Social Stratification in the Deep South

This morning we went to Sunday services at 16^th Street Baptist.  I’ve never been to an African American Baptist Church before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.  Given the history of the church and it’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, I expected to find a traditional Baptist Church with a large choir and a stereotypical Baptist preacher.  I certainly got the stereotypical preacher part right, however the choir and music was much more contemporary than I expected.  At the beginning of the service I really enjoyed just sitting back and watching the church goers worship.  Similar to the experiences I’ve had in South American and Caribbean churches, the people worshiped with a refreshing purity of faith.  The love for God that these people exhibit reminds me of the way that I should practice my own faith.  They have unfailing devotion and seem to be able to pour their whole selves into their Savior to let Him be the guiding light of their lives.  They had no regard for those sitting around them and what they might think of them for how they worshiped.  They considered only that God deserved the very best of their worship, the loudest of their praise.  This spirit was exemplified by one of the songs we sang.  One of the lines talked about dancing like David danced.  Another talked about singing like David sang.  Just watching them actually do this filled my heart with so much joy.

The sermon the pastor gave was very interesting.  He was the spitting image of the fire and brimstone Baptist preachers in movies and tv shows.  I love to experience all different types of worship and preaching, so I’m glad that this was the case.  It was most definitely an entirely different experience than I’ve had at Hyde Park UMC in Tampa or Athens First UMC or Centenary UMC in Winston.  The sermon was about not losing heart.  He talked at length about the ministry, speaking some powerful truth about our role.  He said that we should have intensity of spirit for the ministry because of the mercy of God.  He continued onward about how sometimes God gives us great blessings but he also gives us pain so that we remember our humble insufficiency.  This will force us to be dependent on Him and in relationship with Him.  Additionally, this will allow Him to form us into the people He would have us be.

While I did take many great things from his sermon, in the middle there was a section that was alarming to me.  Seemingly out of nowhere, the preacher gave his personal views on homosexuality and “shacking up.”  The comment had little to no connection to the sermon and caught me totally off guard.  It was incredibly concerning to me that he would be so vocal about this in the middle of a sermon.  As I have expressed to many of you probably reading this, it breaks my heart to hear pastors speak so openly and judgmentally about their views on this…especially when they are not going to talk about the Biblical basis for these views.  The preacher mentioned that there was Biblical background for these views, yet did give it.  He simply stated how he felt and dove back into his sermon.  Every time I encounter a situation like this, I am concerned for the future of the Church.  Yes, every person is entitled to their own views.  Yes, the Bible does speak about homosexuality.  My concern is the huge concentration that is placed on this issue, given the amount of time it is focused on in the Bible.  The Bible mentions homosexuality very few times, yet it speaks on love and acceptance at length.  Unfortunately, many Christians and churches seem to have forgotten this.  The idea of Christianity is to love and accept everyone, so that they many see the love of Jesus through your love.  If they feel judged from the moment they walk in the door, that does not facilitate an inviting environment.  I recall my preacher at Hyde Park often saying, “I’m in sales, not in management.”  By this he meant that it was his job to get people to believe in God, i.e. sales, and let God be concerned about the management of sins.  I do concede that legally the Church is entitled to hold whatever views it chooses.  This is not my level of concern.  My concern comes from the perspective of a Christian who desires for everyone she knows to experience the love and fulfillment she found in her Savior.

After church, we had a lively discussion on the bus.  Many people echoed views similar to those I expressed above.  The one differing opinion was the one Jamie presented, which was something I had not thought about before.  She said that the Black Church holds a special responsibility in the Black community to do its part to protect its members against things like HIV and AIDS.  We didn’t talk about it at length, but it definitely gave me something to think about.

This afternoon, we drove to Montgomery.  To all of the student’s delight, we had the afternoon and evening to spend how we chose.  We just hung out and went to the pool, which was an appreciated break.

Today we spent the day visiting some historic civil rights places in Birmingham. Going into the day, I didn’t really have any great expectations. I thought that it would be a lot of stuff that would be interesting to see and learn about, but I didn’t really expect to be emotionally impacted by what I saw and learned.

We went to the part of Birmingham where the dividing line for the white and black parts of town was located. In this part of downtown, there are many churches and there is a park in the middle. 16^th Street Baptist Church is on one side of the park and various white churches are on the other side. The park in the middle was the place where many civil rights rallies, sit-ins and battles were fought. One of the most important of these events was the Children’s March that I talked a bit about yesterday. Standing in the park today, I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. All I could see are these poor, unassuming African American children who just wanted the same rights and privileges as their white counterparts. As a result, police blasted them with fire hoses and let dogs loose to attack them. Over and over I saw images of these children in my head, rolling down the street as a result of the force of the water and running in fear from the dogs that chased after them. It makes me embarrassed to be white and to be from the south.

