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Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to cultivating ideas. Um I'm your host, Sean Watkins and I serve as Associate Dean here at Austin Seminary for Lifelong Learning . And this afternoon we are in for a rare

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treat. Uh Reverend Doctor Gregory Cu serves as the Associate Professor of Old Testament and will be sharing his insights uh this week on reset the other at the US Mexico border. Today, we'll talk about the

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way in which uh the sacred is weaponized by elite powers to shape social reality, the way it grants permanence and the negating of the inherent sacred worth of black and brown bodies of those approaching or crossing the

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border while seizing the Anglo American project of colonialization, violence and manifest destiny. So a relevant topic as we look at what's happening in our nation right now around borders and politics and diversity in culture. And

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so super excited for that. Uh with that being said, Doctor Coyer, by all means, take it away. Thank you very much for your kind introduction. And I also um would like to express

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my gratitude to lifelong learning center and their uh the opportunity to, to present some of my ideas on this topic. I also think the audience who's taking time out of their lunch period or breakfast or wherever

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you are in the world to um engage this topic . What is the, the sacred? I understand the sacred as referring to economies of truth making and currencies of public authority that have the capacity to exonerate

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violent social actions of elite power. In this way , the the sacred can take many forms, monuments , institutions, social practices, spatial arrangements and people and yet together they have the capacity to defend,

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justify exonerate and legitimate the most gruesome and torturous acts of state sanctioned violence. The aim here is, is not to define the sacred in a prescriptive sense , but rather to show investments in notions of the

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sacred, either as a legitimating force for elite power or a source of empowerment for the subjugated other and other. I have spelled with a capital o among the investments in the sacred that elite power has made

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uh at least in, in connection with the US Mexico border is the um doctrine of Manifest Destiny. This is a, this was a, a reformed protestant idea. Uh And it was actually first expressed

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by John Lewis o'sullivan, the originator of this Sacral imperialist doctrine. Uh You could see in this doctrine , references to the sacred where you have uh reference to Providence when traced to the sacred Anglo American imperialism

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registers as a, a de sacral power that legitimized the conquest of Mexico's northern territories over half of its territories and rendered infinite the post colonial wound of those initially conquered uh and their offspring. And so I

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would locate myself as the offspring. The sacred affords elite power. Uh I transcending and yet arbitrary power that is uh it disrupts uh democratic processes and an ethic of equality. The sacred under colonizing power facilitates

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the highest forms of domination through legitimated forms of violence that are grotesque, gruesome, torturous and eradicating in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially marked the end of the United States war with Mexico.

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The rules for Anglo American colonization covering territorial boundaries, citizenship, property and trade are listed under the following opening statement in the name of Almighty God. And there you could see how the sacred is invoked their

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at the beginning of the treaty, the sacred. Uh so among the, the colonizing actions stipulated in article five of the treaty, and I'll put it up. So this was the official territorial boundary between

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the US and Mexico. And so it falls under that statement of a reference to Almighty God rather than dismiss the sacred as lacking the impetus for reproducing colonizing power. Here, I I consider the sacred as

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something very serious. It takes uh on AAA an important role in justifying Anglo American imperialism. Its continual use in political discourse reflects more than a conventional form . Instead it maps a hermeneutic or a hermeneutic investment

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. And I think this is where I parallel with or resonate with Edwards's work on orientalism. How orientalism was also a and still is a hermeneutic for how we are to interpret the East. And this notion

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of manifest destiny is creating a hermeneutic or hermeneutic investment in the sacred that sets the threshold for elite powers , ambitions beyond earthly reach. And again here, um the sacred turns lethal uh and traumatizing um precisely

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because of how it allows um the for the prominence of, of violence to be construct, construed as part of divine will by expanding the the field of social agency to an otherworldly level, elite power is

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able to foreclose on democratic based logics and sanction, tyrannical acts of violence like conquest and colonization. In addition to expanding the target zone for violence, investments in the sacred by colonizing power have in view the

