WILLIAM LEWIS MOORE AND HIS DEADLY MARCH

April 23, 1963
Attalla, Ala.

A group of black students stood in line at a whites-only movie theater in Baltimore in 1963, waiting to buy tickets but expecting to go to jail. Sure enough, the police arrived and began arresting the students for trespassing.

In the midst of the black students, the police were astonished to see a white man, William Lewis Moore. A puzzled officer asked Moore if he understood that he was in line to be arrested. Moore explained that if the others couldn’t see the movie because of the color of their skin, then he didn’t want to see it either. He spent that night in jail.

No one in Moore’s hometown of Binghamton, N.Y., was surprised at his willingness to go to jail. He was known for standing up for his beliefs, even when he stood alone, as he usually did.  George Lipsitz notes in his book, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness (p.XV), that Moore had been a patient in a psychiatric hospital in New York who had dealt with mental health issues (1953-55); so, others who criticized Moore, felt like he went on his march due to personal feelings of desperation and his more collective desires for Civil Rights-look, at that time in history, talking about Mental Illness was verboten, as well as being ultra-stigmatizing.   Are you telling me, too, that someone with mental health issues can't perform ethical & moral acts?  In which case, I have to reply "bullshit!"

Eventually, Moore moved to Baltimore, where he worked as a substitute mail carrier and devoted his free time to writing and demonstrating. Moore felt individuals could be agents of social change simply by acting on their beliefs. To make his point, he used a tactic that seemed natural for a postman: He walked to protest segregation.

Lipsitz continues to show why Moore's death was a pivotal time for Lipsitz personally, and for  the nation, nationally.  Although born in New York, Moore had been raised as a white in the south; he was shocked when Mississippi Governor, Ross Barnett, withstood the Federal government, and would not allow an African-American student, Medgar Evers to enter the University of Mississippi.
Moore felt deeply embarrassed by Mississippi's image as one of the most racist states in the Union.  Being a postman, he decided to write letters of his feelings on racism, then walk to the places he wanted to deliver them to.  His first stop on his march was to deliver a letter to the President John Kennedy in Washington, DC.

In his letter to the President, Moore wrote, "I am not making this walk to demonstrate either Federal rights or state rights, but individual rights.  I am doing it to illustrate that peaceful protest is not altogether extinguished down there.  I hope I will not have to eat those words."  Tragically, he would embody this as a self-prophecy.

Moore planned to walk from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Jackson, Miss. , to deliver a letter in which he urged Gov. Ross Barnett to accept integration. Just south of Collbran, Ala., a white storeowner named Floyd Simpson questioned him. Moore was happy to explain his views.

As Moore was resting by the road in Keener that evening, he was killed by bullets fired at close range from a .22-caliber rifle.  FBI Ballistics tests later proved the rifle belonged to Floyd A. Simpson, but the Grand Jury concluded him innocent, so no one was ever indicted for the April 23, 1963 murder.  It was proven that Simpson had talked with (threatened?) Moore earlier the day of his murder.
Alabama Gov. George Wallace and President John F. Kennedy denounced the killing. Within a month, 29 young people were arrested in Alabama for trying to finish the walk begun by Moore. They were carrying signs that read “Mississippi or Bust.”

I agree with Lipsitz-Moore: a southern white, was executed by other southern whites.  His courage and bravery, as a man who believed from the heart in equality & Civil Rights, even willing to die for his beliefs, ignited many consequential & important aspects of the struggle to come, to impact the meaningfulness of what protestors & dissenters were doing in the struggle.  As with the case of other martyrdoms in the struggle for justice, often there's the reinvigoration of the movement for which a person dies.

For Lipsitz, it was this brightly-lit paradox:  a white man who gave his life for Civil Rights is so radically bizarre, yet true, that it's able to get the attention of an entire nation.

Copyright: Christopher Bear-Beam September 30, 2017

                                           The Forming of an Anti-Racism Identity

                                                 By Christopher Bear-Beam

                                                                   I.

(A note on the method: the goal is to focus on Eastern Psychology and Western Psychology-each of them uses psychological principles & practices, of which some overlap and some blend into integrated similarities of the two psychologies. Of course, there are also differences between the two.

This article leans heavily on Buddhist Psychology, as well as some of the Dalai Lama’s writings & observations; this isn’t to minimize or deny the effectiveness of Western psychologies, but, rather, to seek to integrate some Buddhist concepts into the mix, in a focused way, so that we may benefit even more from their offerings.

The article’s purpose is to utilize some of these principles, in practical and pragmatic ways, to open up the meaning of empathy in the identity-forming process, particularly in the transition to an anti-racism identity; Buddhism is a philosophy and a set of principles to live out in ordinary ways).

I came to an anti-racism worldview in a series, of what I see as, synchronistic events. In 1996, through a mutual friend, I met Cherry Steinwender, one of the Co-Executive Directors of the Center for the Healing of Racism, Houston, Texas where I was living at the time. The Center was presenting a series of videos on racism, and I volunteered our church as a venue.
First, I was struck by the magnetism & charism of Cherry-she’s a fired up person, an African-American, who’s been through the unhealthy effects of racism, on the “receiving end,” as a black living in the south.

As time went on, we would meet at Cherry’s and do “one-on-ones” where she’d ask me some very deep, “never before asked” questions about Unaware Racism (my main area of conditioning); I’d dig very deep to really see and become aware of not only my racist conditioning, but also my male conditioning.

