thoughts from my ethics class

this week in Christian Ethics, we have been discussing race and ethnicity. oh, and sexuality, but that's a different story.

at least half of the class today could be summed up by this quote:
"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." -Lilla Watson

it was a great discussion. as i was listening to the class around me, i was reminded of this quote but couldn't remember it verbatim, so i googled it. i came across a blog that used it, and i read the whole post. i have no idea who this person is, or where she is, or what her background, or what work she is doing. so taking everything she has said at face value, i really appreciated her thoughts on international community development and the sense of superiority that we, as americans, often have in other countries. her post can be found here, and here is an excerpt that rang true with me (tho my story is quite different from hers):

"I will expound on that question in another blog [How do you empower people to help themselves when they have absolutely nothing to work from??], but currently, I am confronting some fundamental issues on the structure of our work here. Although we are from impacted community ourselves, we (us folks from the US) still come from privilege being from America. Being of color does not, by any means, put us on the same playing field as the people here. We are all very aware that our 1st world status gives us economic and educational privilege. Yet, we are unique in that, for example, both Nadia and Jon, who are both African Americans from the South can claim that black southerners experience poverty and neglect that resembles the discrepancy between the Acholis and the rest of Uganda. I feel a strong connection to this work through my connection to my roots, the struggles of my father’s family, my experience being bi-racial and the daughter of an immigrant, and my previous traveling experiences. I connect the experience of my father’s family growing up in the Philippines, the struggles of Filipinos in the Philippines and in other countries (discrimination, marginalization, domestic violence.. etc), the struggles I’ve witnessed amongst the peoples in other developing communities to my work here. Therefore, this work becomes personal, and as I have travelled and made connections with people living in the Ukraine, Thailand, Nepal, Egypt, and Ecuador – the urgent need to transcend race, ethnicity, religion, nationality to unite on a global front to work for social justice becomes even more pressing. My identity is no longer limited to my family, friends, ethnicity, or nationality – it transcends and includes all those I have connected with in all those places. I am no longer just obligated to care for people in my immediate community, city, or country – I am obligated to work for change that includes all whom I have met along the way and all those whom I have yet to meet and those whom I will never meet. Their struggles are bound up in mine and my liberation can only be found through theirs."

This was essentially the point in the readings our quiz was on this week, and it was great to hear someone's firsthand experience leading them to the same conclusion.