Photo – Dana Masters bringing Rubicon 2019 to a close in song.
Are you sitting comfortably? is not a question you will hear at Rubicon.
The annual gathering which creates a space to explore the interplay between culture and the Gospel takes place in the conducive surrounds of Dublin’s Sugar Club – the seats are comfortable, the lighting is subtle, there are sweets in jars and the welcome is always warm. But each year the theme and the speakers push those attending beyond their comfort zones. Participants are urged to look outside the boxes of their own opinions and experiences.
This year’s theme focused on identity, inclusion and intersectionality and was one of the most challenging yet. In an Ireland where increasingly uncomfortable questions are being asked of its citizens, where racism and racist attacks are on the rise, where vitriolic occupiers of the internet’s comments sections call for Ireland to be kept for the Irish, conversations that take place in spaces created by the likes of Rubicon are very important. The speakers not only challenged perceptions, they opened up opportunities for participants to see how others experience their lives and explore how inclusive Ireland is, even for the Irish.
“God wants us to have radically good relationships”
The keynote speaker was writer and activist Lisa Sharon Harper of FreedomRoad.us who gave an overview of the creation of humans in God’s image versus the development of race as a social construct. She cited the book of Genesis which states that all people are made in the image of God and are called to exercise dominion over the world and stewardship of creation. However, she added, ‘race’ as a construct had no logic, but was used to determine who could be called to exercise dominion. Starting with philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle and developing over centuries, the concept of race came to see the dominance of male, white able bodied people over people of African descent, she said.
The principal sin of people of European decent was that they strove to be God, Lisa suggested, adding that this disconnected them from God, from others and from the land. She spoke about the effect of colour on status and suggested that the Irish were more complex than the colour of their skin as they had experience of oppression although they had gained white status. “You are white and have your own land which is not something African Americans have,” she said.
“God wants us to have radically good relationships. When people don’t choose God’s way… relationships that were good fall down,” she stated adding later “When we govern in ways that crush, exploit and exclude people made in God’s image, we are actually declaring war on God.”
“What if your identity was defined by the worst decision you ever made?”
Dublin native and Texas resident, Debs Walker, told of her fascinating experience in Houston Texas and her work with 7More, an organisation set up to assist ex–prisoners reintegrate into society. Their aim is to see people live fully in the way they were created to be.
Initially Debs and her husband volunteered to work among the homeless community in Houston and this helped them learn that people were revolving in and out of the prison system. When they were in prison they were sober. However, when they were released they were brought to the centre of Houston where they were met by pimps, traffickers and drug dealers, leading them back into their old cycles.
“We had a sense that God was saying to us that instead of them being met by traffickers, pimps and dealers, they should be met by the Kingdom of God. That they could be helped to become the people they were meant to be,” she said adding that 55% of ex–offenders returned to prison but if they were met when they were released and followed up afterwards the statistics dropped radically. 7More meet people who are being released from prison and give them a bag with items of clothing, hygiene supplies, a wristband with a helpline number on it. They are a bridge to their next steps.
“There are next steps but the gap between release and the next step is massive,” Debs explains. “What if you were defined by the worst decision you have ever made? This is what it’s like for them. Their worst decision becomes their identity.” She spoke of the injustice of the US justice system, where kids in some areas are almost destined to fall into criminal activity, where the tax take determines the quality of their education, where they learn that they are not worth anything. “In 7More, when they get out, what we want them to hear is ‘I see you – we see the potential in you,” she commented.
“If as the church, we believe there is good and bad, we say lock them up. But if everyone has and identity that has been given to them by God, if we are on a journey with God and God sees us as being on a journey with him, should we not see other people around us as being on a journey as well? Should we not journey with these people? They have been broken from way before they broke the law. So what is real justice for them?” she asked. “What is justice? What does it look life for people in poverty or people who struggle with mental health? Do we see each other in who we are created to be? Do we see the image of God in each other? Do we as believers ask where do I intersect with your journey and where do my gifts bring you to the next stage of your journey? We all deserve to be seen and known.”
“If you are not impacted by race it is because you are advantaged by it”
Owning our space and coming out from the margins was the subject addressed by equality advocate and UCD lecturer, Dr Ebun Joseph. She explained that the system imposes unequal conditions and urged people to think about how they could walk with people who are affected by this. “I am constantly calling things out. But I need you to join me… You can’t measure darkness. We measure light. Darkness is the absence of light. The only solution to darkness is to introduce light. To me, light is knowledge and awareness,” she stated.
