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The Broadening the Narrative podcast launched today! You can listen to the intro episode and the first full episode with Sequana Murray (@bandythenomad).
Transcript
4 clock ticks
“It’s past time to broaden the narrative” (said by Sequana Murray)
Intro Music
Introduction: Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Broadening the Narrative. This is a podcast where I will talk to some of my favorite people who have broadened the narrative for me. I'm your host, Nicki Pappas, and I'm so glad you're here.
Transition Music
First Segment: I am privileged in numerous ways as a middle-class, white, heterosexual, cisgender, thin, Christian woman who is not living with a disability. My perspective is limited, so I want to acknowledge that in the beginning. As someone who loves Jesus, my viewpoints come through that lens, but I want people of all faiths and no faith affiliation to feel seen, heard, and honored. My goal is not to convince anyone to think the way I think. You don't have to land where I land for me to still respect you as a person. However, we cannot agree to disagree on the equality of human beings. To quote James Baldwin, “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” If you hold to a belief that oppresses and denies the humanity and right to exist of others, I cannot agree to disagree with you. You are wrong, and I want to be clear about that.
My context has always been conservative evangelicalism. The narrative implicitly and explicitly communicated to me was that men were the pinnacle. More specifically, white men. And even more specific white, heterosexual, cisgender Christian men. I believed these men were the modern day Moseses who would lead the world to the promised land. In thinking they were at the top, everyone else became less human- Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander People of Color, all cisgender women, transgender men and women, people who practiced other faiths or no faith and many others. I dehumanized all these people and made excuses for the othering. There are no excuses. I am sorry for the ways I dehumanized you and vow to love and live justly.
I grew up in South Carolina and attended public schools here. A subject I never questioned as I climbed the ladder of academia was history. I just assumed that all I needed to know was in the textbooks I was provided throughout my education. The heroes of United States history were presented as perfect, and even the sins of this nation’s past were brushed over quickly. I was taught a history that wasn’t painful to learn because the voices that contributed to the stories that got passed down didn’t put a heavy emphasis on the instances that would disrupt the comfortable narrative. Once I pulled on the historical and racial strings that held my blanket of belief together, I began to question additional core beliefs.
Transition Music
Second Segment: In recent years, I began learning more about racism, patriarchy, politics, sexuality, mental health, and religion while exploring controversial biblical interpretations. There are several pivotal points that have shaped me, slowly transforming me into who I am becoming. In September 2015, I read Vanishing Grace by Phillip Yancey. I attribute this book to the beginning glimmers of humility to prepare my heart for engaging with people who disagree with me. I attended a Be the Bridge event in May 2017, which put me on the path to submitting to Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander People of Color to listen, learn, and engage in antiracism work. I also began to understand the ways I conflated Republicanism and Christianity and started untangling conservative politics from my faith. By October 2018, I tackled what I thought I knew about gender roles and Godde’s plan for women. The Almost Heretical podcast Gender Series cast a grander vision for human flourishing. I read Jesus for President in January 2019, which further exposed the ways I bought into the empire nature of the religion I knew. My mission in life was to persuade people to align with me spiritually because I bought into lies that benefited me, but I didn’t realize how much of my motivation was rooted in fear. I am still exploring all of these subjects and more.
On January 24th, 2018, I started the Broadening the Narrative blog with the desire to highlight the experiences of the historically and currently marginalized. That meant I planned to bring my readers the perspectives of white women and people of color. I didn’t realize how much more the narrative needed to be broadened because I had chosen to not know.
I believe the first person I heard speak about narrative in this way was Bryan Stevenson as he referenced the stories we tell about race in the United States. His analysis is what prompted me to begin the Broadening the Narrative blog. Since then, I've heard Lisa Sharon Harper talk about shrinking the narrative gap. In podcasts and in her book Inspired, the late Rachel Held Evans acknowledged the power of the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we are told. And recently, at the Charlotte Justice Conference in 2019, Propaganda's keynote was titled “Terraform: better origin stories create better worlds.”
My journey began in broadening the narrative I had been taught regarding race, exchanging the origin stories I once believed for ones that more accurately mirrored reality. From there, I started broadening the narrative I had been taught concerning gender, politics, sexuality, mental health, and religion. As I have interrogated my religious beliefs, a whole world of Christian thought has opened to me that I didn’t even know existed. The faith deconstruction was disorienting at times, but I am reconstructing a far more inclusive faith now and am guided by Galatians 5:22-23. I've heard on numerous occasions, "There's a reason Paul had to write…" In many cases, the statement demonstrates a lack of understanding regarding what Paul was communicating. Further, this sentiment is usually meant to disparage someone in a marginalized position. Well, I think there's a reason Paul wrote, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things." There is no law against us showing love. Not a single one. In fact, in Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus answered the Pharisees that loving the Lord is the greatest and most important command. He went on to say, “The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” I hear the pushback now: "The most loving thing we can do is point out someone's sin." If the most loving thing we can do is point out what we perceive to be sin in someone, then there are a whole lot of people that Jesus didn’t “love.” A couple of years ago, an older woman I adore named Ms. Donna shared with me that we make things so complicated when it’s actually quite simple. Godde is concerned with how we love, and we are called to love every neighbor. Any opposition from Christians toward me in this is rooted in a desire to continue comfortably ignoring or perpetuating harm against the marginalized. It's much easier to hide behind some conveniently cherry-picked Bible verses than to admit a lack of love for people that we've deemed unworthy of love. Everything comes down to love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and there is no law against teeming with love. I would rather err on the side of love than hatred, condemnation, or self-righteousness every time. There are plenty of laws against the latter.
