Carlos Foster is only 21, but he already has a resume many people twice his age would envy. He is currently juggling a demanding career in marketing, an MBA program which he expects to finish next year, and several community commitments. Despite his age, however, this kind of demanding schedule is nothing new for Foster.
In the politically charged early decades of the 21st century, there is a new term to describe the public performance of righteousness. These days, it’s called “virtue signaling.” Virtue signaling is when you share your opinion on a social or political issue simply to get praise or acknowledgment from people who share that point of view. It’s the social media equivalent of praying in public.
Just before the world shut down, the Spouse and I ran away to the library. Just the two of us and the library we chose was three hours away. I was finishing a writing project, the Spouse was starting a new work, and we both wanted time to concentrate. It would be a backwards Sabbath, maybe, but a rest and a refocus nonetheless.
When it comes to social and political issues, I confess that my own impulse is toward public silence. Even in the face of the ongoing, widespread protests against anti-Black racism, part of me preferred silence. Not because I am unconcerned about the reality of racism in our culture (as I have told myself). Rather, a significant part of me has felt I should just get on with faithfully relating to students and colleagues and friends who are people of colour.
In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo, a white anti-racism educator, describes the defensive moves that white people make when their ideas about race and racism are challenged. She terms these defensive moves “white fragility” – reactions characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviours such as argumentation and silence. She argues that our largely segregated society makes these reactions possible, as it’s set up to insulate white people from racial discomfort.
By any descriptor that has been applied to the Trump presidency thus far – unorthodox, theatrical, controversial – his photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in June was particularly shocking given its physical environment of civil unrest. That Trump intended the photo-op to be a justification of his use of brute force against his own citizens, using Christian props and setting to portray himself as a “Christian” leader, seems evident.
My heart broke when I heard that a police officer had killed another Black man. My first response was “Not again!” When I finally saw the video of George Floyd’s death, I was upset and angry. I do not typically curse, but this time I did, and I prayed. It was unbelievable to see a white police officer pressing his foot on the neck of Mr. Floyd with a hand in his pocket in the presence of other police officers and bystanders.
The “talk” for adolescents in Black households is not about sex and avoiding teenage pregnancy. It focuses on what to do if the police stop you to avoid being arrested or worse. I have seen a circle of boisterous Black youth at a local bus station in Ottawa be threatened and dispersed by police, while a group of laughing white youth nearby were allowed to stay.
You’ve probably never heard of Richard Demsick. On May 9, 2020, Richard Demsick went for a two-and-a-half mile run in his neighbourhood in Vero Beach, Florida. Demsick was running shirtless, with a ball cap on backwards and was carrying a flat-screen television under his arm. Although the neighbourhood had recently had a series of break-ins, no one stopped him to ask what he was doing. You’ve probably heard of Ahmaud Arbery.
541 Eatery and Exchange is a restaurant and Christian ministry located in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. By providing affordable and high-quality food and drink, as well as a place to hang out and socialize, 541 has always connected people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Since COVID-19, those connections look different but the ministry’s focus hasn’t changed. “We talk a lot about family here,” says Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan, one of the Front of House Managers and a former columnist with Christian Courier.
The Middle East Plan released by U.S. President Trump on January 28 was three years in the making. But the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that it seeks to resolve goes back generations. Palestinian leaders rejected the peace agreement while reaction from other governments has been mixed. A group called Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), of which the Christian Reformed Church is a member, renounced President Trump’s plan as “a recipe for endless oppression and injustice” of the Palestinian people.
My name is Sarah Beaubien, I am Wet’suwet’en from the Likhts’amisyu Clan. The last few weeks have had their ups and downs; in 2020 you wouldn’t think that we would still be living in the past of ripping Aboriginal people from their lands, but that is exactly what we are seeing. I also have to stay positive because I know God is a God of Justice and that is exactly what we are fighting for.
|
Uploaded
Failed
|
 |