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perpetual use of violence in tandem with its uncontestable justification . By the 20th century Anglo American imperialism morphed into state power. And as such, the the cycle of sacral violence shifted from brute military conquest to the

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orderly policing of de sacral, a de sacral Mexican other. And here I would consider this ideological operation um as mongrels, right? Very similar to again what Edward S called as orientalism. Um Mongrels would

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be the the equivalent in, in this part of the world. And I'm going to quote from Edwards , he says that um the Oriental was, was linked thus to elements in Western society, delinquents the

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insane women, the poor having in common an identity best described as lamentable alien orientals were rarely seen or looked at. They were seen through analyzed, not as citizens or even people but as problems to be

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solved or confined as the colonial powers openly coveted their territory. Uh You could simply put the de de Sacral Mexican in replacement of orientals and very similar actions were happening in the 20th century and uh rendering them

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criminal and inferior. So under this mode of, of elite power, the sacred is reified in a state apparatus of procedures, protocols, programs and processes . Yet the the goal of colossal domination remains the

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same. But again, the the result underlies why elite power invests in the sacred behind the the guise of the sacred altar stands an agent of the state with a gloating smile while in front of it stands

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the racially criminalized Mexican other quote unquote banned it as visualized here. The sacred reflects a hermeneutic investment of not those captured but the captors. Despite despite its Catholic iconography, its design placement and hence function are

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under anglo American control. In this eerie photo state sanctioned violence against the incarcerated Mexican other. And here I use other in the lower case o is sacral the sacred casts, the captors as magnanimous, which

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in turn exonerates them from the grotesque spectacle of their hanging in the public square, which happens after this event to function on behalf of the Mexican other assumes their livelihood and longevity. Instead, it is the

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perpetuation of state power that the sacred is commissioned to accomplish. Though the sacred represented in the photograph may appear accommodating to the religious needs of the captured the assemblage of violence surrounding it mark other intentions for the

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sacred of which involve the eradication of the Mexican other . So the sacred is the, is the cause of wound rather than a source of healing for the captured Mexican other. For through the sacred elite,

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power is reinforced, affirmed and legitimated yet for the de sacral Mexican other, the sacred is the conduit of scarring and flesh eating violence that in the end renders them non-existent. And I would argue that this

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confluence of sacred and state our nationalism are on display even in the modern period. And you can um observe that with the January 6th Riot intersection um in , in um in insurrection in 2021. And so

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I just would show you how state uh the state it uses the sacred to legitimate militarization of the border , how it was um invoked in its creation in the Treaty of Hidalgo. And you could see it

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still playing out how the various technologies that are used to secure the border. Also point to this sacred meta narrative. And here you could see how the river is cut in half with these buoy barriers are

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lined with barbed wire and how that barbed wire is a um a hazard for migrants, migrant Children and families. And that militarization and security extends even to the Pacific as stated in the Treaty of Hidalgo under

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article five, I would also argue that this investment in the sacred ex uh CRE allows for the proliferation of immigration detention centers. Um We have over 300 in, in this country. These uh dark skinned

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bodies are what Gloria Anzaldua calls. Los reveals the the crossed people. They are the squint eyed, the perverse, the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel, the mulatto, the half breed, the

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half dead in short, those who cross over, pass over or go through the confines of the normal . And she offers, I think a substantive response to what uh the state has done in, in

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investments in the sacred, attending to the fragmenting wounds of racism and colonialism is central to a Anzaldua epistemological pivot to the sacred other dealing as she does with the other as queer, dark skinned and oppressed people

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and the sacred as their inherent spiritual psychic capacities. Also for her, the other is sacred in that otherness points not to an enemy of the state, which is much like what we see today. But

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instead points to the supernatural world, the subtle world , the world, the other world that is a spiritual world with other ways of being, which she refers to in, in different um waves nant or

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shape shifting or what she calls queer spirit or spiritual meti sake. Other ways of knowing what she calls double knowing and also spiritual activism. In contrast to elite power in which the other otherness and other in