This was a very intense self-examination of my own racism, thinking about, acting with others to gain more understanding, behaviors, etc. that I was simply unconscious of in my mind. Cherry became my soulmate & mentor in this “brain-washing” & cleansing process.

It was at that time, that I began attending what the Center calls, “the many faces of racism,” dialogues, as well as “training the trainer” sessions for people like me-those who wanted to do this work up front & close-a co-facilitator in training & presentations. I served on the Ally Council whose purpose it was to change to more effective ways to activate volunteers, and to be a liaison to the Center.

Cherry and I would form a “pair-team” and travel to places all over the country, presenting workshops and collaborating with others & groups who had the healing of racism as similar goals. We led trainings for Social Service professionals, educators, volunteers, civic groups, faith communities, business/corporate entities, students, Government Service professionals, Community College staff, and Criminal Justice professionals. As a trainer, I usually learned more about the topic of racism by experiencing the role of a co-facilitator.

When I think of my own forming of an anti-racism identity, it’s analogous to what happens at an “archeological dig.” An archaeologist must go painstaking slowly, methodically, and purposefully, down through each older layer of earth, and with this cycling being an ongoing proposition.

The closer a “digger” gets to a level that’s a goal, the more sensitive she has to be, so as not to harm or damage, the existing artifacts and/or fossils embedded in that layer.
Buddhist Psychology considers our spiritual journey as “returning to our original face,” i.e., the one face we had before it got covered up & hidden, through all the messy vicissitudes of life. Other phrases have been coined to describe this process-‘going back to the True Self,’ from the starting point of the False Self, that comprises all of our previous conditioning we received in our growing up.

My proposition, here, is that we need to clear our heads & lives of the old, sedimented notions we cherish so much, those things we choose to believe in with our whole hearts-thinking+thanking-are not the values we live for in our current, American culture, leavened with Consumerism, Capitalism, & Class.
In his book, Ethics For the New Millennium [(1999). New York: Riverhead Books)], His holiness the Dalai Lama writes in one chapter, about his belief that perhaps the greatest gift that humans can bring to their own consciousness-raising-education, and the identity-forming process, is that of empathy.

But, can empathy really be learned, individuated and integrated by people who’re engaged in hateful acts of violence, for example, towards themselves or others? Can a suicide bomber, or a mass-murderer really have empathy for those who she’s supposed to kill?

We shouldn’t forget, either, that many horrendous doers of evil deeds & acts, have changed to persons of love, justice, and compassion. Maybe you know someone like this? It can occur.
I once heard a story of one “crazy” man, a brutal serial killer, who once went to Buddha, confessed all of his crimes, then asked Buddha if he could follow his way, that, that was all he wanted in life from now on out. He had lost time to make up for.

I’m sure there are many, many more faces and names that could be mentioned who have also had this similar track record. The very fact that their lives testify to their loving reaction (as well as the so-called “crazy” man’s), and that they wanted, in their hearts and minds, to turn from the way of suffering-for (her)himself and the others who suffered by the way S/he used to be and act.

Buddha’s own sense of empathy got fertilized by the notion that he could have the same shortcomings and human desires, as this serial killer prostrated before him-this man could murder in the same manner, if it weren’t for his absolute trust that he should “Do no harm” to any creation, ever again.

If humans have the same approach as Buddha and a whole lot of other people as well, then the first mental set that has to emerge is self-empathy (self-care first then take care of others as on airplanes); if we feel the sufferings of even those we haven’t yet met, or know, it’s due to our own propagation of empathy, in mind and heart, we can only do so in a kind of vicarious sighting of human nature’s suffering, as it speaks often in the Four Noble Truths (a Buddhist quartet of principals).

The Western way of doing business, is generally one of seeing a problem, then diving immediately into the crisis and doing something to alleviate the suffering that comes as a consequence.

For empathy to become more engraved and imbued in our lives, we first must practice it on ourselves. If we can do this habitually, it reinforces our thinking to become more empathic and compassionate. Empathy is at the base of self-love & self-care; and it’s absolutely the bedrock for our spiritual (even if we prefer a different word, it’s OK) or psychological identity-forming within our inner person, speaking outer conversations to the world. Using one’s voice to converse in anti-racism conversations.

Corona Radiata wrote a paper on personal identity and put it up on a website. The author wrote of some salient aspects of our identities, of which we have many. Identity, in its simplest statement, is who we are. It’s also a socially & historically-constructed concept (much like the nature of racism), and we often use physiological markers for what makes-up identity-“I’m an artist, who’s an extrovert, who likes Math, lives in a cabin in the woods, has very thick hair, but loves to socialize with lots of people on the weekends, and loves to get high on weed but keeps a decent, professional job, etc.”

Our identities are composed inextricably of ideas, ideologies, and ways of seeing the world around us-or as General Semantics posits it’s the discipline of how W.I.G.O. emerges; in other words “What’s going on out there (and inside here, me)?”

Our social & cultural identity is generally inherently linked to power, value systems and ideological issues, whereas empathy distinguishes itself as a “an other-oriented” force towards relieving the thwarted needs & pain of others; the focus on power with its accompanying issues, isn’t even taken into account with empathy.

Can empathy, then, one of the pinnacles of humanity, assist us in transforming into more ethical and caring humans in trust for ourselves and other people, in order to do the right thing?
Aren’t both White Privilege & Internalized Oppression pathologies that harm both the perpetrator, and the person (s) on the receiving end of it? Are these good, other-oriented outcomes or consequences? Most of us would agree-“No!”-they distort and change our minds so that we live life less richly & potentially?

