2020.08.09 | DREAMERS UNITE!
“Dreamers Unite!”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
One of my all time favorite poems was written by Langston Hughes. You probably remember studying it in English class in high school, like I did. The poem is titled “Harlem.” It goes like this:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
This poem will always speak first and foremost about the lived experience of African Americans whose migration to this continent was tied to the slave trade, and whose emancipation has not yet been fully realized.
Yet, the eeriness of the tone and the way the opening question cuts to the heart of disparities between the “haves” and the “have nots” in our world today makes it applicable to the pandemic. Because these disparities are being exposed and widened by the pandemic, and they will be even greater when we get to the other side of it.
II
Hughes’ opening question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” has been echoing in my head daily since the Shelter In Place Order was announced:
What happens to a dream deferred? What happens to a child who doesn’t have a digital tablet at home, a WIFI connection, and sufficient bandwidth to participate in distance learning classes, or who doesn’t have their own study space to focus on their studies?
What happens to a dream deferred? What happens to a child who misses meals because his school is closed or her parents don’t have a car or gas money to drive to a food pantry?
What happens to a dream deferred? What happens to a child who is confined to a bedroom for days on end, because someone in the house is in isolation? What happens to children who are left without adult supervision, because their parents have to choose between work and homelessness?
What happens to a dream deferred? What happens to a high school graduate who is admitted to a selective university, but whose family has to choose between rent and tuition? What happens to a cosmetology school graduate who can’t open a shop because of COVID-19, and what happens to a university graduate who got all A’s but can’t find a job in the down economy?
What happens to a dream deferred? What happens to a DACA student--a “Dreamer”--who is repeatedly subjected to the bully talk and the bully walk of our nation’s president, who scapegoats them in an effort to rally his base for the general election? What happens to asylum seekers whose cases are frozen in court, who can’t get public benefits or apply for a job because they don’t have a Social Security number?
This past Friday morning, a reporter on NPR interviewed a panel of educators, doctors, and child welfare specialists exploring what they thought would be the impact of the pandemic and economic losses on the children who are growing up in the midst of this pandemic.
The responses ranged from mixed--depending on a variety of social factors--to very grim. One educator in particular expressed the concern that those who are children now might one day be labeled “the lost generation,” as a result of suffering the downside of social disparities related to their race, class, nation of origin, health status, and special needs.
It doesn’t take any effort to feel discouraged or to worry in these times, even if we are not among the “extremely vulnerable” groups in this pandemic.
III
“Discouraged” and “worried” are two of the most common sentiments that many feel. This is why stories about our ancestors in the faith, such as Joseph, may prove to be so timeless and sustaining for us in the midst of the pandemic.
You see, Joseph was a “dreamer.” Being a dreamer had negative consequences for him at first, but ultimately his survival and the survival of Israel was integrally related to Joseph’s openness to God’s dreams and his willingness to help make God’s dreams come true.
As the story goes, Joseph’s brothers were not impressed with his dreamer qualities. In Genesis 37, verses 19 and 20, we read: “...[Joseph’s brothers] said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer…let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’”
Joseph was a dreamer, and his dreams were deferred by his brother’s actions, but he persevered, he stuck to his faith values, and he and his people prevailed as a result.
In the story that Allie just read, Joseph’s brothers (with the partial exception of Rueben) did the worst things to him that human beings ever do to each other: they stole his clothes, they threw him into a pit, they planned to leave him for dead, that was, until they figured out how to profit from keeping him alive. They did that by selling him into slavery to some Arabs (either Ishmalites or Midianites) the story teller is a little confused. Then these traders took Joseph to Egypt, where he eventually fell into favor with Pharaoh because he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. And, Pharaoh, in turn, brought him into his court, and put him in charge of managing his nations’ commodities.
Next Sunday, we will read and reflect further on this novella, and we will learn how Joseph was uniquely posed as Pharaoh’s commodities broker to save his family, and ultimately the nation of Israel from starvation.
IV
I look forward to turning the page from this hot mess that we have in front of us today, but for now, it behoves us to face the truth about what was going on in Joseph’s family which is sadly reflective of the human condition.
The epic sibling rivalries, the jealousy, the hate, the selfishness, and the betrayal that we read about in Joseph’s life isn’t far fetched. It isn’t unique to the book of Genesis, or modern day telenovelas. It sadly mirrors how some of our families relate to each other, and it reflects how badly various groups in our society have treated each other.
Consider, for example, that kids have been killing other kids in this country for the past 30 years for a pair of designer tennis shoes. According to an article in Depauw University’s ethics journal, “...on average, 1200 deaths per year have been attributed to these senseless acts of violence....
As if this news isn’t sobering enough, we need only to remember that this past week marked the 75th Anniversary of the dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and last year marked the 400th anniversary of enslaved captives arriving in North America.
Perhaps, we agree, the negative examples of human behavior are legion. A generation comes and a generation goes, but most of us fail to learn the lessons we need to learn. We act badly and we deserve our comeuppance, but here’s the kicker!
Even though Joseph’s brothers and their trickster father, Jacob, may not have deserved saving, but Israel survived and thrived, because the patriarchs weren’t in charge of their own destinies.
They thrived because God was and is in charge, and because God realized--and continues to realize--God’s dreams, through the faithfulness of people like Joseph, who remained true to the high ideals of their faith and who did not render evil for evil. Instead of revenge, Joseph offered his brothers mercy.
So this is our challenge and our opportunity, in the midst of this pandemic. It is to be like Joseph--to remember that God has called us to be dreamers, to hold fast to the high ideals of our faith, and to reject the social disparities in our communities--not simply by ameliorating the pain. Our challenge and opportunity are to effect structural change that allows God’s dream for all people to come true on earth.
In that spirit, I leave you with this charge: dreamers unite! Amen.