PARAKLETOS

This post is going to be filled with a lot of pictures of what we have been up to over the last few weeks….

On sunday we got back form our summer vaction.  We spent the first part of the week at a cabin by Lake Itaska with Erin’s Mom Tracy, and Amy’s family (Erin’s sister)  We had a great week filled with swimming, camp fires, and games (just for the record I ruled in the games we played

The second part of the week we got a camper cabin (a one room cabin) at another state park.  This time it was just the four of us.  Annika learned to pee in the grass, the only thing is that she thought she could do that when we got home, so on Monday when she needed to go to the bathroon she just dropped her pants and went right there in the yard

To view these pictures click here  and here

This monday we had another one of our weekly BBQs.  We had about 20-30 people coming but this week we had 60.  Luckly we had just enought food.  It was great to see people interacting, to hear adults asking teens what they wanted to do with thier lives, to see kids having alot of fun together, seeing parents showing off their new born child, and getting to know some new people.

click here for pictures

It also has been fun to cook up some of the food from our garden for these BBQ nights.  This last week Erin made a cake out of beets.  People loved it.  Speaking of the garden here are some updated pictures of what is happening with it.  click here

The garden is really coming on with produce.  Monday I was working in the garden and a man named Bobby came by and made a comment about the garden, so we started a conversation.  He left with a bunch of green beans and peas.  I also got a bunch that day, and tomorrow I am planning on getting a bunch to freeze on saturday.

As I blog I really feel the need to say that I don’t have the issue of racism figured.  I am learning all the time and part of this blogging is about me learning.  So I don’t blog as one who has it figured out, I blog as one who is desires to learn and grow.

The whole idea of writing about race on this blog was a very intimidating idea for me.  So a big part of the reason that I am blogging about race is to get over some of my fears and to stop being silent on this issue.  And I firmly believe that it is through the breaking of silence that we start to break the hold that racism has on us.

Some of the things that keep me silent are:

“I don’t know about race because I am white” (I believe this to be a lie.  I don’t know about race from an African-American perspective but I do know about race from a white perspective.  The thing is that I don’t think that much about my white race)

“I might be misunderstood (by whites and people of color)” (this is very true)

“I might say something wrong” (this is very very true.  But it is more important be involved and say something wrong than to not say something wrong by not saying anything.)

“The road of facing racism in America is a lonely road” (I believe this to be true.  When you start to talk about this issues people get mad at you and try to keep you silent.  I have learned this from my friend Terrence whose job at Bethel is to deal with these issues)

“I enjoy the benefits that my whiteness has given me and I don’t want to give up those benefits” (when I am honest this is very true)

So in the blog I face all of those fears and many more in the hope that I will learn and become the follower of Jesus that I so desire to be.

What I am coming to understand is that if I don’t face racism and proactively speak out against it, then I am participating in it.  Being silent is not neutral ground.  Being silent is a form (a subtle, but never the less a form) of participation in a racist system.

On of the things that I am learning is that racism is not just something that affects people of color, it is something that has deeply shaped and influences white people.  Racism is a problem that as a white male I have to face and come to understand how it has shaped me.  I am not saying that it affects me the same way that it affects people of color but it does affect me.  So by me breaking my silence it is a way for me to face racism and actively come against the ways that it is shaping me.  And if I continue to be silent then I am letting it do its evil work to me and to others.

Growing up in Iowa, I believe that I as progressive on the issue of racism because I did not see myself a part of any system that seemed to be blatantly racist to me.  The world around me did not tell people of color to only drink form certain drinking fountains.  There where not separate schools for students of color.  I believed that we did not talk about the subject of race because it was not something that we needed to talk about.  I thought that we had dealt with it in our circles so it was done with.

What I am learning is that just because something is not talked about and something does not seem to be an issue does not mean that it has been dealt and that it is over.  Looking back over my experience I now see that there where all kinds of things that I let go unchecked because I thought so little about the issue of racism.

One of those things that I never thought about was why is Iowa such a white state.  Growing up I just assumed that white people where the ones that wanted to farm, so they moved to Iowa and farmed.  I laugh as I write that, what a crazy idea.  No Iowa is white because they where the ones that where given access to that land and if others where given that same access, Iowa would have many more people of color living there today.  But we never processed things like that.  We never really though about our history along the lines of race.

So I raise this issue of silence because we must come to realize that just because we are not talking about it does not mean that we have progressed through it.  And my experience (and this is just my experience) tells me that white people are not talking about these issues.  The system of racism wants us to remain silent so that it can keep functioning.  And if we allow the system to function then we are participating in that system.  I know what I am saying might be very uncomfortable and disturbing to some. But I have meet several people of color who live every day with the disturbing reality of racism, so if you are feeling a little disturbed I welcome you to the reality of the world we live in.

