Coffee for White America

Most of you know that in addition to having a full time job and
hosting The Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast I am the Executive
Director of another ministry called United Faith Leaders.


United Faith Leaders often sponsors episodes of The Coffeepot
Fellowship Podcast. Some people have assume that the guests on
the podcast are the paying members of United Faith Leaders. What
they have in common is the aspiration to expand humanity’s
understanding of itself, faith and God.


This episode of the podcast, if you haven’t figured it out
already, is an aboration. So if you are here to meet a new guest,
I apologize and you may skip this bonus episode. This is more of
an audible blog post, beginning now.


United Faith Leaders is clearly about unity. It’s about faith
leaders coming together and serving everyone in the world. It’s
about bearing God’s love to every soul in every dark corner of
the world. It’s about bringing the light of love into every
single heart. It’s about solidarity. It’s about making love
manifest for every boy and girl, every man and woman, every age,
every color, every everything. The only way for us to do this, as
a humanity and as faith leaders, is to do it together. To deliver
love everywhere we need everyone.


In America you hear it in our watchwords like “freedom,”
“equality,” “liberty,” and “justice.”  And each of these
things exist only as ideas in America. They are our aspirations.
They are our “American Dream.” It has been said that America
itself is only an idea, one still coming into being. I understand
that but I would say that we are a concrete place. You can stomp
on our dirt and swim in our waters. America is the place where
the ideas are the ideas and ideals are still coming into being.


One of my dreams is that as Americans, and more broadly as
humans, we use the gift of education and critical thinking to
accelerate the rate at which we progress. It is nice that each
generation might be slightly less short-sighted than the one
before, but I’m sure we can do better. Without devaluing our
emotions and traditions, I call upon us to deep listening,
education, conversation and introspection. While defiance may be
important to retain, hostility and defensiveness are traits which
hold us back.


America gets painted as the opportunity to improve our station in
life with our hard work. It means that all doors are open to all
people equally.


This dream is still unrealized equally in America and those with
privilege tend to be less motivated to see the inequality or fix
it.


So forgive me as I speak as a white, ordained, highly educated,
married, healthy, 44 year old, straight, cisgendered man in the
United States of America in the 21st century.


Every person has experienced prejudice. Every person has
experienced being on the good side and bad side of favoritism.
The point with prejudice is that women and minorities experience
it relentlessly, with no escape. It is unjust when it happens to
anyone just once. So it is far past time to stop allowing the
injustices to occur everyday everywhere.


As part of the steps toward healing racism, sexism, agism, etc.
in the United States, privileged people will necessarily learn of
our involvement in the perpetuating of these injustices. It’s
okay; fully experience the pain and DO NOT respond defensively.
As far as I know there is nothing to rightly say in response in
that moment except to fully, deeply listen, understand and feel
compassion.


The response of privileged America needs to be with the rest of
our lives — standing WITH those who are being slain and who’s
doors of opportunity are not equally open. We should be making
meetings with our elected officials, protesting with Black Lives
Matter, marching in Pride events, and wearing our clergy attire.


I try not to make blatantly political statements and I do not
think we should vilify any human being. I try to speak generally
and softly. Often I just need to shut up. This is NOT such a
time.  Every election has a moral element to it but some are
far more consequential than others. And so, regarding the moral
imperatives of our time I say …


Donald Trump does not get to pick a date in history that is
conveniently after his ancestors arrived. Every white American is
an immigrant. Every American except Native Americans are not
native to America.


And if we are kicking out all of the Muslims then we should kick
out all the Christians for our hostilities too.


White people stole this land. Whatever hopeful and well-intended
values we might have brought or developed we still carry the
stain of our wrongs.


After listening at a distance and watching safely on my high
definition television, after reading many of the names of those
killed by gun violence in America and those of color shot by our
own police officers and subsequently acquitted by our courts,
after the mass shootings, especially in Orlando, after back to
back, mass murdering of innocent police officers by American
citizens, after attending the Wild Goose Festival, processing and
praying about what needs to happen, after watching the dark
Republican National Convention and moving Democratic National
Convention … here is my vision. Here is what I dream of happening
in OUR United States of America in the days and decades to come.


We need shared leadership. We need shared leadership everywhere,
at every level. We need shared leadership in homes, on
playgrounds, in classrooms, in workplaces, in courtrooms, in
legislatures, in police stations, and on our streets.


Justice and fairness, compassion and understanding, wisdom and
progress, ask that the shared leadership is passionately for, and
made up of, primarily women and minorities.


In number and psyche we are wired to presume that leaders and
authority come from the minds and mouths of white men. At the
tables and in the rooms where policies, decisions and laws are
being made and revised, women and minorities need to dwarf the
the number of white men.


To white men who feel like we have not been responsible for the
prejudice in our country we need to wake up to the reality that
our dominant inability to perceive prejudice and advocate for
what we cannot see perpetuates the problems. Ideally, we need
exit the rooms of power and influence until we are asked our
opinions again.


White men have had over 200 years of dominating the United States
in all of its leadership positions - in business, at home and in
government. It is time to be allies and accomplices to decades of
improvements and revisions in the hands of our capable sisters
and brothers. We can be productive and present in generally
supportive roles.


We have nothing to fear if we have truly done our best these
first 200 years. If we have looked out for everyone else, if we
have truly opened doors for everyone then we can trust that, in
time, the playing field will become truly level for every
American and perhaps every human being.


This vision indeed sounds naive if one understand that America
has succeeded based on a capitalistic economy which recognizes
every individuals selfishness. Humanity has, however, at all
times depended on the loyalty of our sisters and brothers. In our
beginning it was said that “We must, indeed, all hang together
or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately" (Benjamin
Franklin).


Like Gandhi and King clung to nonviolence, so must we. With
grace, poise and courage we must take one courageous step at a
time. What is today’s step that we must take? What is the
challenge of our time, right now?


Our first step today, July 31st, 2016, is this: Take a deep
breathe and hear the deep frustrations and anger of every sister
and brother from ocean to ocean, island to island, south to
north. Do not react. Feel and understand.


It may help to listen to The Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast. It may
help to join or reach out to United Faith Leaders. It will
definitely help to read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi
Coates and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. I think both
books are available as audiobooks too.


As I have spoken here, women and minorities, please forgive me
for any ways I have misspoken or erred. White men, let us please
take a deep breath and grow. Our next role is not like any of the
ones we have had before. We are to be calm listeners and
supportive accomplices to everyone who is not like us.


Thank you and God bless everyone everywhere.