Wish List for Next President of the House of Deputies

The announcement this past week by President of the House of Deputies, Canon Dr. Bonnie Anderson, came as a surprise to most of us deputies and alternates and the entire Episcopal Church. We fully expected Bonnie to continue for three more years, paralleling the nine-year term of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Now that the initial shock has died down, it’s time to think about the characteristics that we would include in a wish list for the next President of the House of Deputies. We will also be voting for a Vice President of the House of Deputies at the upcoming General Convention in July. Depending on order, clerical or lay, of the elected President, the Vice President must be elected from the opposite order.

The Episcopal Church is at an important crossroads as we move towards General Convention. There are numerous, game-changing issues facing this church and the whole panoply of Christian churches in the Western hemisphere that also coincide with major demographic, economic, and political changes in the secular world. The powers that be and the dominant culture’s stranglehold on controlling the media messages have been battered by the grassroots, thanks to the explosion of social media. Access to social media has helped the Occupy and Arab Spring movements to flourish as well as the plethora of instantaneous petition and letter-writing campaigns responding to all types of political issues.

In this context, it seems to me that we need to elect a leader for the next three years (and possibly more years if such elected leader is deemed the right one and is reelected in 2015) who is a departure from the way we’ve always done things. As a member of the Executive Council in this past triennium, I have had a front row seat in observing our President of the House of Deputies, who is also the Vice President of Council, and the challenges faced by her. We need a leader who isn’t married to the way we’ve always done things, while also having an appreciation of our history, traditions, and how we got where we are today.

So, without further ado, here’s my wish list, not necessarily in any order of priority.

1.  We need a leader who has multiple visions of what The Episcopal Church might look like in three, six, nine, twelve, or fifteen years. Being single-minded and having a singular vision is a thing of the past. The world is moving at light-speed, and we must embrace visions of our future that encompass multiple possibilities. Of course, the singular core value and guide must be our Gospel-centered, baptismal identity. However, the expressions of our being church as we move forward will be multiple and varied, depending on the local context, demographics, and culture. We need a leader who has the capacity to hold multiple visions in mind as possibilities while continually adjusting and communicating an evolving vision that points ahead and includes newcomers and their ideas. More than ever, the icon of the Anglican umbrella of comprehensiveness becomes important not merely symbolically, but in actual praxis.

2.  We need a leader who has a high tolerance and comfort with ambiguity. If the expressions of our being church will be multiple and varied, we need leadership with a posture of openness that can embrace, lift up, and support multiple and varied models of ministry at the provincial, diocesan, and congregational levels. One size has never fit all, but now, more than ever, leadership must acknowledge, encourage, and support the different expressions of ministry. This is not easy work nor is it typically within the range of leadership and management styles found in the institutional church. Leadership must get past getting stuck in feelings of rejection when new models of being church bubble up from the grassroots, learn to be open-minded even when it’s uncomfortable, and adopt a sense of time that extends past a budget cycle or a 3 to 5-year plan.

3.  We need a leader who is adept at receiving, incorporating, and integrating 21st century information, technology, and social media. As an aging (some would argue, “dying”) church, The Episcopal Church cannot afford to invest in a leader who is behind the times. Yes, we will value the wisdom and advice of our elders, but perhaps their time to lead has passed, and it is time for new leaders. Brain science is telling us that the electronic age has rewired many of us to multi-task, process, and integrate information from multiple sources and media in ways that are mystifying to those who haven’t kept up. Rather than be judgmental about the role of technology and social media, we need to step up proactively to include increasing amounts of resources and space for the new technology and social media. Whether we choose to live in the future or not, the future will not be stopped.

4.  We need a leader who is a consummate, passionate communicator and listener. More than anything else, the way forward will involve enormous amounts of listening and conversation in multiple formats. There is anxiety in the church system. That anxiety needs to be heard. There are myriad ideas for ways forward. Those myriad ideas need to be heard. We need a leader who has the multicultural, technological, and social media skills and the sincerity of heart, mind, and soul, to listen deeply to people of all political, cultural, and demographic persuasions so that they know they have been heard.