Transition Music
Third Segment: On July 4th, 2019, I started the Broadening the Narrative Instagram account. If you visit the Broadening the Narrative account, you can see in the profile that I aim for love while seeking justice, critiquing the church, and sharing my journey in broadening the narrative. I desire for the Broadening the Narrative community to be a space for people to bring their hesitancies, hang-ups, cynicism, and apprehension to Godde. I want to listen to and validate the experiences of marginalized people without attempting to sway anyone to believe the way I do. If people have questions, I hope to humbly offer a response, not pridefully spout off "answers." Even if we disagree, I want it to be a place where we treat one another with dignity. I am grateful for the people who are shaping me, and I share their work on the account in an effort to broaden the narrative.
I want the marginalized to feel comfortable to say whatever they need to say about the systems that are oppressing them. In contrast, I want the privileged, myself included, to be challenged and to lean into discomfort. If I post or say something that is harmful to those who are marginalized, I want those who are marginalized to feel safe pushing back publicly. I desire to be teachable and appreciative of correction.
On the Broadening the narrative account, I follow a two months on and one month off schedule. The first Sunday of the month I post a new blog post that can be accessed by visiting broadeningthenarrative.blogspot.com. On the third Sunday, I post about “Headlines and History” where I link a current headline to history. Mondays are for my musings in the form of poetry, Tuesdays for podcast recommendations, Wednesdays for highlighting an account to follow and support or a featured song, Thursdays for additional recommendations, Fridays for fun facts about me, and Saturdays for book recommendations. I also do giveaways of the resources that have been beneficial for me. If you’d like to follow the Broadening the Narrative account, search for @broadeningthenarrative, all one word.
Transition Music
Fourth Segment: People might say, “Let's not rock the boat. Things are fine” or “Don't be divisive. Let’s not stir things up,” because we know that as soon as conversations surrounding politics, religion, and justice are initiated, people get angry and defensive. This response demonstrates that things aren’t fine. Division isn't being created but rather exposed. Further, where there is inequality, I can't be ok with it because Jesus isn't ok with it. I believe the people of Godde are called to expose injustice based on Ephesians 5:11. The United States has a history that needs to be uncovered, mourned over, repented, and repaired. The people of Godde throughout the scriptures were called to lament corporately, even if they didn’t personally partake in the sin. I’m thinking specifically of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2 as well as prophets of the Old Testament. Corporate lamenting and repenting must occur. The privileged in the United States, myself included, need to be sorrowful about a broader range of injustices in order to grieve and be called to action to bring justice under the leadership of the marginalized.
I suggest for privileged people who feel defensive in these conversations to wrestle with their feelings and ask themselves why. I’m not seeking to push an agenda that lowers a group while raising another group above that group. The United States leaves out voices and perspectives, and this hinders us from being the best country we can be today. If we think we lose nothing of value by silencing these voices, we are not seeing the Imago Dei, the image of Godde, in all people.
We cannot learn from perspectives we are not taught. The silencing of marginalized people should stir up anger as well as sorrow and grief. Don't run from those feelings. You can and should be righteously angry about the injustices of the past and present. Anger directed at the privileged may be a by-product, but it is not a necessary by-product, and it shouldn't keep us from exposing injustice. The perspectives that don't make it to the mainstream will make the privileged uncomfortable, but my prayer is that the privileged won't run from the discomfort and will instead learn from it. Too much time is devoted to discrediting voices just because of disagreement with them in other areas. We must remember, though, that all truth is Godde’s truth, as Jemar Tisby has said on multiple occasions. We can hear the truth no matter who is telling it. I hope my endeavors through the Broadening the Narrative blog, Instagram account, and podcast will bring various perspectives to the comfortable narratives that have been passed down for generations.
I may not alter how someone else sees the world, but I am hoping to cultivate empathy in those who have privilege because real people are affected by our views. I desire to see from the perspective of others and act justly in response. People also say that proximity changes us, but I’ve noticed proximity is insufficient if I don’t forgo my pride and replace it with humility. I’ve also been accused of just trying to find evidence to prove what I think, but I don’t necessarily want to lay down my privilege and comfort; I don’t want to trade certainty for doubt. My biases can bring a sense of security and superiority, but to privilege any group means to oppose equality for those who aren’t part of the privileged groups. Let’s work together, under the leadership of the marginalized, to create a more just and equitable society for all people.
Transition Music
Closing: I want to thank Sequana Murray for the voice clip she sent to me for the episode intro. You can purchase her music on Bandcamp at bandy17.bandcamp.com. Her music is available on most streaming services under the name Bandy. I also want to thank Jordan Lukens for his help with editing. Please subscribe and review the show, but only if you’re planning on leaving a 5-star review. Otherwise, you can just skip this part. You can access the Broadening the Narrative blog by visiting broadeningthenarrative.blogspot.com, and you can find the Broadening the Narrative page on Instagram by searching for @broadeningthenarrative and on Twitter by searching for @broadnarrative. I hope that if you know and love me you can engage with the Broadening the Narrative blog, social media accounts, and podcast, as well as any recommended resources. Then, you can share with people who know and love you, and little by little, person by person, we can broaden the narrative. Grace and peace, friends.
Outro Music
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