Effective social movements: keeping the message clear
By Carlos Aguilar
"I rap about my life, and I rap about it in the hardest, most
blatant sense. I consider what I say as real. This is the way the world I
come from is. This is the way I talk and I live. This is the only way I
can be."2
Whenever a group of people is locked within the margins of American
social discourse, that community may find it necessary to scream or chant
or rap to be heard. It should come as no surprise, then, that alienation
serves to be the catalyst for counter-cultural movements. The ache of the
reverberating "What about me?" coupled with the systematic
muting of your inquiry, provides the primary ingredients for revolutionary
stew; the spicier the better. But alienation and frustration does not a
meal make. Discontentment is only the beginning.
What usually follows is the mobilization, education and deployment of
like-minded individuals. In theory, the movement that once was a fractured
and disorganized cadre becomes a knowledgeable, harmonious unit. Like
circumstance and like cause leads to like action. Unfortunately, this is
highly unlikely.
God, as such, is the consummation of all that is noble, loving,
compassionate, righteous and pure. He possesses these attributes to a
degree in which no greater can be conceived. He does not participate in
acts of love; He is love. He does not participate in acts of
righteousness; He is righteousness. And it is because of these essential
attributes, and a score of others, that God is unable to provide us with
the forgiveness necessary for communion with him without exacting a heavy
price. He cannot compromise his righteousness, yet he hasn't forsaken his
love.
With heavy heart and weary soul you approach and ask, "Father
forgive me for my sin. I trust in the work of your Son on the cross and I
desire to experience the change of myself , and of the world, for
you." At that moment, a revolutionary is born and the life of a
revolutionary proceeds as you become increasingly acquainted with our
liberator/leader Jesus the Christ, your manifesto the Bible, and the world
of people whose soul cries out for Truth, Peace, Justice, Righteousness
and Love; and we'll tell them that He is the source of all this and more.
Much, much more.
1. Port Huron Statement, SDS, Tom Hayden
"We are the people of this generation, bred in at least modest
comfort, housed now in the universities, looking uncomfortably to the
world we inherit."1
Muted message of the cultural revolution of the 60's
A cursory glance at the Counter-cultural movement of the 60's reveals a
seemingly inextinguishable social movement led by those ridden with the
alienation and frustration necessary for our revolutionary stew. In
predictable fashion, the movement began to organize around a common desire
to change the face of the world's collective existence. Teach-ins were
held, rallies attended, manifestos published and people educated. Some, in
accord with the anti-authoritarian sentiment that was brewing, made
non-conformity of language, music and dress a staple of their diet.
Ironically, as the movement waxed in popularity it waned power. From
rallies to rock n' roll concerts, the counter-cultural movement began to
be more an exercise in recreation and self-indulgence rather than
participation in a movement meant to liberate the self.
Social movements with rhythm
Our beloved Hip-Hop suffers from the same. The reclamation of identity,
the garnering of political and social power, and the establishment of a
viable economic base were aims fueled by, what some have called, urban
youths location at the 'crossroads of lack and desire'. Tricia Rose,
author of Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary
America, aptly notes that "Rap music and Hip-Hop culture are
cultural, political and commercial forms, and for many young people they
are the primary cultural, sonic and linguistic windows on the world."
One might not recognize this while listening to an elderly white woman's
comedic rendition of Rapper's Delight.3
The unlikely protagonist of cultural revolution
Given enough time, dominant culture has proven itself able to exert an
ideological entropy on the likes of nearly every counter-cultural
movement. The original intent and meaning of the message subsequently
becomes convoluted and unrecognizable. Undoubtedly, the most colossal
attempt at transforming personal and cultural existence is found in the
liberating message of Jesus Christ. Be not fooled; co-optation,
commercialization and convolution rears its head here as well. A band of
70 some-odd people, discontent with their existence, gather around a man
who claims to have the remedy for their ache and who promises to
demonstrate, by his victory over death, that he can be trusted in matters
universal. He kicks death in the groin, walks away victorious and the
movement grows. It spreads like wild fire. Then, a quarter of a century
passes and people are being tortured unto death for identifying themselves
with this God/man. In twisted historic irony, a few hundred years pass and
people are forced, with the threat of death, to pledge allegiance to what
is now a super religious movement bearing his name.
Misplaced messages of social movements
Flash forward to the 20th century and the message is a full-fledged
cultural phenomenon. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, bracelets and weeping
televangelists are those things which serve to be the identifying
characteristics of this "counter- cultural movement." Christian
philosopher Dallas Willard remarks, "...it seems to be a general law
of social/historical development that institutions tend to distort and
destroy the central function that brought them into existence."4
Unfortunately, the Church isn't immune.
Yet Jesus' message, one of reconciliation and communion with your God, is
clear beyond the clouds. One may have to wade through the scores of
'preachers' begging to bilk people; uncles and aunts who attend church at
9:00 and the bar at noon; your 'Christian friend' who constantly reminds
you of hell's dominion in your life; the often cryptic utterances in the
Bible. Cast this aside and you still have a God who intends to communicate
His message, to You, with clarity.
Clear message of liberation and revolution
The early portions of Scripture declare not only God's immense power and
knowledge in the fashioning of the universe, but his enduring concern over
the created order. His relationship with individual men and women was such
that they found it appropriate to identify him as friend, provider,
comforter and King. Yet, it didn't take much time for rebellion against
God's moral order to become the modus operandi. A great divide between God
and his creation surfaced, as evil and corruption of heart and action came
to be the primary descriptors of the human condition. It seems clear that
a moral entropy has been enacted, leaving in its remains the wounded,
pummeled and trounced souls of God's creation. All this in the face of the
ever-present, ever-concerned creator.
I'm not certain that crosses have the ability to stave off would be
vampire attacks. I'm even less certain that clutching and kissing it
before I purchase my Lotto ticket will bring me the booty. But I am
convinced that it has the power to reconcile us to our creator. On the
cross our sin and transgression was accounted for. Jesus, being the
'anointed one of God', laid his life down as a perfect sacrifice in our
stead. It takes an alienated soul, determined and desirous, to peer
thousands of years back for the remedy to its ailment. "What about
me," you ask? "Come to me," he responds.
2. Ice-T, www.templeofhiphop.com
3. As found in Adam Sandler's The Wedding Singer.
4. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, (San Francisco:
HarperCollins, 1998) 201.
Carlos Aguilar is a graduate of Occidental College and a Masters
candidate in the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Talbot School of
Theology.