Couldn’t we all agree that actualizing empathy within ourselves, would make us less vulnerable, and more humanitarian and altruistic-conscious with healthy drives? Wouldn’t we all want empathy at the center of our own human matrix? Wouldn’t we also want to be listened to by a person whose empathic?

In the Dalai Lama’s same book, he relates that the Tibetan phrase for empathy is shen ngal wa a mi so pa and may be translated into English as “the inability to bear the sight of another’s suffering” (p. 84).

He also observes that empathy suggests far more than a transient, temporary emotion that comes and goes like most of our feelings, in the facile, changing habitats of emotions; these Tibetan words express both an emotional as well as cognitive dimension to empathy.
The phrase the “inability to bear the sight of another’s suffering,” intimates that all humans may give from a place of empathy for themselves & others-it’s a reciprocal state of need as a part of our human cosmology.

Take one of the most important aspects of compassionate empathy: a mom taking care of her little ones. Although, my memory fails to bring up the exact research study probably (sometime in the Seventies), this study demonstrated that newborns will evoke momma smiles, and went onto show that newborns also initiated smiles themselves, and that empathy could be embedded in the hearts & minds of all people due to the exertion of agency on the infant’s part of the child-momma interaction. I’m not clear whether this study was followed up for more data.
We have many, multi-hued (as segments of the whole) attributes or conditioning factors for various identities, as faces we wear in dialogue with the culture.

We express social & cultural identities; we communicate & behave in identities of sexuality, sexual preference, heterosexual identities, as well as class identities. We could also add feminism, sexism, masculism, human & civil rights issues, Gay Liberation, and other political/economical movements such as Occupy Wall Street.

Some people find activism with their own lives by increasing training opportunities; engaging with a social movements and its rhetoric can be so “insighting” that it spurs us into displaying an “activist” identity, in new ways and circumstances.

All these domains include changes, flows, moving in ‘fits & starts,’ in crescendo & decrescendo, granting us surprising expectations and radical new goals for new identities to craft-in-society, “your new person.”

Unless we have some other psychological (or service) template other than empathy (it’s OK if you do), we can recognize that all these traits may be transferred to other people & other life-forms, where the human connection may spark more effective means to identify our suffering and bring some means to ameliorate it.

Without creating empathy it’s very hard to see where we end the “other” starts; our vision captures suffering within its frame of our “own” lives-we suffer, we hurt, we’re in pain, we’re sick to our stomachs and in our brains, etc., but what about another person who is of the same constitution as us or other air-breathing mammalia, or under-water residents’ and creations’ lives.

Empathy is the identity, in general, that may go beyond our personal walls & boundaries; it includes our will, volition, ambition to reach our goals, longer-term attitudes & emotions & feelings, reason, the cognitive capacity to problem-solve and decision-make.

As we bring these multiple elements together, we create the ongoing dynamic (within our own identities) that may unseat suffering in ways that are healthy & produce happiness.
To summarize the first part of this essay, we, as humans have been gifted to be empathy-bearing beings: first, we have to initiate self-empathic responses-to walk and contemplate what it’s like to live in our own shoes, in our own skin; secondly, we next need to activate empathy in a broader context-for the entire planet. How’s that for big?
This two-part aspect of empathy-1). For self, and 2). For others, the entire Universe, may be learned through our studies, contemplation and self-reflection.

The result is that our identities will grow into more powerful tools, as they’re imagined & practiced, so that we might use the term-“re-habed”-as those who once found a “nil” or a dearth of empathy, we may find a flood of empathy coming our way, as we roil in our new-found confidence, that morphs into a rushing, thrusting river on its way to help someone (us?) in their suffering.
II.

What was your experience when you first began understanding insights into yourself and your personal racism-and maybe when you felt a prompting to form more of an Anti-Racism (AR) identity?

* an almost instantaneous, sort of like an “epiphany,” an immediate “getting it” in your head, you understood its meaning for you.

* You couldn’t let go of the shock in seeing this in yourself, so guilt & shame followed; this process, with its “shocking reality” was the visual “stop & go” light for you to move forward.

* You heard something about “white racism” and absolutely didn’t believe it! It struck your “denial” bull’s eye, so you said to yourself, “This is bull shit! I don’t want to hear anything more about it-that’s it for me!”

* You may have heard the words Anti-Racism, or perhaps you heard the words “White Privilege,” and said to yourself, “Wow, that’s what I really need to live my life fully, more White Privilege!”

* You heard about an AR mindset, or White Privilege (WP), and you went to the Internet to learn more; you went to the library to get more books, magazine articles or journal articles on the subject, to fill in the gaps you had in your head; the more you studied and reflected on your own life, you generally put together the jigsaw puzzle of racism, particularly WP, in a clearer picture, in a clear-eyed view of personal perception.

In whatever way (it’s different & OK for everyone, since we all have unique, personified learning styles) you “got it”, the point is, you got it! It may have changed your worldview, thrown your consciousness upside-down, or blown you away! The fact that I can unlearn old conditioning gives me reason for hope-if this can be changed, what else can I change? It lessens the feeling of being overwhelmed at how huge this problem is, therefore being powerless to do anything at all.

