A response to the shooting in Connecticut

Posted by on December 14, 2012 4 comments

Kindergartners, God. They were kindergartners. Images of smiling small faces, with too-big backpacks and loose teeth filled my mind, my own gap toothed six-year-old among them. Such promise, such innocence. Taken. Violently. Gone. Worlds forever changed. My first impulse was to drive to my children’s school, hold them close and take them home where I know it’s safe.

But if there’s one lesson from tragedies like this (and there are many more than just one), it’s that the more we attempt to make ourselves safe by isolating and blaming and reactively protecting, the less secure we become. Since Columbine and 9/11, we’ve installed hundreds of thousands of metal detectors in schools and airports, profile persons who appear to be of middle eastern ethnicities, and have traumatized our own children with our fear. But we haven’t taken away the guns, we haven’t significantly decreased our militarized U.S. culture, and we haven’t stopped the proliferation of first person shooter video games. In so many ways, we perpetuate an us vs. them mentality that sees no problem with killing, denies our interconnectedness and allows these tragedies to proliferate.

Two nights ago I sat with my family in a restaurant eating dinner while the young man next to us waited for his dinner playing a game where he indiscriminately and realistically shot any human who came onto his screen. My children saw it, we all saw it—it was hard to ignore. Did anyone ask him to turn it off, question the violent images others were being subjected to and the violence he was participating in? No. And I confess I didn’t either. I lamely gave him a disparaging look, hoping he would get the source of my disapproval. A failure of courage and compassion.

Two hours ago I shared a prayer on facebook written by a Rabbi from Berkeley, a colleague of mine who came to the campus ministry last year to lead a comparative text study. It will likely be read at a vigil at the White House in a few hours by another colleague. And while President Obama’s response and leadership in creating policy that responds to the roots of violence matters, I hope we don’t resort to the too easy solution of relying on our elected officials to solve this issue.

We all have a role to play in healing this wound and transforming the way we live with each other. We must not succumb to the fear that leads us to see evil and danger in anything that is unfamiliar, around any potential corner. Last year in mediations between students and the UC Davis administration after the pepper-spraying of student protestors, the issue of removing guns from campus police was raised. Instead of discussing the idea, campus officials responded by raising the specter of Virginia Tech, effectively silencing substantive engagement on the questions of security and force and precluding creative solutions not yet envisioned. Guns remain on campus as does mistrust and unrest.

The principles of nonviolence are these:

o Us vs. Them thinking is a distortion of reality
o Violence begets violence
o Fear is an accelerant to violence
o We all have a piece of the truth and the untruth
o The infinite relatedness of all life must be acknowledged, repaired and transformed
o Nonviolent living is a way of life for courageous people

My hope is that as a community, as a society and as a culture we can move toward nonviolence. And I’d hope it would go without saying that a nonviolent society doesn’t allow random citizens to have multiple semi-automatic weapons.

The answers and the path are not easy. For the next days and weeks, we will grieve the terrible loss of beautiful precious lives and know that in the loss of these 27, a piece of each of us has died. But when the pain and recoil start to fade as they always do in the American consciousness (Katrina, Columbine, even the recent shooting in Oregon) we must act, daily, hourly, to change the way that we live together.

Healing at UC Davis

Posted by on May 4, 2012 2 comments

It has been nearly six months since the pepper spraying of student protestors at UC Davis, almost half a trip around the sun since I was called the next day to mediate between Chancellor Katehi and students when she was “trapped” in a campus building. The exit we facilitated, now known as “the walk of silence” and the horrifying videos of campus police pepper spraying students have been witnessed the world over.

In the days that followed, there were calls for compassion and healing, my own among these, but also from Chancellor Katehi, from Vice Chancellor Fred Wood, and many others on campus. There were also calls the world over for Katehi’s resignation and for justice. Chancellor Katehi wrote in the Winter 2012 UC Davis magazine, “As we learn the results and findings of the various investigations, I believe we will emerge as a stronger and more empathetic university. This will not happen quickly or easily.”

So, what has been happening in these six months? Soul searching and concerted dialogue between students, faculty, administration and police? A process to bring justice? Not exactly. Words like “healing” and “compassion” and “reconciliation” are easy to say and much harder to live out. If they are to be more than rhetoric, individuals–particularly those in power—must engage with humility and commitment. They must seek to right wrongs and respond to harm caused. Sometimes calling for “healing” and “reconciliation” is cover for getting back to business as usual as quickly as possible.

