My friend Jane at Acts of Hope pointed me to Bill Moyers talking with theologian James Cone about the nooses coming out of our racist closets these days -- and the power of love and resistance. Here's a sample:
I'm pretty much video proof, but this is a frank, truthful, joyful conversation not to be missed. Video and transcript here. Take the time to watch; you won't regret it.BILL MOYERS: I would have a hard time believing God is love if I were a black man. I mean, those bodies swinging on the tree. What was God? Where was God during the 400 years of slavery?
JAMES CONE: See, you are looking at it from the perspective of those who win. You have to see it from the - perspective of those who have no power. In fact, God is love because it's that power in your life that lets you know you can resist the definitions that other people are being-- placing on you. And you sort of say, sure, nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow. Sure, there is slavery. Sure, there is lynching, segregation.
But, glory, hallelujah. Now, that glory hallelujah is the fact that there is a humanity and a spirit that nobody can kill. And as long as you know that, you will resist.
3 comments:
Your link to my blog is broken, but thanks for the mention! Very powerful, wasn't it, and James Cone rocks, even with that high voice of his. PREACH IT, Doctor.
P.S. I loved Cone's answer to Moyers, the one you quoted. This is, of course, what the Gospel does: flips things upside down and inside out. And those who hope against hope and know the power of suffering and evil are the ones who can speak of the overcoming of evil and power of hope.
Damn -- sorry about the broken link, now fixed. Sometimes Blogger inserts code into links and screws them up. Suppose I have to read their HTML every time to prevent this.
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