LIBERATION LECTIONARY ~ LABOR DAY

Burdens Down

“It takes a special kind of person to do this and the household worker is special. Treat her with much respect and dignity” Dorothy Lee Bolden

Reflection: Labor Day

Many people in the United States celebrated Labor Day this past week. The Labor Movement boasts one of the most groundbreaking examples of progress in recent US History. One of the most important parts of the labor movement history is the organizing of Black-led labor unions. As recent as 1940, Blackness was not welcome among labor unions in any way. The Black scholar Rayford Logan simply and directly declared: the “‘solidarity of labor’ is [just] another myth as far as the history of American labor is concerned.” Teamsters history records racist practices of labor movement as late as the 60s, and we know that there is still much more work to do. But what has been clear, and what most labor unions will attest to, is that without the support of Black and Brown, queer and diverse workers, there is no movement, and there is certainly no success.  “The overall record of white unions was not impressive: From Reconstruction to, in some instances, the 1950s and 1960s, numerous unions worked to exclude Black people from key sectors of the labor market or otherwise restrict them to the least desirable jobs.  And that sorry record accounted for Black folks’ traditional antipathy toward organized labor.” Labor movements are collectively responsible for a day of rest in the work week. Labor movements gave us protection laws about children, and general requirements for humane treatment and more dignifying working conditions. Laborers fought for the rest they deserved, and Labor Day first began as a nod to striking, a risky but daring action of people refusing to work until their workplaces treated them with respect. Labor Day is on the first Monday in September, and it represents a day of rest that United States workers knew they deserved. 

There is also a day of rest due to the oppressed people in human history. When God created humanity, They intended for all of our labor to end in fellowship and restoration. Rest is not the absence of responsibility. Just as work is not the absence of rest. It takes a constant liberation movement mindset to keep capitalist, money and productivity-centered culture from conflating work and pain. Part of the reason we begin Renewal season over Labor Day weekend is to disconnect the concepts of work and suffering, and to reconnect the concepts of labor and life, to highlight the sacred work of restoration, which brings about eternal rest. 

Revelation is a scripture we often use throughout Renewal season. This book of the Bible teaches us about the destiny of all created things, it teaches us about the difference between hard work and oppression, and it teaches us that even in the end of time, in the Paradise that God prepares for us, there will be work to do. But the work that God has in store for us is the activity of healing. Drying tears, destroying our enemies, God’s got a lot of action planned. Just like the God who made us, we humans love it when good labor becomes success. Artists enjoy both the process and the finished work as their ideas are made into real works of art. Event designers conceive of a project and then labor to bring it to life. The book of Revelation shows us that God is cheering us on and present with us in every pain. God’s word assures us that Jesus is our example of laboring and resting; for he sat down when his work was done, even though his movement was only beginning, and he is resting because he has yet more work to do. And God reminds us that the Holy Spirit is sending us power to keep moving toward our very real and upcoming future. 

Remembrance: Dorothy Lee Bolden

Dorothy was a crucial figure in worker’s rights and labor movement. She organized Black women who were domestic workers. When she was nine years old she was working as a housekeeper with her mother. She is perhaps best known for telling Black women to never clean white folks houses on their knees. Kneeling was a position that only our own homes were worthy of. Mother Dorothy was diagnosed with mental illness when she confronted a white woman about mistreatment at the workplace. Multiple psychiatrists were called in to interview her and every time she told her story, she was told she must be lying and that the white woman was to be believed. But Dorothy did not let that stop her. 

She was a dedicated organizer in Atlanta, and her work brought her political promise. When the public transportation system in Atlanta was proposed, she organized fellow workers and defeated a measure that would move the work forward without promising trains and buses to be present in Black neighborhoods. She served as advisor for Presidents Ford and Carter. She held regular appreciate days for Black women in domestic work. She convinced Coca Cola to sponsor events which treated Black women to a day of rest and pampering. She was a woman who proved that “invisible people” do not exist. For whoever thinks there are invisible people is only revealing that they prefer a world where some people go unseen. Dorothy’s life is an example of the long and worthwhile labor in the movement of believing, fighting for, acknowledging and amplifying Black women. 

Daily Readings

Sunday: Revelation 21.3-4 “See, the home of God is among mortals. The Lord will dwell with them as their God; they will be God’s peoples, and God will be with them; The Lord will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

Monday: Isaiah 35.1-2 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.**

Tuesday: Isaiah 35.3-4 Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. They will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. They will come and save you.”

Wednesday:Isaiah 35.5-6 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert;
Thursday: Isaiah 35.7 the burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp; the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Friday: Isaiah 35.8 A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

Saturday: Isaiah 35.9-10 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Meditation Music: Restoration

Written for the Winans in the 1980s, this song is a classic gospel group bop. We like listening to uptempo music for meditation - it reminds us that we are working towards a joyful end, to our week, to our day, to our eternity. There is so much space for joy in rest, we might experience some gladness even as we labor for the sake of laying our burdens down. Listen here

Lyrics: Restore me, restore to me the joy. Restoration has finally come. I’ve been restored back to my place in God. What would I know about being restored if I’d never lost my place? What would I know about his mercy if I hadn’t got out of place?

It reminds me of the prodigal son. After his riotous living, all the evil he had done. Yet when he returned, his father received him home, gave him a ring of gold, put him on a robe, killed the fatted calf, gave him something he never ever had. Restoration! 

Resources

Artwork: Carl Joe Williams, “Whispers to God, Being Here When Women Need Me to Be Here” // 

DLB mural by Fabian Williams in Adair Park, Southwest Atlanta // 

Carl Joe Williams, “The Drummer”

Info on Black-Led Labor Unions: News One // Teamster.Org

More about Dorothy Lee Bolden! Atlanta Journal Constitutional // New York Times

Helpful Teaching tools for educators and communities learning and teaching about the Labor Movement: Zinn Education Project