I am feeling a little frustrated right now about my role, in social work, in the Joshua Group, in the Allison Hill community. Or maybe confused is the right word. I work and live in this community, but it is clear that I am not from here and I don’t belong. I am different- the way I walk, the way I dress, the way I talk, the color of my skin. Even though I have worked in this community for over 3 years, I don’t think I will ever quite belong.
So I wonder what my role is. There is a lot of need here, and especially with the kids. The kids need people to care; they need role models. But they need to see people who look like them. They need to see black and Latino men and women as their role models, as people they can look up to. They need to see adults from their own community who understand them like I will never quite be able to.
I am a white woman from a privileged background, so what is my role? I care deeply about this community and about the kids. I have education and skills. But what is my role? Should I even be here? If not here, where? My community of Upper Montclair, NJ doesn’t have needs the way this community does. I don’t feel “called” to be there; I don’t fit in there either. I don't think that I should necessarily abandon all my efforts in H-burg, just because of my background and the color of my skin...
Throughout college I have learned a lot about oppression, racism, and studied the history of injustice in our country. As a white woman of privilege, I need to do something about it. I want to join people in the struggle against oppression, not take over or lead that struggle, thus disempowering people. I just don’t know how to do that practically. What does that mean in everyday life, in a world of racial and class lines?
And what about the Joshua Group, which is doing a lot of good things, but is an organization with mostly white staff members serving mostly black youth. Does that just reinforce the unequal power issues that are already there? How do we join black men and women in working towards justice, without taking power away? When we send children to private school, are we giving them hope and opportunities, or are we just taking them further out of their communities? There are not many black or Latino teachers in the Catholic schools, as least that I have seen.
So what did Jesus do? Jesus lived incarnationally. He was God, and yet he was a man born into an oppressed people group, a poor community, to an unwed mother! How radical is that?! But he built bridges between rich and poor, tax collecters and royalty, Samaritans and Hebrews. Jesus stayed in his own community, but also traveled to many other communities and made connections there, freeing people from various forms of oppression, calling them to follow him.
How can I build bridges, help to free people without oppressing them, calling people to follow God by the way I live?
I love social work, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t necessarily just want to be a caseworker, a therapist, an administrator, or a policy advocate (not that there is anything wrong with those roles). I want to be involved in innovative, maybe even radical ways to counter the injustice in our society, to help free those in captivity, to help the blind to see, the lame to walk…all that crazy stuff that Jesus did! I want to build bridges between people, I want to love people, I want to live with them, even when things are messy and difficult. I don’t want to always be so cautious and put these huge boundaries in between me and the rest of the world, just because I have a degree. Sure, some boundaries are necessary, but I don’t want to be so obsessed with protecting myself that I lose sight of shared humanity. I know, I am oozing with idealism, but that is where I am!
So what is God calling me to do about all this?