If we move onto the next staging area, we find that support & reinforcement of values & beliefs are highly significant; seeking out other people/groups that support your AR transition; communal discussion/dialogue about AR issues & positions may help us to challenge our “stuck” places while also reinforcing our AR ideas and ideals.

This is a crucial stage in the on-going forming of an AR identity, so try to find the folks who may give you this life-skill–support & reinforcement.

Another phase, after this crucial one, is activism in the context of AR activities & events, putting action/behaviors behind your cognitive worldviews of AR, glues & cements the important meanings & purposes of these events, such as those sponsored by “Stepping Up for Racial Justice. They’ve got monthly meetings as well as other anti-racism events and activities; check out: http://www.surjsme@gmail.com to find out more.

Engaging in AR activism puts philosophies & ideologies temporarily on the back burner, but pushes your social justice values-set into actuality.

Advocate when you can: whether this is a one-on-one conversation with someone else or advocacy for larger groups, for AR issues, or corrections or changes in policy, or priorities of groups and for movements in our social culture-advocate, advocate, advocate!

You and I can work at making ourselves a legitimate and well-resourced representative of SURJ; self-advocacy and self-reflection are keys in doing this work.

We can educate ourselves to grow as a competent & true-to-facts facilitator or co-facilitator, using social education models of education in diverse contexts or cultures-team up with a friend or someone else that has similar goals as you do.

Be open, listen for, or read news stories about racism, or any other type of “ism;” keep current to see if positive or negative changes and/or events are still happening; brainstorm about how to correct injustices or cases of discrimination, as well how you might bring just, non-discriminative solutions to the specific issues.

Take up the habit of journaling; make this an AR or Racism journal; make a point of being aware of your own practices & thoughts; are you aware on the outside & inside of how you feel when you see or hear about racist beliefs or actions? What’s going on in your own brain when you intersect with some type of racism or AR? Write about the ‘good, bad, and the ugly’ of what you may be mindfully aware of in the environments where you live & work.

I’ve found journaling one of the best things I can do for myself. It’s purpose is to be intently self-reflective about ourselves and our daily realities; the nature of recorded information allows us to go back to certain points to dig deeper into our awareness or even unconscious predispositions or allies that help ground racism and AR.

Reach out to legislators and other professionals who are invested in Social Justice themes, such as education, social services, health care, and therapy, collaborating for equitable solutions in order to dismantle racism and see that AR balances on a crooked see-saw within a crooked system, that needs to be straightened out, so AR identity can lead us in a greater way “of speaking our truth.”

Copyright: Christopher Bear-Beam August 28, 2017

This entry was posted on August 30, 2017, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Show Up For Racial Justice Coordinates March in Kittery on Saturday, August 19, 2017

The recent racist/terroristic attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, by a White Supremacist, when he drove a vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters, resulted in three deaths (two of which were Law Enforcement Professionals), and one young woman, along with multiple injuries to other protesters.

Show Up For Racial Justice felt that some type of action was needed.  They found out that the KKK had a march here in the early Twenties (the purpose of the march isn't clear); their route for the march began at John Paul Jones Park in Downtown Kittery, headed down to Wallingford, then right, and a circle back to the park.

So Show Up For Racial Justice decided to walk the same route they did, as an action in solidarity with other rallies planned by White Supremacist groups, and counter-protests by other groups and individuals.  As we waited in the park for the March to start, many motorists honked their horns and people expressed positive sentiments for the March.

Kittery's Chief of Police attended the March, as well as other Law Enforcement folks who acted as a presence of safety & protection.  In this writer's mind, this was another sign of the community's support for Kittery being a No Hate Zone.  No White Supremacy here!

SURJ is an organization that emerged, not too long ago, from a few folks' passion, and its momentum is growing in Southern Maine.  The Southern Maine Chapter is part of a nation-wide consortium of anti-racism organizations; this helps with consistency and resources for doing the anti-racism work of white people.

Racism, like any other kind of "ism," flourishes in silence, fear, and intimidation.  Most psychologists will tell you that breaking-the-chain-of-silence can be the start of a  healing process in one's life.  "Being loud, and speakin' proud" about the need for and the work of anti-racism is one way to shine the light on the dark silence, to expose it, shut it down, or reinforce the presence of sane methods to dismantle racism.

There were comments & thoughts shared by some SURJ members prior to the March-many thanks to those who assisted in organizing the March, and helping by providing safety, psychologically & physically.

One of the highlights for this writer, was the sixteen-year-old boy who spoke about the critical need to engage youth in anti-racism efforts; he pointed to a good-sized group of youth, and everyone clapped and expressed happiness that they were there.

In various local areas, SURJ has been sponsoring & hosting gatherings where videos around white anti-racism/racism are shown, and discussion follows.  Sometimes it can get very lonely as a white person who sees racism in a clear-eyed way, but often meets resistance from his or her white peers.

You can check out the SURJ Website: www.showingupforracialjustice.org, or send emails to: info@showup-4rj.org. By USPS: SURJ, 10428 Bluegrass Parkway, Ste. #544, Louisville, KY 40299; also check out SURJ on Facebook & Twitter.

Kelly, member of SURJ holds Black Lives Matter Sign

Woman Speaks About Her Privilege

Copyright: Christopher Bear-Beam August 21, 2017

Own it, President Trump!

After a terrorist motorist slammed his car into counter-protesters of a White Nationalism gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, injuring numerous people (at the last tally, one dead).  The motive, and if there’s a group taking responsibility for this internal, terrorist attack.  Looks like “homegrown” terrorists are using a page from ISIS’s notebook.

