Author: gracesmuggler

Jason Hickel and Martin Kirk have written an article with a title that poses a direct question to us: Are You Ready to Consider that Capitalism is the Real Problem?

Are you skeptical of titles like this one? Would you be open to reading and seriously considering this article?

I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that if we cannot or will not adapt ourselves toward greater forms of cooperativism, both in the large and small scale, we will continue to greatly increase suffering.

Loving your neighbor includes caring for your neighbors’ freedom to have access to resources.

And capitalism. . . and late-stage capitalism in particular. . . ? Well, that’s an enormous loss of freedom for most of us – a loss of freedom to choose the direction of our lives, particularly as more wealth is concentrated among the few, and an enormous loss of freedom for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to choose the direction of theirs.

I’d say we are more free collectively when we value the worth of our neighbors and their intrinsic right to live well. And we are more alive when we stop uplifting profit as the primary motive for work and unmitigated greed as the unquestioned pursuit for life, moving instead, toward a motive of sustainability at work and the life-filled pursuit of uplifting each other.

What is possible if we move toward such change?

 

– Renee Roederer

This month, I decided to try something new. With the exception of yesterday (because the news was definitely not a nothing burger) I’ve been engaging a new rhythm where I only check Facebook twice per day — once in the morning and once in the evening.

This shift has changed lot for me. I have discovered that. . .

1) I’m still informed about things happening in our world,
2) I’m still connected to people (in fact, I have increased my personal connections)
3) I’m less anxious,
4) I’m more reflective,
4) I’m more focused,
5) I’m more active (including in activism; this new rhythm is not escapism)
6) I’m more productive, and
7) I’m more purposeful.

And I’m happier. I feel more joy.

And frankly, there is more time— for purposeful reflection, solidarity work, in-depth exploration of social concerns, vocational projects, phone conversations with friends, being nature, and . . . whatever else calls to me. There’s more energy for these too.

And I still feel connected to what’s happening with friends on Facebook. I’m just choosing a rhythm where I spend less time there over all. In fact, I really look forward to checking twice a day. There’s more anticipation to see what those notifications have been all about.

I don’t say any of this in a prescriptive way for anyone else. This rhythm need not be anyone else’s rhythm. But it has been a good example that one shift can change and free up a lot.

So I wonder, is there a new rhythm you’d like explore? I wonder, what might be possible if you try it out?

– Renee Roederer

There are times when we find ourselves mulling over the very same problems in our thinking.

There are times when we feel weighed down by longstanding frustrations that rarely seem to shift.

There are times when we feel stuck, like we’re not moving forward in the ways we hope.

So. . . What if we ask a different question?

This is something that a friend of mine says often, and I really appreciate it.

What if we do that? What if we ask a new question? Could that open up new possibilities – creative pathways or new angles of relating?

Maybe that seems like a small thing, but it’s actually a large thing. Frameworks affect how we view situations, feel, and express hope.

So what if we try it? Might it open up something different?

What’s possible?

– Renee Roederer

I was thinking about the butterfly effect this weekend, and specifically, I was wondering, is that really real?

Do you know which thing I’m talking about? Sometimes, it’s also called Chaos Theory. Ultimately, it’s a realization that very small actions can lead to very large effects, particularly as they create a series of changes in large systems. The butterfly effect gets its name due to Edward Lorenz. He demonstrated that the flapping wings of a butterfly in one part of the world could ultimately lead to a tornado weeks later somewhere else. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen all the time; otherwise, we’d have tornados and hurricanes everywhere. But the point is this: Tiny, miniscule changes can create complex results in large systems.

It turns out that this theory is true.

It’s pretty astounding, actually. It means that every thing — every action, every interaction — is affecting a whole, enormous host of other things.

In a tumultuous time, don’t underestimate how positive actions can lead to large scale results. Even tiny ones have an effect. Each and every day, what we do matters. What we do this very day matters.

So what kind of change is possible, not only when we act alone, but when we act together?

– Renee Roederer

On June 28th, Kris Kobach, chairman for the national “Commission on Voter Integrity,” sent a letter to all 50 states requesting a great deal of data about their voters — names, addresses, military history, criminal backgrounds, party affiliation, social security numbers,  and voting history since 2006.

And 45 states said, “Nope.” Some even said, “Oh hell, nope.” The Secretary of State in Mississippi said they can go “jump in the Gulf of Mexico,” clarifying that Mississippi is a great launching pad from where they can do it.

