In the service on Jan. 12, I spoke about class and classism, and why we as a people of faith care about this justice issue. A deep bow of gratitude to Tess Schulze for sharing her story.
During the forum after the second service, 50 of you joined together to explore your own story of class and other identities! I am so grateful to Tim Ransom and Anne Hundley for their leadership in this forum and on this issue. I’m delighted that so many of you engaged with each other and with this challenging topic.
We offer this forum because one step on the path of justice is to understand our power, privilege and biases; the more we learn about our story, the more we can engage with the stories of others.
We offered a model for you to place yourself and consider how you relate to privilege and power. You can find the wheel we used in this article (scroll down).
We suggested that you put a dot on the wheel where you think you are in each area, then connect the dots to make a circle or oval or whatever shape arises. What does that tell you about your privilege and power? What’s your story?
After the forum, a congregant mentioned that the wheel didn’t include age, and they were right—an important thing was missing! So, here’s another model that includes age and some other factors.
Below are some of the observations and insights that forum participants shared about their power and privilege. Thanks to all who generously shared their stories.
In this month when our spiritual theme is story, I invite you to consider your story. Thank you for your willingness to explore power and privilege as we work together to bend this long moral arc toward justice.
Blessings,
Rev. Mary
Insights offered:
- We could spend a lot more time on this issue. I think this just touched the surface.
- My first awareness of wealth difference was third grade noticing. I felt privileged then. Yes, it was power. I’m considering how I acted on it then.
- I’m in the middle of a surprising number of contradictions.
- The color wheel is a helpful and informative way to look at this issue. I would add two more sections: 1. Age, with young adult to middle age being near the center and "aged" at the margin. 2. Religion of origin with Protestant at the center.
- Power and privilege allow/demand responsibility.
- Considering classism helps me get a handle on things, to connect, to avoid shame and blame.
- This helps lead to insight about differences.
- Wealth = worthiness
- My circle is very lopsided!
- I may be short on money, but I don’t think of myself as poor.
- Passing as white, hetero, cisgender.
- I knew I had privilege but hadn’t assessed how power I have—it's a lot!
- Now what do I do with all my power?
