“On Race as Power and Dominion, and Our Unity, Hope, and Diversity in Christ”

1. The function of race as a concept and reality in the American (human) experience is like the original sin, described by the biblical Prophets and Apostle Paul in their writings. Race taints every aspect of our individual and collective life. The bondage and dominion of race is unavoidable and omnipresent in human interactions in the American society. Like sin, race is power and control. Like sin in its universal outlook and dimension, the concept of race throughout the American history and experience is hegemonic dominion and existential psychological burden. The race idea means that it is a framework, a systems of thought-process, a state of (the) mind, a narrative of contrasts, and a series of human standardization that evaluates human dignity and worth, and assesses the subject of (human) inclusion and exclusion in the modern world. Race is a metaphor for/of the meaning and indiscriminate character of sin in the world.

2. As sin taints every aspect of the human reality in the world, race as a systemic structure and a regime of systems network architecture that undergirds American thought and pragmatism (i.e. ideas and actions, tangible and intangible, visible and invisible). Race wages war against the self and the collective.

3. Our attitude is tainted by race.
Our treatment of and interaction with other individuals is tainted by race.
Our emotions (both internal and external) are tainted by race.
Our human condition is tainted by race.
Our definition about humanity and who is human is tainted by race.

4. Our laws on home ownership is tainted by race.
Our laws on school coding and zoning is tainted by race.
Our public policies are tainted by race.
Our foreign policies are tainted by race.

5. Our theological praxis is tainted by race.
Our ecclesiastical functions are tainted by race.
Our righteousness is tainted by race.
Our theology and understanding of God and humanity is tainted by the racial veil.
Our theological writings and education are
Our evangelistic endeavors and missionary strategies are racially-guided.

However, the hope of race and humanity is Christ alone, and the redemption of race and humanity is in Christ alone.

“Paul clearly believed that ecclesial unity even amidst great diversity was possible, and the differences that Paul’s churches faced do not seem to have been any less challenging than what we face today. Christian friendships between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, rich and poor testify clearly to God’s ability to create unity and friendship amidst great diversity. Paul’s strategy was to articulate how God’s hospitality in Christ created a common identity for all his churches, a welcome that transformed them from enemies and outsiders into friends and family—both with God and with one another”

“And if God has welcomed us in Christ as his friends and family while we were enemies and outsiders, how can we not respond with hospitality and friendship to our Christian friends and family with whom we may different on the level of our cultural and social identifies” (pp. 70-71)–Joshua Jipp, “Saved by Faith and Hospitality”

Yon ti Koze sou Kriz Politik Aktyel an Ayti e lot koze avek Dr Celucien Joseph

“The Will of the Haitian People and the Failure of Haitian Politicians”

There are a few good and strong leaders in comtemporary Haitian politics. Certainly, what we have in Haiti are a group of political charlatans who have no patriotic zeal and are insensitive to the well-being of the Haitian people and the future of the next generation.

Haitians politician always create chaos (supported by the International Community) and thus invite foreign intervention. This is exactly what Western imperialists are looking for to exercise their hegemony over the country and the life of the Haitian people. The spirit of dependency and toxic leadership is written in the back of their political jackets, which will lead to their own decline and ultimate destruction.

Haitian politicians have contributed to the failure of the Haitian state as a governing institution and a body of structure. The Haitian people, by contrast, do not fail their country. The Haitian State may be a troubled structure, but the Haitian people are not a trouble group. They might be terrorized and troubled by the actions and vices of their politicians, but they are not a threat nor a hindrance to the progress and future of their country.

Other countries do not develop other countries. Development, in all its dimensions and forms, is always and must be an internal affair. When our politicians and our people come to this understanding, we will make a step forward toward a better Haiti for all of her children.

Haitian Politicians have failed the Haitian State, but the Haitian People have remained true to Haiti’s foundational democratic principles and progressive ideas. The predicament in contemporary Haitian politics is the great divide that exists between the will and interests of the Haitian people and the actions and ideologies of Haitian politicians. That is the enormous clash in Haiti at the moment.

Mezanmi Get you Black History Lesson on Slavery Right!

The institution of slavery did not begin in 1619 in Virginia, that is, in what is known today as “The United States of America.” In 1517, 15,000 African slaves were brought in Santo Domingo (modern day Haiti). In fact, the first sugar mill, in which the slaves worked, was probably constructed in 1516 in Santo Domingo. The first slaves in the Americas were not Africans, but the indigenous people of the Continent, that is the Taíno Indians.

My second article on James H. Cone is now published and can be accessed for free online:

“James Cone and the Crisis of American Theology,” Missionala Vol 46, No(2) (2019), 197-221

***The article is part of a special issue on the legacy of James H. Cone, which Missionala, a South African Theological Journal, publishes. The editor of the Journal contacted me early last year to contribute this article.

Abstract

“The objective of this essay is to investigate the public function of Christian theology in the politico-theological writings and hermeneutics of James H. Cone. It is also to articulate a critique of white American theology. In Cone’s work, Christian theology is expressed as a public discourse and testimony of God’s continuing emancipative movements and empowering presence in society with the goal (1) to set the oppressed and the vulnerable free, (2) to readjust the things of the world toward divine justice and peace, and (3) to bring healing and restoration to the places in which volitional (human) agents have inflicted pain, suffering, oppression, and all forms of evil. This essay is an attempt to imagine creatively with new hermeneutical lenses and approaches—anti-imperial, liberative, and postcolonial—the task of Christian theology as public witness to carry out the emancipative agenda and reconciling mission (salvation, healing, hospitality, wholeness, reconciliation, and peace) of God in contemporary societies and in our postcolonial moments. The basic argument of this essay is twofold. First, it contends for the essential role of liberation theology as a public witness in redefining Christian theology in general. Rather than being a “special interest” or merely political theme in theology, it suggests that black liberation theology has a special role to play in “freeing” Christian theology from racism, oppression, and imperialism. Second, by promoting some new understanding of Cone’s work and applying it in some new context, this article is deploying Cone’s public theology to critique or awaken dominant white theology to a new way of thinking about the whole field of theology in the 21st century.”