These states are not sending that information on. Or at the very least, they’re not sending anything that isn’t already public (like names and addresses). And this is significant. There may be a legal battle to fight their refusal, but this is significant.

This undertaking has the name “Commission on Voter Integrity,” but it’s really a commission on voter fraud. In a tweet the other day, Donald Trump even called it the Voter Fraud Commission. When we hear the words ‘voter fraud,’ they are not only indicative of the foundational lie behind this commission — the false claim that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election – but they are code words for future voter suppression.

How do we know this? They are already the code words for voter suppression in 22 states.

Kris Kobach has been a major architect of voter suppression in Kansas, and now, he’s in charge of the commission. Read this crucial piece from The New York Times that discusses Kris Kobach’s career; the SAFE Act (Secure and Fair Elections Act), his signature piece of legislation that has faced four different challenges from the A.C.L.U.; his use of Crosscheck to remove voters from rolls; and his likely aims for this commission, including the creation of a national voting registry from which to use Crosscheck again.

This cannot go forward.

We need to stand against it, and we have to work to eliminate the previous laws that have bolstered voter suppression. These laws target minoritized communities, especially African Americans and immigrants, and they lead to policies that harm all of us. Voter suppression is completely undemocratic. It bars the crucial voices of individuals and entire communities, and leads to policies that uphold the interests of the few rather than the vast majority of people who live in this country.

It needs to end.

We need to make it a priority.

We need to make it a fight.

Let’s go.

– Renee Roederer

This post is a part of a series on voting rights and voter suppression. If you’d like to read more, feel free to check out these other posts: Voter Suppression: 45 States
1469 Days.
Voter Suppression: Hearing From People Directly Affected
Rev. William Barber: 5 Fears that Fuel Voter Suppression
Voter Suppression: 22 States
Voter Suppression: 45 States

Since 2013, 22 states have passed laws that bolster voter suppression. In particular, these laws put an undue burden on communities of color. They suppress their votes and gerrymander to limit their influence.

North Carolina additionally passed a law that if college students changed their voter registration to the county where they are in school rather than keeping it at home, their parents could no longer claim them as dependents for tax purposes.  Thankfully, that one was overturned in 2016, but it was there long enough to suppress young votes.

Here’s how some of this voter suppression works:

This post is a part of a series on voting rights and voter suppression. If you’d like to read more, feel free to check out these other posts:
1469 Days.
Voter Suppression: Hearing From People Directly Affected
Rev. William Barber: 5 Fears that Fuel Voter Suppression

Last Sunday, the Rev. William Barber, Repairers of the Breach, and people from the Moral Monday movement held an event in Raleigh, North Carolina called “The Gathering: Voting Rights.” It was live-streamed, and you can see it here (go to Livestreamed Events). I especially encourage you to watch Rev. Barber’s speech, starting at the 58 minute mark.

In that speech, Rev. Barber talked about voter suppression and five fears that fuel it. Today, I’d like to mention those fears and encourage people to engage the thoughts more deeply by watching Rev. Barber’s speech.

Rev. Barber says that voter suppression is motivated by a Fear Factor – fears of losing and sharing power and fears that we will have to recognize the full humanity of people long dehumanized.

The Fear of Full Citizenship

In the wake of the Civil War, when enslaved people were no longer enslaved, fearful debates ensued. Whites, particularly in the South, were asking fearful questions and making demands. “Were Black people going to be considered. . . full citizens?” Rev.  Barber says that people shuddered at the thought.

“The fear was, if Black people got freedom, they would want citizenship. That was the debate when Lincoln pushed the 13th Amendment — go back and read the testimony. The question kept being asked, ‘Does this mean citizenship?’. . . And this has been the fear at the heart, not only of racism, but of sexism and every other ism. Fear that some people will not only want to be free, but they will want full citizenship and all the rights thereunto.”

Fear of Legitimacy

A few months ago, a national commission was created to investigate voter fraud. Rev. Barber says that this commission created by Donald Trump is not ultminately about securing the legitimacy of his 2016 election. Instead, it exists to delegitimize the elections of Barack Obama and provide psychological cover to explain his election wins.