After lunch, we got to talk with Judge Shores Lee and her sister, both of whom grew up on dynamite hill in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights movement. It was so fascinating to hear them talk about it all, especially because they experienced it all first hand. Judge Shores told us a story about how, when she was young, a park opened up near her house called Kiddie Land. She often drove past with her family, and once expressed to her father that she “just wished she could be white so I could do the same things as the other kids.” Her father responded to her, “you don’t wish you were white, you just wish you could go.” This was so powerful to me. At this point, and later that night in discussion groups, I had to stop and think about what why this affected me so much. It jarred me to think about not bring able to do something based on the color of my skin. It also upset me to think that a child would wish they were a different race than they are, in order to receive the same rights as any other person.

It reminded me of a time this fall in Dr. Hattery’s class when she asked us to think about being privileged. We had a discussion about having to think about our race, gender and sexual orientation. As it did during our class, it left me unsure of how to process the information given. We talked about how those in a situation of privilege don’t have to think about that fact. In fact, they don’t even really have to think about that component of their lives. Men don’t wake up in the morning and think about having to deal with being a man that day. Whites don’t have to wake up in the morning and think about having to deal with being white that day. On the flip side, women have to get up and think about the discrimination and other things they’re going to have to deal with due to their gender that day. African Americans have to get up and think about the injustice that will perpetrated against them because of their skin color. While, as a woman, I’ve gotten a small taste of what this would be like, I haven’t really experienced severe oppression because of it. I mean, I have to worry about things like having to work harder to prove myself and not wanting to walk places at night alone, however I don’t have to worry about being profiled every time I walk into a store. Listening to the emotions others in the class have expressed about the reality of their situations has saddened me and really kind of angered me about the kind of world in which we live. There is no reason for the stories that the boys tell to be the norm. Unfortunately, they are.

The knowledge of the liberties I have has reminded me of how lucky I am. But this hardly seems fair. I have done nothing to deserve that privilege. It was given to me by the luck of the draw, which makes our current world situation all the more ridiculous. We have no control over the color of skin our parents have, and thus, the color of skin we have. Yet we make all sorts of judgments and assumptions about someone on the basis of this attribute. Regardless, I know that I am fortunate in many ways. I could just sit back and be content and fulfilled by that fact…but if you know me even a little bit, you know that I won’t. These past two days have, if nothing else, reminded me of the importance of one of my favorite sayings: “with great privilege comes great responsibility.” I don’t know exactly what this will mean for my life yet. Somewhere I have a sneaking suspicion that this entire experience is going to lead to a desire to act and a calling for a lifetime of work to change.

Day 1: Drive to Birmingham, Friday 5/25/07

Today we had the distinct privilege of getting up bright and early to get on the bus to drive to Birmingham. On the way up, we discussed our readings, heard student presentations, and watched a few films.

The discussion about the first two readings was interesting, because they were articles we read for Social Stratification last semester. It was a nice refresher course on the theories behind stratification. I’m really excited to be able to apply these theories that I’ve learned about and see how it opens my eyes to the realities of inequality and injustice.

The student presentations were fun, just because I like learning about Civil Rights history. I gave one of the presentations, on the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church by members of the KKK in 1953. Other students presented on things like the Children’s March and MLK’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” I had never heard of the Children’s March before, so this was enlightening information. In her presentation, Jillian mentioned how Malcolm X criticized MLK and Civil Rights activists for their use of children to achieve there goals. He said this just displayed cowardice on the part of the activists because they weren’t ready to get out there and do the work and feel the sting of oppression themselves. I think that he was way off the mark in this point. If children are not involved, the movement has no means to continue forward. These children are the ones that need to be educated so that they can be the leaders when they grow up. Additionally, young people tend to have more freedom and time to dedicate to causes like this and are generally willing to do a lot of the hard work.

The later discussion was on what it means to be a southerner and if we considered ourselves to be southerners. This is a hard discussion for me, just because I’m unsure of where I stand. I know that I come from a southern family and that, geographically, I come from a southern state, however I don’t always feel that I’ve grown up “southern.” I mean, I’ve certainly never considered myself a northerner, but I guess I’ve just never really considered myself anything…which is very uncharacteristic of a southerner. They are fiercely proud of their heritage, which certainly isn’t the case for me. I’m rather indifferent.

I don’t know that care to always be identified as southern. Sure, it’s great in a southern hospitality sense (and I feel that I’ve got that part down), but I look at this very colored history of this place and I’m not always so proud. Should I be proud to be from a region that is home to continued injustice and discrimination? I think this question going to be something I wrestle with a lot this trip.

After lunch we watched Fried Green Tomatoes and tonight we got to eat at the restaurant from the movie and the book. It was a lot of fun and was a great cultural experience. Food was served cafeteria style. You got to pick a meat, sides, bread, and a dessert. I laughed when I walked in and saw our choices, as the vast majority of choices were fried or cream based. Welcome to the south.

Today was a pretty relaxed day. I didn’t really feel very challenged by what I’ve seen but am more so functioning with the concerns about what the future days will bring. It was wonderful to spend the day getting to know the other people on the trip!

Hey guys,

I’m really excited and I hope ya’ll are too!!