Starcross
In San Francisco in the 60s three people from the Human Potential movement joined together and from a house on Masonic, began work with at risk children. When their work outgrew their quarters they sold the house and bought an old ranch in Annapolis, far up the Sonoma coast. They had all taken monastic vows. They lived off the land and accepted donations, while continuing their work with children. When the AIDS epidemic began, they took on children with AIDS. The story is too complex to summarize here, but here is a link to their website which tells the history in detail. We give their homemade wreaths to our friends at Christmas (and you could, too).
Brother Toby is a prolific author and Mrs. side pocket receives a weekly missive from him which is usually thought-provoking and incisive. His Friday Reflections this week were so perfect that I wished to share them. I hoped to copy it in its entirety but being very aware of fair-use restrictions I requested, and received permission from Sister Julie herself. As an added bonus, she was very aware of Daily Kos and gave thanks for all the progressive activism we do. She also said she would read the KTK tonight. I truly believe Brother Toby’s piece is worth a read…..and reflection.
We're coming up on Memorial Day — or Decoration Day as it is called in some places. Many people simply think of it as a three-day holiday. But there are some contemporary reasons to examine how it came into our calendar.
Officially it is usually stated that it was first celebrated in Waterloo, New York in 1866. But it really started one year before that and the story is remarkable.
The first Memorial Day was actually observed in 1865 by liberated slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, at a mass grave for Union soldiers who died in captivity. The freed slaves disinterred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to be properly buried in individual graves. They built a fence around the graveyard with an entry arch, declaring it a Union Graveyard.
This was a daring action for freed slaves to take in the South just after the Union's victory. On May 30,1868, the freed slaves returned to the graveyard with flowers they had picked from the countryside and decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the first “Decoration Day.” Thousands of freed African Americans and Union soldiers paraded to the area, followed by much patriotic singing and a picnic. So the horrible civil war is over and that settles the race issue in our country, right? wrong.
I was born in the deep South in 1931. Fortunately, my family members were moderates concerning race. My parents were even considered radical on the issue. But the schools I attended had no African Americans. Then came Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 saying schools had to be integrated. So that settled the race issue, right? wrong.Then followed the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). After that we even elected an African American president (2009-2017). Certainly, that settled the race issue. Right? Wrong.
Racial intolerance is all around us. Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me makes a profound and convincing argument that our country was built on a tragic falsehood of race and remains that way. Even among those who are most vocal and militant about declaring themselves “Christian.” St. Paul made it very clear when he wrote (Galatians 3:28) that for those following Jesus there was no distinction “between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one …”. Despite this clear admonition, virulent Christianity has often become a cover for white male supremacy.
A few days ago, I received a statement from a highly respected Evangelical Christian who is also an activist for social reform. It is a frightening statement which seriously questions the motivation of prominent “Christian” leaders in the recent election.
To many outside the white evangelical world, it seemed — and still seems — inconceivable that a thrice-married serial adulterer, ultimate materialist, casino owner, habitual liar, and unprincipled deal-maker could ever become the standard bearer for a group that professes to base their vote on “family values.”
His point is that race is sometimes masked as religion. Are there many other masks in our society? Or even in our own individual lives?Remember when Martin Luther King Jr. made his great ”Dream Speech” in 1963? Among the wonderful things he said was something I've always remembered.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I don't deny that we've made great progress in many areas. But in our hearts and souls do we, as individuals and as a society, see our children of whatever color and heritage as sisters and brothers?
There is a powerful poison that runs through our history in this country. And to be eradicated it has to be confronted in my home and in your home, my neighborhood in your neighborhood, my spiritual community and your spiritual community.
Next week seems an appropriate time for each one of us to do something special to remove some of that poison. It's Memorial Day and it's also the beginning of Ramadan, a major Islamic week of prayer, fasting, and charity. Our Muslim sisters and brothers speak of taqwa meaning a consciousness of God. May we find new ways to be more aware of that consciousness in all people who inhabit this earth.
Brother Toby
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by and tell us about your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.