by Nancy Corcoran, CSJ
Who does God bless? The obvious answer is the rich, happy, important people. In the beatitudes Jesus insists God blesses people who are poor, sorrowing, lowly, those who hunger and thirst for justice, and work for peace. Jesus opens our eyes to people we aren’t seeing.
My family moved from Boston to Miami when I was in seventh grade. As my sister and I were shopping for school supplies at Sears, we spotted water fountains with the words colored next to one and white next to the other. The idea of colored water intrigued us. We tried both fountains. But in both the water was clear and tasted like the water in Boston.
Next we checked the colored bathroom only to find it painted white. The white bathroom was pink. I found our mother and told her of our discoveries. She went directly to the manager and expressed her shock and dismay that Sears exposed her children to segregation, which the Supreme Court had outlawed three years earlier. We bought no supplies and Mother wrote to the company president.
I witnessed the injustice of segregation that day. But it has taken much longer to see racism and white privilege in my own life.
When I was doing literacy ministry in rural Alabama, Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, challenged me to attend a summer session at the Black Catholic Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sister Thea, a Catholic sister, a teacher, a scholar, an evangelist who preached the good news we are truly sisters and brothers died to young (1939-1990). She shared the beauty of African American culture and spirituality with all of us whose lives she touched.
My first morning at the Institute I dashed to the cafeteria for breakfast. Thea came a bit later, and after looking over the seating arrangement, she announced in her commanding voice, “Oh, I see Nancy is sitting with only white folks!”
I blushed a deep red and continued eating. At lunch, it happened again. Thea announced to the gathered diners, “Again, Nancy is sitting with white folks!”
I was mortified! At supper, I timidly approached a table of African American fellow students, and in a quaking voice, asked to join their table. My Black tablemates welcomed me. I had projected that they would reject me as I knew my culture has rejected them. But this was not my experience.
Thea blessed me that day. I was blessed to realize that I could break out of the pattern of seeking my comfort zone. I could go where it scared me. I grew in courage.
When has breaking out of your comfort zone opened new insights for you?