———

In the smoldering heat of the last few days I’m sure that none of us have been tempted to take for granted the value of water. It parches our thirst and cools our bodies. It grows our food and greens our yards … and we know it can be fairly scarce during these dry summer months. But even in the driest of months here in Oklahoma, we have yet to experience the drought that inflicts impoverished and developing nations around the world. We can celebrate the blessings of well-developed water delivery systems and the convenience of the municipal authorities that provide them – and we should – but we are called as followers of Christ to remember our fellow human beings in Nicaragua, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Burma, and beyond who don’t share in our blessings.

Of course, we’re not only called to remember the needs of the water- insecure around the world, but to stand in solidarity with them and to help make a difference in their plight. You may remember that we took a stand during the season of Lent to collect funds during the H2O Challenge – an act of solidarity and support. This Sunday we’ll gather together to once more hold the thirst of our world in prayer and to dedicate the gifts of water wells that will be provided through Church World Service, a global mission partner of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

However, we also plan to take another stand in solidarity with the impoverished and economically oppressed by collecting one final offering for the plight of water insecurity. Special envelopes will be available in the pews with a picture of a heart and entitled “Love Offering” that will allow you to offer another gift for the cause of safe and plentiful water. All special gifts collected this Sunday will be shared through Global Ministries with our mission partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 600,000 fellow Disciples live and worship.

So please plan on joining us as we dedicate our gifts and remember those who do not have that which we enjoy. As Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25, those who see the plight of the thirsty and offer them a drink are doing the work of the kingdom of God. Let’s join in sharing the abundance of God’s creation with all who lack, and carry the vision of the gospel from our sanctuary to the ends of the earth.

Seeking the path of God’s justice,
Clint

———

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek–
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean–
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today–O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

These words from the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes cry out a lament for those of this nation who have never enjoyed the fruits of life and liberty, nor the freedom in time and means to maintain that ever elusive pursuit of happiness. As we allow this 4th of July holiday to begin to fade from our minds, let us take a moment of pause to be mindful of those who have not experienced the riches or richness of this land we call America. Whether we reflect on the immense poverty of Cherokee county, a lasting remnant of the forced assimilation of the Cherokee people, or turn our thoughts to the growing list of Oklahoma ghost towns dying in the aftermath of the oil boom, or the devastation of a once plentiful and green Oklahoma during the dust bowl, we don’t have to look far to find the people about whom Hughes was writing.

But we don’t have to turn far into our bibles to find the message of justice God declares for the oppressed – or to find our calling as Christians to tend to those who are downtrodden. Jesus gives us the gospel answer to Hughes’ lament. Quoting from Isaiah 61, he declares:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19, NRSV)

And as he concluded, with all eyes fixed upon him, Jesus declared, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. (v. 21)” There are some who like to interpret this as meaning that Jesus was the fulfillment of those words. I prefer to read “in your hearing” as meaning that we are called to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s call. So let’s let the gospel be the gospel again and seek out our place in God’s call to justice and equity for all people everywhere.

Seeking the path of God’s justice,
Clint

———

“I will not let you go until you bless me.” (Gen. 32:26)

Every Wednesday at noon, Mrs. E is there. She sits in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, Korea with her friends to ask the Japanese government to apologize for its past treatment of Korean women as sex slaves during the Asia Pacific War. Mrs. E is elderly, as are her friends. Many of the so-called “comfort women” have passed away. Mrs. E hopes that justice will be done before she meets her grave. She is surrounded by a crowd of civilians who support her struggle. Over the loud speaker a statement is read, a song is sung, a prayer is given. The window blinds of the Japanese embassy are shut. Stone faced guards and secret police make sure there is no outright confrontation. This peaceful sit-in has continued for seventeen years.

In December 2009, religious leaders from around the world, gathered for the Second Conference on Article Nine and Peace in Asia. There were various Buddhist, Christian and Muslim denominations represented. There was great meaning when we gathered in Seoul, because we were all made aware of the realities of the Cold War which still divide the Korean peninsula. East Asia has not been able to move beyond the dualisms of the Cold War era. What we witnessed was a wall; a remnant from the Cold War. The wall is invisible, but no less as real as the wall being built in Israel.

