A Sermon Delivered by Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister
At All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, OK
on October 21, 2007
I’m just going to come right out and say it. Some of the conventional wisdom in this city right
now, is appalling. But that’s not altogether
surprising; conventional wisdom is just that — it’s conventional. It lacks originality. As one author put it, “The hallmark of
conventional wisdom is acceptability. It
has the approval of those [people] to whom it’s addressed.”1 So people with like-minds talk to each other,
and share the same opinions and biases, and it gets called wisdom. That’s why it’s said that conventional wisdom
is to wisdom, what junk food is to food.
Some of the conventional wisdom in this city right now is reckless,
irresponsible and ignorant and if it persists it will continue to lead our city
down.
Does anyone care how I really feel this morning? I hope so, because I’m in a bit of a mood. I’ve been in a mood ever since this river
vote. But before I talk about Tulsa’s problems, I want to say a word about America. Not the America we see on TV. Not the America reported on CNN or Fox News
Network. I want to talk about hidden America. It’s the America you’ll never read about on
the crawl going across the bottom of your cable news program.
Here’s a story from hidden America told by the American
Buddhist monk Jack Kornfield:
Kornfield was taking a train to Washington, DC
for his father's funeral. When he got on
he saw an empty seat next to an African American man in his 40s and sat down
with him. It turned out the man worked
with youth in Washington, DC. He
was the head of a service organization that works primarily with young men who
have committed homicide. Unfortunately
there are many.
The man told Kornfield about a young man who killed
another about the same age who he didn't even know. It was to prove himself to the gang he wanted
to be initiated into. The young man was
caught, and he went to trial. When the
jury pronounced him guilty, the mother of the boy who was slain, stood, looked
him in the eye and said: "I'm going to kill you!" then sat back down.
The boy went to the juvenile prison. After a few years the mother of the slain
child began to visit him. She started to
talk to him. "How you doing in
there?" she asked. Sometimes she’d
give him a little money to buy cigarettes and things when she’d leave. This went on for 3 or 4 years. He was really young when he committed the
crime, and eventually he was going to be let out. He'd been on the streets and had no real
family. The mother asked him, "Where
you gonna go? Where you gonna stay?” He didn't have any place to go.
She told him, "I have a friend with a print
shop. I could see if he'll give you a
job. And I have a spare room, if you'd
like to come stay with me.” He moved
into her house, went to work, ate her food.
This went on for six months. One
day in the evening, she called him into the living room. She said, "Remember that one day in the
courtroom, after you were convicted for killing my son, and I said I was going
to kill you?” The young man replied, “Yes
ma'am I'll never forget that day.” She
stood up, and she said, "Well, I have.
I didn't want that young man who could kill my son in cold blood to
still be alive on this earth. So I set
about visiting and changing you. It's
taken me 4 and a half years and you're not that same person who killed my son. Now I have no one to be with, no one to live
with, and you're living in a room in my house.
I want to know if you will be my son and if I can adopt you?” And she did.
That’s hidden America. That’s
the America
we don’t usually hear about. It reminds
us that there’s another way for human beings to live.
What do you think Jesus was saying, when the woman
who was caught in adultery was about to be stoned to death, and he said, “Let
the one who has never sinned throw the first stone?” He was saying there’s another way for humans to
live. We don’t have to keep doing this
the way it’s always been done.
What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “Turn the
other cheek?” He was saying there’s
another way for humans to live! We don’t
have to keep doing what we’ve always been doing.
What do you think Jesus meant when he and his
followers were reprimanded for eating without first washing their hands, and he
said, “It’s not what goes into you mouth that defiles you, it’s what comes out
of it.” Jesus was challenging the
conventional wisdom of his time.
The difference between true wisdom and conventional
wisdom, is that conventional wisdom reflects what’s already accepted in its
time. “Conventional wisdom protects the
continuity of social thought and action.”2 What we need in this city right now are some
wise people who can see beyond conventional wisdom. The Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu said, “The
wise hear and see as little children do.”
One thing children have that adults often lose is the ability to see
with new eyes. Children look on the
world afresh and haven’t had their ideas tainted by convention.
