Social Justice Saturday: A Prayer for Wearing Masks


Creator,
as I prepare to go into the world,
help me to see the sacrament
in the wearing of this cloth –
let it be “an outward sign
of an inward grace” –
a tangible and visible way
of living love for my neighbours,
as I love myself.

Christ,
since my lips will be covered,
uncover my heart,
that people would see my smile
in the crinkles around my eyes.
Since my voice may be muffled,
help me to speak clearly,
not only with my words,
but with my actions.

Holy Spirit,
as the elastic touches my ears,
remind me to listen carefully –
and full of care –
to all those I meet.
May this simple piece of cloth
be shield and banner,
and each breath that it holds,
be filled with your love.

In your Name
and in that love,
I pray.

May it be so.
May it be so.

-The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott

Social Justice Saturday: Mass MOCA Exhibit addresses Violence Perpetrated on Young People of Color

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I wanted to share info about an exhibit at Mass MOCA by artist Shaun Leonardo called “The Breath of Empty Space,” which addresses violence as its perpetrated on young people of color.  The exhibit was originally scheduled for MOCA Cleveland and was cancelled under controversy (https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/06/moca-cleveland-apologizes-second-time-publicly-for-canceling-show-after-black-artist-accuses-it-of-censorship.html).  The description of the exhibit and the artist is on the Mass MOCA website is here:  https://massmoca.org/event/shaun-leonardo-the-breath-of-empty-space/. 

An interview with Shaun goes much deeper into his art and activism practice and is really worth watching, even for a little bit (it’s over an hour long).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJguihsQMk

 Shaun discusses the work, the censorship, the way art can engage a community in having difficult but potentially healing dialog.  Shaun says: “I take some of the most widely disseminated images of police violence, both recent and historical, and make choices that I think will slow down our looking.”  By slowing down, by creating a space for engaging with these images in a different way other than flashed on a screen, it creates a space to have a dialog.

 

Here are some highlights of the interview:

 In addition to drawing, Shaun works in what he calls Social Engagement projects.  Some examples are:

  • “Assembly” is a Diversion program, where he collaborates with the D.A.s office in Brookline to work with young people in Brookline aged 18 to 25 who have been arrested for misdemeanors and felonies. Instead of going to jail, they work with Shaun Leonardo and cofounder nonprofit “Recess” in a performance-based program and after 4 weeks, their cases are cleared and records are sealed. The program removes language and works with how a story can be conveyed through the body – how the body holds trauma. They collectively investigate on their own terms the experience of trauma. The young people embody their story and then invite others to join them in their memories and “occupy their story and sense it within themselves.”

  • I Can’t Breathe – A performance in galleries, museums, community centers, schools, on the street. Participants are invited to a self-defense class, eventually addressing the aggressive acts of police culminating in the choke hold both as victim and aggressor.

 Eulogy – New Orleans style jazz funeral. https://massmoca.org/event/the-eulogy/

  • Primitive Games - Four groups that are engaged with violence go through separate workshops – NYPD, military veterans, those impacted by violence in the community, firearm enthusiasts. For the public presentation, two intermingled teams are created and asked to debate the issue of gun violence only through body language.

 

His drawings Studio practice as its represented in the exhibit, creates carefully rendered images from body cams, dashboard cams addressing violence, and by doing so creates a space for difficult conversations.  The media determines the interpretation of the images on the screen.  We are not given the opportunity to sit with the images and contemplate them on our own terms.  He provides a space to “grapple with them differently.”  “Healing is a process that requires, often, that we stay with the trauma… In the difficulty we can find ways to collaborate, cooperate, dig through the material and have conversations carefully that hold BIPOC with care.  Conversations which I think are necessary.” 

©Shaun Leonardo.  Taken from the Interviewhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJguihsQMk

 

Social Justice Saturday: A Prayer Before Turning on the News

Prayer Before Turning On The News

 I sit before the TV screen

with remote control in hand.

I want it to stay this way.

This dark, quiet room

without a world in it.

This nothing, this sweet

nothing. The fire truck

toy on the shelf beneath the TV,

look how it saves no one. In this room

there is nothing

burning. Dear God, it is

possible.  You are the one

with wings. Shelter us.

Let something have been fixed today:

The deal among the nations signed,

the guns, all of them, taken away,

a woman believed,

a man contrite. A border

covered in dust. God,

I need to know what happened

to those who tried to cross.

What happened after the storm

and earthquake and fire.

I can't be everywhere at once,

but you can. How can I convince you

we are worthy of miracles?

How much longer can I delay

the inevitable knowing,

the daily ritual of witness?

At least bear it with ne,

dear God. Come sit

on the couch, put  your feet up,

I'm making tea. Tell me

how this will end.

Tell me if there is a chance.

Or maybe we can bargain for peace?

Trade for redemption?

Give me something,

anything, before I let

the messengers into my room.

I will not look away.

Promise me

you won't either.

Hila Ratzabi.  When We Turned Within: Reflections on COVID-19, edited by Rabbi Menachem Creditor & Sarah Tuttle-Singer. 2020.