Part of our program was to join the sit-in, and pray alongside these women who were victimized by war. We were all moved by the experience. I was reminded of the story of Jacob who wrestled all night with the angel of God. Jacob refused to let the angel go until he received a blessing. Mrs. E is one of those Jacobs of our time. I see in her a faith that refuses to let go, trusting that God is a God of love and blessing for all.

Let us pray for the tenacity of Mrs. E and others that their belief in the possibility of justice becomes our call for the enactment of justice.

Jeffrey Mensendiek serves as a Global Ministries missionary with the Council on Cooperative Mission, and as director of the Gakusei (Student) Center in Sendai Japan.

For More Information
Xiaoling Zhu
Area Executive
East Asia and the Pacific
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland,Ohio 44115

216-736-3226
Phone: 866-822-8224 ext. 3226
Fax: 216-736-3203
zhux@ucc.org

———

This past Sunday I raised the question as to why hunger in the world is so rampant when our own food supplies here at home seem so abundant. It occurred to me that it might be a good time to follow up on that sermon with some information, so I turned to the United Nations World Food Program and found some pretty striking information. Did you know …

• · that roughly 1 in 6 people doesn’t receive enough food? (1.02 billion)
• · that this number rose by 75 million in 2007 & another 40 million in 2008 due to the rising cost of food?
• · that 65% of the world’s hungry live in 7 countries? (India, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, & Ethiopia)
• · that Vitamin A deficiency due to malnutrition kills a million infants a year?
• · that the World Food Program dewormed 10 million children in 2007? (Yes, that’s the same type of deworming we do for our pets.)

The facts are astounding and saddening – and all of this in spite of the fact that we easily produce much more than our food needs in this country. Perhaps even more saddening, we have the wealth to make a difference in the world, but we regularly choose not to do so. A 1970 UN Resolution pledged the industrialized nations of the world to contributing 0.7% of their national incomes to international aid by 1975. Over the last 35 years, only Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Denmark have consistently met this goal.

While I’m a supporter of international aid (I’ve encouraged you to contact your Senators and Representatives to support U.S. aid to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake), I can’t help but wonder if charity is really the answer. If we are bound by the fear that we live in a world of scarcity, we will undoubtedly horde resources to ensure our own security and survival. However, if we trust the biblical voices who teach about the abundance of God’s provision, then perhaps we are faced with the challenge to change the way we live. If we were to trust God – and I mean to do so in a radical way – then maybe we could afford to live with a few less grocery stores in order to ensure that more U.S. grown food is shared overseas.

I know this issue is much bigger than a single sermon or a newsletter column, but that doesn’t mean it’s too big for us to engage as people of faith. I look forward to spending more time as a community on the challenge of feeding a hungry world and our role in it as followers of the Christ.

Following the winds of Spirit,
Clint

———

Easter has now come and gone, and with it a sometimes forgotten anniversary: the death of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thirty-two years ago this past Easter, King was assassinated on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He had arrived in the city just days before to offer his support to African American employees of the sanitation department who were striking for fair and equal treatment. Just the day before, he had delivered what is known as his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” address to the crowd at Mason Temple of the Church of God in Christ. In it he reiterated his consistent theme of nonviolent resistance and protest against the injustice of segregation and bigotry.

Sadly, in all the liturgy and pageantry of Easter, we sometimes lose sight of moments like this where the story is reenacted in brutal ways throughout history. Much like Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood against the oppressive cultural regime of the world (or at least in their respective countries) and said that the status quo could not stand. Much like Jesus, he was ultimately killed for upsetting the system of “the way things are.”

But we might forget that much like Jesus, King resurrected in his own way as well. In his death he was lionized by the community of his followers and became the lasting icon of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. His mantle was taken up by the likes of his wife, Coretta Scott King, Jesse Jackson, and a host of other leaders who have continued to champion the struggle for equal rights and treatment, not just for African Americans, but for all oppressed peoples here in our country and around the world.