Soon after the attack, President Trump gave a press conference, condemned them as acts as one of hate & bigotry-he then went onto say that the terror came from “many sides.”

A day after a tense white nationalist gathering in his city turned deadly, Charlottesville, Virginia, Mayor Michael Signer expressed his displeasure with how Donald Trump carried himself during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"Old saying: When you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change. The devil changes you," Signer said Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet The Press," explaining why he had said on Saturday that he hopes President Trump "looks himself in the mirror and thinks very deeply about who he consorted with."

"I think they made a choice in that campaign," Signer continued. "A very regrettable one, to really go to people's prejudices, to go to the gutter."

Singer said "these influences around the country, these anti-Semites, racists, Aryans, neo-Nazis, KKK," people who were "always in the shadows," have "been given a key and a reason to come into the light."

"The time has come for this to stop," the mayor said. "This should be a turning point. This movement jumped the shark, and it happened yesterday. People are dying, and I do think that it's now on the president and on all of us to say 'enough is enough.'"

One eye witness, BRANDY GONZALEZ, commented: “I think it just sends a very clear message of who he (Trump-mine) is not willing to offend. And that’s pretty clear. I think that’s been clear for a really long time. I do want to say, however, on a state level, that I’m very unhappy with the comments from Governor McAuliffe, from the mayor of Charlottesville and from the chief of police of Charlottesville. The press statement they made on the day was just one after the other of "This is not my fault." And every update that I’ve received is completely unacceptable. I personally believe that there should be a public and clear apology from the three, and also an apology from the ACLU for fighting for their right to have that rally, because this all could have been prevented, and all you’re doing is sending a clear message of who you care about. So, maybe people should stop and realize what their actions and what the things that they do are actually saying to us, the people.”

Once again, I marvel!  That in placing blame there was no finger pointing back at himself, as President.  Kinda like that old American aphorism: ‘When you point a finger at someone else, don’t forget that you’ve got three fingers pointing back at yourself.’   There might not have been a truer statement than this ever made-isn’t this a stark showing of human nature?

Just like all the rest of us, Trump’s mirror is pointed and aimed to an exterior target; if we’re honest, and I’m sure we’d all like to be, we’d attest to what we know (cognitively, factually and scientifically, or what we’ve observed.  Right on!

Trump has no awareness of the difference between language & action-he thinks, I assume, that his political verbiage has no relationship to potential, violent actions-thus, there’s no idea in his head, that what he says, can ferociously ignite actions on the part of his deluded followers.  So, ‘it’s not my fault, it’s the “many sides’” fault.’

I think we need to establish that language is an environment and a behavior; there’s no separation here-it’s elementally bound together into a oneness.

Trump is so deluded, he can’t comprehend how his own racist & biased language has any causal factor in terroristic attacks.  Remember “McCarthyism?”  A crowd-delusion of mammoth proportions, that literally turned the nation upside-down in the Fifties-a witch hunt for “Commies.”

The power in all Fascist & Totalitarian systems is forged in the imaginations of people, through others’ influence, who believe that these systems are the true reality of the structure of life.  The charism and flair of the communicator is part of the equation of hate, as is the ignorance of the listeners.  Trump’s narcissism, and inability/blindness to take personal responsibility for his words and actions is one of the “many sides.”  Own it, President Trump!

Copyright: Christopher Bear-Beam August 13, 2017

Portland, Maine-Saint Ansgar Completes Class on Sexism

Pastor Maria Anderson and co-facilitator, Christopher Bear-Beam, gathered with congregational members for five Sundays, beginning in April 30 and ending on May 28, 2017, to lead a class on Sexism.  Participants could attend as many or as few of the classes as they wished.

St. Ansgar is located at 515 Woodford St, Portland, ME and can be reached by calling 207-774-8740, or going to www.saintansgar.org.  

The class was formulated to include accurate content, interactivity, group communication, and dialogue within the group.  St. Ansgar is a church within the sphere of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA); the denomination began the process of creating a church-wide social policy statement on Sexism in 2009.  Each congregation within the ELCA will give feedback to the Churchwide Assembly, and the document will be brought to the Assembly in 2019.

Topics covered during the five-week class (that began during the Easter season) included: 1).  Intro: why are we here to discuss this topic; getting on the same page around Sexism; 2).  What problems do women face?  3).  How is Sexism personal?  4).  Why do images of God matter?  5).  What does economic justice look like?

The class used group guidelines that we hope were effective in creating a safe, sacred space; the facilitators used small group exercises, large group activities, and other focused exercises.  Our philosophy was to create a “give-and-take” (a dialogical model that uses listening to “two to one or more” as a primary method so that experiential learning may emerge.

One participant attended the class because she lives in the neighborhood where St. Ansgar is located.  She was also interested in the class because she’s an editor for parts of a biblical commentary that’s a feminine critique & exposition of other teachings & practices in the biblical annals, using a feminist mode of interpretation & hermeneutics.

Other presentations, groups and classes will be sponsored by St. Ansgar, so be sure to watch for future events!

©Christopher Bear-Beam

Wells, Maine: Blended Awakenings Opens New Season!

Brewed Awakenings opens their new season (through the summer and into the fall).  My refrain was “Is there only one coffee café (shop) in Wells?” (1846 Post Rd., Wells, ME 04090; [207] 646-2600).

