The program I am participating is not a semester of service. I am participating in a service learning program. As such, I am expected to learn through experience and class work. The program itself consists of 12 hours of class, with each of us taking one or two other classes on campus. The classes that we are required to take are our Service Learning class, Community Building and Urban Change, The African-American Struggle for Equality, and Contemporary Ethics.
The Service Learning class is Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. in the Women's Center on campus. Dr. Jennifer Wies, the director of the women's center and an anthropologist, is teaching that class. The packet of reading materials that we have for the class has been called a tome. To give you an idea, it's a book of readings that Jennifer compiled and cost $67 each at Kinkos. In addition, this is the class in which we look at our service more closely.
Community Building and Urban Change counts for credit for Sociology, Social Work, or Political Science. The class consists of the 7 of us and at least 30 other students from many different majors. It is a Monday night class in the Emmanuel Center, which is on the other end of our block.
The African-American Struggle for Equality is a history class taught by our trip leader Dr. Christine Anderson. We meet at Choices Cafe, a local coffee shop that closes in the mid afternoon and has generously agreed to let us use the space. The class includes about 5 others who are not in the program. We will look primarily at primary sources from the beginning of slavery to the present day. This class meets Wednesday nights.
Contemporary Ethics is taught by Sr. Alice Gerdeman, the director of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC). We meet in the Peaslee Center, a former school that the community saved and turned into a community center. The IJPC office is also located in Peaslee. This class looks primarily at social justice, which approaches the issues often from a structural perspective. We are primarily using the Gospel of Matthew and the USCCB's booklet for faithful citizenship as well as supplemental materials that she will provide for us.
A part of this learning is that it takes 4 classes, 15 hours of service a week, and an entire semester to get through a lot of this stuff. So my plan is to attempt to write either basic things simply stating what I've done recently or write one column-type entry with a specific focus. Maybe that'll include posting some of my papers when I write them for classes.
The one article that we had to read for Service Learning that I want to discuss is called "Discipleship in the Eighties, Nineties & Beyond: Charity vs. Justuce." The article was written from a Christian perspective in 1980. The author describes charity vs. justice as "voluntary acts vs. institutional change." He explores the Bible's view of the issue, and he starts by exploring the Hebrew word used in the Bible to mean justice. The word "sedek" means "to fulfill the demands of a relationship," "to care for your brother, sister, spouse, neighbor, stranger just as God has cared for you." The biblical sedek has a bias for the weak. In the Old Testament, widows, orphans, and the poor were allowed to take grain from someone's field because of the concept of justice.
Yet we like the idea of charity better. It's easier, that's for sure. When we are charitable, it makes us feel good because we are giving of our surplus, something we aren't required to do. Justice, however, is harder to swallow. To accept that we need to practice justice, to a large degree, means that we have to realize that the system is a system of oppression. Those with power take advantage of those without power (or those who don't know that they have power or how to use that power). Justice talks about oppression. One example story that the author gives is "Marcos in the Philippines has consistently pushed his own people off their ancestral lands to make room for multinational corporations." He concludes, "They are not 'less fortunate,' they are oppressed."
The question is in the system. How does the system work for some and against others? Just a note, in my discussion with Jennifer to help me find my service site, Jennifer helped me to realize that I'm interested a lot in "the system." I find it fascinating to look at things on a macro level. To a large degree, that flavors the discussion I bring forth here. It is something that our group will learn a lot about between our classes and our experiences this semester. So don't be surprised if it comes up again.
While both charity and justice are essential in today's society, the author of the article states, "Charity is to American religion what ritual sacrifice was to Israel." In fact, that shows that charity is important as well as justice. For the analogy states that charity is the going-through-the-motions, while justice is having the right heart. We have to follow the motions, but our hearts must be behind what we do. We have to provide immediate help for those who need it, but we also have to work to help them improve and see a better future.
5 comments:
Oppression is defined as the act of subjugating by cruelty. While that certainly has been a part of the African-American experience in the past, I truly believe that America has made great strides over the last 40 years or so. Racism certainly still exists in America, but not nearly to the degree that it once did. I don't believe that there is much "subjugating by cruelty" going on in today's America. A rich man does not have to oppress people in order to become rich. It's more subtle than that - and, as a result, "oppression" may be the wrong term. Frankly, the use of the term makes the discussion sound Marxist and many will be insulted by the implication that they are oppressors. "Lack of opportunity" better describes what is happening today in my mind. I would think it would be very difficult for the typical O-T-R resident to make a true success of himself or herself because the typical O-T-R resident just does not have the resources available to him or her to succeed in the same way that a typical Carmel, Indiana resident does. The trick is to design and fund a system which will give a true opportunity to those who would be successful if given that opportunity, will be charitable to the truly needy, but will not encourage the "slackers" from just taking from the system. Good luck.
Dad.
That people are insulted by the idea that they are oppressors was a large part of the point the author was trying to make. But that doesn't necessarily make his point less valid. Because we can perpetuate oppression by the decisions we make, even if we don't realize the impact those decisions have.
In fact, isn't "lack of opportunity" a form of oppression? It prevents someone from being able to do anything with his life in a similar way that a slave is prevented from being able to do anything with his life because he doesn't have that opportunity. "Oppression" may be a harsh word, but I'm not ready to dismiss it as the wrong word.
The idea that we need to design and fund a system to give true opportunity to others is the main point, in the way I see it, of social justice and this semester.
The difference between "oppression" and "lack of opportunity" is intent. If somebody feels insulted by the use of the word "oppression" because it implies that people are intentionally subdued, that person will likely stop participating in the discussion making the solution that much more difficult to achieve. The so-called oppressors are also those who have the most resources to solve the problem. What does it accomplish to insult them? We should try to educate them instead. Words can make a difference.
Dad.
Okay. I'm still not convinced that oppression is the wrong word. I think there can be oppression by omission. But maybe it is a word that we should be careful about how we use in trying to keep the conversation open.
Oh, and I would like to clarify that I am implicating myself in this as well. I am going to try to get better at being more aware of my choices. That's definitely something I hope to learn how to do better this semester.
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