Troubled Hearts!

Jesus says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afriad." John 14:27 - This is a good word for such a time as this. Our nation is divided. We have a president who does not inspire confidence in many. What will we do? That is a question on the minds of many. Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled..." But dear Jesus, our hearts are troubled, and we are afraid.

Whites Will Lose Majority Status in 2044

According to the Census Bureau the year 2044 is when white Americans are projected to fall below half the population and lose their majority status. Get to that!

Worth noting…Ramadan and Fasting

Worth noting…Ramadan and Fasting

On Thursday, June 14, 2018, I participated in “Iftar” at Masjid Noor Ul Huda (MNH), Columbia, South Carolina. I, with other community leaders, was invited by Chaudhry Sadiq, President of MNH, and President of Peace Integration Council of North America. I participated in part, to understand more fully why I observed the Ramadan fast. I joined the fast before while serving on the Christian Peacemaker Team in al-Khalil (Hebron). Omar Shaeed, Imam at Mashid As-Salaam, Monticello Road, Columbia reminded us that fasting exists as a practice in nearly all faith traditions. He cited a verse in the Quran that says, "fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become righteous."  He pointed to the fasting practices of Moses and Jesus. He explained that the focus of fasting in on creation. The essential of fasting is empathy. Those who fast during Ramadan attempt to emphasize with others. Fasting allows one to feel the distress of hunger and thirst.  There are people struggling with food insecurity not just in remote countries but also in the USA. Fasting connects as human beings.

Imam Shaeed explained that fasting also commemorates the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief. This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The month lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon, according to numerous biographical accounts compiled in the hadiths.

Harris Zafar writes, Fasting teaches us how to put ourselves in another person's shoes and to gain some level of understanding of their pain. This empathy is meant to foster more care and love for those who are often neglected and forgotten. For this reason, Muslims are advised to be more charitable -- with their time, wealth and general attitude -- while fasting during Ramadan. It is a month in which Muslims aren't allowed to express anger or tell a lie. Instead, they are instructed to focus on strengthening their relationship with God in humility. https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/05/ramadan_reflections_fasting_to.html

The last 10 nights of Ramadan is a time of intense worship, followed by a three-day holiday. Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of Ramadan, is a time of gifts, food, and festivities. 

Follow your heart, but take your brain with you!

Waiting in Umm al-Khair

The heartbreaking details of people waiting for their homes to be destroyed by the Israeli authorities is told again and again by the people of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair. Umm al-Khair is a Palestinian village located in the Hebron Governorate of the southern West Bank. The people eloquently describe the waiting as something akin to pregnancy. They are waiting for the birth of something, perhaps early one morning, with the realization that it will bring about the cruel destruction of their homes and their way of life. The villagers search the apparently fertile world around them—nearby settlers who enjoy modern life, the new military closed zones, the hum of drones above them near their rural homes, they search for answers. They may wonder why muted responses come from the international community as Israel continues demolitions that contravene explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention. They may wonder how the world goes on, as if unaware of or forgetting real human beings in Umm al-Khair. Who will shelter them from an empire whose army has conquered the land where they live and before whose power they are otherwise powerless? Who will protect them from a power that tramples on their basic human rights and cruelly forces them from their homes? Who will save them from a force that destroys their livelihood? Who will halt the aggression? ‘Id al-Hajalin, a resident of Umm al-Khair ask, “Why do they want to destroy my house? Where can I go? Can I go to America? I have nothing, and they want to take that nothing from me. Can you help me? Where am I supposed to go?^”[1] Demolitions of homes and other structures that compel the people of Umm al-Khair to leave their homes may amount to the forcible transfer of residents of an occupied territory, which is a war crime. It is 5:15 am in Umm al-Khair. I hear the rumble of a large vehicle coming up the road. No, the domolition is not scheduled for today. Umm al-Khair is featured in the 2016 book "The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine" by Ben Ehrenreich.[2]

