Mother Earth and Racism


Mother Earth and Racism

This blog began in August telling of my encounter with ants at Ghost Ranch. I told a story of encountering ants who spoke of the grieving, hurting Mother Earth. and asked if I would work for the healing of the Earth. They wanted me to speak to my people, the humans, about the great pain we are causing.  I said that I would, not knowing what I would do.  This blog is one attempt to speak and I appreciate those of have read it and commented on it. 
            The issue that has come up for me again and again since my encounter with the ants has been racism, not global warming or the size of my carbon footprint or human destruction of the rainforests. Racism?  What does racism have to do with the grieving, hurting Mother Earth? How will addressing racism heal what is happening to our planet?  
            I define racism as the judging another by the color of their skin.  I do that, though I do not want to.  By my own definition, I am a racist. I have worked hard over many years to move beyond this surface level judgment into something deeper and more true.  Yet when I am with a person of color, I am aware that they are a person of color and I am aware that I have certain negative ideas and feelings surrounding the fact that they are a person of color.  I try to counterbalance those thoughts and feelings with other, more realistic thoughts and feelings, but the racist thoughts and feelings are still present.  I hate this.  I am aware of this.  I am working on it every day. I have been for years.  The energy around not liking this racism kindles in me a desire to work on racism, in me and in our society.
            I have attended college classes on African American History in the United States and studied Black Liberation Theology and Womanist Theology in seminary.  I have read books on racism, on how blacks are treated in our society, especially in the criminal justice system.  I have had many conversations with African Americans where we shared our stories with one another.
            In April 2018, I attended a Civil Rights Pilgrimage with Faith Forward Dallas to be in Memphis for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination. We then went on to Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma, and Atlanta. I have been asked to speak on racism and on the pilgrimage several times. I led the Retreat House Spirituality Center in several conversations around racism as we created a safe place for this difficult conversation to happen.
            These conversations and classes and books on racism break my heart. As soon as I think we are making some progress, something else will happen.  A black parent will tell me about having “the talk” with their teenage child, not the “sex” talk, but the talk on how to survive being stopped by the police. McKinney City Hall will spend four hours talking about blacks and browns and the police.  Another report will come out about how blacks are being left behind in this land of opportunity.  The topic of racism comes up for me again and again.  Now, I have been invited to be the keynote speaker for the Collin College Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Power Leadership Breakfast on January 18, 2020, a breakfast attended by 500-600.  What is mine to say? I have been silent far too long and often in the midst of racial injustice.
            What does racism have to do with the grieving, mourning Mother Earth?  Everything.  I have noticed a two-way movement between the issue of racism and the care for Mother Earth.  First, as I have deepened my capacity to love and be present with those who are “other” to me, different than me, I have deepened my capacity, my heart space, to love Mother Earth who is both of me and other to me.  The connections I make with other people are the connections I can make to the world around me.  Second, the more I can be present in nature, truly alive and listening with my heart, the more I am able to be present with those who are different than me, to listen to them.  My time with Mother Earth where I am nourished and fed allow me to face many tough issues such as racism. If I need peace and courage and mercy to be with those who disagree with me, time in nature will give me the space to discover those qualities within me.
            Mother Earth is mourning.  She grieves what is happening to her.  She deeply grieves what is happening to her people who are connected to her and of her.  I have been asked to address this concern.  I am trying to do so.  There is much work to be done.

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