5.  We need a leader who values collaboration and is a skillful collaborator. A leader does not lead in a vacuum. A leader needs people in various roles with whom to work and on whom to rely. Collaboration is a skill that must be honed and honored. Thus, a leader must be self-aware of his or her skills, strengths and weaknesses, have a willingness to acknowledge such, and have the humility to ask for and accept help. Collaboration across different communities – with fellow leaders, staff, volunteers, community representatives, ecumenical partners, etc. – builds organizational health, webs of relationship, and infrastructure. We need a leader who sees and seeks to understand the value that exists in each of those different communities and is open to the possibility of incorporating ideas and practices from those different communities.

6.  We need a leader who will enthusiastically embrace a demanding schedule of hard work, involvement with a multitude of communities, and constant travel. It is well and good to acknowledge the importance of balance, self-care, and Sabbath. However, the reality of the times we are entering is that we will need a leader who can find self-renewal, positive challenge, and energy in the crucible of structural, demographic, and economic change. The type of leader who can lead in times of transition is not the same type of leader who is needed in times of stability, including times of stable, progressive growth. We need a leader who will be fueled and fed by the constant input of dynamic times rather than feel overwhelmed and fatigued by the constant motion. We need a leader whose sense of abundance derives from the overflowing cup of grace that comes from the Creator.

7.  We need a leader who is whole enough to withstand the onslaught of bad behavior, unjust criticism, and blame that will be directed at her or him. In an ideal world where we all live into our baptismal identity, our leaders would not be subjected to personal attacks and under-the-microscope scrutiny, but we do not live in an ideal world. So, we need a leader who is not among the walking wounded, does not carry a chip on the shoulder, and is not overly sensitive to the barbs and snipes that will surely be aimed her or his way. I think this also means that we need a leader who has the faithfulness and fortitude of spirit to be self-disciplined about turning the other cheek, forbearing pettiness and ill will, and exercising patience in listening and in teaching.

8.  We need a leader who genuinely, wholeheartedly, loves God’s people, in addition to loving the church. I think that a leader who genuinely loves God’s people, including those with whom the leader disagrees and those who abuse the leader, is absolutely needed in times of great change. It is not enough to love the institution and to want what’s best for the institutional church. A leader must also love the people of the church and the people whom the church serves, so intensely and so widely and deeply that the people know it and will respond to that love in kind. Perhaps this is the purest kind of charisma there is, a charisma that is a channeling of the love received from God and shared out in abundance with one’s fellow humans.

9.  We need a leader who is willing to sacrifice, to compromise, and to be decisive. I group these three characteristics together purposely. I do not believe that a leader should hold onto any idea or point so strongly that she or he is unwilling to sacrifice it for the good of the whole – the whole people, the whole institution, the whole relationship, the whole future. Compromise has its place; there must be a give and take that is grounded in continually growing and unfolding relationships. Decisiveness is necessary; there will never be enough data, analysis, or time. Choices must be made, and sometimes, leaders will make the wrong choice. Part of the responsibility of leadership is to bear the burden of making the wrong choices and the knowledge that the cost of wrong choices falls on the beloved community. What ameliorates the sacrifice, the compromise, and the decisions is the communication and collaboration that a good leader embraces consistently and continually.

10.  We need a leader who knows when to retire. I believe that God calls us each for a season for the tasks that God puts before us. We need a leader who has the humility and the wisdom to know when his or her season is at an end, and who steps aside graciously when that season has ended. The institutional church is too full of people who love the institution too much, to the point where they have overstayed their seasons. Leadership is a lot like parenting. We raise our children to leave us. We step out of their way when they are grown. So, too, must we as leaders raise new leaders to step out of our shadow, and then, we must step aside to make room for their leadership season.

From my perspective, it should be possible to hold an over-arching vision of a church that is dynamic and vibrant at the grassroots, congregational level, and yet allow for variations of how congregations and dioceses are organized. Dioceses that may favor more mutual and team ministry models should not be stereotyped as departures from the norm, but rather, the new norm should be that there is no norm.

