Happy New Year! Now is the season of renewal and making resolutions, for giving thanks for what has come in the past year and deciding what we want to come next. For some, however, true thankfulness for the past year is hard to experience. Real harm and the recurring threat of real harm by openly racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ and xenophobic individuals and groups has seen marginalized communities in our own country and abroad facing daily worry and changing their social habits. This past year brought an increased number of openly anti-Semitic attacks and murders motivated by hatred of the other, with several happening in December alone in Europe and the U.S., leading to a question posed in an essay in The Atlantic: Are members of the Jewish community hiding their faith, or “going underground” to preserve their safety?
( https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/after-monsey-will-jews-go-underground/604219/)
The number of social concerns for members of minority and marginalized communities currently leaves us wondering where to start. Several weeks ago I participated in helping bring a national performer and spokesperson for American Indian women to Oklahoma. She came to sing and talk to community members about the tragedy of kidnapping, trafficking, rape and murder of Indigenous girls and women (MMIW, or Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women). This issue affects individuals and tribes across the country on and off reservation land; the web is littered with thousands of pictures of girls and women, accompanied by details on where and when they went they were last seen, posted by worried and grieving families. Riddled by communication problems and statutory differences between state, federal and sovereign tribal regulations, there is currently no straightforward way these girls and women can be found quickly, and no easy way to arrest and convict the perpetrators. The problem seems both unacceptable and insurmountable. MMIW, like the horrors of anti-Semitism in 2019, is just one of hundreds of social ills that impacts our communities on a daily basis, ills that themselves also seem both unacceptable and insurmountable.
So, about what can we be thankful, and where can we plug in to help? I can think of one, simple answer: intentional community. Groups of people bound by at least one common interest that we can find, enjoy, and join for this daily struggle for justice, for progress inside the hearts and minds of others, intentional communities exist and are moving all around us, all the time. We simply have to join them to make a difference.
It is time to make our plans and set our intentions for 2020, and I always begin with a wish list. My wish list for 2020 is simple and demonstrably effective, but also audacious. I want you, the community, to come out. That’s it, that’s all. Showing up to events, celebrations, and public actions creates contact and positive affiliation. That alone will begin to change something in you if you have not done this before, I promise. If you have never been to an interfaith or intercultural celebration, you decide, with one or half a dozen friends, that you are going to do it. If you have caught the celebration bug but have been moved to learn more about particular communities, do an online search and you’ll find groups and events that teach just what you’re looking for right in your community. Boom! You’ll find an event listing and again, you grab a friend or three and head there. Past this step but feeling like it’s time you use your feet, hands and voice to stand up in public for a group being harmed? You already have the connections! Find the movement’s community plan and join it. It’s as simple as that. I am constantly amazed, my heart is instantly warmed, at the loving humanity I see at interfaith, intercultural, migrant, and LGBTQ events I attend. There are amazing people for you to meet, amazing moments for you to share. I promise you it will be worth your time. And you will make our community healthy and resilient by standing up for someone else.
Will we solve the problems of racism, anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, anti-LGBTQ harm just by leaving our houses and going to public events and actions? No. But we will not solve any of these problems in our homes, reading the news, or praying at church without some type of connected, active follow-up. We are the hands and feet of the very solutions we need. And we can all benefit by joining intentional communities.
Need to find one? Visit one of these websites to learn more about people and communities who need you. If you know more, feel free to post them in our comments section:
Happy New Year! Now is the season of renewal and making resolutions, and also for giving thanks for what has come in the past year and what we expect to come. For some, however, true thankfulness for the past year is hard to experience. Real harm and the recurring threat of real harm by openly racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ and xenophobic individuals and groups has seen marginalized communities in our own country and abroad facing daily worry and changing their social habits. This past year brought an increased number of openly anti-Semitic attacks and murders motivated by hatred of the other in recent history, with several happening in December alone in Europe and the U.S., leading to a question posed in an Atlantic essay: Are members of the Jewish community hiding their faith, or “going underground” to preserve their safety?
( https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/after-monsey-will-jews-go-underground/604219/)
The number of social concerns for members of minority and marginalized communities currently leaves us wondering where to start. Several weeks ago I participated in helping bring a national performer and spokesperson for American Indian women to Oklahoma. She came to sing and talk to community members about the tragedy of kidnapping, trafficking, rape and murder of Indigenous girls and women (MMIW, or Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women). This issue affects individuals and tribes across the country on and off reservation land; the web is littered with thousands of pictures of girls and women, accompanied by details on where and when they went they were last seen, posted by worried and grieving families. Riddled by communication problems and statutory differences between state, federal and sovereign tribal regulations, there is currently no straightforward way these girls and women can be found quickly, and no easy way to arrest and convict the perpetrators. The problem seems both unacceptable and insurmountable. MMIW, like the horrors of anti-Semitism in 2019, is just one of hundreds of social ills that impacts our communities on a daily basis, ills that themselves also seem both unacceptable and insurmountable.
So, about what can we be thankful, and where can we plug in to help? I can think of one, simple answer: intentional community. Groups of people bound by at least one common interest that we can find, enjoy, and join for this daily struggle for justice, for progress inside the hearts and minds of others, intentional communities exist and are moving all around us, all the time. We simply have to join them to make a difference.
It is time to make our plans and set our intentions for 2020, and I always begin with a wish list. My wish list for 2020 is simple and demonstrably effective, but also audacious. I want you, the community, to come out. That’s it, that’s all. Showing up to events, celebrations, and public actions creates contact and positive affiliation. That alone will begin to change something in you if you have not done this before, I promise. If you have never been to an interfaith or intercultural celebration, you decide, with one or half a dozen friends, that you are going to do it. If you have caught the celebration bug but have been moved to learn more about particular communities, do an online search and you’ll find groups and events that teach just what you’re looking for right in your community. Boom! You’ll find an event listing and again, you grab a friend or three and head there. Past this step but feeling like it’s time you use your feet, hands and voice to stand up in public for a group being harmed? You already have the connections! Find the movement’s community plan and join it. It’s as simple as that. I am constantly amazed, my heart is instantly warmed, at the loving humanity I see at interfaith, intercultural, migrant, and LGBTQ events I attend. There are amazing people for you to meet, amazing moments for you to share. I promise you it will be worth your time. And you will make our community healthy and resilient by standing up for someone else.
Will we solve the problems of racism, anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, anti-LGBTQ harm just by leaving our houses and going to public events and actions? No. But we will not solve any of these problems in our homes, reading the news, or praying at church without some type of connected, active follow-up. We are the hands and feet of the very solutions we need. And we can all benefit by joining intentional communities.
Need to find one? Visit one of these websites to learn more about people and communities who need you.
www.ihaveavoicenow.org
Give money in 2020 to good, compassionate socially connected organizations if you can so they can continue providing direct work to help others. But along with that resource, give something more important than money. Dedicate yourself to finding time, talent, and treasure to help, in at least one area of need, and you will make a difference, even if you don’t see it happen with your own eyes. Make 2020 a year of change. Get involved and find your community.
Give money in 2020 to good, compassionate socially connected organizations if you can so they can continue providing direct work to help others. But along with that resource, give something more important than money. Dedicate yourself to finding time, talent, and treasure to help, in at least one area of need, and you will make a difference, even if you don’t see it happen with your own eyes. Make 2020 a year of change. Get involved and find your community.