In the weeks after the pepper spraying, I began to advocate with a small community based team for a process of compassionate listening and restorative justice. To that end:
• I presented to students at the UC Davis King School of Law, one of whom wound up on the Task Force appointed to receive the Kroll investigation and make recommendations.
• We met with the Task Force’s chair, Cruz Reynoso, and talked with him about the value of a process of truth telling and face to face dialogue, a process that could lead to real structural change. Justice Reynoso brought these suggestions before the Task Force.
• We met with the City of Davis Human Relations Commission which is bringing a resolution to the City Council that “a community based restorative process” be put into place at UC Davis and includes a commitment by the City to explore how restorative justice can be used in the future to deal with city conflicts and challenges.
• I met with a member of the executive council of the faculty senate.
• We have been talking with students about the value of a restorative process.
In the light of the chaos that followed November 18, we weren’t sure where these efforts would lead. In some quarters, we seemed to be making progress, but the university was hindered while waiting for results from numerous investigations.

And now, finally, the report from the Reynoso Task Forceis out, and includes in its specific recommendations, “Administration and Leadership Response Recommendation No. 4: The Task Force recommends the Leadership Team devote itself to healing processes for the university community, including steps to operationalize the Principles of Community, and that the administration consider Restorative Justice among other tools to address behavior that negatively impacts the campus climate.”

The problem is that no one in the administration seems to know what a healing or Restorative Justice process might look like, and this in spite of the fact that on January 26, 2012, twenty-three student affairs staff members, from all 10 University of California campuses, took part in training for Restorative Justice at the UC Office of the President.

The UC Davis administration posted its “proposed actions” on the Task Force recommendations on Wednesday. Their response makes no mention of a healing process, and focuses instead on the Principles of Community with a timeline “TBD”. The Principles of Community were in place when the pepper spraying happened. Unfortunately, the Principles of Community have not, in recent years, translated into a Practice of Community. Reviewing these principles translates into neither healing nor justice.

And so, our small team of three, each with our own expertise in mediation, peacemaking, restorative justice and compassion/healing processes, has drafted a proposal for three in-depth meetings between students, faculty, administrators and police over the next nine months. It is being reviewed by the Faculty Senate, student affairs and several students directly affected by the pepper spraying and ongoing protests.

Will we do the necessary work to learn from this trauma and its aftermath, to be an example of a campus not undone by violence and despair but instead rising as a wiser and stronger collaborative community? Will the police recognize that unless they come to the table committed to change, the distrust they have sown and the fear they incite will prevent them from ever fully securing the campus community? Will the administration acknowledge that a real healing process is essential to being the world class university we say we are? If the record of the last six months is any indication, we are fighting an uphill battle.

Lawsuits have been filed by students against UC Davis. Students continued to protest throughout the winter, resulting in the closure of a US Bank branch on campus. Twelve have been charged in the protests on evidence provided to the Yolo County District Attorney by UC Davis. The campus police remain silent and isolated. These are not actions of trust. These are not actions that engender the kind of freedom and creativity that fuel discovery and new thought. I pray that we as a community will have the courage and patience to do what is necessary to tell the truth and heal the past to bring justice and restoration.

Why I walked Chancellor Katehi out of Surge II

Posted by on November 21, 2011 77 comments

At 5pm yesterday, as my family and I left Davis so that I could attend the American Academy of Religion annual meetings in San Francisco, I received a call from Assistant Vice Chancellor Griselda Castro informing me that she, Chancellor Katehi and others were trapped inside Surge II.  She asked if I could mediate between students and administration.  I was reluctant; I had already missed a piece of the meetings due to commitments in Davis and didn’t want to miss any more.  I called a student (intentionally not named here) and learned that students were surrounding the building but had committed to a peaceful, silent exit for those inside and had created a clear walkway to the street.  We turned the car around and headed back to Davis.

When I arrived, there was a walkway out of the building set up, lined on both sides by about 300 students. The students were organized and peaceful. I was cleared to enter the building along with a student who is a part of CA House and has been part of the Occupy movement on campus since the beginning.  He, too, was reluctant, but not because he had somewhere else to be.  For any student to act as a spokesperson or leader is inconsistent with the ethos the Occupy movement.  He entered as an individual seeking peace and resolution, not as a representative of the students, and was clear that he had called for and would continue to call for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation. 

Once inside, and through over an hour of conversation, we learned the following:

  • The Chancellor had made a commitment that police would not be called in this situation
  • Though the message had been received inside the building that students were offering a peaceful exit, there was a concern that not everyone would hold to this commitment
  • The Chancellor had committed to talk with students personally and respond to concerns at the rally on Monday on the quad
  • The student assistants to the Chancellor had organized another forum on Tuesday for the Chancellor to dialogue directly with students

What we felt couldn’t be compromised on was the students’ desire to see and be seen by the Chancellor.  Any exit without face to face contact was unacceptable.  She was willing to do this. We reached agreement that the students would move to one side of the walkway and sit down as a show of commitment to nonviolence. 