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constitute the non sacred Anzaldua. Ren renders otherness the starting point of the sacred. And you could see in this quote where she is plunging into the wound itself or what she calls La Masa functions as a

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sacral act that for Anzaldua leads to healing in this way, the the wound itself is other and hence intrinsically sacred. And yet the wound itself also constitutes a sacral archive of pains, abuses hurts and betrayals

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, all of which deserves redress. So there are uh some concepts that perhaps we could discuss further in under this notion of the other as sacred. The idea of trespassing on the archive. There's a,

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there's a historical wound that has been created by colonialism and Anglo American imperialism and manifest destiny. How do we recover a history that has been erased? And that, that being a healing exercise. There's also

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sacro performance of a counter archive. And in South Texas, we have the corridos. These are ballads that tell stories and about life in the borderlands. Uh There's also the caring for the other, the

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sacred other through Curandero. And here I turn to Don Jamil's um witness uh in South Texas as a Curandero and these other forms, non um scientific forms , but the forms that come from the people from

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below and how they teach us something else about the sacred other and how those forms of being are, are therapeutic rather than um annihilating. And so this brings me to the conclusion of, of my initial

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intro here and I hope that we could engage in some, some discussion. Uh I set the table fairly broadly, but maybe there's points of intersect with you who are listening. All right, Doctor Cora

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, thank you immensely for that. I wanna invite you to perfect. Stop sharing your screen. That's great. And then if you have specific questions for Doctor Coar or comments, uh one, if you

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are not able to uh turn your cameras on and ask those questions uh verbally by all means, actually drop those questions in the chat at this time. I love to be able to hear from you.

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Uh If you do have a specific question, I ask you to unmute but then also turn your camera on as well too. Uh Just for visual and recording purposes. It shows a better uh in our

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archives in the library when we get ready to show these out to folks. So thanks so much questions and comments. By all means the floor is yours ? Interact with Doctor Polar where? Hello, I

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am. I guess I have a kind of a question and a comment and just um to hear your thoughts um as you were speaking, especially towards the end and you were talking about the faith healer.

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Um Don Pedro Jaramillo. Um It made me think of the separation of church and state and how those in power are so adamant for those separations. Um And also the comment that you made um about the

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otherness is the starting point of the sacred. And those who are in the, the faith community are definitely a part of this and a part of bringing healing. So I guess my question is what,

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what are your thoughts on the Catholic charities and how they do so much great work um in our borderlands ? And it, it sometimes seemed like the state is impending on their efforts. And do you feel

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like there's a connection um between the ongoing colonization or to keep that militarization there? Yes. Thank you so much for your question. I think that with uh some of the current measures that we have seen

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uh on the border, at least here in, in South Texas, it's clear that the militarization and securitization of, of the border has intensified to legitimate that intensification. You not only need financial resource,

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but you also need a believable ideology. And I think this is where the church, at least some veins of, of, of the protestant church have provided um theological support to undergird those investments in heightened

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militarization and securitization of the border. The most, I think obvious, right? For, for many is uh white Christian nationalism and the co the the how the Christianity is conflated with a, a very

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isolationist and e exclusive. Um interpretation of, of the nation state. It's not anything new, we could see it in history if we look at Manifest Destiny as a point of entry into that mindset.

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So I, I find that the faith based activism that is happening um is there as a, as a response to where the state has chosen not to invest, not to invest in the well being of

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Children, not to invest in their human rights, but to ensure that they are perpetually traumatized and um exploited financially and also politically. But at central to this is as I I've been, you know,

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this is something that as a seminary professor interests me deeply how the broad notion of sacred, right? When we think of sacredness and we think of religious expressions of the sacred, that entire economy, it

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proves itself very useful to legitimate state sanctioned violence. Um And you're starting to see some serious censoring of faith based organizations where they are now being considered um criminal for aiding and abetting migrant Children and their and

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, and families and helping, helping them when the state has abandoned them. So you, you're, you're certainly, I think to, to, to draw a correlation uh with what you're seeing um with

