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protest

Good Trouble and Bad Trouble

January 6, 2021 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Sometimes what is going on around us colors what we see when we watch a film. For example, today (I’m writing on January 6, 2021) I chose to watch the wonderful documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble. Part way through, my wife came out and told me to turn on the news, where a seditious mob was occupying the US Capitol. When I resumed the film, the seeming parallels were striking, but in reality, these stories diverge radically.

John Lewis, Baptist minister, civil rights leader, long time Congressman, spent his life in support of liberty. He was beaten on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma. He was a Freedom Rider, beaten by the Klan in North Carolina. He took part in lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville. He was arrested over 40 times. His main focus in the civil rights movement was voting rights—the ability of all people to be able to vote freely. He understood the power of protest. He was also a strong believer in non-violence. He worked to make the world a better place for all people. His mantra when speaking to groups was that they should get in trouble, “good trouble, necessary trouble”, to do what is right.

I would submit that what I saw on the news today was really quite different from the kind of “good trouble” that John Lewis advocated. The protesters today claim they are there because the election was rigged, and they have been goaded on by the lies of President Trump. They are not being non-violent. They are doing damage. They are injuring others. Whereas John Lewis sought to bring light into the world, this group only brings darkness. Even after they have been denounced by members of both political parties, they continue their mayhem.

When the film I watched showed the events in Selma or other protests Lewis was involved in, the only violence was that which police or mobs used against the marchers. The Selma March was just that—people walking together along the side of the road. In sit-ins, the protesters did not do damage. They didn’t break the store windows or lunch counter equipment. They just asked to be served. (Lewis asked for a hamburger and a Coke.) Lewis and the others in the movement did not attack the institutions of government; they just asked to be able to transform government through the ballot.

Lewis understood what he was doing was a battle for the soul of America. The images on the news today make it very clear that that battle—which is as spiritual as it is political, continues. John Lewis was an optimist. (I think one had to have optimism to fight for Civil Rights.) His final message in the film, spoken directly to the camera, was “We will create the beloved community. We will redeem the soul of America. There may be some setbacks, some delays, but as a nation and a people we will get there. And I still believe we shall overcome.”

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Filed Under: Current Events, Editorial Tagged With: civil rights, protest

Mangrove – Demanding Justice

December 27, 2020 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“We must become the shepherd of our own destinies”

Mangrove, the opening film of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, is a tale of racial struggle against police abuse. It is based on the true story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of men and women put on trial in London. (Yes, that’s right, racial prejudice is not the sole possession of America.)

The first half of the film focuses primarily Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), a Trinidadian immigrant who in 1968 has just opened the Mangrove restaurant in the Notting Hill area of London. It serves the kind of spicy foods preferred by Caribbean people. Almost from the start the police, lead by Police Constable Pulley (Sam Spruell), begin harassing Crichlow and the restaurant. The restaurant becomes a gathering place for the immigrant community. In time they take issue with all the harassment and plan a protest. During the protest, the police attack the crowd. In the aftermath nine leaders of the community are put on trial for the serious charges of riot and affray.

The second half of the film is a courtroom drama. The defendants faced many years in prison. Their very lives were in the balance. And solicitors and barristers told them over and over to trust the system. But the defendants knew that the legal system was just as corrupt as the police. Two of the defendants chose to represent themselves, which allowed them the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses and address the jurors. On the whole, the defense was an attack of the status quo of racial animosity. The trial became the first time the courts made note of the racial discrimination by the police force.

Thereare some comparisons to be made to The Trial of the Chicago 7 in that they occur roughly at the same time, both involve police caused riots, and the trials took on a rebellious tone. But this is by far a much better film.

The Small Axe anthology is a collection of five films by McQueen that focus on the world he grew up in. His parents were from Grenada and Trinidad. At least four of the films are based on actual events and people. It shows the black immigrant society as a vibrant culture of music, color, language, and joyous celebrations—but also frequently hardship because of a racist system.

This film shows some of the different manifestations of racism. (And we need to note that these forms are as relevant in this country as they are in the UK of the film.) The racism that we see in PC Pulley is the kind of blatant racism that repels us. (“The thing about the black man is he has his place. He’s just got to know his place.”). He and other police officers regularly hassle random black people for no reason. In court they suggest that all blacks are “criminal, prostitutes, ponces, and the like”.

But when the film switches to being a courtroom drama, the entire system comes under scrutiny for the ways that racism has been institutionalized, such as the make up of the jury, the way defendants are supposed to put their trust in the “professionals”, and the ways the judge fails to allow them to have voice. This kind of racism can be even more injurious because the system gives the impression of fairness, but often that impression is an illusion.

The film also touches on the responsibility of both intentional and accidental leaders. Crichlow really did not aspire to being a community leader. He just wanted to run his restaurant. He told one of the more strident leaders, “It’s a restaurant, not a battle ground”. But when circumstances continued to escalate, he had to make choices that pushed him into leadership. We also see in Crichlow the struggle of facing the risk that leadership brings. He is torn at times between doing what would be safe and doing what is right.