The present-day proprietor, is Jackie Maude, and she’s been doing this job for the last three years; her dad, Jim, began the café about eight years ago. When Jackie took over, she decorated the café in her way & with her touch.

Saturday, May 27, 2017 was the first day of a brand-new season.  It was gratifying seeing many of Jackie & Jim’s friends & family come to the café.  I felt it was a wonderful support to the café.

Another sense I had of the café, was its “family-style” atmosphere, that was informal, amiable, and filled with the scent of wonderful coffees & bakery goods.  By the visitor’s remarks, many of them knew the owner’s family for a long time.

Jackie Maude is a person with incredible energy, which is obvious, if you just watch her for a while in the café.  There’s no doubt she loves what she does.

One new idea that will become a future reality, is that the café will soon begin serving hamburgers, remaining open in the afternoon & evening, to meet the needs of clientele. With this new attraction/food many folks may stop for a burger after they’ve hit the beach.

Another event that Brewed Awakenings is a sponsor for & supporting, will be held on Father’s Day, June 18, 2017

For a poet, like me, you search to find the right vibe & atmosphere, to sit drinking your coffee, and typing on your computer. If the energy is good in a place, it effects everything else, including artists who may doing their art, or poets who need inspiration and positive affirmations to write their poetry.

The only shortcoming, I could find was Jackie’s refusal to sell me her “Poseidon” color pick-up truck (I think it’s vintage 1963).  She loves her truck, so I don’t foresee any upcoming raffles for it.  It rounds out the “Poseidon Blue” color-scheme for the café.  I also heard another secret: Jackie also has a motorcycle that she loves riding.

In short, a good vibe & energy helps everyone, because it enlivens us, and helps us to digest what we’ve put in our stomachs.  My recommendation is to check it out yourself.  You won’t be sorry!

©May 28, 2017

Politicians Try to Play It Cool, Take off the Masks of Your Fake Humanity!

Republican Greg Gianforte, on the eve of the election for the lone congressional seat in Montana, broke the law by “body-slamming” a reporter who asked a question about the new, Republican-driven, Health Care Law; the assault was witnessed by other journalists, who said Gianforte grabbed the journalist by the neck and threw him to the ground, injuring his arm.

“Gianforte had been silent in the wake of the allegations, with his campaign only releasing a statement claiming that The Guardian's Ben Jacobs had been the aggressor. But speaking at his victory party in Bozeman shortly after the race was called, Gianforte admitted he was in the wrong and offered an apology to Jacobs.”

"[Wednesday] night I made a mistake, and I took an action that I can't take back, and I'm not proud of what happened," Gianforte said. "I should not have responded in the way that I did, and for that I'm sorry.

"I should not have treated that reporter that way, and for that, I'm sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs," the congressman-elect continued. "That's not the person I am, and that's not the way I'll lead in this state." (NPR, Jessica Taylor, Republican Gianforte Wins Montana House Race Amid Assault Charge, May 26, 201712:45 AM ET)

Now, here’s a real problem.  Gianforte is a politician but he’s also a human being; each human being has a “light” side of good, healthy qualities & attributes.  We also have a shadow-side which usually is the part of ourselves we deny or disown.  As a result, our shadow can sneak up on us, catching us off-guard.

Gianforte’s shadow-side was behind him, and not out in front where he could see it, and possibly head-off potential problems.  Yes, Mr. Gianforte, this is the person you really are, so I suggest that you find a way to see why you’re wearing this mask.  Stop rationalizing, and using excuses to defend yourself.  See it for what it is, and keep your eye on it.

All politicians need to shift in this way if they want to continue growing and improving as a human being.  If they want to be effective in elected office; if someone says or does something clearly dysfunctional, as Gianforte did, maybe they’re in the wrong line of work?  But an occupational or geographical change won’t necessarily be the solution-violence and assault are in the hearts of human beings, so that’s where change must start.

-Secondly, this incident indicates the stress & “driven-ness” that the Republicans feel to pass a new Health Care law.  It’s a fundamentalist, antithetical statement against former President Obama.  Republicans are known for their “crazy-making” actions, “grandiose claims minus facts,” competitiveness, and ignorance of the genuine needs of their constituency.

The face of the Republican Party has shifted like a huge leisure-ship, like the Queen Mary, under the sway of Donald Trump.  Trump’s political rhetoric has “made it OK” to strike out, and to repudiate the non-white citizens of the U.S.  This mixture of racist & non-factual statements is now what fuels many Republican politicians and supporters.

So, body-slamming a reporter whose questions you don’t like, is now OK, right? After all, Trump’s statements about wishing he could punch someone in the face, his offer to pay the legal fees for supporters who assaulted someone during the campaign, and his racist invectives, seemingly now “down-lowed” due to being President.

You can’t change or erase the spots of a leopard-Trump’s internal racism is there in his silent-breathing consciousness.  Don’t be duped by his wealth, his power, and his rhetoric.  What you see & hear is now hazily behind a smokescreen.  But if you look hard & critically, you see the layers of gray frosted smoke behind the screen.

©Christopher Bear-Beam May 26, 2017

Cool Loneliness

As I age, I’ve found that my mind’s proclivity is to attach to loneliness; in earlier times in my life, I thought I had no problem with it-but it’s different during my eldering sage-ing years.

