“Freedom, Freedom, I can’t move, Freedom cut me loose! Freedom! Freedom! Where are you? Cause I need freedom too!”–Beyoncé
As I push repeat on Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” I cannot help but feel that she has captured the yearning of so many people who find themselves trapped by the fear of gun violence, police brutality, hatred, misogyny, local and global terrorism, ignorance, bigotry, racism, political and economic disenfranchisement, sexism, and even the fear of the future. If you remain in front of the television long enough, listening to the media, it can become easy to lose hope and wonder if freedom is attainable, and if so you wonder who this freedom is for, to what end, by what means? And what would freedom even look like given the disparate perspectives and worldviews present in the United States today?
Well, this summer I got a glimpse of what shape this freedom could take, particularly with in the educational system for our black and brown children who all too often find themselves trapped in the cradle to prison pipeline. And with the number of black and brown children growing within the elementary and secondary schools in the United States (It is reported that by 2022 the percentage of Hispanics and multiracial students in public elementary and secondary schools is projected to grow 33 percent, and 44 percent) , it is important that we take seriously the need for a major shift in our educational system. But what could this shift look like?
Educational Freedom:
A vision of educational freedom began to unfold for me as I served as the Site Coordinator of the James Lawson Freedom School literacy and cultural enrichment program in Allentown, PA. The James Lawson Freedom School is one of over 150 freedom schools in the nation that has partnered with the Children Defense Fund to foster high quality literacy development amongst children of color, utilizing literature that reflects the stories and experiences of people of color and change agents in our society and around the world. Furthermore, this program seeks to empower families and parents to be involved in their child’s learning, to engage their communities through civic activities and social action and develop healthy nutrition as well as physical and mental health.
What sets this program apart from any other summer camp or literacy program I have been a part of is its holistic view of what education should prepare the learners to
Freedom Teachers
be, its recognition and celebration of multiple learning styles, the intentional use of multiple teaching styles, and the programs emphasis on celebrating diverse cultures. Throughout the course of the day you will witness scholars learning how to spell through cheers and chants, affirming themselves and one another through song and dance, reading out loud and silently, acting out the stories of Harriet Tubman or Pele, and thinking through how they can use conflict resolution skills in their daily lives.
History of Freedom Schools:
Another facet of this program that sets it apart from other programs is its conception. Freedom Schools are rooted in the American Civil Rights Movement, and was utilized during the Mississippi Freedom Summer project of 1964. The Mississippi Freedom Summer project was one of the many activities civil rights activists in the 1960s coordinated to bring about change within the racially and economically stratified south. Mississippi at that time was one of the poorest states in the United States and its black population was amongst the most politically and educationally disenfranchised. While blacks made up almost half of Mississippi’s population, only 5% of the blacks who were of age were registered to vote. And those who had the courage to vote were faced with the possibility of getting fired from their place of employment.Hence,it is always better to get remote jobs. Educationally, Mississippi maintained segregated and inequitable schools despite the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. Also, certain subjects such as foreign languages, civics, and the historical period in American history, dating from 1860-1870 (the end of slavery and Reconstruction period) could not be taught in the black schools in Mississippi.
Due to the severity of the situation in Mississippi, several initiatives were started by the NAACP and SNCC to encourage black voter registration and turn out. In 1964, which was an election year, the Council of Federated Organizations, consisting of members of the Congress of Racial Equality and SNCC, organized the Mississippi “Freedom Summer” with the goals of: expanding voter registration, organizing and legalizing the “Freedom Democratic Party” that would more appropriately represent the racial make-up of Mississippi, establishing freedom schools, and providing legal and medical assistance to blacks. In preparation for the Freedom Summer, the Council trained both black and white college students from the north in voter registration procedures. Knowing the danger the college students might face (at the hands of angry white Mississippians) for standing in solidarity with the black Mississippians, the students were also taught non-violent resistance strategies and even had to come to terms with possibly dying for the cause.
Despite the riskiness of this journey, the college students took the trip down to Mississippi and assisted with voter registration and the facilitation of freedom schools. The schools provided instruction in reading, writing, art, mathematics, Social Studies, African American history and science. That summer the students that attended the Freedom Schools throughout Mississippi gained academic knowledge, but more importantly they learned how to use this knowledge to critically engage their community and society in order to bring about positive transformation. Many of the students that attended the Freedom Schools that summer went back into their schools and communities advocating for better public accommodations, educational material, integrated schools, and state representation etc. They took what they learned in the Freedom Schools to better their communities.
