What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "pride"?
What images or words come to mind if you think about "pride" for a little bit?
Feel free to share your answers in the comments below. ⬇
The reason I bring this up is because I read two different things from two very different sources last night that spoke about how two different minority groups have been forced to deal with oppression.
The first was from my favorite comedy website Cracked.com, clicking that link will take you to the article. For those not willing to click things let me cover the important part. The author covers how Paula Dean fans have rushed to her defense in the most counter-intuitive way possible. Like using the N-word to show how unoffensive it is and, this is not a joke, how the only people who should be offended by the N-word are N-words. Seriously. You should just click the link. There's a picture of a person making that argument on Facebook. The other example is of a person whose argument boils down to this:
I should note that the bold parts are the actual words used by this person. The underlined and italicized bit is my emphasis. As the author of the article points out this person is saying "Black people, you owe whites for something that happened 148 years ago! But, please, leave the past in the past."
What images or words come to mind if you think about "pride" for a little bit?
Feel free to share your answers in the comments below. ⬇
The reason I bring this up is because I read two different things from two very different sources last night that spoke about how two different minority groups have been forced to deal with oppression.
The first was from my favorite comedy website Cracked.com, clicking that link will take you to the article. For those not willing to click things let me cover the important part. The author covers how Paula Dean fans have rushed to her defense in the most counter-intuitive way possible. Like using the N-word to show how unoffensive it is and, this is not a joke, how the only people who should be offended by the N-word are N-words. Seriously. You should just click the link. There's a picture of a person making that argument on Facebook. The other example is of a person whose argument boils down to this:
If you're black you need to stop living in the past and get over slavery. Also you should be glad that white people gave you freedom after the civil war. Yes, we made a mistake with slavery but we stopped it now so why don't you go home. Stop crying and get on with living the lives you owe to the white race.
I should note that the bold parts are the actual words used by this person. The underlined and italicized bit is my emphasis. As the author of the article points out this person is saying "Black people, you owe whites for something that happened 148 years ago! But, please, leave the past in the past."
The second thing I read came from my friend and former roommate. He also happens to be gay and this is what he had to say:
"Q:If they can why can’t we? Am I right? Or do we not have the right to free speech?
A:no you don’t get to have straight pride
politicians don’t fight to have straight marriage banned. parents do not kick their children out of their homes because they’re straight. friends do not abandon their friends once they realize they’re straight. people are not assaulted by bigots for being straight. people do not commit suicide because everyone around them treated them like shit for being straight you have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need one you have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need oneyou have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need one"
Powerful stuff and I was surprised to see a couple of very, very odd responses to this post. The first was how we should all be proud of who we are, which is nice, except the responder likened it to his own love of macaroni and cheese and how every month is "mac n cheese pride month". As offensive as it is to just equate mac n cheese to the suffering of people the underlying argument is that we should have straight pride and it should be every month for us. Of course there should be gay pride as well. But each group should have their own pride. But this misses the point that it's easy for straight people to be proud. They don't have the world telling them they're wrong every day of their lives. Being proud as a minority isn't automatic in a world that oppresses minorities.
The second odd response was that pride should be reserved for accomplishments, not for being born a certain race or with a sexual orientation.
This seemed odd to me, especially since pride is often completely unrelated to accomplishments. So here's my reflection on pride.
Pride is a double edged sword. It is often wielded by those who do the oppression because they had relatively little to overcome in order to become powerful. Pride when wielded by the oppressed becomes a refusal to accept that those in power are right, that the norm is unjust, and that there is nothing wrong, but everything right, with being different from the powerful. To not be proud of who you are when you are the oppressed is to agree with the oppressor that you are fundamentally wrong. To disagree and demand justice for the wrongs placed on humans of all shapes, sizes, colors and orientation is a bigger accomplishment than anything the powerful have ever done. And it is certainly something to be proud of.
"Q:If they can why can’t we? Am I right? Or do we not have the right to free speech?
