Breaking Our Chains
On Sunday, August 30, we are letting Dallas County know that we will no longer submit to the chains - visible and invisible - that have been placed on us by racist systems. We will lay down paper chains along the steps to the Courthouse and Jail, creating a powerful message that we will no longer tolerate business as usual. The County must begin defunding the jail and the Sheriff’s department this year, and reallocate the money towards housing and employment programs.
Each week in August, we ask that you create paper chains as an act of spiritual reflection or prayer on a different aspect of liberation. Make as much chain as you can - the more we make, the more powerful of a statement it will create to County officials. This will not only prepare the physical symbols we will use to show our commitment to ending systemic racism - it will help us prepare our minds and spirits for the ongoing action necessary to dismantle racist systems.
Don't know how to make a paper chain? Learn here!
Check back every Monday in August for a new interfaith reflection on racism and liberation. Then, drop off your chains at the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 N Riverfront Blvd, Dallas, TX 75207, on August 30 between 4:00 and 6:30pm as a part of the Road to Liberation Launch.
ARE YOU COMING TO THE BREAKING OUR CHAINS ACTION? LET US KNOW.
Clinton R. Allen with his son
AUGUST 9-15
NAMES OF THE DEAD
Rev. Wes Helm, Faith in Texas Muhlaysia Booker, Atatiana Jefferson, Clinton R. Allen, Tesfaie Mokuria, Santos Rodriguez, Botham Jean, Fred Bradford Jr, Jordan Edwards, Diamond Ross, and so many more.
These are all names of people lost to police violence in North Texas. They are names that will forever be associated with a system that stripped them of their humanity and snuffed out their lives. But they are also names tied with beautiful, tragic, loving, difficult - above all human - stories.
As a Christian, my faith teaches me that every human being is created through the breath of God, bringing beauty and life out of what was once nothing but dust. When, through violence, we strip people of their lives, we dishonor the God-in-them. But when we take time to remember them fully as magnificent, loved creations of God, we honor God. When we take action on their behalf, we draw closer to the command to "love our neighbor as ourselves."
Take time this week to remember those who have been lost to police violence, and reflect on your role in ending it. Write their names on the links of the chains you make this week.
August 16-22
NAMES OF OPPRESSION
Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Faith CommonsThe only name of oppression that I can call out without judgment is my own. Rabbi Nancy Kasten. While I would like to think that the oppression I am responsible for is not of my own making, the truth is, that does not matter. I have oppressed when I have not protested city budgets that pay for police while acknowledging the failure of policing by paying into my neighborhood patrol. I have oppressed when my financial portfolio includes gun manufacturers, and polluters, and for-profit prisons, and I don't have the time or energy to examine and change those investments. I oppress when I eat without thinking about where my food comes from, or asking why it is so inexpensive. In truth, whenever I defer anyone’s humanity, including my own, to economic considerations, I am no better than a slaveholder.
Soon the Jewish month of Elul will begin, a month dedicated to repentance in preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Elul is the time when we cannot pass the buck. If we truly intend to draw closer to God, we have to search our hearts for our sins of omission and our sins of commission. As I construct my chain this week, I will judge my own choices and behavior, calling out my own responsibility for the systems that continue to dehumanize my sisters and brothers, all children of one Source of Creation.
As you make your chains this week, reflect on the systems that have oppressed you or others in your community. Think about how you have been impacted, and what it would mean to be free. Think about how you have been complicit in the oppression of others. Write the names of oppressive systems on the chains you make.
GO DEEPER: Watch 13th, a movie about the prison system and its roots in slavery.
August 23-30
NAMES OF THE LIVING
Rev. Dr. Jaime Kowlessar, Raise Your Voice & City Temple Seventh Day Adventist ChurchW.E.B Dubois said, "I believe in liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breath and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love." This society that Dubois dreamed about is something that thousands of people living in Dallas long for.
As we think about the struggle for justice for those living, we must remember the groups of people who have been pushed to the margins of our society. As freedom fighters, we are called to stretch the margins so that everyone can feel like they belong, and their voices are heard. In Exodus 6:6 it says, "Therefore, say to the people of Israel: 'I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.'" Oppression comes in all shapes and sizes. It manifests itself through food apartheid, payday loan advance shops, mass incarceration, voter suppression, unaffordable housing, and weak infrastructures that threaten a person's livelihood. But, we can truly make a difference when we are on one accord.
As you make your chains this week, please reflect on the countless lives who have been victimized by the system. Think about the children who have lost their parents to mass incarceration. Also think about those for whom you are fighting for liberation. Write their names on your chains.
GO DEEPER: Watch the State of our Faith: Theology, Liberation, Police and Prisons Webcast