Ubuntu: Why Black Lives Have Mattered to Me

[A reflection given at ICUJP on Feb 15.]

Since Valentine’s Day was yesterday, I want to begin my reflection today by saying how much I love you all. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you and without ICUJP. You have challenged, inspired, and supported me in my call to prophetic justice. You have been true friends in every sense. And I am deeply grateful for your love and friendship.

Love has many facets and one of them is an African concept called Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity." It is often translated as "I am because we are," or "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity." This is another word for love, the kind of love that creates community.

Since the transition to democracy in South Africa with the Nelson Mandela presidency in 1994, the term has become more widely known outside of Southern Africa. It was popularized to English-language readers through the ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu. Tutu was the chairman of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and many have argued that ubuntu was a formative influence on the TRC. As many of you know, Desmond Tutu was a friend of George Regas, one of the founders of ICUJP. I feel that ubuntu has played an important part in the formation and philosophy of ICUJP.

Today I’d like to talk about ubuntu in the context of “Black Lives Matter,” and particularly why some black lives have mattered tremendously to me. I am who I am today in part because of African Americans who have influenced me in profound ways.

Let me start with two movies that came out this year that illustrate the concept of ubuntu.

First, the Green Book, which has won lots of critical accolades, for very good reasons. This movie is based on a true story about Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx. Tony is so full of prejudices towards blacks he throws away cups that blacks have drunk water from. When he gets fired from his job, he is desperate for work and accepts a position driving Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershalla Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South. Along the way, they must rely on "The Green Book" to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger-as well as unexpected humanity and humor, they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime. Their story embodies the meaning of ubuntu. This odd couple became llive-long friends and their friendship had a profound influence on their family and friends and now, thanks to this movie, on the world.

The movie The Upside is also based on a true story. It’s a comedy about a recently paroled African American ex-convict (Kevin Hart) who strikes up an unusual and unlikely friendship with a paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston). This mismatched pair becomes friends and redeem each other’s broken lives. It’s again an example of ubuntu, how we need each other to overcome our limitations and become whole.

As I said before, my own life has been profoundly influenced by African American culture, and by African American teachers and mentors.

I grew up in Princeton, NJ, which is known as an elite university town, but my background was working class and immigrant. Neither of my parents graduated from high school. At an early age, I aspired to be a writer and a poet. I loved languages, especially Latin and Greek and French. I was fortunate that the town of Princeton decided to integrate its school system in the 1950s and I had many African American teachers and friends. Through these relationships, I came to love and appreciate the amazing musical and cultural legacy: Motown, jazz, and blues. This music was born out of suffering and joy and resilience and deeply touched my soul.

I also came to know and love a phenomenal African American teacher named Bill Cook. Son of a pastor, he was the valedictorian of his graduating class at Trenton State College, where he majored in English like me. Prof. Cook went on to teach English and Drama in the public school systems of Trenton and Princeton, NJ. After several decades of teaching at Princeton, he became chair of the Departments of English and African American Studies of Dartmouth. In addition to earning a reputation for being one of the most effective educators of his generation, Prof. Cook was also an accomplished poet, author, and production director. His work touched on African American and ancient Greek and Roman poetry and also explored the intersections of music and poetry.

I took several of Bill Cook’s English classes in high school and was dazzled by his teaching, his quirky humor and his brilliance. He was also very generous with his time, and I would often hang out with him after school and talk for hours. Sometimes we’d talk till 5:00 pm, discussing everything from Latin and Greek poetry to Ezra Pound and Charlie Parker. Cook helped me to see literature and the world from the point of view of those who are marginalized, those who have to be bi-cultural to survive.  Cook was one of the reasons I wanted to become an English teacher.

Bill Cook passed away recently, at the age of 83, and I am glad that I had a chance to write and thank him for the huge impact he had on my life.

Over the years, I have been influenced by a multitude of black teachers, poets, and artists. I could spend all day just listing them. Paul Robeson, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Spike Lee, Martin Luther King. And on and on and on.

During the past seven years, I have become deeply involved in the African American community in Pasadena, thanks to my wife Jill. Jill grew up in lily-white Orange county, in Yorba Linda, a community that virtually excluded blacks. But Jill was drawn to people of color, spent several years in Mexico and Latin America, and then moved to Pasadena, where she was mentored by an African American leader named John Perkins.

Perkins was so important to Jill that on our first date she spent nearly an hour talking about him.  No, I wasn’t jealous. I was intrigued. I’d never met a white person who was mentored by an African American!

Perkins is an American Christian minister, civil rights activist, Bible teacher, best-selling

author, philosopher and community developer. He is Co-Founder of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). Despite being a 3rd grade drop out, Perkins has been recognized for his work with 16 honorary doctorate degrees. He has advised and/or served on Presidential Tasks Forces of five U.S. Presidents. He is the author of 17 books, including the best-selling, One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race.

Nearly twenty years ago Jill moved to the Harambee Center in Northwest Pasadena, which was started by John Perkins, and learned from him how to be a friend and an ally of the African American community. Soon after I married Jill, an African American pastor told me, “You realize, don’t know, when you married Jill, you married the city of Pasadena.” I feel that when I married Jill, I also married into the African American community of Pasadena. We live in Northwest Pasadena, the historically black area of the city. And that’s been an incredible blessing. I’ve gotten to know and work with African American neighbors,  pastors and community leaders who have inspired and challenged me in countless ways. We’ve worked together on issues ranging from housing justice to police accountability. I’ve learned much from the African American community about the importance of resilience, persistence, spirituality and community. We need each other in the beautiful struggle for peace and justice.

   

I’d like to end on a personal note.  When Jill and I got married seven years ago, Jill was 58 years old and had never been married before. Learning how to be married was a steep learning curve for both of us. We needed help and sought out counseling. The most effective help we received was from Sylvester and Carolyn Wiliiams,  an African American couple who became our marriage mentors. The Williams serve as ministers in the Pasadena Church which meets near our home. We met with them for twelve two-hour sessions over a six-month period  and went through a curriculum developed by Lake Ave Church. They helped to strengthen our marriage. Carolyn and Sylvester are amazing people: wise, funny, honest, and deeply spiritual. We’ve become very good friends and I thank God for this couple who have had  such a huge influence on Jill and me.

In conclusion, we need each other. That’s the meaning of ubuntu. Black, brown, peach-colored, grey. We need each other. Can I get an amen? We need each other.

I’d like to end this reflection with a question: How have black lives mattered to you? How have you been influenced by people different from you? What role has ubuntu played in your life?

This is a song shared by Bishop Kenneth Ulmer of Faith Central Bible Church (Inglewood) during an MLK celebration at Fuller Seminary. Bishop Ulmer said this song by Hezekiah Walker & LFC epitomizes the spirit of Ubuntu:

I need you, you need me,

Stand with me, agree with me,

We are all a part of God’s body.

You are important to me, I need you to survive.

It is His will every need will be supplied ….

You are important to me. I need you to survive.

I pray for you, you pray for me, I love you….

I won’t harm you with words from my mouth…. I need you to survive….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5_7LEWnGaQ