Some students in a nearby town showed up at a school board meeting to defend their right to hear stories of families that have single parents and queer parents. They stood up for teacher's bulletin boards with rainbows. They stood up for books and learning.
And after their testimony, no one voted for the proposal that would have limited those rights.
People showed up.
Resistance for Old People
Many churches today are filled with old people. Heck, by some definitions I am old, although I don't get a discount yet. Many people can do many kinds of resistance at any age -- certainly protesting and visiting elected officials, letter writing, phone calls, and volunteering at your meal program or food pantry are not beyond most people's skill or energy levels. But some of us are old and tired. Some of us just can't get out, can't stand for long, can't lift things, can't do much of the doing.
I listened to Krista Tippett's podcast On Being. During her interview, Mohawk wise woman Katsi Cook noted that she is sharing generational wealth when she tells stories to young people. It got me thinking about another way that old, and very old, people can contribute to the resistance. They can share their wisdom. They can share the past.
Because we remember "back then." We remember when things were bad, and we remember what people did to survive those times. Each difficult time is different from the last, and I don't want to rank horrors, but the old folk know some things the young folk do not yet know.
For example, I remember traveling, or shopping, in a time when bathrooms were not readily available outside our homes. Stores did not have them, or if they did, they were hard to find and filthy. On long trips, gas stations were not stores, and either didn't have a gas station, or had them outside, and they were gross. I remember mom encouraging me to pee without touching the seat, which is quite the feat for a short young child.
This memory is some of what makes me so determined in the fight for trans people to use whatever bathroom they choose. I remember not having access to a bathroom and how that can keep you from traveling, shopping, and being in the world. Everyone deserves access to a clean restroom with running water. No one should be afraid they will be questionned for using the facilities. I'm old, I need a bathroom fairly often. I'm old and I remember the story.
What stories do you remember from "those days"? My dad worked for abortion rights, back before we had Roe v. Wade. He remembers, and I remember him telling me, what an important women's health issue this is. The stories remind us it is not a new fight.
My family went out with others on the first Earth Day to pick-up trash and plant wild flowers. Do you remember when most of us didn't worry about the environment? Did you read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson? Can you tell a story about when you realized it would take work to save the earth?
I worked at a food pantry organized by a survivor of the Japanese interment camps in the United States. Her story reminds me that we have done this before. Is there someone in your congregation that remembers resistance to this injustice? Do you have stories of trying to get it changed?
Immigrants, members of native tribes, black people, brown people, people with disabilities, poor people, and women of all races have been treated us poorly because of who we are. Telling our stories of this, and of our resistance to this provide grounding for the work of today. What work did you do in the civil rights era? In the decades before civil rights was getting press? Stories of what and how and why and where all inform today's efforts.
Stories of the past, the fears, and courage of the past, these are instructions for the rest of us. I have a white friend who lived in DC when Dr. King was killed; her parents would not let her out of the house. Her memory of playing it safe as informed her decisions to take more risks as an adult.
What are your memories of World War II, of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Desert Storm? What did you see and feel and learn about places where it was not safe to be in your home? What lessons does that experience give us for today?
Stories of course are the heart of church. We can use that skill to develop into a place where people learn about the past, and imagine how to use that history to give us support to resist today.
Is personal storytelling part of your church's practices? Just reply to this email to let me know what's happening.
Bishop William Barber and a group of pastor's were arrested for praying in the Capital. They've begun a series of Moral Monday actions specifically related to the upcoming budget discussions. I didn't even know there was a budget proposal! Their action is keeping me informed.
Some of resistance comes with talking to each other. For practicing how to talk across the red/blue divide see Braver Angels.
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