Needless to say, leading in an environment of great diversity and tolerance for difference is exceptionally challenging and not what most traditional leaders are prepared for. The traditional mode of a leader imprinting his or her personal vision and leadership style upon an organizational unit doesn’t work well in an environment where people and ideas are moving in from the margins and changing the balance.

Lessons From Disappointment

[Province VI Synod Sermon - A Message from Your Executive Council Representative - This sermon was delivered to the Province VI Synod on Friday, April 27th, in Omaha, Nebraska.]

             Me Ke Aloha Pumehana. Aloha Kakou. Mahalo E Ke Akua No Keia La. Amen’e ~ I greet you with the warmth of my love. May there be love between us. Thanks be to God for this day. Amen.

             I feel deeply honored to stand before you, Province VI’s very gifted and distinguished lay, clergy and episcopal leaders, to share some reflections on today’s scriptures and on my first triennium as the elected lay representative to Executive Council from our province.

             I often tell people, when they comment on how many ministry arenas I seem to be present in, and how much I’m traveling, that my story is about being called for a season. Five years ago, I was not in this season, and perhaps, five years from now, I won’t be anymore, either. Spring sneaks up on me, typically not announcing itself in a big way, just giving hints that it’s around the corner. A brighter morning one day or the arrival of a few returning birds, maybe a single daffodil pushing through the dirt. Hints. Little changes that enwrap me and beckon me to attend.

             I first stood for election to the Diocese of Colorado’s Standing Committee, a combined Standing Committee and Diocesan Council, and I was elected in 2007, and reelected in 2010. Then in 2008, I was elected first lay deputy alternate for the 2009 General Convention and elected for 2012 as third lay deputy. In the spring of 2009, I threw my hat into the ring for the Executive Council seat I now hold until 2015. And at my first Executive Council meeting, I was elected the Council’s representative to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Church Council, thereby sort of closing a circle, having been baptized, raised and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran.

            Along the way, I have been an Education for Ministry mentor, a confirmation catechist, and a stewardship, planned giving, and leader educator. This kind of vertical and horizontal leadership in The Episcopal Church has afforded me a very unique view of our church that is also richly nuanced by the fact that I am a female, Asian woman of color, from a refugee-immigrant background. I conduct Anti-Racism Training wherever I am invited, building upon a lifetime of being a community volunteer and justice activist in Detroit, upstate New York, Berkeley, Honolulu, Amarillo, and Colorado.

             I do my best to answer “YES” wherever God is calling me, because I have an abiding interest in the Gospel work of justice and peace, and a deep desire to share how much my life and my family’s life have been changed by following Jesus. I learned volunteerism from my father, who probably never thought of the word, “volunteer,” to describe himself, despite the fact that he was the Chinese cook who translated for the Chinese community members who didn’t speak, read or write English, working on their income tax returns, and accompanying their families through hospitalizations and immigration hearings.

             Work done out of a desire to honor and to please others, work done with a thought for others’ benefit, work done with joy in one’s heart – that’s prayer in motion. We hear people say, “I lift up so-and-so in prayer.” The kind of work I’ve been describing – the servant posture of the foot washer, who honors and pleases another – is an incarnated lifting up of people in prayer.

             The Epistle reading from 1 John 3 says, in my paraphrase: “Beloved daughter, love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. By this, you will know that you come from truth, and your heart will be reassured whenever you have doubts; for God overcomes your doubts, and God knows everything. If we’re not paralyzed and undone by our doubting hearts, then we will be brave before God, asking God for the bold desires of our hearts, such as justice and peace among those we encounter, because we will want to please God, which will make God’s heart sing.”

             Shikata ga nai is a Japanese expression that means "nothing can be done about it," "it can't be helped," or, at its worst, "it's hopeless." Being an optimist to the tips of my toes, in fact, being someone who sees the cup as not just half-full, but full to overflowing, I am reluctant to subscribe to such a notion as Shikata ga nai. I prefer, instead, to think of occasions that cause such feelings to arise as "Lessons from Disappointment" as compared to "Lessons in Disappointment."