“This fraud commission ain’t about Trump’s election. Thought I’d tell you that. . . It’s about Obama’s election. It’s not about the last election. It’s about the two elections prior to that because birtherism didn’t work. And the role of birtherism was to provide psychological cover for those who could not bring themselves to accept a black man in a White House. . . But now, birtherism has been debunked, and so, there is a need now to delegitimize. And so what he’s trying to do with the commission is to bring up fraud, which is fraudulent in itself, to come out with a report that says these past elections — not just 2016 — were fraudulent. To give people relief. One psychologist calls it white fragility. To give people relief from the fragile state when certain people see their world falling apart.”

Fear of Changing Demographics

Demographics are changing rapidly in the United States. In 2042, Non-Hispanic Whites will no longer be in the majority of the population, and right now, for the first time, minority communities are having more births than white communities. In the midst of this, twenty-two states have passed voter suppression laws since 2010. These stats demonstrate some of their present and future impact:

“Those states represent 250 electoral votes. They also represent 54% of the Black vote in those 22 states. They also represent 44 Senators and 50% of the United States Congress. So if you can control those 22 states, you enter into the race only 20 votes short of an Electoral College win. We had 868 less voting sites in the poor and black and brown and poor white community in 2016 than we had in previous elections. . . The Brennan Center has noted that nearly 20 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives would probably not be Republican if it were not for apartheid redistricting that has gone on in the South and in the Rustbelt and in the Midwest.”

Fear of Policy Possibilities

In his speech, Rev. Barber showed a number of charts, demonstrating which states have the highest voter suppression, least healthcare expansion, lowest living wages, and highest child poverty. They overlap with the states that have the highest levels of Evangelical Protestants. Voter suppression puts people in office who promote harmful policies.

“The states that claim to have the most evangelical folk, are the same states that have the most voter suppression, the most denial of healthcare, the most denial of living wages, and the highest rates of child poverty. That is a moral sickness. That means that there’s a false brand of morality that has been playing havoc with the spirit and souls of people in America, but there’s a tide rising. See, the fear is, that if there wasn’t voter suppression and people voted, then persons that support denying healthcare and paying insurance companies, and people that support keeping living wages low, wouldn’t be in office to do those things. And that is why, my white friends, my gay friends, my labor friends, my healthcare friends, if you believe in healthcare, if you believe in living wages, if you believe in addressing poverty, you better make sure you understand: Voter suppression is not about black folk. It hits black folk, but it undermines all people and hurts every one of us.”

Fear of Other People’s Humanity

Above all, there are fears of recognizing other people’s humanity. There are fears of accepting and valuing that humanity, along with the gifts, needs, and sacred contributions that humanity presents.  Rev. Barber says,

“Underneath all of this though is a deep theological issue. . . We’ve got to bring a moral critque to the public square. Because the greatest fear, I believe, behind voter suppression is the fear of other people’s humanity. . . Systemic racism is actually an irreverant theological concept. Racism is an unholy religion. It’s not just a sociological sickness. It’s not just a political malady. It is, in fact, a disease of the spirit. Racism is idology – self worship. . . When you see voter suppression in the 21st century, understand that we are still wrestling with what we call false ontology or heretical ontology – that is, that God intended for some folk to be different, and God has made some people who were born for mistreatment. They were born for discrimination. . . And it’s time for U.S. citizens and people of faith to admit that we still have operating in our politics this irreverent religiosity that may not always be articulated in the voice, but it comes out in the policy. . . Whether they ever say it or not, there are some people who believe that there are those for whom you do not have to honor their full humanity. Which means voter suppression is sin.”

This post is a part of a series on voting rights and voter suppression. If you’d like to read more, feel free to check out these other posts:
1469 Days.
Voter Suppression: Hearing From People Directly Affected

Today, many people across the U.S. will celebrate Independence Day with parades, parties, cookouts, and fireworks. Yet in the legacy of Frederick Douglas – abolitionist, escaped slave, and orator – it is crucial to remember that many in our nation do not experience with the full expressions of freedom we are quick to celebrate. In 1852, he gave a speech entitled, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” I commend this to our reading today.

Today, may we remember and advocate for people who do not live with an abiding sense of freedom — indigenous people who have encountered genocide and lost land; black and brown people enduring mass incarceration and labor inside of for-profit prison systems, immigrants who are currently living in the shadows; and people who fear violence and loss of life from the state.

