I think something any sociology class can and should be talking about right now, and for the past few months, is the event's of Ferguson. A flying red flag to all who would claim racism is dead, the events taking place in that town harken back to the struggles of the black communities across America in the 1960's.
In this article two journalists from PBS talk with dean of the Howard University School of Divinity and president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Pollard and Dr. Moore, respectively, talk about how both in school and in the church there is outrage, and opportunity.
Black churches in the 60's were key to the movement, Moore comments, and churches can be key again. However, she says that the segregation we still see in churches today is unnecessary.
We've often talked about religion being something that brings people together and Dr. Moore talks about it too, "One of the reasons why Martin Luther King was able to speak to white people, especially white evangelicals... is because he was able to speak to the conscience, a conscience formed with certain biblical ideas, such as the fact that every person is made in the image of God, Jesus died for every person, the gospel is to go to every person." This idea that even with our differences, that our religious ideals can bring us together is important.
Another thought shared by both is that the non-violent protest that Dr. King Jr. favored should continue. I wholeheartedly agree. Race is a social construct, but if the majority says that blacks are violent and they then protest violently, they only reinforce a damaging stereotype; not that they media isn't portraying their protests as violent anyway.
Both say that one of the things we can have in common and share with the black community is religion; even if we can't understand their hardships we can connect with religion and use it to create a relationship with them. Religion may have a history of worsening these situations (KKK, slavery in the bible as an argument to keep it, etc.) but in our day and age I think it's time to use it as a bonding agent with other people instead of as a hammer driving the wedge between us deeper and deeper.
Danni,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you meant to have the majority of your blog highlighted, but it made it hard for me to read. However, I like how relevant your blog topic is. I watched news coverage of the Ferguson situation last night. They interviewed a (white) couple that started out by saying they support the right to protest but don't think it should be violent. I completed agree! But then they went on to say that racism doesn't exist anymore and they don't like that black hate all whites and all police officers because of the situation. Personally, anyone who thinks racism doesn't exist is ignorant beyond belief. I was pleasantly surprise when the next interview was of a (white) church leader who said that same thing (except a bit nicer). He stated people like that are so out of touch with what's going on.
Sorry for the tangent, but it came back to religion at the end there. It took a religious leader to connect with me. I'm not religious, but what he said made more sense to me than what anyone else in those interviews did. I can see how religion plays a role in these situations.