Three weeks ago today, on Friday June 9, hundreds of family members, friends, and well wishers packed into the New Revelation Baptist Church to pay their last respects to Darius Smith, a 15-year-old child who was killed by an off-duty customs agent in Arcadia, California. Miroslav Volf: How does one find the kind of strengths? Suddenly its not scary or shameful to call yourself a feminist. And the clear example I'm drawing on is African diaspora communities in which there's a reality of joy built inside the forced segregation. Football coaches, mentors, family members and friends told story after story of how this young man had made a positive impact on their lives and how devastated they were to lose him. So I thank them for being fighters and challenging the status quo for standing up for all of us. To be Black and joyful despite and against all the odds is an act of resistance. But for those two minutes we turned that cemetery from a place of death and mourning into a place of life and honor. The throngs of mourners and supporters lined the isles of the church, crowded the lobby and balcony areas, and spilled out of the church onto the outside lawn. Maya Angelou is a very good inspiration, especially for African American women, saying that she could rise above nations. I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces, all the forces of despair. Yet even the smallest kernel of it can move nations. Black joy, as an act of resistance against white supremacy, takes center stage on Juneteenth. Joy, and celebrations in particular, focus our attention on our commonalities, not our differences. Open Preview. Willie Jennings: I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces, all the forces of despair. Released 31 August 2018 on Partisan. Black joy is also important for representation. However, I also found that some thoughts expressed seemed unnecessary and negatively pointed, producing uneasiness rather than joy. Joy takes something that might be threatening to people, such as difference or otherness, and makes it less so. I also like, as I love to say, I'm making productive use of pain and suffering in the absurd, not in order to take them lightly, but to take them very seriously, but not to make them gods. Without that belief, theres no point in fighting. She resisted violence and oppression by asserting her existence and that of those around her. And that's what's key, the kind of mapping of joy that would be necessary to actually start to think about the reconstituting of a different reality of joy. Black Joy as an Act of Resistance Erica Lasan (Photo: Robert Carter) Erica Lasan BS'09 (Metro) Joy Strategist By Kenna Caprio Erica Lasan, BS'09 (Metro), deals in joy. Like Romeo, Juliet sees love as a kind of freedom, "boundless" and "infinite.". All in all, the church and multiple churches have been places of extreme joy, surprising joy, and to quote the title of a famous book by CS Lewis, places where I've been absolutely "surprised by joy," stunned by joy. Many of us have had the experience of being annoyed at a coworker, but then going to the company picnic, having a beer and a laugh together, and forgetting our annoyance. Local authorities often forbade or disrupted native rites, or at minimum made relinquishing them a condition of conversion. Dr. Engram's "Black Joy as an Act of Resistance" takes the listener on a journey through the life of Black millennials. This is not what they imagined. As I began to slip in the depths of my own sorrow and yield to the temptation to surrender my heart to the dreadfully stark nihilism in this ritual around black bodies, I looked up and saw Dariuss mother, Rishawna Myricks. Joy Is An Act of Resistance By Delonte Gholston, Contributor Pastor, Artist, Organizer Jun 23, 2017, 11:54 AM EDT | Updated Jun 26, 2017 This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. (44.15) All of the Handmaids at this posting (Glen's) are called Ofglen (of Glen). As a Christian pastor, I could not help sense that I was bearing witness to the embodiment of Isaiahs prophecy that you have turned my mourning into dancing, my sorrow into joy. Well, as the organist played and the choir sang, Jesus is My Help, she was dancing. Now that feels a bit closer to home in this era, a desire for something long ago, far away, about to be. Hallelujah. The hooting spreads among the group, and the chimps begin to hug and kiss each other, with friendly body contact increasing as much as a hundredfold. It's our joy to bring these shows to you. Where fascism aims to instill fear, joy is the perfect resistance. And as if nobody there missed a beat, Ms. Myricks, and everybody there knew that it was time to dance in his honor. It's a parade of laughing at the funeral, of listening to the bastards, of phlegm on the mirror. Your submission has been received! Kathleen Hanna, like Marian, suffered from sexual abuse at a young age and used the stage to not only wrestle with her pain, but also to establish the riotgrrl movement. "If you want to be the best, you can't take the path of least resistance. Willie Jennings: They had dreams of power. Last but not least, I offer you the opportunity to be inspired! Only a few animal species celebrate, and the ones that do have two things in common with humans: theyre highly intelligent and highly social. We are a people who have somehow been able to sing , live, and shout Hallelujah anyhow. Audre Lorde sums this idea up this clearly in her 1978 essay, The Uses of the Erotic, In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change. She goes on to point out that this has often been marshaled in patriarchal societies for the oppression of women. "Joy does not simply happen to us. a : the inherent ability of an organism to resist harmful influences (such as disease, toxic agents, or