In much the same way, we are called to continue the legacy of Jesus as well. As Paul tells us, we are members of the resurrected body of Christ and are therefore charged with the ministry of the gospel of Jesus. It was a ministry of justice for outcasts, enemies, the diseased, and foreigners – and it still is today! Rev. King was just one of many who understood their calling as participants within the body of Christ. It’s my hope and prayer that we live resurrection in the example of Jesus the Christ and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Walking the journey,

Clint

———

Regardless of where you stand on the passage of health care reform, I think we can all agree that it has created quite the … media frenzy. Leading up to the vote, the TV news was dominated by voices pro and con. Since then we’ve heard the angry cry of opposition and the jubilant celebration of the supportive base. To put it plainly: it’s a mess. And if you’re attuned to any of the other major issues that are floating around Washington, D.C., you’ll know that they have been all but drowned out by the health care squabble. I’m particularly fond of the rallying cry of Repower America, an organization working to promote green energy and improved infrastructure for the nation. They are simply stating: “We got next.”

In many ways Holy Week, and more especially Easter, have become the highlights of the Christian calendar – and with good reason. Hundreds of years of theological tradition have made the resurrection of Easter morning (or the crucifixion of Good Friday – remember our discussions of debt/blood atonement?) the crux of the faith, so our celebration of this is undoubtedly warranted. Yet in the buildup toward Easter morning, I can’t help but wonder if the activity and business of Holy Week in a way doesn’t also become something of a distraction. While we focus on the resurrection (or the cross) as the pivotal point of our salvation, what important faith issues are left to meekly cry out, “We got next”?

I’m very proud to be a part of a congregation that hasn’t allowed justice issues to simply slide by as we walked the journey of Lent. The generosity that has been shown in raising money for the H20 project is a fine example of that. But even with our focus on raising money to bring water to those who thirst, I’m still wondering which issues are still calling, “We got next.” With our decision to join the Disciple Farmworker Ministry last year, maybe it will be advocacy for migrant workers? Or with agencies like Bread for the World constantly working to change federal laws concerning the taxation and provision of food to the hungriest families in our country, maybe it will be a letter writing campaign? You know, Pentecost is coming. Perhaps it’s time to start thinking of new ways to continue being a congregation working for God’s justice and peace.

Walking the journey of Lent,

Clint

Oklahoma currently has tough, good laws that include hate crimes laws. Any murder or brutal assault is hateful. That is the problem with singling out something more with this federal law.  I believe this legislation far exceeds the powers of government over states as outlined in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  I am also very concerned that this loosely defined and ill-conceived legislation could be used to target people’s belief, freedom to associate in groups, right to assemble on issues, as well as target people’s right to free speech.

The Oklahoma State Capitol building. (Photo by Daniel Mayer, used under Creative Commons 3.0)

What Russell fails to mention is that Oklahoma’s current statute does not include a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity as motivations for a hate crime.  In his rush to defend the privileges of the empowered, Senator Russell runs roughshod over the basic human rights of members of the LGBTQIA community.  As a commenter on my previous post pointed out, the failure to prosecute the perpetrators of hate crimes creates an environment of fear that robs all potential victims of an ideologically motivated crime of their very human dignity.  The Leadership Conference provides another devastating example of the non-prosecution of hate crimes in their publication, Confronting the New Face of Hate: Hate Crimes in America 2009:

In Greenville, South Carolina on May 21, 2007, Sean Kennedy, a gay man, died of injuries sustained after he was attacked outside a bar. While making derogatory comments regarding Kennedy’s sexual orientation, the assailant fatally beat and punched him until he fell, hitting his head on the pavement. The killer was originally charged with murder, but his charge was reduced to involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years in prison, which was suspended to three years with credit for the seven months he had already served. He was also ordered to attend both anger management and drug/alcohol management classes. No hate crime was charged as South Carolina is one of only five states (along with Arkansas, Georgia, Wyoming, and Indiana) that do not have a penalty-enhancement hate crime law.

To defend the rights of so-called straight people when the lives of LGBTQIA people are at stake is a slap at true justice.  Yet the manner in which Russell proposes to deny human dignity as he defends the privilege of empowered people adds further insult to injury.  While he quibbles over freedom of speech and expression, victims of hate crimes are left to wonder if those oft quoted words; “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” hold any meaning for them at all.  If we are to take that declaration seriously and acknowledge that all humans are created equally, then these tactics of shutting people out of the discussion about their own sexuality and/or identity are no longer acceptable nor morally defensible.  SB 1965 is just another method by which freedom of speech is used to avoid the relationality of dialogue and uphold the privileges of the oppressors while destroying the lives of the oppressed.