Before we left, the Chancellor was asked to view a video of the student who was with me being pepper sprayed. She immediately agreed.  Then, he and I witnessed her witnessing eight minutes of the violence that occurred Friday.  Like a recurring nightmare, the horrific scene and the cries of “You don’t have to do this!” and students choking and screaming rolled again.  The student and I then left the building and using the human mike, students were informed that a request had been made that they move to one side and sit down so that the Chancellor could exit.  They immediately complied, though I believe she could have left peacefully even without this concession.

I returned to the building and walked with the Chancellor down the human walkway to her car.  Students remained silent and seated the entire way.

What was clear to me was that once again, the students’ willingness to show restraint kept us from spiraling into a cycle of violence upon violence.  There was no credible threat to the Chancellor, only a perceived one.  The situation was not hostile.  And what was also clear to me is that whether they admit it or not, the administrators that were inside the building are afraid.  And exhausted.  And human.  And the suffering that has been inflicted is real.  The pain present as the three of us watched the video of students being pepper sprayed was palpable.  A society is only truly free when all persons take responsibility for their actions; it is only upon taking responsibility that healing can come.     

Why did I walk the Chancellor to her car?  Because I believe in the humanity of all persons.  Because I believe that people should be assisted when they are afraid.  Because I believe that in showing compassion we embrace a nonviolent way of life that emanates to those whom we refuse to see as enemies and in turn leads to the change that we all seek.  I am well aware that my actions were looked on with suspicion by some tonight, but I trust that those seeking a nonviolent solution will know that “just means lead to just ends” and my actions offered dignity not harm.

The Chancellor was not trapped in Surge II tonight, but, in a larger sense, we are all in danger of being trapped.  We are trapped when we assent to a culture that for decades, and particularly since 9/11, has allowed law enforcement to have more and more power which has moved us into an era of hypercriminalization. We are trapped when we envision no path to reconciliation.   And we are trapped when we forget our own power.  The students at UC Davis are to be commended for resisting that entrapment, using their own power nonviolently.  I pray that the Chancellor will remember her own considerable power in making change on our campus, and in seeking healing and reconciliation.

Occupy UC Davis

Posted by on November 19, 2011 4 comments

On Thursday, November 17, I and a handful of other campus religious leaders met with Assistant Vice Chancellor Griselda Castro and discussed concerns around the campus’ response to students’ expression of solidarity with the Occupy movements around the country, and particularly with UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff harmed last week by police as they protested nonviolently.  My hope was to offer feedback to the administration that their response was at best misguided and insufficient and that open dialogue was deeply needed.  I questioned why police in full riot gear entered Mrak on Wednesday minutes after students who had been asked to leave voluntarily were packing up their things and exiting the building voluntarily. (On Wednesday, I sat with students in the lobby of Mrak after having been prevented from attending a meeting there on the interfaith service initiative that CA House is leading.  The administration had shut down the elevator and locked the door to the stairwell.  When I finally found a way down a set of back stairs to the meeting, I met Chancellor Katehi on the stairway, avoiding contact with the students in the lobby.)  The responses I received from AVC Castro were: 

  • a volunteer committee is communicating with the students for the administration
  • The police were not supposed to be in riot gear and the administration was also not happy about their response
  • The administration is overworked and doing the best they can
  • The Chancellor is unavailable due to her triple booked schedule to move forward her agenda of globalization and internationalization of the university
  • The university’s highest goal is safety

While each of these responses is deeply problematic, perhaps the most concerning is that “the administration’s highest goal is safety.”  This rhetoric is echoed in the Chancellor’s letter to the campus community after the pepper spraying, abuse and arresting of students peacefully protesting on the quad on Friday afternoon.  I thought the university’s highest goals were the education of its students, advocacy of open dialogue, training in critical reflection, character and leadership development and the quest for knowledge, beauty and truth. 

The ironies are overwhelming.  Instead of insuring the stated “highest goal,” the police are violating the safety of the campus community.  If the administration is dismayed about the response of the police, who is in charge?  If certain members of the administration and staff are too overwhelmed due to budget cuts to respond appropriately, are they not also part of the 99%?  I suggested this to AVC Castro and wondered out loud why she didn’t join the Occupiers.  In the nine years I have known AVC Castro I have watched her health deteriorate and her control over her own life wane, all in faithful service to the university.  This is not a rant against any one person, rather a depiction of a disturbingly dysfunctional system, a call for open and democratic dialogue, and a plea for leadership.

