Race is a social construct originally framed to create hard boundaries that could not be crossed by people of different skin color and for the purpose of segregation. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are still discriminated against and abused because of the color of their skin. Although race as a social construct was abusively imposed as a biological determinant of skin color, our society must not fall into the tarp of colorblindness as it prevents one from seeing the suffering of “BIPOC” members. Armel Setubi asks us to imagine a society without race, while warning us about the common mistake of thinking that colorblindness is the solution to racism. Inspired by St. Ignatius, Armel asks us to ponder God’s call to be anti-racist with three important questions: what have we done to fight the sin of racism, what are we doing now, and what will we do in the future.
Posts in Justice
Mundane Racism | Know Justice, Know Peace: A Jesuit Antiracism Retreat
Racism is not just violence and big displays of oppression. It manifests in everyday situations and in the mundanity of our lives. Jorge Roque shares some instances where the idea of white superiority affects how white people are racist toward minorities in a covert and harming way. Deciding to work against these harming habits require conversion. Jorge asks to allow ourselves to be scandalized and to pray with Jesus’s lament over Jerusalem.
Racism and White Supremacy | Know Justice, Know Peace: A Jesuit Antiracism Retreat
Racism manifests itself as white supremacy in the United States. Ángel Flores Fontánez introduces these and other concepts, summarizes the history of white supremacy, and identifies white fragility as a great obstacle to defeat the sin of racism. He also invites us to imitate Jesus in his ability to accept correction and convert from wrong ways.
Lighting The Way: Lessons from the Puerto Rico Protests
A Jesuit reflects on what the struggle for justice in Puerto Rico can teach all people of good will.
Sleeping at the Gate, Dying in the Desert
What does current immigration policy tell us about the God we believe in?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner
Go first and be reconciled with your brother.
Seven More Things You Might Have Missed in The Young Pope
In case you haven’t read enough about narcissistic megalomaniacs this week, here’s Jason Downer with some more on The Young Pope and its eerie present-day parallels
Jesuit Fr. Melo on the presidential victory of Xiomara Castro in Honduras: “We are a happy people after a long bout of sadness.”
As the right-wing narco regime of Juan Orlando Hernandez gives way to the presidency of recently elected leftist
Xiomara Castro in Honduras, Jesuit, Fr. Melo says that the people of God rejoice but must always remain the critical consciousness of political power.
Why Did They Shoot Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ?
Ellacuría openly and emphatically emphasized the subversive dimension of the Christian faith. He claimed that Latin America is searching for “revolutionary change rather than reformist change” and that Christianity exhibits a “subversive dynamism,” which, though running the risk of Marxist co-option, can propel revolution against “the demands of capital.”
California Is in a Drought. Taking Shorter Showers Is Not the Solution.
The California drought is an opportunity to examine how meat-heavy diets cause a strain to our water supply.