Last night I joined a tele-conversation between Terry Patten and Dan Millman to explore the deepening of spiritual activism by keeping Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground. The path of balance being discussed was one that I hope will continue to grow in resonance among activists of every stripe and every issue.
In my own experience of this path, I went on for many years with my head in the clouds of spiritual awakening AND my feet on the ground of environmental justice. My challenge has been to fully connect head and feet in heart space. Once that process of connection went into warp drive, it was clearer that my life's intention (at least for this lifetime) is to bring patterns of oppression and exploitation of people and nature to light -- wherever I find them -- and to work to transform them.
Here in Tennessee, I've found a place for my head-heart-connected practical feet in SOCM -- Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment. Formerly operating as Save Our Cumberland Mountains, SOCM recently changed its name to reflect its focus on social, economic and environmental justice for ALL people and communities across Tennessee. According to SOCM's website, this necessarily includes a committment to overcoming social and institutional racism and embracing our diverse cultures.
Last month, my practical feet took me out to SOCM's Jackson Chapter to celebrate Save Our Community Day with that chapter's members, who represent mostly African-American and white "urban dwellers." I say "urban dwellers" to point out that Jackson has the distinction of being SOCM's first urban chapter. Also, it's such a contrast to Campbell County, which is very rural, especially up in the holler where I live.
Of course, if you're "from around here" you also know that about 98% of my county's citizens are white folks. There are people in Campbell County who self-identify with other cultures, but practically speaking (and this is me speaking as a white person in one of the most rural parts of of the county) they are essentially invisible.
Prior to my experience with the Jackson folks a few weeks ago, I'm not sure I would have used the word "invisible" at the end of the last paragraph. It seems like every year that I've gone out there to Jackson, I've come home with some experience that I would place more in a mystical category. It was more a matter of sensing energy than seeing something I could, say, photograph and show it to you so you could see it too.
Anyway, here's what happened. As I listened to some of the members talking about their dreams for Jackson as their community, their home place, and heard their ideas for making those dreams happen, I started to feel invisible. This feeling persisted throughout the day. It wasn't until I began the long drive back to east Tennessee that I started to think about invisibility as a side effect in relationships and communities where the dynamics of oppressor-oppressed are in operation.
I have come back to this idea many times in the past few weeks, most recently as I began to write this post. This coming Friday, I plan to attend Community Unity Night in Shelbyville. This is a yearly event of one of the most culturally diverse chapters in SOCM -- the Bedford County Chapter in middle Tennessee.
This year's celebration will include a panel discussion on Public Chapter 1112, a law that goes into effect in January of 2011 and requires jail keepers to determine the immigration status of every person arrested, booked or held in jail for any length of time. Panelists will help tackle the question: Is this law a new civil rights issue in Tennessee?
The details of this law and how it will be implemented have been of concern to me since it was introduced into the legislature. Thinking about it again in anticipation of the upcoming community discussion this Friday in Shelbyville, it occurred to me how many ways this law could serve to make people who are already oppressed even more invisible.
It is my inner Mystic who reminds me now of an encounter with an awesome little songbird many years ago on the Boulder (Colorado) Mall. I had gone there just to hang out and watch people, but instead became aware of an incredibly melodious tweeting (no, my people, this was way before Twitter). It took me awhile to locate the source -- a little sparrow of some kind sitting in a leafless tree, just above the heads of an endless procession of Boulderites flowing up and down the Mall.
As I gave this bird my full attention, I noticed that it was singing with such intensity that its whole body was in motion with the sounding of each phrase. If any creature can truly sing its heart out, that little sparrow helped me imagaine what that would look like. But who besides me was seeing and listening? No one, as far as I could tell.
As I continued to attend to this amazing bird, a strange thing happened. The world seemed to slow down, colors became more vivid, and the bird's song more vibrant. I now perceived the people rushing by as a blur, leaving me and the bird as the only visible living beings on the Mall. I wonder now: did the bird and I become invisible to the speeding Boulderites?
Mystically speaking, the full potential for vibrant and vivid life on Earth depends on every one of us being seen, on every one of us liberating the songs that only we can sing. Practically speaking, that illuminates one of the real tragedies of oppressive systems that keep any individual or group of people invisible and voiceless.
That's why my mystical head is moving my practical feet to stand with my brothers and sisters in Bedford County on Friday, November 12th. I want to see them. I want to hear them.
For information on how to join the conversation, visit the Bedford Chapter's Community Unity Night page at SOCM's website or the event page on Facebook. You can also use the Community Unity Night information link in the right-hand sidebar.
Here are some links for more background information on Public Chapter 1112 and the crossroads of immigrant rights and civil rights:
Public Chapter 1112 (pdf)
Editorial: State Immigration Bill Flawed, Unnecessary (Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 13, 2010)
The Persistence Of Racial And Ethnic Profiling In The United States (ACLU report released in June 2009)
America's Secret ICE Castles (Jacqueline Stevens' January 4, 2010 article at The Nation)
Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA (Amnesty International report)
Immigration Is the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time (Amy Goodman's interview with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in 2006)