Education towards Liberation:
Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill once stated that the missing link in all systems of education is “in the failure of educational institutions to teach their students how to organize and use knowledge after they acquire it.” The pedagogy of Freedom Schools, both historically and presently, offers scholars a space and opportunity to organize and apply the knowledge they gain so they can make a difference. I believe if we are to see our children avoid the imprisonment of their minds, bodies, and spirits we must make it our collective responsibility to educate them towards the liberation of their self and their communities!
References:
Cozzens, Lisa. “Brown v. Board of Education.” African American History. http://fledge.watso.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/brown.html (25 May 1998).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Schools
Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. History of Freedom Schools, 2015 Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal
Over the summer, I lost a friend to old age. Thinking about
it, we were 48 years apart. I have friends my age, but there was something
about Miss Betty that kept our friendship going for many years. She lived next
door to me for years. Un-married. No children. Devout Catholic. Miss Betty was
an independent person. She loved her home and all her possessions. After her
stroke and a weak heart, she had no choice but to move into a senior living
facility. First an apartment to herself and then hospice care in her last
years. When I went to visit at the facility, we talked about her health, my
family, work, money, you name it. At every ending of our time together, we
prayed. She said she loved my prayers. I mean Pentecostals pray a prayer! I
knew she would not make it for long. Every time I left her place, I would say,
“I’ll see you again.” I never knew the day before she passed, that would be the
last time I said those words.
Prior to Miss Betty’s passing, I told my good friend about our
wonderful conversations and how we talked about God. My spiritual friend asked,
“Have you ever led her into the sinner’s prayer?” I responded, “We prayed, but
I never ask her to invite Christ into her life.” My friend told me to start
your prayer and say repeat after me. I mean hearing those simple words gave me
the confidence to do it. And the week before Miss Betty passed, she accepted
Christ. It came from my mouth, but it was Holy Spirit guiding me. In my
lifetime, I have always asked those I encountered, “Do you want to accept
Christ as your Savior?” Some said yes, while others said not at this time.
Jesus talked a lot about seed planting. Even if the person
you share the Word with says, not this time, you are still planting the seed!
As God works through us and we share our faith with others, we never know if
the Word we share will take root or when. I’ve known Miss Betty for many years,
but the moment she received Christ as her personal Savior it was God’s time! I
miss my friend but I know she’s in glory with our Heavenly Father. We
Be encouraged that our sowing of the Good News might, even
after many years, be received by someone who will “accept it, and produce a
crop.”
“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” ( Job 2:11-13, NRSV).
Imagine reading the Bible in the way we read the headlines in the newspaper or the scrolling news ticker at the bottom of your favorite cable news network. The news ticker for the Book of Job might read: Job’s Sons Host Extravagant Parties, Heavenly Council Nominates Job for Man of the Year, Wealthy Man’s Sons and Daughters Die When House Collapses on Them, These headlines provide as much insight into the Book of Job as the hand full of sermons I have heard. These sermons typically begin and end with the end of the story. The tagline for these messages would be “Job Receives Double for His Trouble,” and “Job Lost All But Eventually Recovered It All Back.”
These headlines overlook something central to this text for Job and his friends. Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were neither family members, classmates, acquaintances, nor associates. The nature of their relationship and interactions was of a different tone and tenor. The concept of biblical friends is worth further consideration here. When Job’s friends learned of Job’s loss, they left their homes and met together before going to console and comfort Job. Job’s physical and environmental state stopped his friends in their tracks. They were some distance from Job, but I can imagine that they were close enough to identify him as a result of their friendship. What they were unable to do is recognize him? Perhaps, you have visited a friend in grief or with an illness. You knew who they were because they were in a familiar place in the comfort of their home or hospital room with their name on the door. But, once you entered their room, you asked, “Friend, is that you? I can hardly recognize you. You’ve lost so much weight. your skin is so pale. Your hair is so undone.”
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar are better friends than many of us. For when they reached Job, they raised their voices, wept aloud, tore their clothes, threw dust on their heads, and sat beside Job for seven days and seven nights without saying a mumbling word. I offer for your consideration that what Jobs friends do for him, we must consider doing for not only our friends, but also for our neighbors. Namely, those who are in close proximity to us in our homes, families, communities, jobs, and even congregations, who have experienced moments or prolonged suffering at the loss of loved ones, possessions, status, or positions.
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar help us understand the differences between pity, sympathy, empathy, and compassion. Dr. Neel Burton, M.D., in a Psychology Today article on “Sympathy versus Empathy,” frames the difference: Pity says, “I acknowledge your suffering.” Sympathy says, “I care about your suffering.” Empathy says, “I feel your suffering.” Compassion says, “I want to relieve your suffering.”
