Sunday, February 26, 2012

Angela Davis and the Role of a Cathedral

This afternoon, as part of our partnership with the St. Louis Public Library, Christ Church Cathedral hosted Angela Davis for a talk and booksigning. Davis was the Library's 2012 Black History Month keynote speaker.

Our partnership with Central Library is an important one, not just because they are our neighbor across 13th street, but because we are partners in the great search for enlightenment. The library holds in its care the collected works of centuries of humanity ... words of every sort that are about our making sense of creation and creating deep beauty out of it. The Cathedral is a place where the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, is worshiped and adored... but also a place where that Word is sought in the words of people past and present. Sought in the form of lively - and hopefully prayerful and considered -- discussion among people of diverse ideas.

Angela Davis has never shied away from controversy. A former Black Panther who twice ran for president under the Communist Party banner, she has never worried about offending anyone. As I said in my introductory remarks this afternoon in welcoming people to Christ Church Cathedral,  hosting controversial speakers ... particularly those who make us look at ourselves and the world and confront us with the ways our actions are promoting injustice and oppression ... particularly those who confront us with how we might love the world more powerfully and justly and fully ... hosting those kind of speakers is at the heart of what a Cathedral should be. Because certainly the man hanging on the cross behind Ms. Davis this afternoon was not one who shied away from such controversy in his life. And, as we shared with the Sunday School children this morning during our field trip to the reredos, most of the other figures on there are holding the implements that were used to kill them because their faith was so threatening to the status quo.

I have strong personal opinions about many of the things about which Angela Davis spoke today. It is compelling and disturbing to me that we plan how many prisons to build by looking at third grade test scores. It is compelling and disturbing to me that we are incarcerating generations of young, black males while "white collar criminals" are left unprosecuted or get away with a slap on the wrist. It is compelling and disturbing to me that despite the great success of South Africa's truth & reconciliation commissions based on the principle of restorative justice, we continue to support a system of retributive "justice" in the prison industrial complex that is in no way related to our call to be agents of reconciliation and Christ's love.

But I also don't want Christ Church Cathedral to be a place that is about MY strong personal opinions. If that is to happen, then it is too easy for us to be a community that is divided by the lines of whether you agree or disagree with me. And so I have learned a lot from the Rev. Jim Cooper, rector of Trinity Wall Street, as he has tried to shape that congregation as being a "convener of conversations." Where compelling, disturbing, provacative and diverse views are brought up so together we can wrestle with them, pray with them and search for the presence of the living Word in them ... together.

This afternoon ... and two weeks ago when Rip Patton was here ... we had just such an event. I'll be posting links to some video clips from Angela's talk here shortly and I'd be interested in what you think. Faithful people can come to different conclusions about important things. The important thing is that we are letting ourselves be challenged, that we are searching for a wisdom beyond our own and not just seeking to have our preconceived notions buttressed. And most of all, that we do it together as the Body of Christ.

Why is this important for Christ Church Cathedral?
As a Cathedral, I believe we have a call to be a place where the people of St. Louis literally gather at the foot of the cross. There is no better or more important place for difficult and controversial ideas to be considered and discussed than at the foot of the cross. We need to build on that heritage we already have so that people know us as a place that seeks truth without fear. It is particularly important for us to welcome people like Angela Davis and Rip Patton because they represent voices that are present, important but often not heard in a society and church that is still dominated by majority white, monied voices. It is important because embracing our identity as a diverse community means that "black history" isn't something separate for one specific subset of people, but an important piece of all of our story.

What do you think?
What do you think of Angela Davis coming to Christ Church Cathedral? What do you think about my thoughts about the Cathedral as a place for convening conversations? If you were here and heard Ms. Davis or have heard her before, what do you think about her views about race, class and the prison-industrial complex?


Angela Davis speaks about the Occupy Movement and the important role of difference in it.

Angela Davis speaks about some of her family history about the value of education, particularly in black communities. 

Angela Davis speaks about how education is at the core of the struggle for freedom.

6 comments:

Robert Brown said...

Having never walked in Angela Davis's shoes, I cannot judge her methods for trying to affect change where change was certainly needed. Still, the methods she chose make her controversial for many. That is no reason to avoid hosting her or anyone at the Cathedral. Davis was an integral player in a watershed moment in our nation's history, a period that brought to the surface truths about us that we had until then refused to admit. It forced us to begin addressing them. As I said before, I cannot judge the methods she chose to do so in the 1960s. But we've come a long way since then and so has she. While her message today makes it clear that we still have a long way to go, she now delivers it in a Cathedral setting as the guest of a public library. Maybe that speaks to the transforming power of Christ's love. As a Cathedral whose mission to the wider community includes being a representation of that power, then it is meet right so to do to host such speakers.

Mike said...

Bob, it was interesting having Dr. Davis here after having Rip Patton. Even though there are definite questions as to what she actually did and what she was accused of in the 60s, it certainly was very different from the nonviolent methods that I believe are more in line with Christ. As you say, we all grow and change -- hopefully for the better. I'm putting some of the clips up this morning and you'll hear that far from preaching violence, she was talking about using our power to effect peaceful social change.

Unknown said...

The blog is a great idea, and is beautifully written and well organized. It is seldom that I would be able to take off work and drive downtkown to talk directly with you or others in the church, so it is nice to have an alternative way to have a conversation.

mary seager said...

Re: 3rd grade test scores as predictor of need for prisons. Unfortunately, this is a terrifyingly accurate predictor, particularly for children of marginalized groups. If children have not learned to read even on the fairly minimal standard for 3rd grade, they slide further and further behind. At least 50% of the new community college students are functioning below college level in reading, math and English. They are the ones who have managed to retain their belief in the power of education to change their lives.

My entire professional life has been spent teaching in city schools and community colleges as a reading teacher. I have come to the conclusion that we as a collective body get the schools we want deep down. Racism and classicism control the distribution of educational resources in this country. If you are poor, white and rural your educational opportunities are little better than those of a poor child of color in a city. It is far easier to induct people into a "volunteer" army and fill prisons than it is overcome inherent ingrained prejudice long enough to redirect serious life-saving resources for children. It is the rare child or community college student who has a serious enough learning disability to have prevented them from learning to read. It is the schools and the communities which have failed the children, not the children who have failed.
Mary Seager

Robert Lipscomb said...

It just seems, to me, that accepted-by-the church radical conversations are invariably from the Left. For those of a certain vintage and professional experience, Angelas Davis will always be regarded as a "menace to the Republic". We understand the requirement to be a good neighbor to our beloved friends at Central Library, by, once and a while, discernment may be called for, especially when agreeing to host such ilk as Davis. Peace, if you know how to earn it as we had to.

Lee Evans said...

It's important to remember that Angela Davis was not the first controversial figure to speak at Christ Church Cathedral. Dr. Martin Luther King was considered by many controversial back in the sixties. So much so that my wife told me that her father would not let her come to hear him speak.
I consider myself a moderate Democrat and I agreed with much of what Dr. Davis said in her speech. But I did hear and didn't agree with a some of her more leftist remarks mainly because they sounded unattainable although she did get a positive reaction from the audience who hung onto her every word. It was an overflow audience and I was glad to be there. I haven't seen that many African-Americans at the Cathedral since the days of the MLK Day marches which began at the Old Courthouse and ended at the Cathedral.