5/29
We will get by. We will survive.
It feels like we’re in another open season on black lives. First the jogger, Ahmand Arbery, and then with a chilling sense of deja vu, Floyd George dies gasping the words, I can’t breathe. This in a context where black and brown people are dying at a rate twice that of the general population in coronavirusworld. And predictably, the explosion of rage at a reality that alway comes back. These stories are so familiar, we struggle to remember the names and keep them order. Each one seems definitive as if they should be the last, but there they are again. And with the explosion of rage, the clucking of tongues and wagging of fingers saying this is not the way. Until a president says Where there is looting, there will be shooting…. One can be by principle against violence and at the same time understand that in the face of this rage, silence is the most appropriate response. As long as there is no owning of the problem of continued white privilege, no confession of its deadly oppression, no acts of amends let alone reparations, no engaged commitment to deconstruct the institutional architecture of white privilege, we have nothing to say. Absolutely nothing.
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Our Presbyterian national work group on Central America meets to discuss what next. We worked for two years on a report to be made at this summer’s General Assembly and now that report …as well as all other social justice actions…are put off until 2022. At one level, we’re okay with this. Our report was BC, before corona. The tendencies, dynamics, social trends have been exacerbated and brought to painful new levels in the pandemic. In similar, but also unique ways in each setting. Where do we stand today?
* Honduras has had approaching 5000 cases and 250 deaths. They have had lockdown. Increasing authoritarianism on the part of the government.
* Guatemala. The government has declared total weekend lockdowns. The first time they did this with only 3 hours notice. Some had no time to get home. Most badly hurt are those working in the informal market of food and goods. Believing the the virus in Guatemala was largely fueled by infected persons deported back to Guatemala from the US, there are no longer flights to or from the US with the exception of continuing deportation flights. Communities are so frightened of returning persons that there are “literally lynchings”. The country that so honored migrants and the importance of their remisas that statue was erected in Salcalja in the highlands now violently rejects the returnees.
The US embassy arranges ways for US citizens to get out. And Guatemalans with papers are stranded in the US.
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| el migrante |
* El Salvador is a mixed bag of increased authoritarian control, “for the good of the people.” Numbers and data seem accurate and transparent but the government wields greater control.
* Costa Rica had a spike last week, but has had only 1000 cases, 10 deaths and 12 hospitalized. The biggest issue is being a neighbor to an out of control Nicaragua. A ban has been placed on transportistas, trucks going through the country with goods from or to Nicaragua, There are also several hundred Nicaraguans stranded in Costa Rica. The government has worked very hard to quell anti-nicaraguan emotions on the part of the public and Nicas organized a Gracias demonstration. Costa Rica has also detained Salvadorans. Working very hard to control its borders. Honduras too has closed its border to Nicaragua making it a pariah country.
* Our workers from Nicaragua say that it is too painful to talk about. No protocols in place. In cities like Masaya, the public hospitals are a disaster. Two Baptist pastors have died. Numbers are non-existent. Death certificates do not identify cover casualties. Nothing in place. The well off are sequestered and people try to improvise, but there is simply no real response. Long time Moravian pastor and activist Norman Bent has died.
W e struggle to understand Ortega’s behavior. His closest ally Cuba has engaged strenuously in treatment, prevention and research. Even Venezuela has a plan in place. It seems historically bizarre that Ortega’s closest models seem to be Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Donald Trump. The newly born again Christian Daniel’s wife and co-President Rosario at first proclaimed “God will protect us.” Some believe she actually believed that. Then there was the claim that because Nicaragua was a young country and covid19 affected the old, there was nothing to worry about. Then the economic argument that Ortega’s base worked in the informal economy and could not afford to be quarantined. Then claim Golpistas set the virus loose. And some believe there is a cynical plan here to “cull” the population of weak and vulnerable people who only drain society. (Ortega's base?) There has been a recent papel blanco claiming that they are pursuing a Swedish model seeking herd immunity. So all over the map. And bodies continue to pile up, removed in the middle of the night, taken to mass graves. Not yet like Guayaquil, where corpses filled the streets, but getting there.
Our friend Dennis gives us a quick overview of South America. Brazil is a total “shitstorm.” Sao Paolo has 500 deaths a day. Twenty thousand now dead. Chile is spinning out of control because of the complete private nature of the health care system. In Peru, people are fleeing Lima and heading back to el campo bringing the virus with them.
Meanwhile, due to falling income, the PCUSA is cutting its budget by 20% and the future of mission partners is uncertain.
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My friend Steve asked me to preach for his Shavout service. Here’s what I had to say:
It’s exciting to be with you on Shavuos. This weekend the Christian community celebrates Pentecost. Shavuos is 50 days after Passover. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. (That’s what the Greek word means …counting 50…)Shavous celebrates the receiving of the 10 Commandments. Pentecost celebrates the receiving of the Holy Spirit. I always have got to remind my folks that the Holy Spirit didn't just show up fo sth first time 50 days after Easter. That it had been there since day one when the breath of God, ruah, blew across the waters and separated the dry from the seas. And when the breath of God blew into clay and made earth man, Adam. It’s always been there. But the point is, whoever wrote the Pentecost story in the Christian scriptures clearly believe there was a direct connecton between the 10 commandments and the Holy Spirit.
Now about those 10 commandments. What I would give for leaders who took them as principles to live by. Not a list of things to do. They are lo, that is no, don’t. Not do….And here’s the thing. I have come to think that the first commandment - no other gods- is central. Definitive.That every other commandment is a variation of, illustration of the first. They are all about making something else, something not God, into an idol the takes our attention and takes us off the path. Coveting, envy, adultery lying, theft, even murder….are putting something else above God. Making something else your God. Maybe keeping focus on these basic principles becomes all the more important during a time like this where we are truly responsible for one another. So happy Shavuot, And shabbat Shalom.
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The day ends with West Park Open Mic. I confess a month into this, I still find ZOOM a bit elusive. (They did just add an update…). I sing I shall be released to honor Dylan's 79th birthday and Ripple for the Grateful Dead . I’m wearing a Grateful Dead Steal Your Face t-shirt with a mask on the skull. The legend reads # wewillgetby. #wewillsurvive.
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