She asked if race is not real, if it is not socially constructed and of dubious origin and we are supposed to live in a post racial era, why does race and racial thinking still effect people? “Race is and was made to exclude others. We are living in a system that is set up to exclude others. Race is ascribed to you. No one asks you about it. It is not value free. We know that society is unequal but what does inequality mean? What is the lived reality of that inequality?” she wondered.
She said that racial stratification meant that some people started at the bottom while others started at the top. “Today, God help you if you are the child of an asylum seeker or if you are a refugee. You read these words written about you. The words used are horrendous. People find that they have to stay in their stereotypical spaces – whether you’re a Traveller in Ireland, black in Ireland – life makes you stay in the same space,” she explained. “Everything we do is about stories. The question is, what story are we listening to and what story are you telling? They’re asylum seekers so it’s ok that they die at sea. They are no longer human because we are seeing that they are in this box we call ‘illegals’.”
Ebun said that experience reconstructs people’s identities and asked what people’s attitude to difference was – tolerance, acceptance, recognition, respect? “You cannot drive out the darkness, you need light. You cannot drive out discrimination, you need social acceptance. Race consciousness is a requirement of everyday life. If you are not impacted by race it is because you are advantaged by race… When we focus on difference, we judge because difference is hierarchical,” she concluded.
“Look around your circles and see who is not there – you will see who is excluded”
Traveller, activist and playwright, Dr Rosaleen MacDonagh, described her background growing up in the Travelling community and the general hostility towards Travellers. “We were at the edge of the town, at the edge of accommodation, at the edge of the system and unfortunately we’re still at the edge,” she commented. “Racism was normal. We thought that we were subservient to settled people. When we were among ourselves we were proud and strong but once we were in that interaction, that does affect your self esteem and your confidence in really destructive ways – not just on an individual level, on a family and community level.”
Official recognition of the Travelling community’s ethnicity only came two years ago after 30 years of activism. “But we always knew we had a different ethnicity to our settled Irish friends. The State didn’t know but the judicial system knew and the police knew,” she stated. Rosaleen said that men and women in the Traveller community are eight times more likely to take their own lives – this is the fallout of racism. “Racism is about access and the denial of access. Look at direct provision and the way communities are responding to that. Racism has been normalised in everyday language and everyday encounters. People may want a black person but they don’t want a Traveller,” she observed.
Describing herself as a strong disabled woman, she said that someone like her would not be heard on radio regardless of her CV or her confidence. There would always be a question mark. “This is not a good value system. When we think of disability we think of conditions and labels and what people’s limitations are,” she said. She said people occupying privileged spaces in society had to make room for others. Addressing her interviewer, Greg Fromholz, she observed that he is American Irish and she is a Traveller but they were in the same space. “I have to be more confident about being a Traveller woman with a disability. You occupy a privileged space and we have to check ourselves and make room. We have to see who is in our friendship circles, our environment, who are we being taught by, who is our influence. These questions often show us who is not there. Look around and see who is not there. The challenge is to push beyond our comfort zones. Generosity is about pulling back and stepping aside and creating a shared dialogue,” she stated.
“It is important to understand your labels and assess their impact”
A panel discussion chaired by Ann Mara and featuring Evaleen Whelton of AUsome Ireland, theologian and trainer Kate Bowen Evans and story teller and faith practitioner Jenn Clark, also looked at identity.
Evaleen, who was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of 37 which gave her a huge understanding of who she is and explained her whole life to her. “As an autistic person I think differently, I communicate differently and I am quite sensitive to my environment… I realised that I had been masking because I wanted to be accepted by wider society and it was a relief because it explained so much,” she said.
Kate explained that her situation affected her identity. “I self identify as a white, privileged female, a mother, not yet disabled advocate for people on the margins…. To be able to understand what the labels that are on me is good. I don’t always choose them but it is important to say these labels and assess their impact,” she explained.
Jenn said that she experienced a tumultuous childhood but had found a space of healing through art and creative expression. She uses arts to work with people from diverse backgrounds and said that the more people we invite to the table the more enriched we get.
Their discussion looked at whether their identity had made them feel included or excluded and inclusivity and acceptance in church communities.
After a day of having their perceptions and boundaries challenged, Rubicon drew to a close with the powerful but soothing songs of Dana Masters.
If you missed Rubicon this year, you missed an astonishing day. But the good news is that Rubicon will be back next year. Put October 10 2020 in your diary. The videos from Rubicon 2019 will be up online at wearerubicon.com
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