and solitary practice, in prophetic speech and courageous deed.
Grateful for the traditions that have strengthened our own, we strive to avoid misappropriation of cultural and religious practices and to seek ways of appreciation that are respectful and welcomed.
Section C-2.4 Principles.
In order that we might work together in harmony to make our communities and our world more likely to protect and nurture all that is positive and hopeful; and in order that members of our congregations might find spiritual challenge to become their best selves as they worship and work together to create the Beloved Community, we, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to honor and uphold:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person
At the core of Unitarian Universalism is recognition of the sanctity of every human being across the lifespan. We are relational creatures, capable of both good and evil. We have experienced enough brokenness, including in ourselves, to seek the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. We are called to make choices that help to heal and transform ourselves and the world, and to move toward solidarity with all beings.
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
Grateful for the gift of life and mindful of our own mortality, we seek to respond with generosity and loving action. We are called to live in right relationship with others.
Acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth
We seek to enter dialogue with one another in mutual love and respect, honoring our varied backgrounds and paths. We are called to stretch and deepen our faith through religious education, creative engagement, and spiritual practice in our congregations and in our lives.
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
Unitarian Universalism is an evolutionary religion that encourages and supports lifelong spiritual exploration. Unitarian Universalist religious authority lies in the individual, nurtured and tested in congregation and wider community. In a spirit of humility and openness, we are called to seek truth and meaning, wherever found, through experience, reason, intuition, and emotion.
The right of conscience and the use of democratic processes
We seek to ensure that all voices are heard, especially those often left out on the margins. We are called to promote fairness, accountability, honesty, and transparency.
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
We seek to create, sustain, and celebrate multi-generational and multi-cultural communities where oppression cannot thrive and where hope and peace flourish. We are called to counter legacies of injustice and to foster reconciliation.
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part
Inspired by the beauty and holiness of the Earth, we become more willing to relinquish material desires. We recognize the need for sacrifice as we build a world that is both just and sustainable. We are called to be good stewards, restoring the Earth and protecting all beings.
As free yet interdependent congregations, we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust, kindness, and support. Should we break this covenant, we will seek to repair the relationship and recommit to the promises we have made.
Section C-2.5 Inclusion.
We strive to be an association of congregations that welcome persons of every identity while calling them to act in right relationship. We encourage the fullest participation allowed by law, with no person excluded solely on the basis of age or identity.
Structures of power have traditionally created barriers for persons and groups with certain identities, abilities, and histories. Dissatisfied with mere non-discrimination, we commit to structuring congregational and associational life in ways that empower and enhance the efforts and experiences of every participant.
Section C-2.6 Freedom of Belief.
Freedom of belief is central to the Unitarian Universalist heritage. Nothing in these bylaws shall be deemed to infringe upon individual freedom of belief. Although no statement of belief can be required as a creedal test for individual membership in a congregation or congregational affiliation with the Association, congregations are free to establish their own statements of purpose, covenants, and bonds of union.
Let us hope Gustav dies on a mountain on its way to New Orleans.
Recently on an anti racism list serve, a contributor attacked the idea of identity group caucusing, and argued that the idea of
white privilege was divisive and we should just all get together and talk about our "racism free" world to be. Many others responded, this was my contribution.
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The purpose of identity caucuses has to do with the soul work of transformation. Native American Indians in the UUA have found that some questions of internalized oppression and the face of racism can best be discussed and ministered to by people who have similar experiences. The experience of doing anti racism work has shown that identity based caucuses are the best support for people as they ask and process questions relative to this work.
So the idea that caucusing is way to minimize offending people is mistaken. It is a way to help us all learn to talk without defensiveness about how racism oppresses us (it oppresses whites by internalizing habits of domination, which alienates them from their brothers and sisters of color.)
I will continue to caucus with Native American Indians even after the arrogant preaching of some on this list, because decades of experience has shown me that this is the most effective way to work so that Native Americans are equipped to struggle and flourish in the UUA. Caucuses of People of Color are also necessary to do similar work, and build unity and we have found these work to promote empowerment. Those who object, do not seem to object on the basis of experience in the work, rather they make pronouncements like "we can never have unity if people meet separately." This is ex cathedra, not based on experience. It comes out of someone's head (ideology) and not out of practice (praxis.)
Those who pronounce that anti-racism work that recognizes relative privilege, designed blindness, and works to unite people with different experiences relative to domination and oppression by forming alliances based on their common interest in overcoming racism is "primarily divisive" and does "great harm." But decades of praxis belie this declaration. What experience can be cited to back up his ideological assertion? I can point to thousands of individuals who have found their voice and become effective workers in our common effort. Every year we see hundreds more.
To my white allies, I am your Indian ally.. While we do get together and talk about our common work, I have work to do that must be done with American Indians and People of Color and I support my white allies efforts to get together and do the work that only they can do. Caucuses do not prevent people from getting together, caucuses empower people with understanding of themselves and the work that they must do, so that when we get together, we can be mutually productive in creating beloved community.
The Journey Toward Wholeness, the UUA's anti racism effort did teach tens of thousands of Unitarian Universalists about why it is necessary to struggle to overcome white privilege and did encourage people to recognize that this is a struggle and we must form alliances to overcome racism. But the UUA doesn't have a doctrine, rather this was an analysis based on the best practice of effective anti racist trainers.
We learned a lot in our work and we made modifications and updated our analysis and improved our training. This is so different from ideologues who have doctrines to teach. This is praxis in struggle, we are a learning community.
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