Cheryl McKissack Daniel is the latest in a 200+ year old legacy of Black architects, engineers, construction workers and designers who have literally built some of the most iconic structures in America. UF contributor Maina Mwaura sat down with her to talk about her book The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, chronicling her family’s history and heritage of being black builders in the United States and beyond.
Dr. Terence Lester photo credit Dani Guerra
UrbanFaith Editor Allen Reynolds spoke with Dr. Terence Lester about his new book From Dropout to Doctorate: Breaking the Chains of Educational Injustice. He addresses generational trauma, past and current educational injustice, and wisdom for young people trying to achieve from difficult circumstances. The excerpts from the interview below have been edited for length and clarity.
Allen
Can you talk a little bit about why conversations around generational trauma and immediate trauma from environment are more important than ever for students as they’re trying to get an education?
Dr. Lester
Yeah, so very unique question. I normally answer this, because when we talk about trauma, trauma itself can be many things. And so, I normally talk about trauma in terms of, I guess, two lanes, right? You have historical trauma, right? This is the collective and cumulative emotional harm experienced by a group of people over time. So like this can be caused by systemic oppression, violence, marginalization, right? You have the impact of things like Jim Crow, redlining, you know, the genre type of laws that actually created barriers for people of color, specifically black people or people who derive from historically marginalized communities. Let’s take for instance, if you were born in a predominantly poor or impoverished environment, chances are there may be a food desert. Chances are you might not have [adequate] access to healthcare. Chances are that the school systems that you may frequent are underfunded, right? And so that can be historically designed due to things related to racism, oppression, and things like that. I argue in the book that this creates the environment for generational trauma to happen. You know, when you grow up in a food desert and you don’t have access to nutritious foods. And that impacts your health. Or you grow up in an environment where the environment itself is being divested or gentrified and you don’t have access to some of the things that are coming in. And that impacts your occupational journey. You grow up in environments where there’s a lot of lack. And so that can create more of the generational trauma that could be passed down. I was telling this story the other day to this guy. My grandmother is 93. She’s still alive. And she talks to me often. She still walks two miles a day. She text messages me and we have these very in-depth conversations. And she talks to me about how she grew up not being able to walk over to the water fountain or not being able to work in certain stores in the community that we live in…that black and brown people frequent these days, or not being able to go to certain parts of town. And that kind of informed how she made decisions, what school she went to or did not go to. That informed how she raised her children. That informed her ability to dream beyond some of the oppression that she is talking to me about today because obviously I’m living in a time where I can pursue more things. I have to fight a little harder, but she’s given me an opportunity to look into her life and see through her lens and how she is describing some of the generational trauma that is passed down based on the historical trauma that our ancestors had to face. And so those things are important to me. And I think it’s important too to be trauma informed. And when I talk about being trauma informed, I’m talking about creating environments that are safe. Where people feel emotionally and physically safe and secure. I’m talking about trustworthiness and transparency, where people are able to communicate and articulate their own narratives without it being edited through a single narrative lens. I’m talking about having support and collaboration and a sense of empowerment and cultural humility, right? Because being trauma informed is asking the question: what happened to you versus what’s wrong with you? And I think most times that lack of awareness doesn’t create the opportunities where we can really understand the context of a community, but also how to show up and support those who may be still struggling.
photo credit Dani Guerra
Allen
Can you talk about what you’re seeing and why that’s still valuable? Why is education, especially after high school, still valuable as a tool for helping us to break free and help to break down some of these systems?
Dr. Lester
Yeah, I think you’re right that we should call out that when political shifts happen and you pull resources from those who are poor or those who need it most, it puts them at a greater disadvantage. We have seen these types of funding cuts and political shifts impact students who are marginalized, specifically those who come from historically marginalized communities. We’ve seen this impact on students who are living with disabilities. We’ve seen reduced staffing when it comes to the Department of Education, which was a sector of government that was to uphold this promise of equal education to its populace or its citizens. The protection of several civil rights, the protection of students who genuinely want to receive an education. I think to answer your question, education is still beneficial, whether it’s the traditional route or independent scholarship. Education gives you the ability to dream beyond your circumstances. It gives you the articulation or the critical thought. To give a social critique of what’s happening in today’s society. Education can grow you in your character, in your integrity, in your worldview, right? It expands your perspective. It allows you to travel into communities that you’ve never been a part of to understand how people think. It gives you a perspective of the global economy or what ML King describes as the global village, right? It opens us up to be able to see the world through multiple lenses instead of allowing us to have a narrow focus. I think education itself gives you the skills needed to pursue particular career paths. I think education is able to build you up in ways that you could not otherwise be built up had you not had direct contact to those who have had the proper training. I think one of the things that I’m fearful of right now is that social media has given everybody access to self-assert themselves as experts. Sometimes we see people online and they will say, “I’m a person that helps people heal.” But they’ve never gone through clinical training. They don’t have an understanding of theoretical approaches. They don’t have the training in diagnosing someone. [What if] somebody says, “I’m a pilot. I’m a self-taught pilot.” Would you hop on a plane with someone who has not gone through aviation school? And so, I think there’s some benefits still when it comes to education because it allows you to have that expertise and that training that you can’t get from any other place.