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[1] David Dean Shulman, 'On Being Unfree:Fences, Roadblocks and the Iron Cage of Palestine,' Manoa Vol, 20, No. 2, 2008, pp. 13-32

[2] Review: 'The Way to the Spring,' by Ben Ehrenreich, by Steve Weinberg, June 10, 2016, Star Tribune

NOTES FROM UM AL KHAIR (West Hebron Hills, Palestine)

We traveled to Um Al Khair by taxi from Hebron. We traveled to Yata where we were expecting an awaiting car. My team member had made the arrangements so I trusted that the trip would be routine. Nothing is routine in Palestine. Because neither my team member nor I speak Arabic, we got into a car we thought to be the one waiting for us. The price to our destination was 15 shekels. Two other individuals piled into this small vehicle. In the best Arabic we new, we told the driver we wanted to go to Um Al Khair. The driver had a conversation with the two other passengers about the town of Ar-Tuwani, a place known to us, but a bit further up Route 317. We believed that the two passengers had helped the driver locate out destination, and as they both reached the point where they got out of the taxi, we felt confident that we were on the way. We were wrong. Our driver did not know the way to Um Al Khair, and we could not tell him. We phoned out contact in Um Al Khair who spoke to the driver in Arabic. At this point, the driver was no longer interested in taking us to Um Al Khair. He asked us for 50 shekels. Our contact in Um Al Khair instructed us to pay him the 50 shekels and exit the car. We both reached for 50 shekels at once, and the driver responded that he wanted 50 shekels a piece. We were not going for that!  He drove away leaving us on an unfamiliar road. For all intent and purposes, we were lost. Several locals driving by signaled to us, an elderly white woman and a black man. But because we could not speak the language we were distrustful. We finally got another call through to our host in Um Al Khair who sent a car to pick us up. Lesson learned: Learn the language.

Shopping While Black

Shopping While Black

Today I shopped at the Giant Food Store on Route 611 in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. I was shopping for fresh flat-leaf parsley. I asked a store employee for parsley was and he told me that it was with the spices. He said he did not know where the spices were. I thanked him and found the parsley myself near the vegetables. A few minutes later I observe a white male asking the same store employee for help. The employee left what he was doing and helped the white man find what he was looking for. I am black and I take it that I don’t matter in the economy of this worker. On Sunday, I took a Delta Airline flight from Atlanta to New York. I observed a white women leave the coach section of the aircraft to use the toilet in the first class section. It occurred to me that she was not challenged because of her white skin. When an elderly black man attempted the same thing, his skin told on him “This facility is reserved for first class passengers.” I hope he didn’t pee on himself while waiting for the coffee and snack cart to finish the rounds. The funny thing is that the flight attendant probably did not realize that the white woman was not a first class passenger. But she knew that the black man belonged in the back of the plane. She had her eyes on him. Daily black people endure these little indignities. Daily, while walking, riding a bike, speaking black, shopping while black, flying on planes while black, being in the park, swimming at the pool, being in church, in a police van, black in court, we are treated differently. Just for being black.

Headlines abound with stories of an unarmed blacks being killed by police officers who are not doing something wrong, but for simply being black.The recent killings of unarmed black men, women and children by police in New York, Texas, Maryland, South Carolina, Ohio and Florida, and the failure to prosecute the killers, sends the message to black communities that black lives do not matter. Unarmed black people were killed by police at 5x the rate of unarmed whites in 2015. (Source: Mapping Police Violence.org:) Posters reading “Black Lives Matter,” “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot,” “I Can’t Breathe,” communicate the reality of a specific kind of racial vulnerability that black people experience on a daily basis. How does all this communicate to black people that their lives don’t matter?

A reason the chant “Black Lives Matter” is so important is that it states the obvious. It is a statement of outrage and a demand for equality in the face of acts that violates accepted standards of behavior. It is a sound that links the history of slavery, of rape of black women, of poor schools, and a prison system geared toward the warehousing, demoralizing and destruction of black lives, but also a police system that is regularly videoed taking black lives because some officer relies more on a gun rather than training.