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« November 14, 2005 - November 20, 2005 | Main | November 28, 2005 - December 4, 2005 »
Tomorrow I will post a new and exciting blog...or at least what I think will be new and exciting...but today I have one quick message for you...you want some TRUTH...some very real...very visceral truth...then take yourself to see the movie version of RENT. It is, very simply, tremendous. That's all I have to say about that.
P.S. Harry Potter IV was good as well...so check that one out too...but SEE RENT...I COMMAND YOU!
The roots of Thanksgiving are grounded in the first volleys of the still on-going war to dispossess native folks of their lands. I'd like to begin my blog today my simply taking a moment to acknowledge that First Nations people have not disappeared despite the best efforts of Washington, DC. First Nations people continue to struggle and fight for the return of that which was stolen (language, land, appropriation of spirituality, sacred sites, and so much more). And on this day I honor my ancestors who did what was necessary to survive, including assimilate into white mainstream culture, and to honor all my relatives and friends from First Nations that continue the fight for sovereignity today.
The idea behind Thanksgiving...a day set aside to be grateful for the blessings in our lives is an honorable one. Today I give thanks to God, my friends, my family, and all the people that have touched my life for their presence, support, and love. I hope today you are with people that love and care for you. My love to you all.
(Pre-Script: I received no entries to my Guess My Ethnicity Trivia Game....tsk tsk).
It's been a long time since I have attended church regularly. When I was a child, I attended Calvary Baptist Church in Duluth, MN. The choir at Calvary seemed as if it was picked up out of the cotton fields of Georgia and put down on a hillside in the frigid North. Walking into the doors of Calvary Baptist on a Sunday morning was an experience in God. Ladies in their crowns, men in their blue suits, little kids with white gloves on their hands, and old ladies catching the spirit (including my Grandma Peanut...used to scare the hell out of me...no pun intended). And when Reverend Witherspoon would get up to start his sermon, I would lay down and take a nap for the next two or three hours waking up in time to sing the Doxology and make it down to Fellowship hall for some after-sermon fried chicken.
But the days of Calvary Baptist were long ago...and since that time I have attended church sporadically, and I have never found a choir or a minister that has been able to strike that deep chord inside of me that makes me want to jump up and shout amen! That is...until I heard the Reverend Bishop Doctor Evette Flanders of UCC San Francisco take the stand at Creating Change. Let me first describe the good Reverend. She is one of those ageless black woman that radiates a soft beauty and extravagant strength that makes you sit up a little taller and feel a little bit better about yourself no matter how down and out you may be feeling at the moment. Her voice was like water sliding down a mountainside...gentle...powerful...forceful...compelling...unstoppable...with a pervasive peace that seemed to enfold the audience...pulling everyone in...folks scooting to the edges of their seats waiting for her next words. The good Reverend began by telling us, with all the force she could muster, that she was tired of religion. That got a Hey Glory and an Amen from just about everybody in the audience. If I could, I would repeat her entire sermon here, word for word...but I'm going to put out some of the highlights from that sermon and give a little commentary on what she said.
The Reverend explained to the audience that in the African-American community we celebrate a holiday called Juneteenth. Juneteenth was the day back in 1867 when the last slaves in Texas got the good news that they were free. Some of the slave owners had known since 1865 that Lincoln had freed the slaves, but since no one was inclined to pass a newspaper to the field hands...and since the field hands couldn't read...the slaves owners just figured they'd keep quiet about the whole thing and let folks keep on keepin' on. I mean...why rock the boat...right? So folks kept on working...it was at this point that the Reverend explained that "You can't live free until you know that you are free." When the slaves heard the news that they were free...they dropped their tools and danced in the fields...in truth they'd been technically free for two years...but until the word reached them from an external source that they were free...they continued to live in bondage. How true is that statement in our lives and in our world today. A wise man named Ricardo Levins Morales taught me to ask the following question...why are we fighting for equality? What are we asking to be equal to? Do we want to be equal to white, male, sexist, middle-class society? Do we want to emulate and recreate the systems of oppression that exist in mainstream society? Or do we want liberation? Freedom from oppression, freedom from constraint, freedom to live and be who we are unlimited by the oppressive notions of a mainstream that derives their wealth and privilege from the continued subjugation of all those that are other. Do we want to create new ways of being that celebrate community, the inherent beauty of all people, the wisdom and truth of each and every person regardless of what hangs between their legs or who they are sleeping with? More than that...why don't we create a world where we celebrate men who sleep with men, women that sleep with women, men that sleep with women, folks that sleep with men and women, trannies that break down gender logic, multi-gendered folks that love multi-gendered folks. Why don't we create a world where your God and my God, and your Gods and Goddesses and my Gods and Goddess can live side by side...that live in a place where we can learn from the lessons and experiences of each persons personal spiritual exstacy? Why don't we create a world where we let women and young people and elders lead us...we sure as heck can't end up worse off than we have been for the last 5,000 years of largely male led history. The greatest trick the powerful ever played was convincing us that our freedom somehow depends on the consent of others. Let me be one to say that you are free...I am free...and together we can work together to spread the word of freedom and liberation to anyone willing to hear it.