So it’s time for Oklahomans who are in favor of dignity and dialogue, relationship and justice, to stand together and oppose this bill.  Through some legislative trickery (which I hope to blog more about later), this proposed legislation moved very rapidly through the Senate and has already made its way into the House.  After being second read, SB 1965 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it must pass a committee vote before it can be debated before the entire House of Representatives.  The Equality Network has already established a website where you can email the membership of the Judiciary committee and urge them to vote against SB 1965.  However, with the next scheduled meeting of the Judiciary committee on Monday, March 29 and no posted  agenda for which bills will be considered,* now is the time to make the most of your voice and snail mail an old fashioned letter to the members of this committee.  Repeated activist workshops have stressed the value of sending actual letters, and I would encourage you to join me in doing so.  I’m including a link to a copy of my letter to Representative McCullough to offer you some thoughts as to how you might address the subject in your own correspondence and a listing (below) of the representatives on the Judiciary committee along with their mailing addresses and phone numbers.  You might also find helpful talking points and examples at the aforementioned email link from The Equality Network as well as at an email advocacy website set up by Human Rights Campaign that may offer insights into composing your own letter or email.

If you don’t write a letter, send an email.  If you don’t send an email, consider making a phone call.  Legislation like Senate Bill 1965 is destroying dialogue and it will destroy lives.  It’s time for those of us who support community, restorative justice, and true equality to be in one voice in opposing hurtful and hate-filled legislation like SB 1965.  When we fail to stand in opposition to injustice and in solidarity with its victims, our inaction becomes our indictment.  I hope that you’ll join me in speaking against this bill that is bad for all people, and bad for Oklahoma.

* At the time of writing this post, no committee agenda had been set for the upcoming meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.

———

Cross posted at the Xenia Institute.

———

The following table includes all of the members of the House Judiciary Committee.  For your information, their party affiliation has been included in parenthesis following their names, but this is not actually part of their mailing addresses.  I’m also linking each representative to her/his page at the House website.

———

Speaking as a Christian ethicist, I can say with certainty that in flippantly attacking the concept of social justice, Glenn Beck inadvertently poked a finger in the eye of every person who takes the Bible as God’s revealed Word and (according to Scripture) poured contempt on a central concern of God Himself:

“For I the Lord love justice.” (Isaiah 61:8)

“You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16:19-20)

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Click to READ MORE.

I’ve previously written concerning the real nature of Haiti’s “curse” and Christian responsibility in the wake of this disaster, but it’s time for us to move beyond talk and take action.  For everyone who has already become involved, sending recovery kits and making financial contributions, I thank you and commend your actions.  However, as Richard Kim points out, our charity simply isn’t good enough:

But it’s also time to stop having a conversation about charity and start having a conversation about justice–about recovery, responsibility and fairness. What the world should be pondering instead is: What is Haiti owed?

Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters, its food shortages, poverty, deforestation and lack of infrastructure, are not accidental. To say that it is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere is to miss the point; Haiti was made poor–by France, the United States, Great Britain, other Western powers and by the IMF and the World Bank.

Our culpability in the repeated failures of the economy and government in Haiti are apparent with only a basic historical knowledge of the country’s two centuries as an independent republic.  Oppressive foreign aid programs, including loans that have lined the pockets of corrupt dictators (a fact we conveniently ignored for the sake of “national interest”), continued to keep Haiti politically and economically impoverished.  Now it appears that our political leaders and bureaucrats are prepared to repeat the same failed policies in the wake of the earthquake.  Kim explains how the International Monetary Fund intends to take a business-as-usual approach to the plight of Haiti:

Now, in its attempts to help Haiti, the IMF is pursuing the same kinds of policies that made Haiti a geography of precariousness even before the quake. To great fanfare, the IMF announced a new $100 million loan to Haiti on Thursday. In one crucial way, the loan is a good thing; Haiti is in dire straits and needs a massive cash infusion. But the new loan was made through the IMF’s extended credit facility, to which Haiti already has $165 million in debt. Debt relief activists tell me that these loans came with conditions, including raising prices for electricity, refusing pay increases to all public employees except those making minimum wage and keeping inflation low. They say that the new loans would impose these same conditions. In other words, in the face of this latest tragedy, the IMF is still using crisis and debt as leverage to compel neoliberal reforms.