We have been doing some weekly BBQ nights with our neighbors.  They are pretty simple nights where we grill up some Brats, Hotdogs, Hamburgers and then people bring other things to share.  I have also been trying to get some kids to eat some of the things from our garden.  Sometimes it works and other times it does not work.
The best things about these nights is that we get to spend time with each other, knowing each other, playing together, and laughing.  I hope that you enjoy the pictures.  Click here to see them

Our neighborhood BBQ nights have started.  We have had nights where 30 people have come and other nights like last night where we had 15 of us.  No matter who comes it is really good to spend time with those who do and have some great conversations.

Yesterday Micah road his bike for the first time.  It was pretty cool seeing him ride up and down the sidewalk.  I will try to put up some family pictures in the next few days and in there will be some pictures of Micah riding his bike.

The last time I blogged about race I talked about the need for truth letting to take place.  Another thing that we have experienced that is a huge part of this issue is coming to an understanding just how much our experiences and environments have lead us to think and see the world the way that we do.  And for me as a white person (and that is the angle that I am writing these blogs from.  I am working through this issue from a white perspective) if I am going to understand where a person of color is coming from I have to work hard at seeing things from their perspective.

We have to hold judgment long enough for us to really hear and get a taste for where they are coming form.  But in the world that we live in most of the time this does not happen.  I just heard this last week that Rush Limbaugh signed a new contract worth $400 million dollars over the next 8 years.  He does not get paid that much money to hear out the other side or see things from the “other” perspective.  He gets paid to have a one way conversation, and to declare that his one perspective is the Universal Truth.  And the really sad thing is that over the years he has had a huge influence over the way that this nation talks about issues.  We talk in sound bites and believe that all truth can be contained in a sentence and that we who craft those sentences are the ones that know truth.  Those crafters of truth see it as their duty to must make sure that all others hear that truth and agree with them.

When I lived in Iowa on the farm I had one perspective.  Now that I live in North Minneapolis I have seen my perspective evolve over time and on some issues I am now no where close to where I once was.  And I believe that to be because I have really tried to listen and learn from those who live in my neighborhood.

Here is an example of what I mean.  For the first 28 years of my life I believed the right to own a gun to be a good right.  The primary way that I saw guns being used for was for hunting.  Another reason for owning a gun was self-protection.  It made sense to me that we would let people own guns for those two reasons.  Over the last 4 years I have come to believe that the gun laws in this country are insane.  I now find myself in a neighborhood where people are killed on our street with guns, I wake up at night to the sounds of people trying to kill on another with guns, and Annika asks “daddy what is that sound” and I have a really hard time answering that question.  Guns are no longer toys or something used to hunt with, they are the tools of death.  So I have come to believe it to be a good thing to bring an end to the gun industry.

I am convinced that if I had not had the experience of living in North Minneapolis that I would not see gun laws the way that I do today.  All of that to say that is we must hear out the “other”.  We must let them talk and we must listen.  Because the truth is that people of color have had and are experiencing a very different reality then those of us who are white. ( I am not saying that all people of color live in a violent neighborhood like mine, I am saying that day in day out they have a different experience living in America because of their skin color).  There is not just one American experience.  American had been experienced very differently deepening on what side of the color line you find yourself.

So if we are going to really understand where people are coming from we must:

LISTEN

ASK QUESTIONS

REALLY INTERACT WITH WHAT WE HEAR

ADMIT THAT OUR EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE ONLY EXPERIENCE

In a Rush Limbaugh world these are not our natural reactions.  We have to train ourselves and work at doing these things.

In june our block hosted a block party of the community.  The above picture is over our friend Robert who is part of a dance group that put on a perforance for us.  It was some cool stuff that they did.

We have 8 people from the neighborhood who helped organize the party and about 90 people who came.  Michael is our neighborhood griller and he grilled up about 150 pieces of meat that day.

It was a great day of seeing old and young in the streets laughing, eating, and enjoying being with each other.  At then end of the party Michael, who has lived in the community his whole life and was part of the first graduating class from the North High School building that is at the end of our street, said “We did a good things today.  It makes you feel really good when you do something like this for the kids.”

If Michael thought it was a good day then I agree.  If you want to check out some of the pictures of the party just click here.

I wanted to send out a quick note to the blog world.  Some friends for ours Charles and DeVonna are moving into an apartment this month.  this is very exciting because for a while now they have been staying with friends.  Because they have not had thier own place they are looking for a few things, like:
A Bed
Couch
Living room Chair
coffee table

If you have any of these things and you would like to give it to Charles and DeVonna let me know.  I am also going to send this out to an e-mail list of people that want to know about this kinds of things.  If you are not on that e-mail but would like to be let me know.

Tanden