Fascism won't steal joys away
Editor’s note: One of the honors of my life is my friendship with Jace Wilder. We met at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Representative Justin Jones successfully persuaded a few elected officials to refrain from moving forward on legislation that would make it legal to run over protesting citizens. From there, I hosted Jace as a guest speaker in our Transformative Justice series at Belmont and we’ve gone on to talk law and life and liberty and Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.
Editor’s Note Continued: I recently had a brief but uplifting exchange with Jace via text it. Behold.
Jace: Hi Dr. Dark, just checking in, how are you taking care today?
Me: Thank you, Jace! What a question. I'm taking care by focusing on students and avoiding Twitter and Facebook and drinking water and walking around a lot. How about you?
Jace: Good very good. Currently working on some youth resource guidances and drinking a fancy coffee. Fascism won't steal joys away
Editor’s Note Continued: I thank God for Jace.
I can’t pretend in front of God that I’m feeling any joy, though I believe God finally wins-and, therefore, God’s love and justice win.
But I am finding inspiration tonight in the story of how a small French town called Chambon-sur-Lignon responded the day after the French government surrendered to the Nazis.
A Protestant minister gave a sermon in which he said that whenever Christians encountered orders and authorities that were contrary to the orders of the gospel, it was as their duty without fear or hate to resist using “weapons of the spirit.” That is what they did.
Over the next five years, the Chambonnais sheltered thousands of German and French Jews. They smuggled many to safety in Switzerland through an underground railroad they created. They enlisted neighboring villages to join in what someone described as “a conspiracy of goodness.”
The local Vichy authorities, notorious for their collaboration in the Nazi Holocaust, eventually learned what was going on. They decided to look the other way.
Some local German officers, too, discovered what the Chambonnais were up to, and they decided to help keep the secret. In this way, enemies were converted to co-collaborators in the conspiracy of goodness.
Ultimately, there were as many hiding Jews in the area as local residents. Not a single one fell into the hands of the Nazis.
Years later, a filmmaker named Pierre Sauvage came to Chambon-sur-Lignon to try to understand what happened there and why. He had been born there while his Jewish parents were being hidden by French Protestants and Catholics.
When he asked residents why they had been willing to risk all their lives, he was surprised at how matter-of-fact they were. “It was the right thing to do” and “These people were our neighbors and needed our help.”
You can go online and stream Sauvage’s film, “Weapons of the Spirit.” I showed it years ago to a youth Sunday School class. Maybe it’s time to show it some more. May we be inspired to resist fascism in the way these ordinary people did.
beautiful