Monday, June 6, 2011

False Narratives

As our staff team of 4 gathered today in Lancaster to prepare for Sidewalks together, we concluded the day by watching the movie Crash together.  WHAT A MOVIE!?!

I am struck by how the characters in the movie are put in situations that cause their false narratives to quickly bubble to the surface.  I even wrote down how some of these underlying false narratives connected to their stereotypes and racism.
  • 'affirmative action stole my father's life' - so now I have to do what I can to steal life back
  • 'my instinct was to cling to my husband as the black man walked by, then he hijacked my car' - see I was right about them
  • 'once I was assaulted by a man' - now I know I can't ever trust that man
  • 'my son wasn't there for me once' - so it couldn't have been him who helped me
Our view of E. End Ave.
On some level, you can't fault the characters for arriving at their conclusions. On another level you see in the movie how false narratives and stereotypes left unchecked can lead to painful, broken situations.

Although the average day does NOT involve car crashes and gun point situations, it DOES involve combating false narratives.  It makes me wonder what twisted truths are tucked away in my heart as I come to Lancaster?  What past events have jaded my current view of a certain ethnic group / men or women / the elderly?  What lenses do I have on as I walk the sidewalks of Lancaster?

My prayer tonight is that God would highlight my false narratives this summer and replace them with HIS narrative of truth!

More to come..... Students will join us on Wednesday!!!!
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2011 at 9:40 PM

    Coming from the perspective of actually having been robbed at gunpoint, I can see that it is hard NOT to be afraid. (the guy who put a gun in my face happened to be black) but I think the fear that I feel at night is not based off the false belief that "all black men are dangerous" because I don't believe that. I am afraid, in general, to be out at night in Reading because of one traumatic experience. Fear can be strongly based off "biological/psychological cues" as well as socially reinforced ones. I know that there are a lot of factors that tie into the false narrative that "minorities" are dangerous and have higher rates of crime. There are a lot of injustices in society that reinforce racial stereotypes and become "self-fulfilling". I'm really grateful for the movie "Crash" because It makes you think and look at yourself and your own beliefs and question them..

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