Two nights ago I walked into the bathroom, where my
son, who’s in first grade, was supposed to be brushing his teeth. Instead he was having an existential
experience. Sometimes I want to call him
“the little Camus.” I said, “Elias, why
aren’t you brushing your teeth? You’ve
been in here a long time.” This was
followed by a long pause, as he continued to entertain himself making faces in
the mirror.
“You like making faces in the mirror don’t you?” I asked.
“It’s weird,” he said.
“What’s weird?”
“Well,” he said, “we’re kind of like animals. But we’re not, we’re humans. It’s weird that we’re humans.”
“We are a kind
of animal,” I explained, “except we’re different…” And this launched us into a long conversation
on the differences between humans and animals.
One of the differences I explained was that humans have to brush their
teeth, if they don’t want them to fall out.
More importantly, is that humans have the ability to create.
The ancient idea that we were created in the image of
God, I believe, has to do with the fact that we have the ability to create. Unlike all other creatures, we have free-will
to choose. We do not have to follow
patterns made by others. We do not have
to follow instinct or convention.
And
sometimes when we chose not to follow the crowd, not to bend to convention, sometimes
when we do this, we exemplify what it means to be human. What makes a person great, in the eyes of the
world, often involves creating something new.
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered one of the greatest
architects because he was unconventional.
The greatest poets, composers, artists, engineers, politicians, they are
the ones who saw beyond the conventions of their own day and shared with the
world a new creation – a new perspective – a new way.
Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and the other
great leaders in South Africa
over the last few decades have shown Africa,
and the world, a new creation. The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission they set up was one of the most unconventional
ideas and one of the greatest moral achievements of human history. Their creation was one of the great examples
that there is another way for humans to
live. We don’t need to keep hating
and killing each other.
We
can turn the other cheek. We can
transcend our tribal and ethnic hatreds and seek the truth,
And
the truth shall set us free.
The Israelis and the Palestinians need great leaders
like this now. Leaders who can show them
that there’s another way. It may not be
their political leaders. It may have to
be their business leaders, or their religious leaders, or their student leaders. But the wisdom of entrenchment, fear, vindication
and xenophobia is clearly not working for them.
Which gets me back to Tulsa.
Tulsa
needs real leaders for our times. Leaders
who aren’t stuck in old patterns of thinking and acting. Leaders who can see what is happening in this
city
and
take courageous leadership to do something different for a change. It may not be the political leaders. It may have to be the business leaders, or the
religious leaders or the student leaders.
I don’t know who will be able to shift the paradigm for our city.
The conventional wisdom I’ve been hearing of why the
River Vote was defeated 9 to 1 on the North side of Tulsa is by and large a major
misdiagnosis of the problem. And without
a good diagnosis we won’t find the cure to the problem. And without some healing, Tulsa is going to keep getting sicker.
Here’s what I’ve heard many people on this side of
town saying, when they talk about why the North side of Tulsa voted No on the river. People are saying: “There they go, shooting
themselves in the foot again – cutting off their noses to spite their face. They don’t know what’s good for them. They have a real problem and lack good
leaders. It’s their victim mentality on the North side that keeps them poor and keeps
them down. They’re too disorganized and
fractured.”
Or,
“It was better when we had the old form of government because then we could
accomplish anything we wanted without having to worry about the North side
getting in the way.”
I have heard every one of these explanations multiple
times over the last 10 days. I’ve heard
them from good people, smart people, moral and ethical people. I’ve heard these comments from people I
greatly respect and care about. And they
don’t realize how wrong these explanations are.
I want to talk about the hidden America right here in Tulsa.
Do you know that there’s a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit alive in North Tulsa? We don’t
hear much about it in the media though. Do
you know that there is a lot of pride in North Tulsa?
A lot of pride! Do you realize there are some incredible
educators in North Tulsa? Have you seen the children and youth who are
struggling through extremely difficult conditions and getting an education
despite so many obstacles working against them?
Obstacles sometimes at home, at school, and in the neighborhood. These are truly amazing young people – and
there are a lot of them! And they’ve got
gifts to share with this city – energy and enthusiasm and intelligence and
creativity.