The administration, and particularly Chancellor Katehi, MUST commit to meeting with students on Monday on the quad in open dialogue.  Letters and emissaries are not enough.  While she has expressed sadness about the harm suffered by students on Friday, a personal apology is also in order.  When AVC Castro said that the Chancellor is “unavailable due to being triple booked in moving forward her agenda of globalization and internationalization of the university,” I responded that her agenda reads as privatization to students and is part of the problem.  If this is a misperception, it can only be dispelled in an open and transparent forum.  While I have appreciated the Chancellor’s responses to hate crimes on campus, her dramatic increase of the budget of the LGBTRC and her support of women in the academy, she must also be present and effective in leading the university to fulfill the totality of its mission.  This requires careful and ongoing conversation with students, faculty and staff about the increasing climate of criminalization and dehumanization on campus. 

In the meantime, please pray for peaceful, positive and significant change.  Pray for healing.  One of our CA House interns, Tom Zolot, has been a leader in the movement, spoke at the rally on Thursday and is now home healing from being pepper sprayed.  Another of our CA House interns, Emily Pickens-Jones, has been cooking food from the CA House pantry and the Co-op and shuttling warm rations to the students on the quad.  Most students I know are shocked that peaceful protest has come to this.  I urge each member of the campus and city communities to be present on Monday at noon on the UC Davis quad.  We must not let the events of the past week devolve into recriminations and further divisiveness.  The brokenness of our system is certainly clear to us now if anyone had any question before.  Major changes that support the wellness of all in our community—police and student, Sodexho employee and faculty, administration and homeless—are desperately needed.  Healing in a pluralistic context is complex:  some call for forgiveness, while others demand justice in the form of law and consequence, while still others advocate letting go.  Some have no regular experience with a practice that brings healing.  But this does not mean that healing is unachievable.  Healing begins with honesty, humility and a commitment to understand. It begins with showing up.  I hope to see you on the quad on Monday.

A New Look

Posted by on March 24, 2011 1 comment

Since its inception, this blog has had a rather boring look, so today’s offering is the addition of some formatting, some new tags and some pictures, with more coming.  Our hope is to integrate the visual identity of any of our staff blogs with the soon to be updated CA House website.

We Are the Stories We Tell

Posted by on March 21, 2011 No comments

In 2010, September 11 fell on the festival of Eid-ul-fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan, and many in the Muslim and interfaith community were concerned that the joyous celebration would be misunderstood as a celebration commemorating 9-11.  At the same time, a pastor in Gainesville, Florida was threatening to hold a Qur’an burning, and thousands were vehemently protesting the building of an Islamic community center new ground zero in New York City.  The United Methodist Church in Davis hosted a service of solidarity on 9-11, and the following is the speech I gave at that event.

We Are the Stories We Tell

Thankfully, the pastor of a small church in Florida has called off his vile plan to burn Qur’ans today.  Also, thankfully, the international outcry as the media cycle on this proposed action spun out of control was loud and forceful, but it is deeply concerning that there was enough support for this terribly offensive event that the pastor felt justified for weeks and days in his ongoing intent for the immolation of the holiest of books in Islam.  As a Christian, this intolerance and disrespect by a pastor and his church shames and saddens me.  Not only is this not a reflection of the love of neighbor that Jesus taught, it is violent, hateful and wrong.

It is my understanding that for Muslims, the Qur’an is less like the Christian Bible than it is like our understanding of Jesus Christ himself.  By this, I mean that the Qur’an is more like incarnation than it is like a collection of history, teachings and scripture; it is the living word of God as incarnated through Mohammed, peace be upon him, the messenger, just like Jesus is for Christians the Word who was with God and was God and is God(John 1:1).  For Christians, it would be abhorrent to countenance the burning of the Holy Bible, but this Qur’an burning is really more akin to the burning of Christ, a twenty-first century trial and condemnation by an ignorant and unjust jury, and an attempt at annihilation of a way of life, a way of being faithful and a way of knowing God.  In this instance, the proposed site was a church in Gainesville as opposed to a cross in Golgotha, but the spiritual impact would have been similarly deeply felt.

We are all here today because we do not want to see the mistakes or hateful acts of the past repeated.  I thank you for being here today.  While the tragic events of 9-11 caused untold damage and are beyond regrettable, we have at least, seen countless examples since that time of Christians and Muslims, Muslims and Jews, neighbors from the diversity of faith found in America, coming together in new and profound ways to counter the hate exemplified in the attacks.  The Multifaith Living Community at the Cal Aggie Christian Association is one such example.  In the fall of 2000, the board approved the pursuit of a vision to build student housing on our property.  After 9-11 that vision became clearer as we saw the possibility of making that student community an intentionally multifaith place to respond to the hurt and misunderstanding engendered by 9-11.  And the blessing and interreligious understanding that has come out of that community has been tremendous.