Surely none of us needs more lessons in disappointment; they come unbidden and unwanted. Dreams not only haven't come true; as we grow older, we learn that some dreams will never come true. Those dreams weren't bad. In some cases, their time has just passed. In other cases, those dreams were myths, promises that aren’t meant for everyone. I will never be fifteen again no matter how hard I wish it. The meme that I learned in my years of public school education that you will succeed if you only work hard enough and keep your nose clean, I also learned did not apply equally, or at all, to people with brown and black skin. How we relate to the world is very much about how we frame our perceptions of what we see and experience. Our choice of language to express our perceptions matters. Our choice of theology to ground our perceptions matters even more.

I prefer the posture found in the 23rd Psalm that says, “You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”

On Executive Council, I have had the privilege of leading a team of three members who have been responsible for conducting a dispersed Anti-Racism Training for Council throughout the triennium. We have noted and tried to address some fundamental issues of Council members’ behaviors that do not match the moral and ethical standards which they espouse and strive to achieve. Certainly, racism and the goal to interrupt racism and eradicate its footprint on our expressions of church and society are multilayered, complex, and frequently convoluted to the point of resisting analysis, parsing, and deconstruction.

But one thing we know is this:  how we talk to one another makes a difference. How we have holy conversations about difficult topics where we disagree vehemently, based on the theological, spiritual, and emotional ground on which we stand – the how of holy conversation – matters and can have a profound impact on how we continue walking together, or continue walking wounded and divided.

Think for a moment with me about the image in the 23rd Psalm. “You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me.” God invites me to a table filled with sustenance, food for the journey, and he invites me to that table in the presence of those who trouble me, who make me uncomfortable, who make me feel unsafe, who might be a danger to me, to my ego, to my property, to my beliefs that I hold dearly, to my physical well-being. “You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.” God has anointed me and marked me as Christ’s own, and that anointing, that marking, is so fulsome, that my cup is running over. I am filled up and equipped, prepared for the journey, with enough, with everything that I need, so that I don’t have to worry about those who trouble me, anymore.

There are at least a couple of topics we will be addressing in this Synod meeting that are opportunities for Lessons from Disappointment. Council has expressed disappointment over the budget and the budget process. It is the disappointment that I want to look at.  

“Disappointment” is the feeling of dissatisfaction that occurs when your expectations or hopes don’t come to fruition. You’re disappointed when you don’t get what you expected or what you wanted. In the vocabulary of modern slang, you would call disappointment a “fail.”

“Fails” almost always occur as a result of failures in human communications, in human relations. And “fails” are usually accompanied by a quick descent into blaming, diminishing, and justification along the lines of “Right and Wronged” – “I’m right, and I’ve been wronged.”

In Anti-Racism work, we talk in terms of having the “What you did was racist” conversation as being preferable and the right conversation to have, versus the “You’re a racist” conversation. The “What you did was racist” conversation is based on the facts of the behavior, while the “You’re a racist” conversation is based on your opinion, your judgment, which is open to dispute.

I think, in this time of tremendous change in society and in the church, we are being called to learn some Lessons from Disappointment that both invite us back to our fundamental identity as the Good Shepherd’s sheep and also invite us to partake of the wisdom from the margins, from the outer circles populated by the communities of color, from the blessed who are enumerated in the Beatitudes, who frame their perceptions differently than those who abide in the houses of privilege and the councils of power. The perception and use of resources like time and communications, like meeting configurations and silence, harken back to a restoration of Creation and God’s creatures. This is our Episcopal theology, that Christ has given us the ministry of reconciliation and restoration. When we resist taking up the yoke of that Christ-given ministry of reconciliation and restoration, our relationships get broken, our communications are impaired, and we are in a new Babel, where we speak but do not hear, hear but do not understand, and are in the company of our brothers and sisters, but not in relationship.

I’d like to leave you with a closing image. There are Turkish dancers, Sufis, commonly referred to as Whirling Dervishes. They whirl, turning clockwise, with their right hands, open, raised above their heads to receive God’s blessings, and their left hands, also open, pointed downward, to pour the blessings they have received, onto the rest of creation. This is a posture of relationship and connection. This is a prayer posture that acknowledges our interconnectedness, ubuntu, and says that being networked, connected to one another in mission and ministry, in stewardship of God’s great and gracious gifts, is a very good thing. Amen.

