Community, for me, is based in covenant. Covenant, in this case, comes from the more secular perspective, using the Latin meaning "come together" and indicating a "solemn agreement" or "promise from the heart" for how we chooses to be together. (UUA) The communities most important to me- chosen family, friends, church- all share a covenant with each other. My family commits to collectively discussing, agreeing to, and writing a covenant statement each year. In most of my communities, I stand firm as an individual, yet in my chosen family, we lean more towards Kathryn Addelson's view that nothing is completely independent (Lee, p. 11).
Before classes started this quarter, I took to heart an idea mentioned in Orientation about the the Quaker tradition of a Clarity Council. I asked a group of people who love me, but would also provide true and needed "calling in" to stand with me throughout seminary. Our covenant is that they will be part of my supportive community and will also speak truth to me about areas that are challenging me. This is my intentional accountability group. It includes mentors, elders, my kids, and those closest to my heart who are most marginalized. While they were generous and gracious about being part of this community, I did hear a great deal of comments about how unusual it was for me to ask for help. A good reminder of my intense need for independence. A need I recognize for what it is, a coping mechanism that I once needed to survive, but one that truly no longer serves me.
This same idea of examining strategies that no longer serve us, is essential to tackling the systems of oppression that are the foundation of our culture. Of course, it needs to be named that these systems never served everyone's needs and were never intended to do so. As stated in What It All Has to Do With Us?, “[i]f we want to understand what happens in the world, including patterns of privilege and oppression, we have to understand the dynamic relation between people and social systems.” (Johnson, p.78) Both academia and church are based in systems of oppression and privilege. How are we, as seminarians, going to function within these systems, while recognizing the need to alter them? Is this a simple matter of changing a system from within? I fear not.
As I engage more in activism, I grow more convinced that, in order to change these systems, they need to be completely deconstructed and rebuilt. Much like our systems of policing. Thinking that we can remove "a few bad apples" or make some modest adjustments is futile. Yet, we are already seeing the progress of defunding and finding new ways to approach the issues, such as the Denver Alliance for Street Response, https://www.npr.org/2020/09/12/912224799/in-denver-this-program-helps-reroute-911-calls-to-police-alternatives. (Links to an external site.)
However, I admit that I carry fears about such monumental changes and the political and cultural will needed to even begin such transformation. Dr. Lee's comment, “[s]acrificing one’s needs for other’s gain may result in anxiety about one’s role in the universe, shame, and cluelessness about one’s own talents and God’s calling for oneself.” (Lee, p.16) But I am aware, that as I sit here cushioned by my privileges, that my anxiety, shame, or cluelessness are small prices to pay to stop the horrors of racism. I am giving up some comfort, while others are fighting for their lives.
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