A:no you don’t get to have straight pride
politicians don’t fight to have straight marriage banned. parents do not kick their children out of their homes because they’re straight. friends do not abandon their friends once they realize they’re straight. people are not assaulted by bigots for being straight. people do not commit suicide because everyone around them treated them like shit for being straight you have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need one you have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need oneyou have nothing to be proud of. you haven’t been discriminated against or insulted for being heterosexual. you haven’t struggled to feel normal in a society which tells you that being queer is unnatural. you don’t get a straight pride because you don’t need one"
Powerful stuff and I was surprised to see a couple of very, very odd responses to this post. The first was how we should all be proud of who we are, which is nice, except the responder likened it to his own love of macaroni and cheese and how every month is "mac n cheese pride month". As offensive as it is to just equate mac n cheese to the suffering of people the underlying argument is that we should have straight pride and it should be every month for us. Of course there should be gay pride as well. But each group should have their own pride. But this misses the point that it's easy for straight people to be proud. They don't have the world telling them they're wrong every day of their lives. Being proud as a minority isn't automatic in a world that oppresses minorities.
The second odd response was that pride should be reserved for accomplishments, not for being born a certain race or with a sexual orientation.
This seemed odd to me, especially since pride is often completely unrelated to accomplishments. So here's my reflection on pride.
Pride is a double edged sword. It is often wielded by those who do the oppression because they had relatively little to overcome in order to become powerful. Pride when wielded by the oppressed becomes a refusal to accept that those in power are right, that the norm is unjust, and that there is nothing wrong, but everything right, with being different from the powerful. To not be proud of who you are when you are the oppressed is to agree with the oppressor that you are fundamentally wrong. To disagree and demand justice for the wrongs placed on humans of all shapes, sizes, colors and orientation is a bigger accomplishment than anything the powerful have ever done. And it is certainly something to be proud of.
The response to my reflection on pride got a little silly and included an example of how children demand things all the time from their parents and how making a demand like a child isn't something to be proud of. And that's when it really set in for me. For the second time in the same thread somebody had totally missed the point and made a comment that was insulting and offensive. Gay people being proud is the same as liking mac n cheese and gay people demanding equal rights is the same as a child demanding a new toy or ice cream.
But this goes back to the article from Cracked. On the one hand the oppressing class thought the oppressed should be grateful that they aren't oppressed even more. And in the other case the oppressing class equated the struggles of the oppressed to the trivial matters like mac n cheese and whining children.
Forgive us Father for we know not what we do.
Why are the loudest Christian voices in this country trying to stop equal rights? How did we end up as the oppressing class?
Whatever happened to the good news?
Whatever happened to standing up for the oppressed?
Whatever happened to the first shall be last and the last shall be first?
As Christians we are called to be a voice for justice in this world but we've resorted spreading injustice for our brothers and sisters under the guise of "sin". But it's not because of "sin" that we spread this injustice. Unless you want to say it's because of our sin. And that's the most troubling part of it. We don't love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We demand our neighbors be like us first. It's not the sins of the gay community, real or perceived that makes us oppress them just like slavery was never about the sins of the black community. Oppression is always about the sins of the oppressor. It is never justified. It is never trivial. The oppressors are never owed anything.
Jesus was asked by the religious elite why He always hung out with sinners and not with them. Jesus told them it's the sick that need a doctor not the healthy. But they missed the point behind His words just as we still do today. Jesus wasn't saying the religious elite were without sin. He speaks against their sins over and over again. He was with these "sinners" because they were the oppressed. They were sick because the powerful in society told them they were wrong, unnatural and deserve abuse because of their "sin" just like we tell the gay community these things today. The Christians of the world need to follow Christ. They need to stand with the oppressed and show them that they have worth, are loved, and that nothing can stop God's love for them.
Let's bring back the Gospel.
Every time we come to Black History Month in the church there are inevitably some white people who will respond with "why don't we have white history month?" We spent a lot of time thinking about the appropriate way to explain the importance of Black History Month, but the truth in it is that EVERY month is white history month. Every day we live in a world that values white, hetero-normative people, most often at the expense of everybody who does not fit into those categories. There is no straight pride parade because it is normative, so every day, every body who isn't straight is reminded that they are outside of the norm. Every day, everybody who isn't white is reminded that they are outside of the norm. Most white people and most straight people will never think of themselves as such, or to the same degree as everybody else. This is the central problem with discussions on race or sex, or frankly, between any minority and majority.
ReplyDeleteIt boils down to a lack of empathy, the ability to look outside of oneself and understand another person. The church should be a place that flourishes in this work, but far too often the church simply perpetuates the problem and cowers behind the cross rather than boldly proclaiming grace.