To provide a visual representation of these sentiments, I am sharing several Christian subject paintings on Job and his three friends with you to capture the tone of the interaction and the examples of pity, sympathy, empathy, and compassion shared between friends and acquaintances.
Painting by Ilya Repin
Job and his friends are not only an example of dealing with death, loss, and grief. They also provide a helpful framework for re-considering and re-framing a challenge that has become more acute for many of us in our work environments. We are nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent racial, social, economic, and political grieving our nation and world have undergone since March 2020. Those of you working and serving in for-profit, nonprofit, educational, health, and human services spaces will know the emphasis that has been placed on diversity, inclusion, and equity.
Although my evidence is anecdotal, I do know of several accounts of disgruntled employees displeased with all of the “forced” conversations and training on diversity, inclusion, and equity. Corporations earmarked and invested millions of dollars, what some call guilt money, into DEI programs, and community organizations working in and with Black and Latinx communities. Some Christian denominations, churches, and seminaries activated initiatives to take a look at and address both the historical and contemporary impact of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and other privileges within their institutions and congregations.
My own experience has been these initiatives have been good starting points for dialogue and discussion, but with the progress of societal norms around COVID-19 restrictions, the response to COVID-1619 has been more regressive. The challenge is these efforts have promoted more pity, than sympathy, empathy, and compassion. Furthermore, the origins of the recent outrage and attack on critical race theory may be found in these efforts.
I invite you to think of Job as a representation of any experience of loss or injustice (be it sex, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability) and to imagine responding in the way Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did initially. Let me remind you of their process. They met together and determined to console and comfort Job. When they reached Job, they could not recognize him. Nevertheless, they raised their voices, wept aloud, tore their clothes, threw dust on their heads, and sat beside Job for seven days and seven nights without saying a mumbling word.
During the Lenten season, it is not that I need an actual job. Instead, I need more of the character and disposition of Job and his friends in this passage of scripture as they respond to death, loss, grief, and human suffering. Lent has become many things to many people. Its form is a 40-day commemoration of Christ’s 40-day fast in the Gospels. Its focus is as a time of preparation for Easter beginning with Ash Wednesday (March 2, 2022). May it also be a time of praying, fasting, and working towards God’s justice and righteousness.
The events of the last two years could be inserted into the
lyrics of We Didn’t Start the Fire as a continuation of the already
overwhelming list of historical events that have layered the reality of where
we find ourselves today. Not only do I already not like that song because I
find it impossible to remember the lyrics to sing along, I also do not have the
physical, emotional, or spiritual fortitude to listen to such a rapidly
syncopated retelling of the events.
And yet, at the end of the year, it is good practice to reflect on the year and raise our ebenezers to the testament of God’s goodness, even among the things we do not call good. The word ebenezer makes me think of the hymn Come Thou Fount. “Here I raise my ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come.” I always pictured someone raising a glass as though there would be a toast to God’s goodness. I watched too many movies and I guess Scrooge drinking was etched in my brain.
Ebenezer means stone of help and is found in 1 Samuel 7:12, set up as a stone of commemoration of how God helped the Israelites. When they walked by the ebenezer, they were to remember God’s goodness. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,[b] saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
I imagine the remembrance of the Lord’s help was a combination of joy mixed with sorrow. Some Israelites never got to see the stone and the survivor’s memories of their loved ones no doubt held pain. Some may have wondered why the help seemed to stop or what the point of the help is if there isn’t continued rest in the place they found themselves. I wonder if after the last few years, we may also be raising our ebenezers in remembrance while being conflicted as to how to feel about it.
We are complicated beings and rarely
experience one pure emotion. The joy of birth is forged through pain. The loss
of a suffering loved one leaves our tears communicating both loss and relief
and often self judgement for feeling any of it. I find it fitting to raise my ebenezer
and acknowledge the competing emotions it brings after this stressful time of
pandemics, political conundrums, job loss, schooling, and, and, and – it has
been a doozie of time!
And still, I find myself worshiping during the Christmas season with a grounded sense of what hope is. John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We may feel the darkness and wonder if the light will ever shine again. Perhaps the ebenezer was bumped into a time or two after sunset or before sunrise, in carelessness. Perhaps we need to walk directly into, around, next to, and climb all over that ebenezer to remember the help we have. He has been our help and he will be our help again.
So, in this complicated time, may we see with fresh eyes the beauty of the gift of Emmanuel, God with us. Regardless of the stresses of the socioeconomic, religious, political, abusive, or any other system we may be encountering, he is with us. He is our help, and we can bring all our complicated feelings to him. And like the first Christmas, may you see the light shining in the darkness illuminating your ebenezer and celebrate the one who is still with us.