Seeing the failure of these policies prior to the full force of nature’s destructive power, it is a sign of poor judgment to think that taking the same direction will have any positive effect on Haiti.  Yet, every bit as deplorable is the fact that it’s a sign of complete moral and ethical failure on our part as citizens of the developing world to continue to ignore the real plight of our neighbors as we profit from their misfortune.  It is time for each of us become agents of ethics and work to bring about change.

Right now Congresswomen Maxine Waters (D -CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) are circulating a letter that will be presented to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him to use the full leverage of the U.S. government to bring about debt cancellation on the part of the IMF and other international agencies carrying outstanding loans to Haiti. Currently over 50 members of Congress have agreed to sign this letter, but you can help by urging your own representative to sign as well.  With the help of the Jubilee USA Network, an outreach of over 75 religious denominations and communities seeking debt relief the underdeveloped nations, you can send an email to your representative urging her/him to join the petition.  While you’re at it, you can also visit here to sign a citizens petition that Jubilee USA will present to Secretary Geithner urging him to support debt cancellation for Haiti.  The deadline for this is February 2, so please consider responding to this action quickly.

And regardless of deadlines, you can offer your voice in support of H.R. 4405, the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2009.  Sponsored by Congresswoman Waters, this bill is an effort to build on the earlier success of H.R. 2634, which was filed in the previous congress, and passed the House of Representatives before becoming bogged down in the Senate.  (Avelino Maestas offers a more in depth look at these bills at Huffington Post.)   H.R. 4405 has been introduced and currently awaits consideration in the House Committee on Financial Services.  You can help spur this bill to the floor by writing letters or sending emails to committee chair Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and ranking member Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL), as well as other members of the committee.

————

It’s time to change the way we behave as citizens of the wealthier minority within or world, and as a nation with a history that is checkered at best.  I’ve made my case for our responsibility to Haiti based on how that checkered past has harmed Haiti over the years.  And while I will be the first to admit that we can’t be held individually responsible for the racism and imperialism of our country’s past, we can become responsible from this moment forward for our country’s just, peaceful, and equitable policies toward our neighbors beyond our borders.  I can’t encourage you enough to join with me in making a difference for our nation and our world.

Cross posted at the Xenia Institute.

————

This first came to my attention through an action alert from the United Farm Workers, an organization I’ve become connected to through my denomination’s participation in the National Farm Worker Ministry.  I received an email asking me to “Stop Texas from erasing Cesar Chavez and Hispanics from school books.”  It provided information about an upcoming session of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) that will be voting on new curriculum standards for social studies for the state of Texas.  UFW asked me to compose an email to Gail Lowe, the chair of the Texas SBOE demanding that they not further marginalize the voices of Latina/os within the history curriculum.

This call to action is one that I’m only too happy to answer.  In case you weren’t aware, as the Texas curriculum goes (which is known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS), so goes the textbook publishers.  As the textbook publishers go, too often, so goes the nation.  Brian Thevenot offers his insights as to the importance:

Hijacking History  |  Texas Tribune

Following earlier clashes over curricula in other disciplines, the social studies debate will test whether the SBOE can cut through the fog of extremism and find a neutral mainstream. Though its appointees spent countless hours drafting the new standards, the board can toss or overhaul portions at any point, as it did with English standards in 2008 and science standards last year. And so a fifteen-member elected board dominated by social conservatives, few of them educators, will once again decide what will and won’t be taught in Texas public schools. Their influence will be magnified exponentially, as usual, because the content of textbooks in the lucrative Texas market drives what publishers peddle in other states.

Thevenot’s implication is clear: there’s even more at stake than the representation of Latina/os in the history curriculum.

The threat to Chavez’s inclusion in the curriculum is only one of many minority names that may be removed or downgraded to “recommendation” status in the curriculum.  Notable among the list of figures targeted for removal is Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice and lawyer who successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before that same court.

Lowe to guide education board through hot issues  |  AP

Two experts on a board-appointed advisory panel say Chavez, a civil rights activist who supporters say greatly improved conditions for Hispanic farm workers, and Marshall, who argued the landmark case that resulted in racial desegregation and was the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, receive too much attention.