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uh the, the Catholic charities and, and, and, and the current intensification intensification of border security . Uh certainly there are um struck, there is , there is a tension and um um a serious

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conflict between who can define what is sacred Thank you , Doctor Po. It's an excellent response. We've got one in the chat as well to a question around. Uh It says, uh I'm wondering how

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to translate some of this excellent historical and theological analysis into the terms of current debates over the border. How can biblical communities reframe the matter of other when so many of the biblical stories are, are around

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us and them? And that's also when the chat as well too. Uh Yes, this dichotomy the binary between us and them, it will unfold into a whole spectrum of other binaries civilized, uncivilized,

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superior, inferior, citizen, noncitizen, and you could keep going and how this unfolds. And with those binaries, you create a economy of privilege that allows for a uh you know, elite few to

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benefit from tho tho those, those Binaries as oppositional , that oppositional discourse for Edwards. He was analyzing it as it was being used and deployed through um um orientalism or, or orientalist discourse. I could

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see that same strategy being used today. And historically , you could see it being used today. But part of what we are in need of within biblical studies and reading the Bible is to decolonize how we

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interpret the other. Much of how we understand the other is often read through or interpreted through the eyes of the nation state. Uh I often tell my students when it comes to people groups in the Hebrew

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Bible, the concept of of nation and here I'm thinking of the Westphalian understanding of, of, of nation where there is this notion of a homogeneous people group um that correspond to a, a distinct territorial

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boundary. Um And how that gives witness to a self determination and sovereignty though that concept of, of , of nation, you don't find um circulating in , in the ancient world difference. Certainly is there

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perhaps more along the lines of, of religious belief than a racial logic, which is also something that nationalism relies on in order to create that them and us. So the there needs to be a uh

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an acknowledgment of our own biases, right? How is it that we bring to the text? A nationalist interpretation that creates those, those binaries. So it may not be that the scripture is the problem

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, but the reader is the problem. It's an excellent, excellent, excellent framework as well too. I try to resist the temptation but I cannot because this is my soap box. Uh I would also

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echo what uh Doctor Perras masterfully said, hey, that binary thinking he is spot on about deconstructing and reconstructing our faith. Uh I teach uh Christianity and the problem of racism at Gordon Conwell. And I

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told my students that what we see in scripture is one of cultural diversity and spiritual unity uh that we always see the kingdom of God bringing those who are at the outside to the center. And so Doctor

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Coar is spot on and that binary thinking and language of us versus them is not a near Eastern concept that is a Western lens. And so in doing so, it's instrumental for us to look through our

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libraries and to see who has shaped our thinking and theology and the lenses through which we view scripture. Because starting there is going to help us understand how we view and interpret the text. A masterful explanation

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. Thank you, Doctor Coar. We've got other questions here in the chat. Um One says, uh where do the political business, educational and new institutions contribute and work together to the sustaining, maintaining

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and propagation of imperialism, colonialism, ideology and practice ? I can say that one again to where do the political business, educational and news institutions contribute and work together to the sustaining and maintaining and propagation of

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imperialism, colonialism, ideology and practice. Yeah, I part of what I'm hearing in, in that question is a, a critical consciousness about the connectivity of systems and the, the need to excavate those

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systems that power is not operating solely in one domain , but it involves a consensus. And so here we, we, we talk about consensus knowledge, the sacred that I'm referring to in, in my

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book involves a consensus right? There is, there is a consensus that the sacred is important and wielding that consensus to invest in a other r that is violent to, to people that targets people um in

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ways that diminish their sacred worth as human beings. And this is a uh this critical uh consciousness that you refer to, I think has been written about in various disciplines under the, the notion of decolonizing

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. So, decolonizing uh power, decolonizing um uh knowledge. And you, you'll find that seeing power in its local, right? Finding how the tentacles when you're, when you're reading against the grain and

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you're trying to assess and map it. Uh you have to see how it is connected, not just at the highest level, but in the mundane, in the every day. Uh Here, I think

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uh there is also um and critical race theory, the, the critique about the Jim Crow laws, what what, what it took for those laws to actually be enforced but not so much police but bus