infection) b : the capacity of a species or strain of microorganism to survive exposure to a toxic agent (such as a drug) formerly effective against it 3 : an opposing or retarding force 4 a Rosa and Maya inspire me in my work. Miroslav Volf: So it's almost like a Pentecost joy, each speaking in their own tongue, but speaking that language of joy together. But, there's also the goodness of the joy that transcends, that reach us out, that includes the other people, and music is one of the spaces where that can happen. I can only imagine it must have been extraordinary to hear him speak. } Often there is no reason to make such choices outside the context of the primary choice that calls for them.". "Secondary choices are always subordinate to a primary choice. They didn't have dreams of speaking other's language. To choose joy is to say that regardless of years of systemic oppression, unfair disadvantages, and everything life may try to throw your way, in the words of the late Maya Angelou - "Still I Rise.". And those who are doing the speaking, never imagining that this in fact would be the sign. It's the parade . Marsha was a performer and activist who dedicated herself to supporting the most vulnerable LGBTQ New Yorkers with clothes, food and resources. One to watch out for. . When people have worked to build entire systems to break you, they are angry that you still can have joy. When I think about the role of women in social justice, I immediately think of Black women. They moved the needle forward by challenging stereotypes in a very aggressive and sometimes shocking manner, forcing important gender issues to the forefront while demanding equality in how women were seen and treated. Dancing was similarly reviled, and all types of celebration found themselves in the crosshairs of European colonists setting out to spread Christianity and civilization around the world. So did the divine right of kings. Joy is an act of resistance. We're passionate about making this work consistently accessible to people who are genuinely concerned about the viability of faith in a world racked with division, contested views about what it means to be human, and what it means to live life well. This is joy for our time. Wolves howl together after a hunt. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don't like. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words., Where there is power, there is resistance., It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end., People get used to anything. Whether its the transcendent joy of sacred ritual or the simple joy of cultivating a garden, the pursuit of joy amid great struggle is a way to tend our humanity when it is most threatened. You can build walls all the way to the sky and I will find a way to fly above them. Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God. The reverse is also true that the secret of joy is resistance. The theologian Willie James Jennings said it better than we can: "I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces all the forces of despair." He said that in 2014, long . And so what we have neglected is that joy is fundamentally tied to space. And we know thatand my own experience in churches is that that's often what happens, a kind of infection of joy. Joy as an Act of Resistance is the second studio album by British rock band Idles, released on 31 August 2018 by Partisan Records. Recognize that pleasure is a measure of freedom, writes Adrienne Maree Brown, author of a book called Pleasure Activism, which takes as its premise that the states of being that activists are striving for, justice and liberation and wellbeing, are highly joyful states, and therefore pleasure can be a powerful tool for helping us achieve them. He provides a perfectly painted picture that shows the pain, joy, and triumph of resistance. Jesus tells us to use joy as an act of rebellion when he says: "Love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them." (Matthew 5:44) Share joy by sharing love, which drives out fear, which leads to joy. Happy to read and share the best inspirational Joy As An Act Of Resistance quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes. At all points in the fight for equality for Black Americans, women have been driving the movement. Clad in black plastic bags that blend into the cityscape, the consequences of our disposable culture become almost invisible. 2018. "If they cannot love and resist at the same time, they probably will not survive.". And if you're not, please continue listening and engaging the content. "Black women have been conditioned to live for other people. He had a way of speaking that made you feel like magic. How on earth is anyone to find solace in the midst of such overwhelming grief? Joy Is a Beautiful Act of Resistance. My pleasure. Folk or traditional music is typically condemned, such as in Nazi Germany, which targeted Jewish music. We uphold their memories as sacred before God. And the Yale Center for Faith and Culture conducted a three-year study of joy and its connection to the good life. (646) 846-3896 | admin@nycafp.org. After all, struggles for justice are often also struggles for the acknowledgement of an oppressed groups full humanity. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email. Choir singers heart rates synchronize; musicians playing the same riff have brain waves that line up. Now, obviously we're talking beyond a kind of cultural tourism or kind of theological tourism. The rainbow pride flag is one example of a joyful symbol that both unifies activists while also disarming detractors. There's also the Black Joy movement, sprouted alongside Black Lives Matter, which celebrates the happiness,. Hallie Brignall, Annual Fund Manager Elephants celebrate when the herd is reunited after a separation, stamping around, peeing, and trumpeting with their trunks. This week, we're featuring a conversation between Miroslav and Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and africana Studies at Yale Divinity School. And there's something very powerful about that because as one artist says, "It's how, especially oppressed in poor people, can make something really beautiful out of what has been thrown away." When I think about the question, Is it ok to feel joyful while the world is (literally) on fire, while babies are in cages and glaciers are crumbling and billionaires stand by self-righteously counting their billions, I come back to Jack Gilbert. When thinking about how you can celebrate African American History month this month and throughout the year, remember that poet Toi Derricotte said, "Joy is an act of resistance." The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds. "The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked." - Elbert Hubbard. Professor Jennings, it's great to have you with us. Willie, wonderful to have a conversation with you about joy. GLIDE remains deeply committed to the struggle for gender equality. Some of the containers holding the archives were dug up from . $j("#facebookRegPrompt").hide(); If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again., We live in capitalism. But fundamentally, that is built uponand I never want to draw too sharp a distinction between other kinds of spaces and that geographic spacewe really should start to attend to where do we find joy, where do we find joy. I plan to share it with my friends and families, just as I shared your book. Growing up in the 90s, they were really my first exposure to feminism (lite) with the idea of Girl Power and that women could do anything despite what others thought or expected. The power of celebrations goes beyond the energy they create. , The likelihood that your acts of resistance cannot stop the injustice does not exempt you from acting in what you sincerely and reflectively hold to be the best interests of your community., I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light., After all, if you do not resist the apparently inevitable, you will never know how inevitable the inevitable was., We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil., Protest is when I say I don't like this. This year the theme is resistance. Thank you, Martha. Bitch Media Editor-in-Chief Evette Dionne put it best in a recent Instagram post: "Joy is a revolutionary force. 97 Quotes About Joy. Watching a pride parade, teeming with people dressed in all shades of ROY G BIV, the line between protest and party blurs, and its hard to sit on the sidelines in judgment. P.S. She resisted violence and oppression by asserting her existence and that of those around her. If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?, Resistance is always lying and always full of shit., We are like water, arent we? "We must risk delight. People who love in a world without walls, people who love into hate, into refusal, against hope, and without fear. Joy as an Act of Resistance (and who, pray tell, can resist a title like that?) Like water, we mostly follow the path of least resistance., I had no real communication with anyone at the time, so I was totally dependent on God. , You have to have conditions set up where those people who have learned how to ride the winds of chaos can say to you, "Come on, let me show you how to do that." My mother, and three sisters: Jean Cooper, Zwazzi Sowo and Lillian Mark! We're talking about people entering a space and in some very powerful way that we can't really chart out specifically. IDLES War T-Shirt. And not every church I've been is a space of joy. We need it as much as we need anger because it is joy that will help keep us in. We owe it to ourselves to actively cultivate it as part of our political practice." . How can a truly free state exist if the individual citizen is enslaved to the forceful will of individual or organized aggressors? Lee's grandaughter, Dione Sims, who is also a civil rights advocate, has been helping her in the . That's what's necessary. Societal change always involves a lot of pain as those with privilege and power often refuse to listen or take responsibility for the suffering theyve caused. $22. Rewind. "For Black folks, joy and resistance aren't really that separate," Waheed tells me over Zoom. Joy is the currency that is flowing between hands in such situation. Joy is also a manifestation of abundance. At EL Education's 2022 National Conference: A World of Good, Sydney joined school counselor Dominique Sawyer and fellow SAC members Stephanie Kacou and Marissa Barnwell for a panel . This week, with one year to go until the next U.S. presidential election, it seemed a good time to dig in and share a kind of blueprint for the intentional use of joy to foster change. Joy is an Act of Resistance Chapter Leadership Brief 2.10.2023. Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF_G-RF66MUK punk outfit IDLES returns with an album that improves on the brutal and politically charged style the b. What would that space look like for you? For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. But what does it mean when you're at some place where the world's trash comes to you and out of that trash, you have to do something. The whole community sits down to enjoy the feast, with even the lowest-ranking chimps getting to enjoy the treat. There can be complaint, but you're spending a lot of energy just trying to hold it together. 