Do I only speak for myself?

Do I speak for myself, and that's the extent of it? Or, because I serve as an elected member on the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, does what I say also inadvertently speak for the church somehow?

When I speak in and around the church, I am very conscious of the fact that I serve in an elected position. I sought out this elected position. I allowed my name to be placed in nomination for the position, and I genuinely wanted to be elected. My motivation to seek election was to have a say in the church's decision-making and to represent what I perceive to be an underrepresented perspective, that of a female, Asian descent, lay, person of color, from the middle of the country. 

I believe that I have something of value to offer to the Councils of the church and to the discussions on topics of importance to the church, in terms of thoughts, analysis, interpretation, and opinion. I also believe that I exercise a prophetic voice, one that continually raises the concerns and the existence of those on the margins and focuses the attention of the wider church on those who do not have the privilege to bring their own voices to the table.

Individual Council members are not authorized to speak on behalf of Council, and I respect that Council norm. When I speak, I am very clear that I am speaking only for myself, and I attempt to make that clear in my communiques, whether they be blogging here, speaking in a meeting or public forum, posting comments online and on Facebook, or Tweeting. 

However, when one becomes a somewhat public figure in the sense of being an elected official, even if it's in a church and not in the public arena like holding a government office, then one also attracts and accumulates a certain amount of baggage that comes with the position. It's unavoidable. It's like you become a magnet for the expectations and projections of others whether you choose it or not. Just as we say in Christianity that one cannot be a Christian without community, so, too, I think, it is the case that you cannot serve in an elected position without also being of and in the community that raised you up and continues to hold you up. 

In my opinion, the expectations and projections of others place on me, an elected church leader, a measure of responsibility that I feel duty-bound to honor and respect. In the public arena of government, we might name the form that honor and respect take as modeling good citizenship. In the church, I would name it as modeling Christian behavior. That means the obvious elements of good behavior, like avoiding snarky comments and gossip, and not spreading lies, cheating, or promoting hate. But it also means the less obvious, and perhaps, more nuanced elements of good behavior, like exercising restraint in commenting before the facts are known, avoiding speculation about someone's intent, listening to various sides of issues and arguments, and continuing to engage conversation even when it's uncomfortable, fatiguing and personally distressing.

Perhaps the hardest thing to do is to exercise restraint and to avoid defensive and self-justifying behavior when you or your group is under attack in the blogosphere. I'm a former commercial bank customer service manager, and I've had years of experience in handling customer complaints in both the banking and the insurance industries. In the world of corporate finance, there was always a profit motive, cost-benefit analysis, or strategic position to consider in handling complaints. In the world of church service, I consciously try to avoid falling back into the habits of being strategic and strive to be non-anxious, irenic, and honest. 

I admit that I often fall short of my ideals and have my share of failures of nerve and perseverance. But the world of church service calls me to a cycle of self-examination, repentance, prayer, and renewal. I'm not going to be judging my fellow church servants any more harshly than I judge myself. And we will all rely upon the same merciful Lord to grant us grace in what we do and how we do it. Amen.

The Episcopal Church's Budget and Budget Process

The Episcopal Church is in the last three months leading up to General Convention in July, and one of the major topics of discussion all around the church, including in many online forums, is the subject of the next triennium's budget. 

The Program, Budget and Finance Committee (PB&F) has launched a Web site to solicit Feedback on Proposed 2012-2015 Budget. I encourage you to view the 20-slide PowerPoint presentation about the proposed budget; it is a good overview and will be shown at the nine provincial synods so that Deputies can be better informed prior to convention. 

I also commend to you the Web site Deputies Online Forum that President of the House of Deputies, Dr. Bonnie Anderson, is hosting. Be sure to download and read the "white paper" entitled "The Budget and Budget Process" for some background information. The online discussion was started yesterday, and I posted the following comments in the online forum. Anyone may read the postings at the Deputies Online Forum, although only Deputies and First Alternates are invited to post.