What we see in the news are the gangs, the poverty,
the brokenness in North Tulsa, but what is
hidden from those of us who don’t go there or don’t have much contact, is the incredible
spirit of survival and pride. We don’t
see the real humanity. We don’t see the depth
of care and leadership that is alive in North Tulsa,
but is so often hidden from those who only know their northern neighbors
through what they hear in the news.
The reason that North Tulsans
voted against the river tax is not because they are wrong-headed or ignorant or
lacking in leadership. One of the main
reason 8 out of 9 North Tulsans voted No, was
because they have felt betrayed time and time again by this city’s leadership.
Think
about it. We don’t have to go back to
the 1921 race riot to make a case. (Even
though we could.) Because in many ways
there’s been a series of serious slights that go back for decades.
We
don’t even have to go back to urban renewal and white flight from Tulsa Public Schools
to make a case. Just in the 7 and a half
years that I’ve been in Tulsa,
I’ve watched the dynamic numerous times.
In 2001, I watched the official government-sponsored
race riot commission report come out. The
report and its recommendation were widely ignored and that was a type of betrayal.
I
watched a few years later when the black officers’ lawsuit was finally finished
and settled, only for Mayor LaFortune to pull back the city’s support unnecessarily
and unsuccessfully in the 11th hour.
That was perceived as one more in a long line of betrayals. Then recently, Mayor Taylor brought back Chief
of Police Palmer, after she had promised to consult the North Side
representatives before making a decision.
Whether you think these decisions were right or wrong
is not my point. My point is that there
has been a pattern of decisions that have felt like betrayals on the North part
of town – and few people in South Tulsa even
seem to know it. Loosing the only
grocery store was another huge blow. I’m
not sure how many people realize what a symbol that grocery is in North Tulsa.
Not
to mention what a practical and expensive inconvenience it is for it to be
gone. And when the people on the North
side speak up about it, they get called victims. They get patronized, with comments that
without using these exact words express, “If they only knew what was good for
them, they’d listen to us!” It is time
that somebody in this part of town, starts listening to them!
Really
listening.
I know, as well as you do, that there’s no monolithic
voice in North Tulsa. There are many viewpoints, just as there are
many in South and East and West Tulsa. But the larger point is, we have a race
problem in Tulsa
that will not go away simply by changing our form of government.
It
won’t go away just by developing the river.
It won’t go away with stiffer immigration laws. It won’t go away, unless we start listening
to one another.
I hear a lot of people who talk as if they have it
all figured out. People who are more
than willing to talk and share their opinions about North
Tulsa. What I hear is a lot
of the same old conventional Tulsa
wisdom. Much of it is coming from people
who have a lot of influence in this town and a lot of people who have very
little substantive experience in North Tulsa. And it’s leading our city backwards!
I hope you will be among the people who will truly listen
to what our North side neighbors are trying to tell us. I hope you will be one who will speak up when
you hear the same old stereotypes, and prejudiced-thinking about the North Side
that has continued to bring this city down.
Because the biggest change that needs to happen to improve race
relations in Tulsa
is on this side of town. More of the
good people of Tulsa
have to come to terms with the shadow side of our city and the conventional
wisdom that masquerades as realism, because it really reflects a genteel and
hidden racism at the heart of the conversation.
The reason that it’s so complicated is that this kind
of racism is not the blatant kind plastered on the sides of drinking fountains
and reinforced with fire hoses. It is a
subtle evil that works its way into the minds and conversations of otherwise
very decent, open-minded, loving people. It is a racism that is born of isolation from
one another — in one of the most segregated cities in America.
If we don’t deal with Tulsa’s race problem today, we will continue
to suffer its effects tomorrow and next year and the year after that. And in order to do it, we are going to have
to be creative and humble. We’re going
to have to seek the Truth, and let the Truth set us free.
I believe in a fundamental way we are lost here in Tulsa. But I believe we will be found.
The
true discovery of our unity is before us.
The true fulfillment of our spirit and our city and this immortal land
is yet to come. The true discovery of
our democracy is still before us. And
it’s much more than a living hope. It’s a
dream to be accomplished.
There’s another way to be human.
There’s another way to be Tulsa.
Amen.
1 John Kenneth Galbraith 1958
2 ibid