<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My name is John. I identify as a white, straight, upper class, middle-aged male.<\/strong><\/p>\n Therefore, I will just shut up now.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, I jest. I’m just kidding.<\/p>\n But, I do have to be honest: over the last handful of years I have more than occasionally felt like I just need to shut my mouth, about, well, everything. I’ve had the sense that who I am, and what I have to say, is no longer is welcome. And I get it. Or maybe I actually don’t. I’m not sure anymore what I’m suppose to get, think or feel about the matter.<\/p>\n In my minds eye, and with my tongue firmly in my cheek, I can see segments of the population rubbing two fingers together, playing a sad song on an imaginary violin, while I eat my cheese and drink my whine<\/span>. I realize how little I have to complain about, how fortunate I have been, and what a privileged life I’ve, well, been privileged to live. I’m earnestly trying to have a deeper understanding of the pain and marginalization felt by those that are not like me (ie: not white, not straight, etc), and additionally, I’m trying to be a part of the solution, rather than exasberating the problem of oppression and inequality (or as I now understand it to be called: inequity<\/em>).<\/p>\n Which is why I approached Yascha Mounk’s\u00a0The Identity Trap<\/em> with interest and a tinge of hopefulness. Yet, as a white, straight, upper class, middle-aged male, I also found those feelings to be laced with, shall I say, apprehension, not knowing if I was going to receive a 400-page tongue-lashing. Mind you, I’m not opposed to constructive criticism, nor immune to painful castigation. I pastor a large church, for crying out loud. Enough said.<\/p>\n Actually, scratch that, I do<\/strong> have more to say, and I have, admittedly, cried out loud<\/strong> over these matters.<\/p>\n In June of 2020 I made this tear-filled statement to our congregation: The murder of George Floyd has re-opened wounds in the United States that have never fully healed and tragically continue to be ripped open again, and again, and again. Sadly this wound has actually always been open for most people of color. We read the headlines over these past weeks and many of us are rightfully sad and angry. Some are confused and others don\u2019t fully understand. There is a lot happening around our country, and within our city right now.<\/i><\/p>\n One of the original sins of our nation is racism. And I will be clear on this: Racism is Sin. Full stop. Period. End of story.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n There is absolutely zero justification for mistreating someone because of the color of their skin. And while it is true that violence as a response to racism and murder is wrong, and while it\u2019s also true that the majority of those in law enforcement are good and commendable people, right now friends, I am far more interested in weeping with those that weep, and repenting for my own responsibly in contributing to a broken system as a privileged upper-middle-class, middle-aged white man. And, as the pastor of this church, I want to call us to humbly listen and diligently learn about what we don\u2019t fully understand, and do our best to honor, and love people like Jesus.<\/i><\/p>\n We don\u2019t have all the answers, and we\u2019re not gonna get it right all the time, but we can stand with our sisters and brothers of color, and we can speak out against racial injustice in all its forms, and we can represent Jesus, who came to break the dividing wall between ethnicities.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Let\u2019s be praying together for our country and our communities. And let our prayers move us to action\u2026not short-lived action, or just when another video goes viral. But action that is deep, intentional, and compassionate. It’s time.<\/i><\/p>\n That statement received widespread affirmation, and yet there was a vocal minority<\/em> (emphasis on minority…a very small group of people) that concluded I don’t value the police. I was called woke and a Marxist. I was criticized for posting a black box on my Instagram feed. There was no BLM hashtag or anything, just the phrase: “Made in the Image of God. Known. Loved.” \u00a0Wow. Who would have thought that would be so controversial?!?<\/p>\n So, yah, I’m a bit jittery. Call it PTSD. Call it touching a hot stove once, and never touching it again, hot or COLD. With some trepidation I read all 400-pages of The Identity Trap<\/em>, and was pleasantly surprised to discover an intellectually robust approach to things I had been struggling through over last few years. Mounk helped me not feel so blasted crazy<\/em> regarding topics such as free speech, cultural appropriation, systemic racism, and identity politics. As important as it is for me to understand that I have always been in a position of power, and I will never fully get what it means to be a minority, I am not<\/span> the devil incarnate,<\/em> just because I am a white, straight, upper class, middle-aged male.<\/p>\n I’m not (the devil, that is).<\/p>\n The Identity Trap<\/em> helped me realize that. Mounk didn’t give me a tongue-lashing, but rather a comprehensive<\/strong> (not quippy tweets) \u00a0and clear<\/strong> (not muddled with bias and hearsay) philosophical framework for understanding our current realities. I appreciate how Mounk believes there is a “better way of expressing what is wrong” (Mounk, 156) than to kowtow to “identity synthesis” which endeavors to throw the baby out with the bathwater…along with the tub, the bathroom…and the parent\/caregiver.<\/p>\n What a shame. I have to believe there is a better way.<\/p>\n But what do I know? I’m just a white, straight, upper class, middle-aged male.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My name is John. I identify as a white, straight, upper class, middle-aged male. Therefore, I will just shut up now. Of course, I jest. I’m just kidding. But, I do have to be honest: over the last handful of years I have more than occasionally felt like I just need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2959,2960,2957,2958,2961,770],"class_list":["post-34648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-male","tag-middle-aged","tag-mounk","tag-straight","tag-upperclass","tag-identity","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34648"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34657,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34648\/revisions\/34657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}