The good Bishop went on to say that "Somebody stole God from some of us...and activism that is rooted in spirituality can bust Hell wide open." At that moment, I saw an atheist shout amen. How many people do I know in this movement that have given up God (however you define it...God could be Yaweh...Krishna...a burning bush...the Universe...or your favorite sex toy)...how many folks had God taken from them by preachers, priests, imams, rabbis, clerics, and other "religious" folks that decided they could speak for God and declare that women, queers, and all sorts of other folks were cast out from the sight of God and glory? How many people in their pain, frustration, and anger listened to the lies told to them by the misguided clothed in faux righteousness and decided that they wanted nothing to do with God or that God...a power greater them themselves...didn't exist? I tell you personally that when those people of faith that have destroyed the faith of so many reach the other side...I wouldn't want to be in their shoes...because I think they are going to find their deity of choice is a little less than pleased and a little less than happy that they took it upon themselves to speak for the Big Guy when the Big Guy has been speaking...non-stop...since the beginning. Our work, whether or not you believe in a higher power, is rooted in faith. We come to work every day, go to meetings, organize against injustice based on a faith that things can change, that things will change, that things can get better, that things will get better, and that things have gotten better. Look at the setbacks we've faced. Look at the members of our communities that have been murdered. The number of our people that continue to hungry, homeless, and struggle to survive. We work for liberation against the combined might of all the nations of the earth that each have an elite doggedly determined to hold on to what they perceive as their own and the privilege they have claimed based on the false notion that they are free and we are not. To get up each day and go to the office and try and make some change in the world, to go to work at a retail store and then attend a union meeting after work, to take care of your kids during the day and organize for welfare reform at night, are all acts of the deepest faith. It is that faith that no matter how many times we are locked up, beat down, killed, or set back keeps us pushing forward and the world has changed based on our faith and belief that together we can change the world and that together we can help each other see and understand that we are free. Hey glory.
I don't know what's wrong with me this morning, but I am feeling just a little crazy. Like...at any moment my head is going to spin off into space and do the mambo with Saturn's rings. I think it began this morning when my beloved Pedro Julio caused me to almost die from laughter asphyxiation as I walked down Lead Avenue on my way to work. He told me that he made a promise to his boss that he would convert me into a queer marriage activist...and I almost laughed so hard that I fell into the street. That would have been a bad way to start the day.
Since I still want Pedro Julio to love me tomorrow...I am going to save my blog about queer marriage for another day. Let me say this...I am not an opponent of queer marriage...but I think the conversation about queer marriage has been limited, class based, Eurocentric, reactionary, and lacking in an in-depth gender anlaysis...particularly around some very specific issues around transgender folks, gender identity, and marriage. So...for the record...I support queer marriage...also for the record...I support queer marriage on the terms of the queer community and not based on an assimiliationist model that, unfortunately, much of the discussion has centered on. More to come on this topic when I don't feel like I should probably be admitted to Shady Acres Nut Bin and Pastry Shop.
Just to note...I have promised great and terrible retribution to Pedro Julio for his devious actions. I shall strip him down, handcuff him to my bed, spank him, and then do other acts that were considered illegal under Bowers vrs. Hardwick. What can I say...he has one of the cutest butts in the world...it basically emits an infra-red subliminal signal that says..."EAT AT PEDRO JULIO'S." I'm a freak. So what.
I would like to play a little game with my readers. It's one of my favorite games of all time. Those of you that know me are disqualified....your entries will not count towards the fabulous prize that awaits the winner...this game is called "Guess My Ethnicity." Here are the rules...send me an email to camposvive@hotmail.com with the four major ethnic/racial groups to which you believe I belong. For example, if you believe I am Mongolian, White, Zimbabwaen, and Mayan....send that....I will accept entries until tomorrow morning, and I will post said entries to the blog along with the winner...if there be one!
I also want to send a major love shout out to my girl Raha Jorjani...the newest Iranian member of the California State Bar Association. This weekend I had the honor being the one to break the news to this fierciest of Farsi speaking divas that she was one of the 48.8% of folks to pass the CA Bar. You Go Girl! Shaheen Famous!
Today's entry is going to be a little short...cuz I have a ton of work to do here at lovely YouthAction...send in those entires boys and trannies, and I'll talk to ya'll tomorrow.