* * * * *

I am Deputy Lelanda Lee from the Diocese of Colorado, and I also serve as the Lay Representative from Province VI to Executive Council. This is my third General Convention (volunteer in 2006, alternate in 2009, and deputy in 2012). I also serve on Colorado’s Standing Committee and the Province VI Council, both of which afford me the perspective of how funding the church happens at those levels and the concomitant realities and issues.

I have had the privilege of serving as the elected representative from Executive Council to the ELCA Church Council during this triennium. As such, I have observed the ELCA Church Council grapple with similar challenges of a changing landscape for denominational churches. The ELCA made a deliberate decision to turn their funding model upside down at last year’s Churchwide Assembly (similar to our General Convention), recognizing as The Episcopal Church also recognizes, that mission and ministry happen most vibrantly and effectively at the congregational and synod (diocesan) expressions of church.

Everyone’s economic reality is that we are all being challenged to become more intentional, focused and creative about doing mission and ministry with the resources at hand, period. In some ways, it is a lesson in the Beatitudes, learning how to be blessed and to be a blessing with all that we are, just as we are, with a glad and grateful heart.

I am reminded, as we begin this online discussion of the budget and budget process, of a piece of wisdom from staff officer, the Rev. Margaret Rose, who says, “Always assume good intent,” referring to the fact that our sisters and brothers in the church all want what is best for the church, even though we might disagree on the approaches and the specific decisions. As each of us has particular gifts and calls in the Body of Christ, so, too, do we each have particular interests, passions, experiences, and perspectives derived from the intersection of living into those interests and passions.

At the end of the day, we won’t all agree on what the budget should look like. We may feel deeply disappointed in the choices that are made, and we may wonder about how those choices speak to the church’s priorities. My hope and my prayer are that we can avoid wounding each other as we listen deeply to the church and to the needs of the world and as we discern where the Spirit is calling our church now.

All of us deputies and alternates are leaders in our church, and one thing is certain, from my understanding of the exercise of leadership – that as we exercise our leadership, we will disappoint and possibly even harm some of our brothers and sisters while deciding upon the final budget. We will do the best that we know how, praying for the Spirit’s guidance, and we will humbly ask for forgiveness for not doing enough.

One of the bright lights I see in the work being done by the DFMS staff that bears talking about is the cross-departmental, cross-disciplinary collaborations that have been happening in recent months, which somehow don’t come across in the lines of a budget. Many of the longstanding “silos” have been broken down and replaced by creative, collaborative and mutually supportive work, which I observed at the Everyone, Everywhere Mission Conference in Estes Park in October, at the Alternative Leadership and Theological Training Consultation in January, and at the New Community Clergy and Lay Training Conference at the beginning of March.

I personally have witnessed the collaborative work being done among the ethnic missioners and cohorts being mirrored by the cross-diocesan collaboration of a number of bishops and diocesan missioners and picked up on by local clergy and laity. I think that is the type of leadership effort that is appropriate for a churchwide staff to engage, while dioceses and congregations engage the actual development and offering of programs to suit their particular contexts. The participants in those gatherings were not cynical, but open to being invited in to participate and to share in the work. I think we’re onto something new here that exemplifies what we mean by subsidiarity, and it is still rolling out in creative ways in multiple dioceses around the church.

These are challenging times that are also exciting, because I believe that God is calling us into participation in new creative activity all around the church. Our job will be to exercise good stewardship over not only financial and human resources, but also over our own spirits so that our spirits are fed and formed and willing to take on Christ’s yoke. I believe that the ones who are blessed in the Beatitudes have a very important role in teaching the church that has been privileged in our lifetime to become a very different church that will stand in solidarity with the poor, the weak, the hungry, the homeless, the lonely, the lost.