Keywords
James H. Cone, Black Liberation Theology, Anti-Black Racism, White American Theology, White American Church

http://missionalia.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/309/pdf

“The Problem with Evangelical Sexual Ethics in Christian Churches and Institutions”

“A New Book for a New Year: In Praise of Edwidge Danticat”

We have an exciting (and a much-needed) forthcoming book (“Approaches to Teaching the Works of Edwidge Danticat”) with Routledge on the renowned Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat, whose coeditors include my amazing and brilliant colleagues DrDanny Hoey, Suchi Banerjee, and Marvin Hobson. Some individuals (instructors) have already emailed us inquiring about the publication date. They would like to assign the book in their course. This is very encouraging for us editors.

I just recounted the manuscript today. It is 480 pages, double-spaced. The book contains 15 chapters. What was I thinking? I wrote two chapters (“A Comprehensive Resource Guide to Reading and Teaching Brother, I’m Dying
in American Classrooms: Background, History, and Context: Part A,” and “A Comprehensive Resource Guide to Reading and Teaching Brother, I’m Dying in American Classrooms: Criticisms, Thematic Analysis, & An Eight-Week Teaching Model: Part B” ), which amount to 86 pages, on how to read and interpret Danticat’s “Brother, I’m Dying” (BID). Was I drunk? lol

We just hope instructors of English Composition and literature (especially our beloved Danticat) and their cognate disciplines, will be pleased with the outcome of this work. We sincerely apologize to our contributors for the delay to the publication of this book. We have been consumed with work and other responsibilities. Please forgive us! We hope Routledge will publish our book, “Approaches to Teaching the Works of Edwidge Danticat,” before the fall semester starts.

While we are talking and writing about her work, Danticat just released a new book, “Everything Inside: Stories” (Knopf; August 27, 2019)

We have produced a culture in this country that discourages people to think and to think critically, responsibly, and rightly. As a result, some individuals in this country refuse to take responsibility for their actions and be held accountable for the damage and pain they have caused to other individuals. This group has become insensitive and cold to the suffering and hardships of other Americans.

This morning’s breaking news: As I was about to open my office door this morning, a student quickly stopped by and looked at the office sign that reads, “Dr. Celucien L. Joseph, Associate Professor of English,” and stared at me for a moment. He asked, “What do you teach,” and I responded, “English.” He stated, “Is it English for Spanish People.”

Last week in class as we were discussing the relationship between feminist criticism and patriarchal society, a young white male student got very offended at another student, who is from the Dominican Republic, because she said to him “as a male, you have male privilege; in fact, as a white male, you have white male privilege.” Both were going back and forth, as the white male student was insisting that “I have no ‘male privilege’ and no ‘white male privilege.'”

As the oldest adult in the classroom, I intervened in the conversation by attempting to clarify and explain to the class the history of the mess we call the “race concept” and its rapport to white privilege, which we have created in this country, and how it has affected America’s race relations and the history of the economically-and-socially disenfranchised communities in this country.

The same white student interrupted me and said “Why are you so loud? You need to be quiet.” He also said that “I did not pay for this class to learn about politics. I paid to learn about English.”

Oh well, Happy and Blessed Black History Month!

“My Urgent Plea to American and European Historians and Scholars Who Write About the Haitian Revolution and Haiti’s National History”

Sometimes, I find myself very worried, annoyed, and even upset when American or European historians and scholars recommend works on the Haitian Revolution make no reference to works written by Haitian historians or thinkers. Most contemporary American historians who write about the Haitian Revolution have a good command of the French language and are familiar with the works of Haitian historians on the Haitian Revolution who wrote in French, including Valentin Pompée de Vastey, Thomas Madiou, Céligny Ardouin, Joseph Saint-Rémy, Alfred Auguste Nemours, Horace Pauleus Sannon, Ernst Trouillot, Jean Fouchard, Timoléon C. Brutus, etc.

Please stop it!
Stop silencing works written by Haitian writers!
Give them Credit in your work!
Interact with their ideas and writings!
Do not Ignore Them!
Acknowledge their contribution to knowledge and to what you now know about your subject matter–even when you are teaching and writing in English!

That should be the attitude of a collaborative and honest historian, thinker, or scholar.

****More often, the contemporary studies in English about the story of the Haitian Revolution is arguably a recapitulation of what Haitians historians have already written about how their ancestors gained their freedom, delivered themselves from the yoke of slavery, and founded the Republic of Haiti. I know some people will call me arrogant by voicing my opinion on this crucial matter; if you are well-versed in Haitian revolutionary studies in French, you will probably confirm my statement.

Also, would you make it an intellectual habit when you write about Haiti in general or discuss Haiti’s national history in public or in your classroom, would you include Haitian scholars in your conversation and acknowledge their contribution. Interact with them in your scholarship, and do not ignore their work!

Blessed Black History Month!

#SCHOLARSHIPINBLACKMATTERS!
#HISTORYINBLACKMATTERS!
#THEBLACKNARRATIVEMATTERS!