When I was involved in meditation much more than I am now, I prided myself on having the attribute of understanding aloneness, and loneliness, didn’t present a problem to me.  Pride, self-centeredness, and self-conceit are opponents to spiritual growth & understanding, but Ego loves to present that these qualities are only about self-interest, not self-conceit, i.e., Greed is good.  Or Pride is OK.

In The Pocket Pema Chodron [(2008). Boston: Shambhala Publications], a Buddhist teacher & writer, writes about loneliness in the sixty-fourth reading, the following:

“When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cool loneliness (my emphasis) that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down” (p. 106)

So, what’s cool loneliness, I wondered?  The first given that came to mind is that it’s cool to be lonely.  If one is lonely, pause, be with that feeling, and then let it go; that’s one thing that appears to have a good outcome, because we can be open to all of life, not just what we define as the good parts.  Extrapolating, it’s cool to be angry, greedy, ignorant-it doesn’t mean that you are those things, rather they’re simply your emotions running through your mind like the current of a river.

If cool loneliness is cool, then it presents us with a counter-cultural axiom.  In other words, if we think of coolness (as described in the previous paragraph) as something positive, then it can meet something called heat, and come out on top, right?  Empirically, heat should trump (pardon my innuendo) cold, but in a spiritualized realm, cool loneliness replaces uncool loneliness as an attachment that, say Buddhists, is something we can use as an antidote to uncool loneliness that may become an attachment or addiction.

Another popular usage of “cool” is used when we say to someone, “Will you just cool it?”  Here, “cool” means moving to a more stable and less hot-headed way of doing things.  Couldn’t cool loneliness be looked at and used in this way?  “Hey, just pause & relax.  Take it easy.  Be cool.”  An admonition to be more balanced and less off-the-chain hyper.

Pema writes about a “relaxing and cooling loneliness;” Think of a very hot day wherever you live, and both your car AC and home AC are broken: feeling a cool breeze would make your day, right?  Refresh you, right?  Or, say, it’s about one-hundred degrees’ temperature outside, and you drink some ice-cold water-ah, the pause is refreshing!

This positive “loneliness” or “aloneness” gives us pause to sit with our feelings of pain because we’re alone, our feelings of fear because we’re alone, and possibly memories of early-childhood experiences of loneliness.  Anytime we pause and breathe like this, we allow our unconscious to float to the top of our minds; we note it, and let it go.  Our noticing perhaps grooves a place or track in our consciousness, so that now what’s bubbled up can be looked at in our lives.

This is a kind of cool loneliness, because it’s not hot with resistance, inner commentaries, or denial.  There’s a welcoming & inviting “coolness” without the stressful pressures that heat up in our minds as fixations or obsessions.

So, don’t judge yourself-love yourself and invite in your guest-Ms. Or Mr. Cool Loneliness!

©Christopher Bear-Beam May 18, 2017

Soul Wounds for All of Us to Consider

Maybe you’ve already heard of this phrase soul wound, that has been used to refer to PTSD-like injuries & mental health resulting from trauma.  I don’t think anyone would argue with this definition when it refers to the Holocaust; it also occurred in Rwanda and many other places.  To this day, Genocide has consistently done over the years; for example, the Turkish government has denied any role in the Armenian Genocide in the early 1900s.

Abraham J. Peck wrote an article for the Maine Sunday Telegram, “Genocide Survivors Share Soul Wound,” April 23, 2017 p. D1, asking about the nature of Genocide, and writes, “Is this the dark cloud that lurks in all of us just waiting to emerge if the circumstances are right and we no longer see the victim as a human being.”

“But the murderers murdered and the dead cannot be brought back to life.  What do we do with our memories and with our own soul wounds, those of us who bear the burden of our genocides?  And how can humanity begin to understand the ‘other’ in its midst as our brothers and sisters?”

I won’t even go near the rash of ‘Holocaust Deniers’ that have risen out of their sleekly hidden beds to give voice to protest even resisting the fact that it happened.

Isn’t this what ISIS is doing, too?  They are in Syria, cordoning off an area that they hold militarily; I’m sure there are ongoing discussions between the U.S. government and our allies, as to how best to stop the slaughtering of innocent women & children.  It will be an ongoing process.  Is this incipient Genocide?

People who endure any kind of mass & traumatic event such as Genocide, have received “soul wounds” from this kind of experience.  Depending on what beliefs you have about the soul, this might be as real as tar on a road, or as phantasmagorical as a vision in the desert.

Maybe it would be better to choose the words, “wounds of the spirit,” or “spirit wounds.”  Or perhaps we could choose the word consciousness.  Our consciousnesses mine the treasures & sieves that allow unconsciousness to flow into our being; in fact, it can reflect all the holistic elements of our spirituality.

As such, I would say that wounds of the soul can be healed.  There are many tributaries of healing ways & methods that can be selected by unique individuals with various learning-styles; there is no time limit to this kind of healing, because it is triggered by an individual’s collective thought processes, emotions, intellectual aspects or our intelligence, social aspects, physical aspects, brain-chemistry functions, genetics, environment, etc.  A person must decide if it’s time to jump into the flow and go!

Many therapists point out that until the wounded traumas are confronted and processed and integrated, the powerful, often submerged, impacts will remain in place in one’s life.  This is an important point: whether it be children’s sexual abuse, a natural disaster, combat, etc. it will continue to impact the sufferer’s life in unhealthy ways.