However, I still do believe in independent scholarship. I believe that there is a sector of people who are disciplined enough to read and to understand concepts without a traditional instructor. I still do believe that people are starting to tap into entrepreneurship and really create and build their own tables. And I think that is a form of hands-on education that you can’t get through any other means but by lived experience. And so, I believe in the both and, right? I’m an entrepreneur, but I’m also a scholar. I’m a practitioner, but I’m also an academic. And I often say in the educational space that I’m a practitioner scholar because I was practicing the work and doing the work long before I had any philosophical inquiries. And so, I think they both can be beneficial. I don’t want to exclude a group of people who don’t feel education is their path, but I don’t want to exclude the group who says education is for me. I think there are non-traditional students and there are traditional students and both are valuable.
House of David Brings the Biblical Drama
By Allen Reynolds
House of David is another successful Biblical drama released to the world through Prime Video and the collaboration between the Wonder Project and Amazon MGM studios stays true to the Biblical foundations while bringing the best of Hollywood drama. I know as a Bible teacher and minister myself that as I have read the story of David it has tremendous power to teach us about God and humanity. In seminary one of my professors explained that David’s story is one of the greatest dramas to come out of the ancient world and its ability connect deeply with people and tell a full story across the years while using very few words is truly remarkable.
In House of David Season 2 episode 1 what is only about 10 verses of the Biblical story is fully developed into an epic episode of battle and transition as the Philistines are defeated and David is brought closer to the throne of Israel. As I watched I was most impressed that details of the Biblical story that I remembered as a biblical expert were weaved into coherent characters and relationships that sustained my interest and the larger story. Seeing the nods to Saul’s descent into madness, David’s relationship with Jonathan and Saul’s daughter Michal, Samuel aging as a judge and now only prophet, and the David’s growth from shepherd to solider are all captured well. I appreciate how this telling of David’s story doesn’t shy away from the importance of prayer, faith, and God’s intervention while at the same time feeling so deeply vulnerable and human. I. think House of David does a good job balancing respecting the sacred text while building a world that is captivating for people who may not know the Bible story well.
If you are interested in a true epic drama that is also in line with your faith and convictions, House of David is a great watch. It is certainly violent without being gory, and tense without being overwhelming. It reminds me of the Lord of the Rings films in its ability to sustain characters and action, while remaining more drama than action or fantasy. If you wanted to see this epic story brought to life for our modern world using the best of production techniques, House of David is a great watch. The trailer is below and the series can be watched on Prime Video.
Gabby’s Dollhouse is a children’s entertainment phenomenon and now Gabby has her first movie! UrbanFaith interviewed “Gabby” herself, Laila Lockhart Kraner, and her grandmother “Gigi” played by the global entertainment icon Gloria Estefan about the Gabby’s Dollhouse Movie. We asked about what it was like to bring Gabby to the big screen and what Gloria would tell us about sharing joy with the next generation. Gabby’s Dollhouse the movie is now in theaters!
Dr. Malcolm Foley reminds believers that Jesus told us we can’t serve God and Mammon. In his book The Anti Greed Gospel, he challenges believers to confront the greed that gave birth to racism in America and continues to perpetuate injustice in our nation today. The full interview is above, excerpts below have been edited for clarity and length.
Allen
Absolutely. The first question I have for you, I mean, this subtitle, it kind of lays it out. Why the love of money is the root of racism and how the church created a new way forward. Can you talk about how is the love of money, the root of racism? This is not a thing that many people are talking about.
Malcolm
Which is so, and it’s so interesting to me that it’s not a popular account. So I, I thank the Brazos marketing people for giving me that title. It very easily explains kind of what the book is about. So, the argument of the book is that the history of race and racism is not a history fundamentally of identity or of hate or of ignorance, but that it’s a history of greed. That when, that when the Portuguese come to Africa, witness chattel slavery, decide to get involved, they don’t do so because they’re racist. They do so because they have markets they want to expand. And then as time goes on, and they have to justify that to themselves to the Pope, that’s when these narratives of blackness and whiteness pop up. It’s [that] these people are savages and heathens, and that’s why we enslaved them. It’s not, it’s not because we’re going to make a whole bunch of money, disregard that detail. It’s because of something about them. The argument that I want to make in the book is that especially this country’s history of race and racism is just a proxy battle of a cosmic war. And the combatants in that cosmic war were named by Christ in Matthew 6:24, where he says, you can’t serve two masters. You’ll either love one and hate the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. And you can’t serve both God and [Mammon]. Jesus could have chosen any of the numerous idols that we are tempted to serve. I spent a lot of time in reform circles. There’s a lot of talk about pride. I’ll talk about self, he could have said God and self. And I already said, he says God and mammon, the Aramaic word for money and riches. And I think Jesus was right 2000 years ago. I think he’s still still right today. And this history is, I think, just a series of examples that back that up.