And so let us all be in prayer today that we can continue to reframe who we are as people of faith in this country.  The world is watching as some of our fellow country persons succumb to their fear and protest the building of an Islamic Center at Park 51, two blocks away from ground zero, and it is watching as we find ways to stand together in unity, and to serve to bring about peace, healing and justice.  In the weeks to come, let us provide a hundred, a thousand stories that might be picked up by the media and become the talk of the international community that show people of faith expressing love and hope, stories that show the power of building up instead of tearing down.  And let each of us, in our own daily lives, tell those stories as opposed to the ones that further fear and brokenness.  We are the stories we tell, and we will decide a hopeful or hateful future based on the stories we choose.  Again, thanks to each of you for being here today and I look forward to our common future together as people of faith.

So Long, Winter

Posted by on March 20, 2011 1 comment

As we say goodbye to winter this weekend, I offer this from Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson.  Keep love alive.  (Thanks, EJJ!)

Winter Song

Peter King Epilogue

Posted by on March 19, 2011 No comments

Though the birth of interfaith engagement as a movement dates to the first Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893, since the 1960s and 70s and particularly since 9/11, there has been a tremendous amount of work done to build bridges between persons of different faiths. Our own Multifaith Living Community is one example of those efforts. Still, I have found that often it is difficult to move interreligious communities and events past the stage of friendly mutual acknowledgement. Currently, I’m working on a Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union, and on Thursdays I go to Berkeley for my Christian-Muslim dialogue seminar. I hoped that from this class I would learn of cases and methodologies that would foster a deepening of relationships and develop a facility for dealing with the complexity of pluralism. Though there are a number of deeply committed and faithful persons working on interreligious cooperation and communication, many questions about how to do this work in significant and effective ways remain.

So I’ve been thinking about different ways to start conversations, to get to deeper issues, to engage beyond the usual suspects, to stretch and grow. One thing I do know is that to really grow in understanding, it takes risk and the willingness to be uncomfortable, at least for awhile. My recent post on the Peter King hearings was unlike most of my writing—it was somewhat vitriolic and usually I’m striving for a balanced, more grace-filled position. In addition to posting this piece to the blog, I also posted it to facebook and sent it to our local newspaper. The feedback I’ve received has been mixed, but I have to say, even though I felt uncomfortable and exposed as each successive piece of feedback rolled in, and someone I don’t know looked up my number and called me at home, at least I was in conversation with persons I’m not typically talking to about religious or political issues.

Dialogue on the internet has its drawbacks. It’s inherently impersonal which I think leads to saying (writing) things that contain more rhetoric and are less careful than when we are face to face. When we don’t actually know the person we’re in conversation with, this intensifies. But the nature of the internet also allows us to make strong statements about what we believe to persons in our broad circles of relationship when a face to face conversation might never get to much depth. The most enlightening interaction was with a person I do know, but haven’t seen in many years, who lives in another state. Though we saw the Peter King hearings differently, we agreed on some points, disagreeing on others. I learned something from the interaction, and heard points that no one in my regular networks was making. My understanding of the complexity of the issue deepened. I have to believe, though, that the quality of this interaction was fruitful because we do actually know each other, and care about and respect each other, perhaps an important foundation for ongoing dialogue and further learning.

Risking isn’t just about making strong, perhaps controversial statements. It’s also about trying out different ways of going beyond our comfort zones to connect with persons who have different world views and experiences. So I guess I owe Peter King a debt of gratitude for being the catalyst for connection between me and an old friend. And this is the hope of dialogue: that even in our differences, even in conversation about a process that stereotypes and objectifies like the Peter King hearings, if we are honest and courageous in our engagement, the person with whom we are talking becomes more multi-dimensional and so do we.

This is already really challenging and it’s only been a week

Posted by on March 17, 2011 1 comment

One of my favorites from Mary Oliver

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver

Little Easters

Posted by on March 15, 2011 No comments

You may have noticed I didn’t post anything yesterday (such vanity to believe that anyone is tracking this daily). The Sundays in Lent are supposed to be “little Easters” when we get a break from whatever we’re trying to add in or give up, when we get to celebrate new life and resurrection. And I can tell you it was a welcome break to not post anything yesterday. We need these little Easters, not because we are weak, but as a reminder that there is always grace.