Why I Took My 4 Year Old To The Ministers March
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Episode 111 - Praying with Your Feet: The One Thousand Ministers March
This past Monday I took Camden to the Ministers March For Justice. The original plan was for him to stay with family but that fell through. We had the choice of staying home or going together. So we boarded a train and a bus and went to D.C. Why bring my son? We could have stayed at home and if we had done so I don't think anyone would've blamed me. But the number one question I was asked while interviewing people at the Ministers March was, "why did you bring your son?" Heck, even Jason asked me.
I played off the question with, "because my grandmother couldn't watch him" because I had not formulated an articulate response. I knew Camden needed to be there but couldn't say why. Upon reflection, I have a better idea of why we both needed to be there.
I can't teach him this one.
Camden looks to me for how to act. He looks to me for what to do. But in this instance, I don't know what to do. I know I need to preach prophetically. I know I need to speak up and speak out. But when it comes to action necessary to unlearn the bigotry and hatred embedded in our country I don't know what to do.
He needs to hear other voices. He needs others to teach him what to do. I need others to teach me what to do.
It is time to listen. We need to listen.
We are at the point in our journey of unlearning the racism and bigotry that one of two things will happen: we will either forget and then be reawakened after the next public display of white supremacy or we will keep focused on the practice of unlearning.
Part of my unlearning of racism and bigotry has been to listen. I need to speak less and listen more. I need to quit writing about what white men should be doing and start doing it myself.
I want Camden to know that he needs to listen. Not in the child-parent relationship manner, but in an I need to hear what you are saying so I know how I need to change.
The need to listen is why we produced this episode of Crackers & Grape Juice. We need to listen to voices on the front lines if we want to lead our congregations and communities towards unlearning America's original sin. So in this episode, we ask and we listen.
What a day. I had the privilege of marching in DC with 3000 of my clergy colleagues. #mm4j
A post shared by Teer Hardy (@teerhardy) on Aug 28, 2017 at 12:31pm PDT
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