natalie's narrative

Oops...and The Color of Fear

Lou Dobbs made a big oopsie a few days ago...wow, did this really happen? Maybe he should stick to his favorite topic--immigration...

I think this may be discontinued now, but every entering class at Wheaton used to watched a documentary called "The Color of Fear." It really opened my eyes to what's really going on with our racialized society, and what goes on in my majority-culture head. I wish everyone were required to watch this video. Here's a clip, from the "You're not standing on your own ground" part of the dialogue:

Good reading

I don't read blogs directly anymore--it's much more convenient to just go to bloglines.com and read them all in one place. It seems like my subscription list is getting longer and longer these days. Thought I'd share who I've found recently, most of these through the rabbit-trail that is the internet.

These first two are wife and husband:
One Hand Clapping
Emerging Pensees (Mike writes: "btw, 'pensees' is French for thoughts. get your mind out of the gutter.")
Leaving Munster - Excited to find this one since I'm moving away from substitutionary atonement and the violence involved.
RaceWire
Revolution in Jesusland
silence encourages the tormentor
Trying to Follow
Urban Onramps
Welcome to My Brain

Well maybe someday I'll get around to updating the "Blogs I Read" sidebar!

La misma luna

La misma luna (Under the Same Moon) comes out this week. It's a story about a nine-year-old boy from Mexico that cross the border to reunite with his mom on the other side, and it includes one of my favorite funny guys, Eugenio Derbez.

Trailers can be seen here and here. One of the quotes from the preview: "No one chooses to live this way, unless they've got a good reason." *Sigh* I was already crying when I saw just the previews...maybe I shouldn't see this one in the theater!

Strange irony

Anthony at Postmodern Negro shares his thoughts on one of the latest uproars in the Democratic primary: Barack Obama's pastor (I think his church has a new pastor now) Jeremiah White's recent remarks. Some of the more controversial things that Rev. White has said include, instead of God bless America, God damn America, since we treat our citizens and others as less than humans. His view of 9/11 is that America brought it upon itself, since we dropped nuclear bombs on Japan without batting an eye. Saddened by treatment of black Americans, he presents his Afro-centric views in an in-your-face way.

Obama's church says they are "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian," and "an African people, and remain 'true to our native land,' the mother continent, the cradle of civilization."

Anthony wonders: "why should Wright’s version of Afro-centric Christian theology hurt Obama? why is this an issue?"

He continues:

But what’s wrong with afro-centric? Especially when much of Christian theology for the past 500 year or so has been ”euro-centric”.  Of course we haven’t called it “euro-centric” Christian theology.  We’ve just called it “Christian”.  Kind of like “person” meant “white person” for many centuries. Or like “rational”, “pure”, “normal”, “clean”, “articulate”, etc. meant “white”.

Of course those who are uncomfortable with the qualifier afro-centric Christian theology or black theology would do well to understand the historical and social reasons why black folks use these qualifiers.  They only reveal their racial privilege by their ignorance of why black folks have had to do theology in this light.

[...]

Note: it is a strange irony that a theology that seeks to affirm black folk’s being made in the image of God and that seeks to resist the long history of white supremacy in North American Christianity would be considered ‘racist’.  Its the strangest of historical ironies.

This, along with the "accusations" that Obama is a Muslim, has made me wonder what's going on with our country...

Anthony also recommends some books to get us started on a journey away from strictly euro-centric theology.

Why don't they just come here legally?

Many people in the US wonder why undocumented immigrants don't just enter the country through the proper legal channels. Via Bender's Immigration Bulletin, I came across an Arizona Daily Star special report: Behind the immigration rhetoric. It looks like a good resource, with articles and videos that explain the immigration process well. One piece details the overwhelming legal process that immigrants have to undergo:

If you haven't said it, you've probably heard it: "I understand people want to come here; I just want them to do it legally, like my great-grandfather did."

But they don't come through Ellis Island anymore.
[...]

The reality, immigration and human-rights advocates say, is that the U.S. immigration system has become a legal quagmire.

The process is restrictive, cumbersome and unwelcoming, critics say. In their view, it forces families to be separated and pushes desperate people to cross illegally — many through Southern Arizona's desert.

"People imagine that there is this system to welcome people because we are this nation of immigrants and we welcome people and we are so good and organized and there are all these systems in place," says Patricia Mejia, a Tucson immigration attorney. "But there is no system. The immigration system has failed."

The wait times can range from a few months to 22 years, and some begin to wait in line at consulates at 3 a.m. All of this can be after spending thousands of dollars, undergoing many medical exams, and still no guarantee of approval. When--in Mexico at least--food, clothing, and rent cost the same as in the US yet the average yearly income is $10,000-$12,000, facing the daunting legal maze quickly becomes a non-issue.

A daily choice

Part of an interview was posted on Emergent Village, and it pertains to my last post. When asked "When were you born again," interviewee Tony Jones answers that his "born again" experience wasn't a one-time event that he can pinpoint. Instead, it's a daily choice for him:

Tony: But for me John, listen, for me it’s a daily…DAILY. I wonder if this whole thing’s a total crock. DAILY. I think, “Is there really a God? Is my whole life based on a hoax?” Every day I make a decision to go one day more. I mean really. I really… I’m agnostic in that sense, in that I…every day I don’t know.
John: I’m sorry.
Tony: No, no I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s a way to live as an intellectually honest person, because God is not a provable commodity. All the evidence in the world does not prove God. It ultimately depends on faith. As the Bible makes ABUNDANTLY clear.

I think one of the issues in my theodicy post was that many Christians are not intellectually honest, and also try to rely on a modernistic worldview to "prove" God's existence. I resonated with Tony's words. For me, believing is not only a daily choice, but I feel like I have to choose all over again when I hear of or experience even more suffering.