Deputy Lelanda Lee
Lay, Colorado

Facebooking About Racist Incidents

I read, post and comment on news reports that are of interest to me on Facebook. As an Anti-Racism Trainer, stories about racism and racial justice obviously fall into my interest area. I post stories when I think there is a teaching element to them or when I just want to express my reaction to the stories. Part of Facebook’s appeal is that it is a forum where I and other Facebookers can get emotional and spiritual support for our feelings of grief, frustration, confusion, and angst over things that happen in the world that we find distressing, oppressive, or evil. Facebook is also a place where we can discuss these stories in depth.

The news stories that get reported and provoke the most commentary tend to be the most egregious of their ilk, whether it be campaign finance violations, ethics abuses in government and business, or racism in the public arena including in the criminal justice arena. Bad news is news in the media.

I was asked about the story of the White Kansas teenager who was chased by two Black teenagers and doused with gasoline and set afire, and why I had not posted that story. Frankly, I was unaware of that story until it was pointed out to me. That is also a racially-motivated hate crime, this time against a young White man. I am appalled at this hate crime, and I hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. I will be praying for the injured teenager.

Regrettably, in these United States, systemic, institutional racism does target people of color, especially those with the darkest skin. That is not a matter of opinion. That is a fact. Thus, I and others, react and respond to stories of racism against people of color. We do it both as a lament of how things are and a cry for how things should and could be . . . if only we loved our neighbors more and treated everyone as human beings deserving of dignity and justice.

It is noteworthy to point out the disparity in the amount of attention that a story about a racially-motivated hate crime gets, depending on the race of the victim(s) and the race of the perpetrator(s). If I Google “doused with gasoline,” I get less than a page of results to reach a news story about the White Kansas teenager. That story hasn’t reached the proportions of headline news like the still unfolding story about Trayvon Martin.

The story of an unarmed Black man killed by armed police and other policing authorities is not a one-time story. There have been other stories with the same meme of an unarmed Black killed by policing authorities, some shot in the back. See Amadou Diallo (1999), Sean Bell (2006), Prince Jones (2011), Ramarley Graham (2012), among other similar stories.

The four police officers who shot Diallo fired 41 shots and were acquitted by a jury. Five officers fired 50 bullets in the Sean Bell case, three were tried, and they were found not guilty, although the city of New York settled a related civil case with a financial payment. The case of Prince Jones, who was shot eight times in the back, shoulder and arm, involved a Black undercover detective, and the prosecutor chose not to charge the police officer, although the county ended up settling a civil suit with a financial payment. Teenager Graham was shot and killed inside his home after a pursuit by two police officers who are on camera kicking down the door to the apartment; the shooting occurred in early February, and the legal proceedings are in process. Martin was killed by a neighborhood watch captain, identified by his father as Latino.

The race of the authority figures doing the shooting is not limited to White; In Jones’ case, the shooter was a Black, and in Martin’s case, a Latino. What is alarming is the number of cases involving unarmed people, primarily males, of color, who become the victims of police shootings. They are targeted, because they are dark-skinned, and they are suspected of being in the places where they’re found for suspicious, illegal reasons, then followed, questioned, or pursued aggressively, and confronted with baton or guns and threatened with arrest or violence. This is wrong, and it is unjust. As a nation, we must do better.

Facebook, Electronic Town Square

Facebook (FB) is the new town square. It’s an electronic town square where you can live out loud. FB is where I have brief exchanges with friends I’ve met in person and friends I only know through our online relationship. We chat about current events and share what we’re up to by posting comments, links, photos, video, etc.

People ask for help, from referrals for a plumber to resources for designing a community garden. You can also view FB Friends’ pages, even if you don’t do any posting. Folks who only peek and don’t post are known as lurkers. Social media has generated new vocabulary to describe its milieu.

Some people disparage FB and other social media as time wasters or addictive. Yes, but no more so than hanging out aimlessly at the mall or coffee shop, or watching television nonstop. As with all things enjoyable and psychically rewarding, you have to have your priorities straight and exercise moderation and appropriate use. FB can be mindful and uplifting for participants if they're engaged in dialogue and sharing life stories.

