George Fox, ACU, and Racism

There have been a lot of racists incidents on Christian college campuses the last few month, which worries me. Recently, a noose was found in the student body president's office at Abilene Christian University. Now, at George Fox, an image of Barack Obama was used to taunt minority students with leadership scholarships. Read the full story here.

I don't really have the energy to try to unpack all of this. It's suffice to say that this is extremely discouraging, especially for these targeted students who now must be made the center of attention on college campuses as university administrators scramble to clean up the PR mess. The question is what it it about the MAJORITY culture on these campuses (addressed or not addressed) that is allowing these types of actions/behaviors to surface in such an overt away?

Last I heard they were still figuring out if they could call the noose incident at ACU a hate crime. This is astounding to me and reprehensible.

"There's still no indication whether one or more individuals were involved in the incident or whether it could be considered a crime of bias -- or a "hate crime" -- because Watkins is black and a noose to many people is a racist symbol that evokes memories of a time when African-Americans were lynched." To read the whole story about ACU, click here.


How can there be doubt that invoking one of the most racist symbols of American history and attaching it to an African American is a hate crime? I simply don't understand. To label it as such and for the university president to take a strong stand on it should have been the first step in my opinion. We don't do any good splitting semantics on these types of issues. Clearly, there is a problem, and the majority culture and administrating must name it and confront it squarely. The next step for Christian campuses should be to mourn, repent of a culture of racism and ignorance, and affirm a commitment to justice and reconciliation. Anything that tries to isolate these incidents as individual acts misses the mark in my opinion, though if you watch the video below of the ACU student president, he says the opposite. Incidentally, the student president at ACU is an Obama supporter. Connection?

After all the work that has been done with Christian campuses recently on issues of "diversity" and "reconciliation" now is where the rubber meets the road because everyone is watching to see if we will really implement our stated ideals of justice and reconciliation. Ok, so justice is not usually included in reconciliation language, but it cannot be separated. Situations like the one in George Fox and ACU demand justice if reconciliation is going to mean anything.

In some ways, I look to situations like this as a defining teaching and growing opportunities for Christian communities to really come together, struggle and mourn. However, all too often these incidents are pushed under the rug as quickly as possible, downplayed, and essentially not addressed after the perfunctory PR stints. I'm not saying that this happened at either George Fox or ACU. I don't know enough about how these particular situations were handled and the presidents seem to be genuinely grieved. However, I do know that it would be all too easy to push the multicultural staff person (if there is one) to offer a few more workshops or "diverse" events and push minority students to share their experiences in a wider forum, but to never address the root issue and wider cultural context campus wide, student by student.

ACU Student Body President reflect on the experience.

save us from the seriousness of news

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this yesterday. I don't know why i find it so funny!!

how racism works

From Letters to the Editors @ Fort Worth Star-Telegram - today

How racism works

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?

What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer
measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'?

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

- Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

and the plague resumes

After a few beautiful days of a cricket-free apartment due to the rain, the plague has resumed. Crickets everywhere! Crawling through cracks, under our door, they chirp, they hop, they fly, and most morbid of all – they come to die. Right in our living room.

the light shines

It almost feels like I am in Seattle this morning. I wake up to the sound of rain outside my window. The morning light is low, dimmed by a sky of clouds, as I drive to work with the radio on. At work, I turn on KEXP streaming online. Damien Jurado. Leonard Cohen. Jose Gonzalez.

If I was in Seattle, what would I want to do this morning?

Head to Café Ladro in Fremont to read and write, work on graduate school applications, swing by PCC for a spelt blackberry muffin. Watch the people rush by on their way to work and school.

A friend asked me the other day if I was doing much writing these days. Not really. Creativity feels blocked at the moment, and it’s not really a great time either. Perhaps it’s the pressure to put out and perform as I’m worrying about writing samples, essays, personal statements. And perhaps it is the environment.

I don’t know how long I need to be in Texas before space begins to feel sacred. This isn’t a place of death for me, but it isn’t a place of life either. It has nothing to do with Texas particular, but more to do with me and the longings of my own heart. No matter how hard I try, I just haven’t found that consistent place here where everything melts away and I feel right with the world and myself.

I’m dreaming of mountains, of changing fall colors, of crisp air, and the constant buzz of the city.

a new low.

This is probably one of the most despicable ads of the political season. I couldn't believe it when I saw this ad by McCain on the news last night. The truth is that Obama supported legislation that would protect kids from sex-offenders by teaching them about proper and in-proper touching etc, and this desire to protect children from sexual abuse is misconstrued by McCain to try to reignite the culture wars.

Shameful? What do you think?