There’s a familiar story from Mark’s gospel. The fishermen disciples of Jesus were in a boat fishing in the wee hours of the morning. They struggled against fierce winds and waters. When they saw Jesus skimming the surf they thought it was a ghost and were “terrified.” They knew better. Jesus said, “Calm yourselves. It’s me.” Then he got into their boat, and the wind died down. They were stunned and incredulous, despite everything they had been taught. “Their minds were closed.” (Mark 6:52, The Inclusive Bible)
Their minds were closed. How easily and quickly our good intentions snap shut when we see something completely out of our ordinary line of thinking. I so want to be open-minded, anti-racist, yet it doesn’t take much to close my mind. People who are too afraid to be vaccinated close my mind, for example. Arguing is ineffective. Listening and following the precautions is effective.
Racist attitudes are not alway overt. In fact, like bacteria, according to my pulmonologist, they are tiny and can sneak quietly into any vulnerable scenario and raise bacterial hell—disease, social or individual, biological or societal, artistic or legal.
I felt like those disciples when I read this tragic wee story. I decided it wasn’t true—just a poem not even by a celebrity author. Yet it would not leave me alone. It sat on my desk staring at me until I paid attention.
Dance Amari
for Amari Diaw
Amari Diaw was four years old in 2003 when she faced being banned from her dance school recital in New Bedford, Massachusetts, because she wore her hair in braids that could not be “slicked back and pulled into a bun.”
Do not untie your hair Amari. Do not,
For perfect plies and pirouettes, turn
From native locks or wish for whiteness.
Kick up your thick-boned legs
In cultured protestation
Avoid unbraided simulation
Take first position
Stand on pointed principles
Deconstruct the dance politic.
Do not untie your hair Amari. D not,
For perfect plies and pirouettes, turn
From native locks or wish for whiteness.
Kick up your thick-boned legs
In cultured protestation
Avoid unbraided simulation
Take first position
Stand on pointed principles
Deconstruct the dance politic.
This poem was written by poet Rhonda Ward, former poet laureate of New London, Connecticut. It was published in Poet’s Corner in the Hartford Courant, 6/20/21. Here is a portrait of the poet.
I was stunned, shocked, nauseous, appalled, and weepy when I read this out loud three times, before I copied it down. Four years old—a little child with balletic dreams like so many small girls in tutus entertain. What is free of ugly bias? What is sacred? Who is untouched? What beauty can survive? There’s a “dance politic"?
One of my granddaughters participates in a dance company in her town. She is now one of the stars and a very fine dancer, however her very first recital at age four paralyzed her with terror, probably at the sight of an audience. She stood frozen in space and time, unable to dance what she had so well rehearsed. Frozen.
Do you know what spiritual paralysis is? It’s what you feel when your are suddenly excluded from participation in a group you love because of something you cannot help, something endemic to your nature, something you were born with, something you love, something you fear. It’s what I felt when I at last digested this story and let it into my heart/soul.
People will naturally ask: what happened? Outcome is not the point. What happened is the point. What happened is itself the answer, is itself the answer.
All I know is that when the souls of little ones or adults freeze, God thaws all souls, that they may act together to deconstruct dance politic and its many, many siblings. Thawing hurts. So does opening your mind, and so does closing your mind.
Walking on water might be easier, eh?
3 comments:
This poem with its account of a soul-freezing moment in the life of a child who finds out that being who she is excludes her from sharing her dancing is powerful indeed.. Thank you for sharing it Lyn
I loved the poem. I was saddened by the story. I was also surprised by the location, don't know why I thought New Bedford would be more open and more integrated. My error. I was not surprised by the behavior has I so often see it when I least expect it. Sad, very sad that in 2021 we are still holding such unexplored or unexamined thoughts and behaviors. Well change any change, even change we desire moves slowly and not without pain.
Near the end of your post you state "People will naturally ask: what happened? Outcome is not the point. What happened is the point. What happened is itself the answer, is itself the answer." I do not disagree that the damage is done and the reaction will not take that pain away...however the reaction can be very revealing. The reaction may provide the impetus for change to begin yet again. The reaction may be the best opportunity to begin the walk toward the needed change. And it is just possible that a next time may not occur saving another from that same pain. It is the attention to reaction that may cause us to step out of that boat.
laur
To "Unknown"............. Agree about the RE-action, and yet the point of this post was and is simply to invite people to wake up and NOTICE what is going on right now. Often we quickly bypass or do not observe closely then miss the feelings we need to respond at all. We miss that first step too often. Thanks.
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