00:35:07.620 - 00:35:30.970

drivers, waitresses, waiters, bankers, you know , ticket holders, the, the those menial trivial what we would consider trivial roles in society. It's the, it's the collective that allows for this type

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of violent other other to be enforced. It's an excellent point. Thank you. Uh We've got another one here in the chat. Uh It says um political realism seems to be offering us two options of

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either an angry, ugly, xenophobic approach to the border problem in quotes or a kinder gentler approach that still considers the border and those who cross it again as a problem. How can communities of faith help

00:36:05.980 - 00:36:23.520

reframe that? Yes, I think this is a , you know, that what you create is a , a dull option. I I would, I would move away from um a a dual approach or

00:36:23.530 - 00:36:45.280

mapping it in, in terms of two options. But to think of what um the people themselves uh exemplify and that's a third space. So not, not only falling into two options, but how can

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local faith communities create a third space? And that being the only parameter that I would would prescribe, right? Is, is that that idea of the third space actually comes out of uh critical theory.

00:37:06.050 - 00:37:35.200

And even an Zaldua work talks about the third space . How how can we create a third space that is not constrained by binaries? Um Maybe this is something that Christianity and the Trinity uh understands to a

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certain degree. So how, how is it that you could operate in the spirit and France far with , with agree with a political consciousness that is spiritual in nature. So this is something I think that

00:37:58.020 - 00:38:16.460

we need to consider locally. But under this notion of third space, it may not be in the organized uh religious context, it may not be within the denomination. I it may. So what does

00:38:16.470 - 00:38:36.760

it mean to create a a organic third space that allows for new questions and new ways of being and new ways of creating connections and of course, that looks different, that will look differently depending on where

00:38:36.770 - 00:38:47.270

you are at. Wonderful. Thank you very much . We've got time for a couple more questions. Um And so if you've got some specific ones, again, I wanna invite you to drop those in

00:38:47.280 - 00:38:57.490

the chat. And as I mentioned before, if you're able to, and you want to ask that question, uh virtual face to face, invite you to unmute and both turn your camera on so we

00:38:57.500 - 00:39:17.200

can have that in the recording as well. We've got time for a couple of more questions before we wrap up and conclude our last cultivating ideas for the academic year. Doctor Greer, while we're waiting,

00:39:17.210 - 00:39:28.970

I've got a question for you as well. So , um I'm a proud alum from the University of Texas at Austin right across the street from us here at Austin Seminary. And I originally went to U

00:39:28.980 - 00:39:40.130

T to be a government pre-law major and there was a uh staff that was there that said to all the black students do not graduate without taking an introduction to African American studies course. And after my first

00:39:40.140 - 00:39:52.020

day of class, I walked out and changed my major from government pre-law to African American studies. But give me every class you have. It. It named um a social reality and a social consciousness.

00:39:52.030 - 00:40:04.000

It named the experiences that I had had as a black man in America and language of things that I hadn't said publicly, I hadn't articulated publicly before. Uh And so it lit something in me that's just

00:40:04.010 - 00:40:15.820

become a passion in terms of understanding culture and diversity and uh a biblical understanding of diversity as well to talk to us about um your own journey of understanding these things both in being a person of color or

00:40:15.830 - 00:40:27.880

professor of color. Massively walking us through, I think the theological and ethical implications of diversity at the border. How did this uh road begin for you ? Um Has it began a journey to understand your

00:40:27.890 - 00:40:39.220

own personal and social location? You become fascinated by it as you matriculated through the academy uh where there are significant, was there a significant experience or experiences that shaped your thinking and theology? Uh How did

00:40:39.240 - 00:40:57.610

Doctor Coar come to become Doctor Coar if you will ? Well, you know, growing up in South Texas, the, the border was something that I grew up with and being in the borderlands where,

00:40:57.670 - 00:41:17.180

where neighboring a, a country that um has informed a lot of how I understand myself, you know , South Texas being once a part of, of Mexico and my family carried that, that cultural heritage