Henri Nouwen created the term “the wounded healer.”  A “wounded healer” is a person who has spent time with her own wounds, and has found the means to integrate the wounds into one’s spirituo-psycho-social fabric of life.  Due to this process, the “wounded healer” develops greater compassion & empathy for the wounds, both of themselves & others.  So, in this way, a wound can act as a change agent.

It’s a perfect time to think of soul wounds, and recognize that Mother Earth (Earth Day) has been wounded greatly & extravagantly, by our own human, unethical actions.  We’ve damaged the earth’s soul by living in our boundaries, but dissing respectful-love.

Mama Earth has modeled for us how to mend souls that are wounded; she was the beginner of this work, showing us how it works, and to perpetuate it beyond the bounds of our moral imperatives, wrong or right, it’s been going along all this time under the loving & caring guidance of the Universe.

Yesterday was Earth Day-a good way to sift our memories & knowings about the earth is to celebrate life this week; think of the ways we can advocate, work for, or serve the Universe in the mission of a “soul wound” capacity of re-integration and community wellness.

©Christopher Bear-Beam April 27, 2017

Trollers’ Strategies on People from A Different Ethnicity

Erin Schrode is Jewish.  She has received countless, vitriolic emails from people who know she’s Jewish, and says this is how online racism & anti-Semitism by trollers reach many.  She sees them each day, because she’s run for political office, and is a founder of an environmental nonprofit.  She must keep up with Social Media to do her job.

Among the sites that have impacted her are trolling, racist-mode content, such as the Daily Stormer; then, of course, we have Bannon’s site, the Alt Right, that stirs up white nationalism and racism; by the way, remember?  Bannon’s one of Trump top aides.

But, think about it for a minute: if you were (or are) Jewish, who had family, friends, and ancestors killed in the Holocaust, how would you feel receiving one of these anti-Semitic emails?  Does it harm, or does it cause good?  There’s not really many positives on this one.

My opinion is that the Far-Right Websites are attempting to change our cultural reality (they came to mainstream around 2014).  They are trying to make the fact of people with ethnicities different from ours, something to joke about, something to laugh at-if they can reach this goal, they’ve managed to de-fang any kind of “ism” that promotes exclusivism, hate, bias towards others, stereotypes, racial slurs, and indirect racism-it now doesn’t exist!

Historians and textbook writers & editors have avoided “x-ing” out the exceptionalism from textbooks, they’ve mislead people by their nuancing of American Colonialism, and their explanations of slavery and democracy.  Shame on you!

Andrew Auernheimer, a notorious hacker and digital hitman said, “Being offensive is a political act, if something pushes up against polite civilization, it’s for purpose.”  But does that mean we should go “low” by laughing at groups and people we think are abnormal-they’re not white!  Going “low” appears to label the dynamics of politics today.  Humor is humor, because it levels us all at the same place-we have common mishaps and foibles-so we can learn to laugh at ourselves.

A poor use of humor, however, may come across just as oppositional as a “put down” or any other kind of insult or innuendo.  So, it can backfire.  The trollers ought to

Walk with wise hears, and hear the possibilities of their cultural demise.

©Christopher Bear-Beam April 1, 2017

No longer blog@Examiner.com; please disregard this on the website-try to fix soon. Bear

Bates College Hosts MLK, Jr. Day’s Activities

(This is the first of a two-pt. blog series)

I.

This is the day (January 16) our nation set aside a holiday to celebrate and lift in respect, the memory & legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine, hosted a keynote speech (given by Professor Kahlil Gibran Muhammed) as well as many break-out workshops.  The theme of the day was Reparations: Addressing Racial Injustices.

The call for reparations to African-Americans, descended from slaves, in their relationship to their owners & slave identity, has gained more & more momentum & critical attention has now aided the call for reparations; reparations, however, to be sustainable must be founded on a new declaration of race in our culture, a new conversation, a new language, a new social consciousness; in other words, the completion of the Oppressor-&-the Oppressed experiment.  So, education about slavery and issues surrounding it, is the firm base that everything will rest upon, including reparations.

In his keynote presentation, Professor & author, Kahlil Gibran Muhammed, he noted that those who support reparations must be intentional about reparations for it to be efficacious & meaningful to those whom it might benefit, as well as legislators.

Dr. Muhammed observed that what is presently needed in our culture, in terms of righting the social justice & criminal justice worlds, is for Americans to move into a new threshold.  Dr. King, said Dr. Muhammed, was passionate about racism being a type of “cultural homicide.”  We don’t need DOA.

Later, in his talk, Muhammed emphasized how President Obama received the baton from MLK, Jr.  Perhaps this was one of Obama’s central, political axioms: America has always been about seeing ourselves as one nation, from many, diverse lands all over this planet.  One common understanding of our “oneness” is that when push comes to shove, we’d give our lives for our brothers & sisters.  We have many, unspoken & spoken American values that we could agree to hold these all with respect.

Hearing some of the above comments, some white folks would respond, “Well, none of my ancestors owned slaves.”  This statement is as incongruous as building an outside brick barbeque, and you tell your buddy, “Well, we’re all set to go.  Did you see all the bricks?”  “Yes, I did, but that’s all that’s over there, no sand, no tools, no iron for the grill—nothing but bricks!”

White people are often completely unaware about their privilege, as white people, in our nation.  So, this is all about education.  First, we need accurate, and not skewed information & knowledge, about racism, and every other “ism” you could think of.

©Christopher Bear-Beam January 16, 2017