FB launched in February, 2004, and I’ve been on FB since February, 2009. I was slow to embrace FB, being the laggard in the family, behind my 26-year old daughter, who’s always first, and my 42-year old son and 73-year old husband, all three of whom typically jump in months before I embrace new technology. I still don’t use an iPad, but they all do. I have as much technology as I can consume for the moment. Adam Ostrow reported in September, 2011, that "Facebook Now Has 800 Million Users". I now have 1,015 FB Friends.

I signed onto FB when I realized that I was missing out on my friends’ online conversations. As I’ve become adept at FB, I’ve come to value it as a source of maintaining connection with family and friends, building relationships, and reconnecting with old friends like high school classmates. FB has been a bonus source of new learning, because FB Friends turn me on to authors, news, and music I wouldn’t otherwise discover.

Age is not a barrier to adopting social media. Young users enjoy it as much as older users. Young people are Digital Natives or Netizens, who were born into an age of computers and the Internet. For us older folks, an adaptive attitude willing to try new things is necessary. One must overcome not only a technology barrier, but also an intellectual and emotional one to live out loud.

Privacy concerns about living out loud are real. One does need caution because of the potential for criminal acts like identity theft and stalking. However, one must likewise exercise caution living in the world even when not online. For some 800+ million users, the benefits of being online with social media outweigh the downside.

Life is full of risks, and one has to be informed, up-to-date, alert, and cautious in all of life’s endeavors. Living out loud on FB is no different. As one develops experience, one does gain a sixth sense about who’s legitimate and who’s iffy on FB. An analogous situation is how an experienced driver has a sixth sense about the iffy driver in front of her and anticipates a sudden lurching into her traffic lane.

How did she know? She had never met that driver before, maybe hadn’t even followed for more than a few minutes. Yet, the sum of all her driving experience gives her a gestalt about noticing minute cues, many of which exist at the subconscious level, that add up to an internal warning system that says, potentially dangerous driver ahead. Netizens possess that acumen online.

Social media are tools, vehicles for human interaction. The fact that social media exists online makes it new and different, not bad or lesser than in-person human interaction. Not everyone will get it, but not everyone likes to talk on the telephone or meet for coffee either.

Don't Blame the Actress

A Huffington Post article yesterday morning reported that Lawrence O’Donnell had a lot to say about former Michigan Representative Pete Hoekstra’s blatantly racist and xenophobic Super Bowl ad. You can replay the ad here.

On his Monday night television show, O’Donnell replayed the ad, and the Huffington Post reports that he also said, "It's one thing for Pete Hoekstra to buy 30 seconds of television time to tell us, if he can in clear English...what troubles him about this country's relationship with China. But it is quite another for him to hire an actor to do his dirty work for him."

Then the Huffington Post went on to say that O’Donnell “harshly criticized the actress for playing a character in a political ad that cast her as a racial stereotype, and said he would like to know ‘what exactly she was thinking.’”

I agree that it is unfortunate that the young Asian actress took the job. I think that the focus of all discussions about the ad must be on Hoekstra and his racism and not on the actress' complicity. Hoekstra had the economic power to offer a job that the actress took.

When individuals like the actress participate in their own oppression due to racism, they haven't yet learned to look at systems of oppression and are only thinking in terms of me, the individual, which is, of course, the American value and meme.

Perhaps the actress regrets taking the role now. She probably didn’t envision that she would be the subject of criticism from so many people, including on-air commentators, for accepting a paying acting job. But we must place the blame for the egregious racism of the ad and the accompanying Website debbiespenditnow.com squarely on Hoekstra and not deflect any of it onto the actress.

Hoekstra’s campaign has already tried the ploy of playing victim by claiming that this entire racist campaign is satire and that those of us who are calling attention to his racism and xenophobia just don’t get it. Hoekstra’s spokesman Paul Ciaramitaro is quoted as saying “I think the viewer of an ad is going to recognize satire” in a politico.com story.

Spreading the blame to the actress or feeling sorry for Hoekstra reaping what he has sown are deflections from the focus on his racism and his unsuitability for a Senate seat. It is unacceptable to denigrate Asians by portraying us speaking broken English and inciting fear and hatred of China and Chinese people as the ones to blame for the ills of the American economy. The economic story is so much more complex than that.