Allen
I love that. And I think that again, you, you’re getting at something as you continue to work that not only does Christ lift it up, but one of the lines that you say really catches me, which is that Christ says that we have to love one another. And that love is about obedience.
Malcolm
Yes.
Allen
And that love must be material, right? I can’t just have an attitude of loving. I have to do something. Can you talk a little bit more about what that means for believers to love materially and not just an attitude as we confront racism and greed?
Malcolm
Yes. Yes. Okay. So, so my account of what kind of, especially what the, what the new, how the New Testament defines love in many ways comes back to 1st John 3:16 where we’re told, this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Therefore, we ought to lay down our lives for one another. And then the next verse John says, if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, and has no pity on them, how can you say that the love of God is in you? And what those verses then indicate is that, love is always a material relation. So like, people can think about, this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And people can just think about that as just this like lofty, theological thing. And that’s not what John says. John’s saying that like Jesus did this very, very material thing for you. He died. Like that’s a very serious material act to do on behalf of someone. And then that has a bearing on the way that you love your neighbor. They said, therefore, we ought to give up our lives for one another. It’s a recognition that everything that we have been given, especially in excess of what we need, is for the service of others. And what that means, especially in our conversations about race is that we don’t address massive economic injustice through just like friendship and hanging out. We deal with it through redistribution. We deal with it through sharing. But these material acts that extend beyond just me being able to say, well, I have a bunch of multiracial friendships and we hang out and think well of each other. Like, well, that’s nice, but that’s not love according to the scriptures. And so one of the things I also want to do with our conversations about race is I want to make sure that they’re deeply material. Because the issue with race, and this is why I argue in the introduction, is that it lies, it steals, and it kills. And so, and so if we’re going to build communities that resist those lies, that theft, and that murder, it’s going to require communities that are shaped in certain material ways, material forms of, forms of solidarity, material ways that we resist, not only resist violence, but actively undermine the violence that our brothers, sisters and neighbors are subjected to, and that we like vocally tell the truth, as opposed to being captive to lies.
Allen
So, since you, you know, you raised how, you know, we want to be able to be truth tellers in this world, then how is, is filled with lies and you make this really, I mean, just really salient and graphic case about what racism history has been like in this country and it’s tied to economics. I, I want you to, to tease out just for me, how you see moving from slavery to lynching to what we’re seeing today with mass incarceration and even this other, this othering right, this, this violence that we’re seeing rising in our country that has economic motivators, right? Can you talk about how it’s important to not miss that there’s a profit motive or a greed motive instead of just a, oh, I don’t like these people. I hate these people that it’s underlying some of this.
Malcolm
It’s important to understand that I think when we look at the history of race, we are also looking at the history of capitalism. Hence why I use the language of racial capitalism, which I take from, which I take from the black radical tradition. Folks like folks like Cedric Robinson and others were very clear that the only capitalism that we know is a racial capitalism, that the capitalism that we know requires us to place people in categories of exploitable thing so that we can make money off them. And so, that history of slavery, of lynching, of mass incarceration…each of these are just instantiations of racial capitalism. Slavery is fundamentally a system of economic exploitation. Lynching, as I argue in the book, was precipitated by greed. It continued because of greed and it ended when it became bad for business. When we think about, when we think about mass incarceration, we can even think about this right now with the billions of dollars that’s now going to immigration detention centers and things like that. Like the reason why these things continue is because they make money for folks. It’s not just because you just got a whole bunch of just hateful people that just want to hurt people. And there is cruelty, but cruelty but even that cruelty is rarely done just for the sake of cruelty. It has some kind of material benefit for someone. That’s what then motivates them to continue to do it. And so, I want to continue to remind people of that fact. Because I’ve gotten this kind of in some responses from the book that a lot of people have been… like they look at the history of race and they’re confused because they’re like, wait a minute, this really just comes down to people not liking other people because they’re different? Like that just seems weird. Like it doesn’t seem like that’s a foundation strong enough to like have this continue for so long and with so much brutality. But when they’re made aware of the fact that it’s like…oh wait, money is behind it. All of the the dominoes start to fall and the gears start kind of clicking in place. That’s what that discovery did for me. And that’s why I wanted to write this book because I wanted to make sure as much as these conversations have been had in academic circles, the church broadly doesn’t see this. And so I’m like, let me, let me write a book so that people can see the way that this, the way that this actually works, but not only so that they can see the way this actually works, but that they could see the fact that Christ has actually given us the resources to be able to live in an alternative way, that we have an opportunity to show the world that this is not the only way to operate.
