TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022, VIOLENCE - DAY II

 TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022 VIOLENCE - DAY II

This week I’m looking at violence - somewhat using Spiral of Violence - Helder Camara 2.pdf (alastairmcintosh.com) by Helder Camara, Catholic Bishop in rural Brazil.

Yesterday, I looked at the three levels of violence:

• Primary violence

• Secondary violence

• Tertiary violence 

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Let’s take those three levels of violence as applies to Elvis’ song (See yesterday where I quoted Elvis’ song “In the Ghetto”.)

Primary violence comes from structurally ingrained social injustice.  Is there social injustice?  Good question.  I would have denied this years ago.  I was just an average person, in an average home, in a medium-sized community in Iowa, USA.  But, that really was a privileged background.  I never worried about water, sewage, electricity, roads, or schools - and definitely didn’t worry about violence.

So,  I guess I’ll admit that I came from a semi-privileged background - a white, highly educated male professor. No, I didn’t live in a mansion growing up, my parents didn’t have a country-club membership, and I attended public school and a state/public college.  

I didn’t see social injustice.  (I didn’t go into those neighborhoods (aka - the ghetto) that Elvis sings about.  I was naive.)  

Level two is secondary violence - the revolt of the oppressed. In my lifetime I have seen the revolt of the oppressed on television.  In the 50s-60s, Martin Luther King paraded about social injustice; in 1955 Rosa Parks, after a long day of work, sat in the first row of the “Colored” seats on a Montgomery city bus.  But, the bus was getting full and the driver asked Rosa and three others to move father back - and Rosa said “NO”. That led to the revolt of the oppressed.  Marches, boycotts, and more.  Social integration was another issue “the Jim Crow laws of “Separate but Equal” were anything but equal.  

Two summers ago, we had the push for Black Lives Matter - social injustice spilled over to the streets in the revolt of the oppressed.  That backlash is still occurring.  Critical Race Theory is an issue.

And, this leads to the third level -  tertiary violence - repression by the powerful to secure their privileged position. And so the spiral of violence tightens.  

In the past year, many states have seen stronger voting laws as well as big-scale gerrymandering. In Texas, this means that districts in Texas have been drawn so that (mostly) those that drew the districts can maintain a majority of seats in the Texas legislature for the near future (next ten years - until the next census).

I’ve heard of school board elections where thousands of dollars are being given to conservative candidates who want to ban books on various subjects and stop topics like Critical Race Theory from being allowed anywhere in public schools and ban discussions of gender and sexuality.  (and … “money talks”;)   From news reports, I hear that the State of Florida rejected many elementary math textbooks for inappropriate racial content.  (As a former math teacher, I’m not sure what content that can be.  Are there story problems like “Rufus from the ghetto has 20 apples and Lucinda - also from the ghetto has ten apples?  How many do they have in total?”  (Maybe that is followed by discussions on why black people from the ghettos can have thirty apples!!!)  

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The third level - tertiary violence - repression by those in power to keep the status quo (aka “white majorities” in legislative bodies), and work towards overturning abortion, gender, and sexual orientations. 

Can we get along?  Can we change?

Those in power try to stay in power!!  I don’t know if that might apply to former President Trump, or to President Putin in Russia, or other politicians.

Two additional examples.

When the powerful in France got so much control, the people finally revolted and had the French Revolution.  (A violent revolution)

Likewise, the Czar in Russia with his cronies held the power and it took the Russian Revolution to overthrow that government.  (A violent revolution)

Is America headed toward our own conservative/liberal Revolution?  The rhetoric sounds pretty violent at times.  There was (at least in my eyes), a full-fledged riot that seemingly was trying to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election by storming the Capitol Building when the Electoral College was meeting. 

There was violence in some of the Black Lives Matter situations 

Is the United States a violent country?  Possibly!!

“Heaven Forbid”!!!  (Or, maybe “Heaven Intercede for us”)

Micah 6:8.  What does God expect of me?  To love justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God”.

Love Wins!!

Karen White

May 10th, 2022

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