To do the right thing often is a matter of faith. Throughout the film, the defendants are told to have faith—in the judicial process. They hear it so often it becomes a joke to them that they should expect the system to come through for them. Others suggest that the characters need to have faith in the community to stand in solidarity. But at a crucial time, Frank, unable to sleep, sits on his bed and opens his Bible to a picture of his parents. On the back it reads, “In God you must trust.” There he finds the strength to carry on with what is right.

Mangrove (and the other Small Axe films) are streaming on Amazon Prime.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Filed Under: Amazon Prime Video, Film, Reviews Tagged With: anthology, based on a true story, Caribbean diaspora, courtroom drama, protest, racial justice, UK

Black Lives Matter; Remembering Ravi Zacharias

June 3, 2020 by Matt Hill Leave a Comment

your sunday drive podcast

In this new episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we discuss the current unrest following the death of George Floyd, including conversation about Black Lives Matter vs. “All Lives Matter,” protests vs. looting, the role of social media and politics, biblical examples (including Jesus flipping tables) and frameworks for understanding justice, value, etc.

We then take a brief moment to reflect on writer/speaker Ravi Zacharias, who passed away recently, sharing some takeaways and highlights of Ravi speaking.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Black Lives Matter, christian podcast, culture, george floyd, Jesus, police brutality, politics, protest, ravi zacharias, riot, Temple, Trump, your sunday drive

Of Course All These Alt-Right Racists Are Wrong, but Why?

August 14, 2017 by Matt Hill 1 Comment

you’re likely upset about
what happened in Charlottesville

maybe you’ve talked about it,
maybe took  some kind of
social media stance,
maybe just sort of saddened inside

it’s probably super obvious to you
that all these alt-right racists are wrong,
that racism is wrong
(“evil” as Trump (finally) put it),
has always been wrong,
that we should do something about it

fair enough,
understandable enough
(of course i agree)

but have you asked yourself
why?
not why you feel as you do,
or why racism seems so clearly wrong,
but actually
why is racism wrong?
what makes it wrong?
put another way,
how do we know it’s wrong or
are we justified in saying it’s wrong?

i mean . . .

is it wrong cuz it seems wrong?
(but unfortunately it doesn’t seem wrong to everyone)

is it wrong cuz everyone agrees it’s wrong?
(but unfortunately they don’t)

is it wrong cuz it’s not “fair?”
(what’s “fair” mean?
who defines it?
who says everything is
or should be “fair?”)

is it wrong cuz you wouldn’t want someone
to be racist to you,
so you shouldn’t be racist to someone else?
(wait, what makes this line of thinking
the line of thinking?
is there some other similar line of thinking
that applies certainly?)

is it wrong cuz humans (or Americans)
all “deserve” “dignity” “equally?”
(again: problems abound)

maybe you think racism is
self-evidently wrong
and that saying so
requires no justification at all
(but is it possible the alt-right racists
feel they’re self-evidently right?

can science prove racism is wrong?
(or could a solely Darwinian/naturalistic understanding
of eugenics in fact be used to support racism?
has it been? is it currently being?)

(we could go on)

what i’m saying is this:
none of these lines of thinking can
truly justify the claim that
racism is wrong;
further,
none of these lines of thinking can
justify the claim that
anything is wrong (or right)
in general

further,
there is but one line of thinking, in fact,
that can truly ground these kinds of moral claims,
and it’s the one where
we know, cuz God;
where things are wrong (or right),
in general,
cuz God

and so, further,
as a consequence,
making moral claims sans God,
ultimately,
is making ungrounded,
unjustified claims

so,
to circle back,
of course all these alt-right racists are wrong,
but why?
why is racism wrong?
what makes it wrong?
what right do we have to feel and think it’s wrong?
what justifies us when we say it’s wrong?
. . .
cuz God says so

(now, exactly how we know he says so,
how and where he does so,
what reason we have for thinking so,
what to do in response,
how to deal with the fact that
we continue to make horrible errors
even given all of this, etc. etc. . . .
those are (excellent) questions
for another time)

[For some awesome unpacking of these ideas that I stumbled upon recently through the Unbelievable? podcast (which you should totally subscribe to), check out “The Most Important Thing This French Atheist Taught Me About Christianity.” 

This article doesn’t necessarily make what’s called “the moral argument for God” – as I have above – but it does specifically look at philosopher (and atheist) Luc Ferry to trace our western ideal of human equality back to Christianity itself. As Ferry puts it:

. . . the Greek world is an aristocratic world, one which rests entirely upon the conviction that there exists a natural hierarchy…of plants, of animals, but also of men: some men are born to command, others to obey, which is why Greek political life accommodates itself easily to the notion of slavery.

In direct contradiction, Christianity was to introduce the notion that humanity was fundamentally identical, that men were equal in dignity – an unprecedented idea at the time, and one to which our world owes its entire democratic inheritance.

This [idea of human equality] may seem self-evident, but it was literally unheard-of at the time, and it turned an entire world-order upside down.

Given recent events in our country, it seems like a good time to remember that – just as much racism is culturally inherited – much of our outrage against racism is culturally inherited too, insofar as our culture is still “Christian.” However, we can intentionally choose these values and be justified in doing so, as described above.]

Filed Under: Current Events, Editorial, OtherFish Tagged With: alt right, atheism, Black Lives Matter, charlottesville, Christian, Christianity, current events, God, luc ferry, moral argument, naturalism, protest, racist, response, riot, spiritual, Trump

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