Panelist David Barton, an evangelical Republican activist who was appointed by Lowe, said Chavez “lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others.”

Social Studies “Experts” Don’t Know Much About History  |  Austin Chronicle

In another section on history studies, Peter Marshall downplays Thurgood Marshall as not being a “strong enough [example] in light of the multiplicity of persons who have impacted American history.”

…

“This has all been grossly misconstrued,” replied Peter Marshall in an interview with the Chronicle. “My point … is simply one of comparison. … If you’re trying to adduce examples for these guidelines of famous Ameri­cans that ought to be included in the teaching of American history, to pair those two men is silly. Chavez doesn’t begin to compare in terms of his impact on American history with Ben Franklin.” But he made it clear that his objections are also political. “My own personal guess is that the reason he was included in that is that it reflects the leftist bias of the people who wrote the guidelines last time. I don’t know; I don’t know who wrote them. But I’m suspicious of that. … In comparison with [other figures], Chavez doesn’t warrant much attention. … He’s just not real high on my list.”

In their criticisms, both Barton and Marshall along with fellow expert panelist Daniel Dreisbach argue in favor of focusing more on the “Founding Fathers,” and specifically, their religious convictions.  This turn toward what I can only politely describe as a pernicious blending of American civil religion with a particularly aggressive form of evangelical Christianity presents a threat to our national history of religious tolerance and the growing pluralism of this nation of immigrants.  The opinions of the alleged experts are basically echoed by the current chairperson of the Texas SBOE, Gail Lowe:

Lowe to guide education board through hot issues  |  AP

“This country was founded on Judeo Christian principles and to say otherwise is to deny what is very unique about our country.”

Hijacking History  |  Texas Tribune

The question of American superiority likely will come up again at next week’s SBOE meetings, Lowe said. “The state board members had given them (committee members) clear direction in the spring that we wanted that concept included, so it’s surprising they voted it down,” she said. “We don’t have to tell students what to think, but any educated person should have learned about American exceptionalism.”

These attitudes of American exceptionalism, along with its silent partner Christian exceptionalism, are simply inconsistent with our history.  Advocates of this misconception that the “Founding Fathers” were all Christian conveniently forget that many of them were Deists, a theological proposition that evangelical Christians roundly deny.  I doubt that either of the aforementioned religious leaders on the panel would subscribe to the tenets of deism. (David Barton is the founder of WallBuilders and Peter Marshall is founder of Peter Marshall Ministries.)  Yet beyond the religious realm, we often fail to see that American exceptionalism extends benefits to Americans who are white.  The exclusion of Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall in favor of James Madison or Andrew Jackson is obvious on its face: the replacement of two figures of color by two white figures.  Yet in Oklahoma the racial implications of featuring Andrew Jackson in favor of a person of color should become even clearer, as we cannot forget the man who defied the Supreme Court and unconstitutionally uprooted Native Americans in a forced march across the country to their “reservations.” We have to be reminded that “American exceptionalism” all too easily morphs into “white exceptionalism,” the apathetic and unthinking accomplice of white supremacism.

This curriculum meeting should present as a moment for pause.  Yes, we may soon see a flood of deficient U.S. history textbooks that represent a narrow, rather sectarian point of view.  However, as a barometer of attitudes and currents within our nation, it indicates the presence of religious supremacy, structural racism, ethnic bigotry, and international indifference.  To make matters worse, groups and individuals exhibiting these attitudes are often belligerent, self-confident, and self-righteous; offering an understanding of dialogue that looks more like the evangelism of conversion than the engagement of conversation.  If the Texas SBOE approves these very narrow and ahistorical changes to the social studies curriculum in their meeting tomorrow, it will be a travesty on history.  The fact that so many people continue to hold to these inaccurate and dehumanizing ideals right now is a travesty on humanity.

————

As a note of gratitude, I am indebted to the Texas Freedom Network for their extensive coverage of the curriculum changes in their state.  Hats off to them for all of the good work they do on behalf of not only Texans, but the rest of us as well.  I also want to extend my thanks to Brian Thevenot for his article of the same name, whose title I have selfishly co-opted as my own.

Also, if you’d like to send in your comments at the last moment, you can still link here to the United Farm Workers advocacy page and email your comments to SBOE chair, Gail Lowe.

Cross posted at the Xenia Institute.