00:41:19.820 - 00:41:35.740

. At the same time as I go through a higher education, you start to realize especially biblical studies , you realize that what's privileged is not so much my social location, but a western way of thinking

00:41:36.570 - 00:42:01.110

that places high value on objectivity and um positiv linear readings. And you, you're, you're asked to detach yourself from your social location. The, the conflict with that has to do with you suppressing the

00:42:01.120 - 00:42:22.850

self and not having the opportunity for your voice to genuinely come to the, to the fore in and you're learning and you're pro, you're adopting a, a colonized voice and that creates psychological um, tension

00:42:23.180 - 00:42:39.660

. There is, there is a, you know , it's, it's, it's the continuation of not the, the, the military violence of, of empire, but it's the ideological violence that's done to

00:42:39.670 - 00:42:59.460

the self and feeling that suppressed self and, and , and knowing that, that it, this cannot be the way I go about um teaching and, and, and engaging in scholarship. So it's really

00:43:00.170 - 00:43:23.890

my own um being in this angst condition and wanting to, to, to heal from it. So that, that you have to develop instincts that are not necessarily nurtured in academic in, in, in

00:43:23.900 - 00:43:43.780

um higher education and academia. Um you are socialized in, in a way that is wanting to maintain the Canons and the orthodox ways of thinking. So to, to talk about your history, to talk

00:43:43.790 - 00:43:58.530

about your, your colonized self, you, those questions are not part of that literature and you're, you're ha so you're having to, to develop those instincts on your own and, and it's just taking

00:43:58.540 - 00:44:19.210

the risk of realizing that to find my voice, I have to cross over to other disciplines and engage in interdisciplinary work in order to break out of a social, socializing um world within my discipline. That

00:44:19.220 - 00:44:35.450

is not, and it is not favoring the voices on the margin, but favoring more of the voices that help create that discourse, that dominant discourse. And so that's I think for my own therapy and

00:44:35.460 - 00:44:55.920

my own healing engaging in what Plato describes as the Plato's cave, getting out of the cave and seeing what was behind the shadows, who's actually creating the shadows that just I think it was something um maybe

00:44:55.930 - 00:45:15.790

that suspicion was nurtured early on in my life. Um But I'm grateful that I didn't commit my entire self to what the dominant discourse required of me, that I was willing to, to break out of

00:45:15.800 - 00:45:35.480

it. And with that also comes the seeing the connection between how dominant discourse is connected to elite forms of power. And so you, there's no distinction between the violence we see in society and the knowledge

00:45:35.490 - 00:45:53.720

being produced within those elite circles. But there's actually uh a very organic connection between the two. And that I think also, um you know, it , it creates an ethical dilemma uh for a person

00:45:53.730 - 00:46:16.770

of faith, not just my, my cultural uh angst and turmoil, but the ethics of seeing how a discourse is indifferent to the social realities that in many ways it helps to con to create, right

00:46:16.780 - 00:46:39.880

? So the commentaries, the, the the lexicons , those materials have some investment in what the state is wanting to accomplish socially and that I think is a problem for me and, and, and do

00:46:39.890 - 00:46:54.840

, do I want to be an agent of that discourse or do I want to try and create change . So those sorts of questions and conflicts were just happening within me and may, may have been for

00:46:54.850 - 00:47:13.260

you. And when you were thinking about African American studies, it's something that's the an the ancestors speaking in us saying that this needs to be remedied. Yeah, I love that framework. I thank you

00:47:13.270 - 00:47:24.700

so much for that masterful answer again. Like I really appreciate you naming both the realities of learning uh dominant uh discourses or dominant culture modalities. Then I , I really appreciate you naming the reality of having

00:47:24.710 - 00:47:34.240

to heal from those. That's one of the things that I've been doing this for the last 20 years in terms of thinking about race, ethnicity and culture , predominant Christian spaces. And it's always present it

00:47:34.250 - 00:47:44.520

as a learning and an unlearning, a deconstructing and a reconstructing, but it is tr it's traumatic, there's a cultural trauma, there's a physical trauma, there's an intellectual, a theological, a spiritual trauma

