Dear One’s of St. C’s, 

Where do I begin with this week?  The world watched us as we watched the disruption of our normal peaceful transfer of power on Wednesday.  I know that I felt a deep sense of fear and anger as I watched the Capitol be taken over by people who had just heard our current president speak to them. 

My father used to work in the Main Justice building in Washington DC where the Attorney General worked.  In order to get into the building on any given day, I had to speak to a person behind a bullet proof window who called up my dad to make sure I was supposed to be there.  I then had my things searched and had to go through a metal detector.  This is normal protocol, these are the rules.   And yet, angry people, some with guns, were just allowed to break windows and barge into the Capitol with little consequence.  It felt like somehow the rules did not apply.  And the answer to why this is so, runs so deep into our country’s structures and history that it almost rattles me to the core.

I would like to leave you all with a post from a black woman of color.  For while, it makes me angry and rattles me, I sadly, still benefit from this reality.  So I would like Stephanie Spellers (the Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Creation) to speak to us today as we wrestle to understand what we saw on Wednesday. She posted this to facebook on January 7th, 2021. 

“You could call yesterday's domestic terror incident in our nation's Capitol a display of "White privilege." I find it an even more illuminating example of a related concept: "White supremacy." 

When the dominant culture and the forces it employs see Whiteness - armed with flagpoles, bats and other weapons; pushing (or escorted) through security fencing; scaling the walls of a federal building; breaking windows and doors; waving the Confederate flag near the Senate chamber; ransacking legislative halls and offices - they do not see a fundamental threat. They see citizens who are to be accommodated, given the benefit of doubt, and presumed right. 

*This fundamental bias toward Whiteness is the heart of White supremacy culture.* It is the culture that manufactures and protects White privilege. It is woven into the fabric of American history and life.

When the same culture and forces see Blackness and others identified with the underside - unarmed, walking the streets and chanting in legal protest, driving a car with expired tags - they see a threat. They see interlopers who are to be contained, dominated, presumed guilty, and quite likely eliminated. 

*This foundational bias against Blackness and anything associated therewith is also the heart of White supremacy culture.* This instinctive drive to dominate, reject or eliminate that which is not White (or that which does not serve Whiteness) is deeply rooted in America's DNA.

White supremacy is not primarily about tiki torches and Proud Boys, though they have their place. It is so much more common and essential than most Americans would ever admit. Perhaps now, we will.”

May it be so. 

Prayers for peace and justice to be found in our hearts, in our homes, in our country, and in our world.

with care, 

Meghan