January 2012
23 posts
Sankofa: A Post Immersion Reflection
Thirty-five years ago, the epic miniseries Roots was first broadcast on ABC television. I was 10 years old, and I don’t remember how I felt about this portrayal of slavery. I do know that since then, I have avoided watching any movies related to slavery. I have been afraid to stir up any of the emotions that I knew would come to the surface if I dared look too closely at this...
“Our enemy is not the slaveowner only. It’s also the person of good will...”
– Wendell Phillips, abolitionist
“History is about power and who contested it.”
– Willie Baptist
Cathedrals of Inequality: Reflection on our Mall...
Years ago, I was in a basic economics class in which the professor was telling us of the inequalities embedded in capitalism. He spoke of malls as the “cathedrals” of capitalism. Shopping Centers are one of those places Americans go to renew their “faith” in consumerism- after all, didn’t our previous president tell us to go shopping in response to 9/11? It is in malls like the one in which...
WatchJohn Wessel-McCoy on Baltimore, Frederick Douglass and the movement to end slavery
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor...”
– Frederick Douglass
“Struggle is a school. How are we going to learn the lessons from this experience...”
– Willie Baptist
WatchProtestors threatened with arrest if they return during the United Workers action today at the Gallery mall in Baltimore’s inner harbor.
WatchGet On Board!
Poverty Initiative staff members and supporters & members of the United Workers join forces to develop an action plan to empower the 99% of our nation organize for their human rights. Jan. 18, 2012. Baltimore, MD
-Video by F. Romall Smalls
Are we too different?
I have been trying, as much as this break will allow, to read things I’ve long put aside. One of those tasks, was to approach an essay, well longer than it should be, that speaks to how we understand the world, relate to it, and why we do the things we do. The author, a crazy French-Marxist, tells me that relationality exists through difference, that who I am pivots simply on who I am not: ...
WatchAt United Workers headquarters, John Wessel-McCoy reflects on the Community Needs Assessment surveys we took in Baltimore neighborhoods this afternoon.
“I was not born into poverty
I was thrust into poverty
But I’ve always...”
– “Poverty,” by Veronica T. Dorsey, United Workers Leadership Organizer
“If you want to know me, you have to know my history.”
– Willie Baptist
PRE-IMMERSION REFLECTION
With two days to go before the 2012 Poverty Initiative immersion, I’ve found myself reflecting on my first immersion two-and-a-half years ago. On that immersion, I had just finished my first semester at Union as an MDiv student. Having survived the Old Testament and systematic theology finals that December, I was looking forward to another type of learning on the immersion. In addition to...
IMMERSION SCHEDULE
Here is a rough schedule of where we will be when:
Jan 16, Mon: NYC, overview of trip, Biblical reflection, poverty maps Jan 17, Tue: Walking tour of NYC, presentation by United Workers, Biblical reflection Jan 18, Wed: Travel to Baltimore, Community Needs Assessment with United Workers Jan 19, Thur: Biblical reflection, United Workers mall action, Capacity Arts orientation Jan 20, Friday:...