The Liberating Breath of God

Pentecost is the celebration of the liberating breath of God. We sing words like, “Breathe on us breath of God.”

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I can breathe now

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. These were the last words of George Floyd as he lay dying in front of a number of people and now in front of the world.

Perhaps what we have been hearing during this time of pandemic is a voice, a new mantra being spoken by so many in this world. “I can’t breathe.” And along with that outcry goes the added, “Can’t you hear me? Can’t you hear us?”

So many writers have spoken about how the pandemic is revealing all the fault lines in our world…the fault lines of poverty, of race, of the earth being treated as a commodity. Perhaps the mantra of it all has been given to us by George Floyd, “I can’t breathe.” We can hear those living in poverty saying, “I can’t breathe.” Indigenous peoples in Canada, “I can’t breathe.” The over 400,000 people who have died globally in part because human beings did not believe in the possibility of such a destructive virus also were saying, “I can’t breathe.” Our planet being choked by human activity, “I can’t breathe.” And perhaps when we hold ourselves as powerless, “I can’t breathe.” For, after all, one can only hold one’s breath for so long.

The story of the pandemic, the story of racism in Canada, and beyond, the story of us is still unfolding…and the Pentecost story again shakes us into participating in a way that we might do the hard, searing, and transformative work of ushering in a new mantra:

I can breathe…I can breathe…I can breathe.

-Sister Margo Ritchie, csj

The Transformative Energy of Black Lives Matter

As we experience the transformative energy of the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping around the world, it is a critical moment to reflect on unconscious bias and the racist assumptions which affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities in our own city and country.  It’s not an easy thing to do.  Our cultural tendency to view things through the lens of the individual blinds us to much of what’s going on in society, including systemic racism. It can also blind us to the graced potential for transformation which exists even within imperfect social actions such as protests marred by the violence of a few.  The challenge is to focus on and follow the graced energy for transformation which is working to bring about greater wholeness and justice. In that spirit, we revisit this short excerpt from a 2019 newsletter from the Federation Office for Systemic Justice.

Robin DiAngelo, who is white, wrote a book called White Fragility (2018). She insists that white people are all racist, and whites who think they’re not racist cause the most damage of all. DiAngelo explains “we are taught to think about racism only as discrete acts committed by individual people, rather than as a complex, interconnected system”.

The individual framing of the issue means we can focus on changing a few individuals who say or do hateful things. It means we don’t have to examine our own unconscious racist assumptions. It means society doesn’t have to change, just individual ‘bad’ persons.

In our society, whites have held, and continue to hold, nearly all the positions of social, political, and economic power. So, the pre-judgements (thoughts, feelings and assumptions into which we are socialized) which whites tend to hold about people of colour have become institutionalized; that is, white prejudice has shaped the structures and systems of our society.

DiAngelo points to a New York Times article from 2016 which illumines the degree to which white people still hold the seats of power. The article is based on the U.S. context but is relevant to Canada. Here are a few examples:

• Ten richest people - 100% white

• Highest-levels of politics – 90% white

• People who decide which television shows are available – 93% white

• People who decide which books are available – 90% white

• People who decide which news is covered – 85% white

• Teachers – 82% white

These statistics reveal “power and control by a racial group that is in the position to disseminate and protect its own self-image, worldview, and interests across the entire society”. Whiteness becomes the norm, while other races are ‘othered.’ The impacts can be devastating:

• Racialized people in Canada are significantly more likely to live in poverty. The 2016 Census showed that 20.8% of peoples of colour are low-income compared to 12.2% of non-racialized people.

• In 2015, there was a 69% high school graduation rate for Black students and 50% for Indigenous students, versus 84% for White students.

• People of colour living in Ontario have higher unemployment rates than White residents. Racialized men are 24% more likely to be unemployed than non-racialized men. Racialized women are 43% more likely to be unemployed than non-racialized men.

(https://colourofpoverty.ca/)

 -Sister Sue Wilson, csj

A Book Review

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng

This story takes place in Shaker Heights, Ohio a suburb of Cleveland.   A real place where the author grew up which was the first planned community in America.  And it existed with its own set of rules, from the colour of your house even down to where you could put your garbage bins.  The plot begins dramatically with a blazing fire of a rich house.

But the characters are the focus.  Elena Richardson is the third generation of her family to live in this community.  She is one of the movers and shakers, living by all the rules, written and unwritten.  As she says, “Rules are meant to keep you safe.  If you follow them you will have success.”  She has four children, all different.  The eldest girl, Lexie, has her path set for going to Yale and she is accepted for the following year.  In high school, she joined the right groups, become involved in the right clubs/activities, and did well academically.  The next child, Tripp, is the handsome jock who attracts girls but loves and leaves them.  Third is Moody, a sensitive artist with a well-hidden rebel inside.  He is belittled by Lexie and Tripp.  Finally, there is Izzy who rejects the rules of her mother and community.  She constantly acts out, pushing angry responses from her mother when she dresses differently, becomes vegetarian, and refuses to comply with her mother’s plans for her life.

Enter Mia Warren who is nomadic and lives in her car with her daughter Pearl while settling into their next community.  She is an artistic photographer who moves from project to project.  She supports herself with odd jobs and devotes her time and energy to her photography and to her daughter Pearl.  Circumstances have Mia renting an apartment from the Richardsons and later, working as a cook/housekeeper in the afternoons at their home.

While the characters appear opposites, their interactions give them nuances that allow for much reflection on parenting, mother/daughter relationships, values that order our lives, and how or if we change.  This is both a good story and a thought-provoking look at daily life.

- Jackie Potters, csj Associate

Speak Up. Speak Out. Pray.

Speak up, speak out.  Pray.  And stay rooted and grounded in love.  Love is the only thing that will get us through these difficult days.  But remember that when love takes to the streets it looks like justice.  We need justice for George Floyd, justice for Ahmaud Arberry, justice for Breonna Taylor, because Black Lives Still Matter. 

And we need justice for all indigenous peoples in Canada who have long suffered the effects of colonialism.

We leave you with a hashtag out of an activist in Toronto to those us who have privilege: #letsgetuncomfortable