Along with these, we also remember people who do not have full access to the voting booth. All week long, I am engaging an exploration of voting rights and voter suppression. We know that our nation has a long history of blocking people from the right to vote. In the last three years, we have seen renewed efforts that have led to massive amounts of voter suppression, particularly targeted against people of color and people in poor communities.

Today, let’s hear from people who have been directly affected by this history and by these recent efforts to suppress votes. Each link below is a video to a personal testimony:

Rosa Nell Eaton: 92 Year Old Moral Monday Arrestee Fired Up

LaToya Caldwell: Why Being Poor Can Make It Hard to Get a State Issued ID

Scott Douglas: Birmingham Revival Testimony on Voting Rights

Ricky Brown: Ex-Offenders Should have the Right to Vote

Mike Hiser: 180,000 People in Kentucky Are Not Allowed to Vote

See also, the other posts from this series:
1469 Days.

1469 days.

That’s how many days have passed since the Supreme Court issued a decision in Shelby County vs. Holder, a case that effectively gutted the protections from the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Last night, I heard the Rev. William Barber speak about this over a live-stream from a gathering in Raleigh, North Carolina. I highly commend his speech to you (it starts at the 58 minute mark). I want to share some of the information in that speech over the next couple days and talk about voting rights throughout the week.

On June 25, 2013, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court declared Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to be unconstitutional. Section 4 lays out the formulas for how the Department of Justice enforces Section 5 of the law.

Section 5 requires certain counties from certain states to gain approval from the federal government before making any changes to electoral law. Section 4 spelled out which states and counties – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia in their entirety; and parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota. These counties and states have a history with voter discrimination, including those that had previously passed Jim Crow laws that barred or severely limited African Americans from voting.

Much is at stake in this Supreme Court decision, and we’re still seeing new implications.

But let’s start with this particular recognition spelled out by Rev. Barber last night:

Since the Shelby County vs. Holder decision, 22 states have passed laws that have increased voter suppression. Taken together, these states make up 250 Electoral College votes. This means if a Presidential candidate can win all of these states via suppression, that candidate only needs to win 20 more Electoral Votes to have a straight shot to the White House.

When it comes to new voter suppression laws, these laws require photo IDs and the proof of citizenship, etc. Often, these laws are passed under the rhetoric of preventing voter fraud.

While these requirements may seem reasonable as generalities, in practice, they often involve details that result in the suppression voting rights. First of all, it can be a burden of expense for some of the poorest residents to obtain these forms of authentication. People also need to take off work to get them, resulting in lost income.

But also, there the details of the particulars. What happens, for instance, if you are a naturalized immigrant that was born in a country that uses surnames differently than the United States, and your names don’t match precisely to the letter on all your forms of identification? You could certainly lose your opportunity to vote. And since these new laws are passed under suspicion of voter fraud, you may face questions about your valid  citizenship.

What happens if you are an African American citizen who was born in a segregated hospital that took no care to issue adequate birth certificates? You could permanently lose your right to vote because you have no capability of obtaining a government issued ID.

For the last 1469 days, these laws have been quite effective in suppressing votes.

As Rev. Barber says, Russia may have influenced the 2016 Election, but it was not the first hack. The first hack was voter suppression.

And if we want to promote and protect democracy, we will have to get involved in the efforts to protect and expand voting rights. Are you in?

– Renee Roederer

Earlier this week, I had the most incredible walk in my neighborhood. 

I have hardly ever seen so many different, beautiful scenes in the sky in one night. If I looked in one direction, I saw a deep, glowing, gorgeous orange. Around a corner, I discovered swirling pinks and purples. Sunsets can truly transform the sky.

We also had a light rain. So my favorite moment happened when I turned a different corner. I suddenly saw a full rainbow. I wasn’t expecting it at all, and it was breathtaking.

I stood there and enjoyed it. Rather ephemeral, it only lasted about two minutes before fading away. Suddenly, the sky looked typical, as if it hadn’t even happened.

But I knew it did. And I smiled with gratitude to have seen it.

For the rest of the rainy walk, I found myself reflecting upon that. There are probably so many moments each day where things line up in remarkably beautiful and surprising ways – not only in nature itself but also among human beings. Those moments rarely make the news, but people know about them. Perhaps they smile with gratitude to have experienced them.

Sometimes, solidarity is about being in the right place at the right time and choosing to add deep connection to the moment.

Let’s look for opportunities to discover it.

– Renee Roederer