The Journal of the Baptist Peacemaker October-December 2016 - 24
StorieS of PeacemakerS
live on the planet as conscious human beings rather than
people who are shaped by dehumanization.
We need to recognize that each step of that kind is justice
continued from page 23
work, and we need to count it as justice work. Activists get
extraordinarily fatigued because we don't always get to see
As a religion professor, I realize that there have been a lot the crop grow; we don't get to see the harvest. Justice takes
of racial politics in the practice and history of Christianity. time. It takes a long time, sometimes.
We need to examine the connections of white supremacy and
We need to remember that the small things that we do-
Christianity. Let's not forget, many American slave ships were the lighting of the candle, the embrace of someone's hand,
named after Christian saints.
the active listening to someone on the phone-that, too, is
During my first year at TCU, Hurricane Katrina hit justice work. It's imperative for all of us to recognize that, in
New Orleans and the levies failed. Many of my students were order to keep ourselves encouraged and renewed for the hard
astonished at the depth of the poverty that trapped 14,000 work ahead.
people inside the Superdome, with some never escaping. It
didn't seem real to them. Many of them asked, "How could
this be happening in the United States?"
Melanie Harris,
PEACEMAKER: What do you do when people can't seem to see that
there is a problem?
HARRIS: It's hard to sit with the fact that some people
don't see other people as fully human. They are blind to the
humanity of another person. It is hard to understand that.
There is a social illness that causes that to happen. It is a
social sin.
White supremacy is a social sin, and it is going to take
more than prayer to repent and repair and change the
devastation of that sin. It is going to take action and having
the wisdom, not only to save one's own life, but also the lives
of others.
That kind of action is crucial, but it puts people's lives on
the line and it creates situations where people like me have
to sacrifice enormously for the eyes of one person (student,
colleague, administrator, neighbor, fellow clergy member,
fellow faith believer) to be opened. My hope is that this kind
of enlightenment will happen in my classroom, in a space
where students can receive tools so they can act for justice.
I come from a tradition of activism-womanist theological
ethics and black liberation theology. Had I been trained at a
different institution in a different way, I could have opted to
be a more philosophical ethicist, or a religionist specialist who
does not see justice as a part of their research agenda.
To me, other people matter. Relationships matter. The
earth and humans who do not look like me, or share my African
heritage, matter. It is because of the way that I'm trained,
because of my own personal and spiritual commitments, and
because of my own call, that activism shapes my teaching and
my scholarship. And it also shapes my purpose here at TCU.
PEACEMAKER: How do you keep doing this work?
HARRIS: I have Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman as
my inspirations-to keep going back into the classroom to see
whom I can help, to raise their consciousness, to help them
24 Baptist Peacemaker
OCT-DEC 2016
"I come from a tradition where women
not only beat insurmountable odds, but
blaze a path for others to do the same.
This is more than crossing boundaries.
This is changing the course of history."
The gift of womanist religious thought, for me, has also
been the imperative tenet of self-love and self-care that comes
out of that movement. Self-care is crucial if you're going to
continue in justice work for the long haul. We have a number
of powerful activists whose health has deteriorated because of
the passionate nature of their work, and because of the cost
that must be paid every time one confronts racism, classism,
sexism and heterosexism.
The work can be very hard on the body, on the person
and on the psyche. In one way, this is the awful design of
oppressors and systems of oppression-to break a being's
soul, to cripple their self worth, to level them to far less than
their divinely appointed dignity. I appreciate that womanist
religious thought recognizes this truth-and has the
intelligence and the audacious spiritual courage to demand
justice in the face of injustice. Womanist thought empowers
one to take care of oneself, even as one takes care of others as
we move through the various seasons of our lives.
That is what the clergy needs to be about, learning to
create healthy, healing communities, learning to create healthy
individuals who can walk the walk and talk the talk, but remain
strong enough to sustain justice. That is true faith work. n
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peacemaker October-December 2016
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