{"id":33485,"date":"2023-10-18T21:07:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T04:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33485"},"modified":"2023-10-18T21:07:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T04:07:51","slug":"dignity-condoleezza-rice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/dignity-condoleezza-rice\/","title":{"rendered":"Dignity: Condoleezza Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who would you like your children to emulate?\u00a0 I have often considered this as a parent and have wanted to surround my children with good role models; without role models close at hand, I have wanted to encourage my children to read biographies of those who have loved God and endured hardship well. When Martin Percy stated in his plenary at Oxford: \u201cread biographies of people who got through hard times,\u201d some of my parenting efforts were validated. [1] While reading Vincent W. Lloyd\u2019s book <\/span>Black Dignity<\/span><\/i>, my thoughts went to a book I had given my daughter when she was in high school: <\/span>No Higher Honor<\/span><\/i> by Condoleezza Rice. [2]\u00a0 In this blog I hope to articulate the struggle I have with the messages shared by Vincent Lloyd in <\/span>Black Dignity<\/span><\/i> and provide a role model worthy of emulating by looking at Condoleezza Rice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vincent Lloyd looks across the generations, dating back to the years when slavery segregated blacks from whites. His book takes some broad-brush strokes in addressing the concerns which black Americans face. Condoleezza Rice is one story among many, where growing up in an intact Christian family was the heartbeat of her daily existence.\u00a0 Lloyd and Rice have two different objectives in communicating what it means to be a black person growing up in America. Both are worthy of their readers’ consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family Matters<\/b><\/p>\n

Vincent Lloyd offers a picture of family without the need of a father.\u00a0 Namely, he speaks of Barak Obama who was not raised with a father. Obama\u2019s memoir reflects on his desire for a father figure:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is structured around a search for substitute fathers, for alternative sources of authority: he tries out his stepfather; his grandfather; Black nationalist college students: poor women whom he would organize on Chicago\u2019s South side; Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago; and the Christian God.\u00a0 None was up to the challenge.\u201d [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Obama\u2019s resiliency in not having a father, I find Lloyd\u2019s sentiments being sad. Lloyd continues to paint a picture of adaptability and cohesion in black families:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of seeing the relative lack of nuclear families as a pathology. Or as a continuing hardship inflicted from the era of slavery to the era of mass incarceration, those who embrace Black family today see the experiments in living together found in Black Households, often led by wise women, as models to which all should aspire.\u00a0 A fatherless home is not necessarily a household without a needed role model.\u201d\u00a0 [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

Other role models provide substantially but the absence of a father is felt in one way or another. Condoleezza Rice provides a different example as she was raised in a home with both parents. Her memoir shares how each of her parents impacted her life in addition to her grandparents and others in the community of Birmingham Alabama.\u00a0 Her hometown was at the heart of segregation in 1963. In her book <\/span>Extraordinary, Ordinary People,<\/span><\/i> she writes about her parents; \u201cthey rigorously controlled their environment to preserve their dignity and their pride.\u201d[5]\u00a0 Condoleezza writes about what her father believed about his girl when she was born; \u201cfrom that day on he was a \u201cfeminist\u201d- there was nothing his little girl couldn\u2019t do.\u201d [6] A good portion of her book notes how her parents sacrificially gave to her.\u00a0 A father\u2019s impact on a child\u2019s life is far reaching and for those blessed to have emotionally healthy parents while growing up, they gain immeasurable benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mindset Matters<\/b><\/p>\n

Vincent Lloyd provides a picture for black Americans which is intrinsically tied to the past, specifically to past slavery.\u00a0 I am curious how this mindset affects him and others who wish to bring about revolution?\u00a0 He states, \u201cWe still live in the afterlives of slavery; we are treated as object rather than person, disposable, susceptible to premature death. Integrated into laws, habits, and hearts, anti-Blackness makes Black life impossible.\u201d [7]\u00a0 I do not want to dismiss how this is a reality for some, but I wonder how life is \u201cimpossible.\u201d\u00a0 The author makes other sentiments which sound bleak and altogether abysmal.\u00a0 He states: \u201cToday, hope hardly figures in the moral vocabulary of the Black Lives Matter movement. In part this has to do with a turn away from Christianity, tainted by its association with respectability; hope is a very Christian sentiment.\u00a0 Hope seems futile.\u201d [8]\u00a0 I am grieved to think this is the perspective Lloyd takes. Bedrock to the Christian belief is 1 Corinthians 13:7- Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Hope is never futile for anyone willing to embrace the message of Christ. Maybe Black Lives Matter activists need to turn back to Christ and this Biblical belief?<\/span><\/p>\n

Condoleezza Rice and her family carried a unique mindset while living in a racially segregated state and in a racially fueled era.\u00a0 Condoleezza states: \u201cIf you were black in Birmingham in 1963, there was no escaping the violence and no place to hide. [9] In spite of this, Condoleezza chose to take this stand: \u201cThere is no room for being a victim or depending on the \u201cwhite man\u201d to take care of you. That self-sufficiency is the ethos passed down by my ancestors on both sides of the family, and I have internalized it thoroughly.\u201d [10] In addition to taking personal responsibility for the quality of their lives, John Rice was a presbyterian minister who held to Christian values. Their family knew that when you work unto the Lord, there is a sure inheritance. (Colossians 3:23-24)<\/span><\/p>\n

John Rice knew the quality of his daughter\u2019s work. Condoleezza asked her father what he thought about her being hired under affirmative action when considered for a teacher position at Stanford University. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir processes have been excluding us for years. Just go and show how good you are.\u201d [11] Hope prevailed in the Rice home, Condoleezza writes of her family\u2019s values: \u201cIf you were twice as good as they were, \u201cthey\u201d might not like you, but \u201cthey\u201d had to respect you.\u00a0 One could find space for a fulfilling and productive life.\u201d [12]<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe true revolution will come with families like John and Angelena Rice, who were committed to one another and to their only daughter. Condoleezza \u201cbecame the sixty-sixth U.S. Secretary of State and \u2018was\u2019 the first black woman to hold that office. Prior to that she was the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor\u201d and was a provost at the prestigious university of Stanford. [13] Condoleezza Rice\u2019s life is one of great dignity. She is a woman I hope my daughters might emulate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Martin Percy, DLPG Oxford Plenary, September 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Condoleezza Rice, <\/span>No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

[3] Vincent W. Lloyd, <\/span>Black Dignity,<\/span><\/i> p.90<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid. p.76<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Condoleezza Rice, <\/span>Extraordinary, Ordinary People<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0 p.2<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Ibid. p.33<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] Vincent Lloyd, <\/span>Black Dignity<\/span><\/i>, p.144<\/span><\/p>\n

[8] Ibid. p.93<\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Condoleezza Rice, <\/span>Extraordinary, Ordinary People,<\/span><\/i> p.92<\/span><\/p>\n

[10] Ibid. p.158<\/span><\/p>\n

[11] Ibid. p.201<\/span><\/p>\n

[12] Ibid. p.3<\/span><\/p>\n

[13] Ibid. p.355<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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