Shut Up and Dribble

Grace and Favor -when choices are not enough

One of the sayings that continually frames my reality is, "I am thankful that I do not look like what I've been through."  So, while we have free will, that does not mean it is absolute.  Institutional structures such as racism, sexism, homophobia, ablism, agism, classism, and a slew of other real-life circumstances limit or preclude any choices on my part.  This means that even though I might do all that within my power and capabilities, institutional barriers may block both my access and success.  Therefore, we promote the myth that you can do or be anything you choose to do or be is rarely the case.  The irony of this myth is that it accounts for much of the anger and frustration that fills our youth.  Telling them that they can accomplish their dreams yet knowing that those dreams will never be possible unless and until we remove the institutional barriers that block their success.

On a similar note, we must also understand that despite these obstacles, a higher power operates and works miracles.  Miracles such that the enslaved African could smile and sing "A Brighter Day tomorrow."  Miracles that aided and abetted the dreams of the newly freed Africans to build towns, and achieve greatness even while the KKK was destroying, lynching, and terrorizing.  We must recall the fascinating songs and accomplishments of those Blacks that had had enough and left in droves to fuel the great migration and again build, achieve, and find water in the desert of racist America.  And even as these efforts were similarly fraught with violence, intimidation, and hatred – the Black miracles continued to unfold.  Maybe blessings are overused, so grace and favor covered this remnant as they made bricks without straw in this New Egypt.  The birth of a new generation, born of struggle, challenged America's complacency and fostered the multi-pronged civil rights movement.  A movement that became what today is known as the "woke generation."  And again, the response of the ultraconservatives was to add to the weight that would be borne.  Increasingly we note the militarization of our police and courts as we created the cradle-to-prison pipeline and declared war on drugs, the underclasses, and the black body itself.  To pay for it all, we savaged higher education funding as our jails became overcrowded and the path for upward mobility again became blocked.  Yet through it all, the faith, courage, and stamina of that and a new generation of dreamers found their way through grace and favor.   

And finally, if you have not guessed, I cannot end this without declaring that there is still a higher power.  A power that I call God.  And that God does supersede all of life's obstacles and circumstances.  Yes, as my friend reminds me, there is something still called "predestination." Predestination, that despite what you see or that seems to be real, sometimes the hand of God intervenes and "makes a way out of nowhere," parts the red sea, and builds that "bridge over trouble waters."   And it is God's grace and favor that is the ultimate miracle in the life of those that believe.