00:47:44.660 - 00:47:53.840

. And so to name that part of that journey of deconstruction and reconstructing is also our own personal healing , not just as professors, but just as Children of God. So just again, excellent, excellent

00:47:53.850 - 00:48:02.390

, excellent. Uh We've got time for one more question. Uh And it comes from uh Carlos, he's been dropping uh the questions and the chat so grateful for him and for his voice. Uh And

00:48:02.400 - 00:48:16.670

everyone who's present, Carl said uh every coin has two faces. Uh We've spoken primarily um of the colonizer what role does the colonized to play in accepting the meta narrative in daily life? Again, every

00:48:16.680 - 00:48:30.710

coin has two faces we've spoken primarily. Have you spoken primarily of the colonizer? What role does the colonized play in accepting the meta narrative in daily life ? And this will be our last question. Yeah

00:48:30.720 - 00:48:54.410

, you're touching on a uh something that is of deep interest to me. I'm actually writing on this for my next book And that has to do with how the colonized embrace the, the ideology, OK

00:48:55.120 - 00:49:16.970

, sacred ideology or ide secular ideology of the elite power at the cost of their own identity and their own self. And so that's a, that's a psychological dynamic. It's a psychosocial dynamic that's happening to

00:49:16.980 - 00:49:35.020

the colonized to where slowly they begin to suppress or even censor or erase who they were made to be , you know, where they were made and how , how they were uh brought up and how their

00:49:35.030 - 00:49:53.380

DNA came, came into a specific geography and, and their cultural expression and this dominant force requires subjugation , allegiance, loyalty at the cost of your, your uniqueness. And, you know, there are

00:49:53.390 - 00:50:12.290

certain benefits for some who make that uh exchange, but I would say that those benefits are not. Um uh so that they're not, they're, they're , they don't attend to the soul. Uh they

00:50:12.300 - 00:50:25.080

may attend to, they may offer social mobility in , in the material form. But in terms of the being, having a sense of presence and, and, and grounded that I, I feel is

00:50:25.730 - 00:50:45.120

part of what your ancestors have um made you to be and, and before you even came, came to this earth. So there, there is a , it is a dynamic for the Lat Latinx um

00:50:45.900 - 00:51:04.670

community in the US. We know that our physiognomy is uh on a broad spectrum and just on, on, on that, on the, you know , the level of, of skin color can determine

00:51:04.680 - 00:51:22.750

certain elements, certain levels of access to privilege uh where it would be tantalizing to accept um the dominant culture and, and that elite power structure. Um and which may not be the case for uh other

00:51:22.760 - 00:51:43.750

Latinx people um on in that spectrum of, of hues. So that would be one example where that could happen. But it certainly is a um a , a one of those potential hazards that you have

00:51:43.760 - 00:52:00.810

the colonized, embrace the ideology that has subjugated them and then become agents of it to where they reproduce it. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful way. Uh I think to be able to conclude both the lecture

00:52:01.010 - 00:52:12.930

uh and then also uh cultivating ideas for this year . So uh thank you Doctor Coar for just an excellent presentation and a way to land the plane I think for this first year of cultivating ideas and having

00:52:12.940 - 00:52:22.540

excellent presentations from all of our faculty who have been here. Uh Thank you all to everyone who's attended uh these over the course of the year. Um We are grateful for you and wanna let you know

00:52:22.550 - 00:52:32.080

that this will be the last one of the year . We will actually pick back with cul cultivating ideas on September 19th. So that's going to be our first one will begin in the fall. And so

00:52:32.090 - 00:52:45.990

thank you immensely for participating, for your dialogue, your discussions, your ministry of presence, and for listening to our esteemed faculty as they share their education experience and expertise in matters of faith and justice.

00:52:45.000 - 00:52:53.810

And so until we see you in the fall, take care and have a fantastic day. And of course, Dr Coy, I thank you again and miss a wonderful, wonderful job blessings. Everyone take