3. Its one thing to be able to envision a better future, but its another to have a momentary flash of it course through our bodies. In the current national climate, it is more crucial than ever that we resist and repel the misogynist forces arrayed against us, and that we unconditionally stand with the women and LGBTQI people who are put at risk under the dangerous policies of the current administration. While communal joy represents an outright danger to a repressive regime, individual joy can also empower resistance. For more information, visit faith.yale.edu. People who love in a world without walls, people who love into hate, into refusal, against hope, and without fear. You talked about certain geographies of joy, the spaces which are configured in particular way. Rest is vital, but rest alone doesnt create resilience. Thanks so much for sharing. You have to have people who have been able to make you laugh in the places where all you want to do is cry. There were incredible women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth before the end of Slavery, the women making lunches and marching during the Civil Rights Movement, and the women of the Black Panthers supporting the social programs and keeping the organization running. Its a curious feature of autocratic regimes that forms of joy are often banned. But the most celebratory of all animals are our closest relatives, the chimpanzees. Willie Jennings: To press even further, it could be that one thing under utilized by Christian intellectuals is precisely this latter reality that Jesus himself points us toward, a family that becomes reconfigure. The church, the hospital room, the barber shop and beauty shopsthings are going to be better". There IS hope!! Thank you! I appreciate your feedback. It goes against everything that racism was designed to do. Their music and message empowered my girlfriends and me to feel that we were enough, without needing boyfriends or to look and act a certain way. I dont know what she meant when she said that, but I know for me it means that I still get to have my joy, my laughter, my sassiness, my thinking, my love of people. And then the second thing you have to have is a willingness to want to hold on to Life, even when there is very little that makes sense in life. by FANTANAMOBAY. Featured peformers: Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), Adam Devonshire (bass), Jon Beavis (drums), Space (producer), Adam Greenspan (mixing), Nick Launay (mixing). So, simply put, joy can be considered resistance because its a form of energy for change, as Lorde puts it. Studies show, for example, that feeling joyful can mitigate something called the own-race face bias, where people tend to recognize differences in faces of their own race while failing to distinguish faces of other races from one another. A funeral is held. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Communal joy provides a kind of glue that unifies a group. Resistance creates suffering. Support For the Life of the World by making a gift to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: faith.yale.edu/give. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. Carter G. Woodson. Evan Rosa: For the Life of the World is a production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School. What are spaces in which you yourself find joy? Music is a common one. You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, but I will find a way to resist. Stop. They cannot take it." Lauren Oliver, Delirium tags: courage , love , resistance , strength 1065 likes Like There's also the other ways in which space exists. "Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself." - Carl Jung. Aesthetics of joy can also disrupt complacency, drawing much-needed attention to a cause. For activists, who live with chronic stress, the risk of burnout is physiological. 119. How was she coping? As I stood amid a sea of mostly young black faces at New Revelation Baptist, I found myself seeking my own new revelation by asking hard questions about what has become a dangerously mundane ritual around young black bodies. I think that's the first thing you have to have. So somebody can walk into a space that have been marked by joy. Part of HuffPost Black Voices. And as we made our way out of the church and then jumped into cars to file over to the cemetery, she was the one who, along with local Black Lives Matter activists led her community in a chant to Say His Name!!. What would be great is if we start to think more intentionally about how such spaces are constituted and how might such spaces, the constitution of such spaces be a fundamental part for those of us who are Christian in our discipleship. So for today, Sojourner Truth is my inspiration. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Anne K. Ream is the founder of The Voices and Faces Project, a global storytelling project, the author of "Lived Though This: Listening to Sexual Violence Survivors," and a Founding Co-Chair at World Without Exploitation, the national coalition to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Studies show that even when strangers move or vocalize together, they become more generous, more altruistic, and more willing to sacrifice their own needs for the good of the group. She lives in my native and beloved city of Bogot, Colombia, where she divides her time between teaching and working for an amazing nonprofit, PARCES. And death in this regard is not simply the end of life, but it's death in all its signatures: death, violence, war, debtall the ways in which life can be strangled, and presented to us as not worth living. I do say you can go back upstairs and get another ticket, but I also give them all the food thats left at the end! I loved your book, and this post really lifted my spirits. Between the two stands Resistance.. And challenging the status quo for standing up for all of us heart. Such as in Nazi Germany, which targeted Jewish music role of in! 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