One of my students was arrested

I picked up the local independent weekly this evening, and there was a photo of one of my students from this past semester being carried out of the administration building in an office chair. For two weeks she'd been participating in a sit-in to protest the fact that the administration won't sign onto an anti-sweatshop agreement. (That would help explain why she hasn't been in class...) Finally, I guess, the protestors decided to up the ante by moving the sit-in into the chancellor's office, at which point they were arrested.

This all hits close to home for me, both because a student of mine is involved and because I understand, from a conversation I had with her during the anti-war rally back in March, that at least some of the UNC merchandise that's the focus of this protest is manufactured in the Dominican Republic, which is where I served my mission. After I got my mission call, my parents took me to Mr. Mac's to get outfitted, and I thought it was cool that all my white shirts had been manufactured in the Dominican Republic. It became less cool once I got to the DR and began meeting people who worked in the American-run clothing factories where things like my shirts are made, and started hearing them tell me stories about being locked in the building for unpaid overtime if they hadn't met quotas, etc. And people badly wanted these jobs, mind you. It was the beginning of my coming to see how my country and its economy exploit people.

I tell myself that tactics like the sit-in that got my student arrested aren't effective. And I believe that. Not in that time and in that way, at least. At the same time, I also know that I wouldn't have the courage to do what she did. She stood up—or more appropriately, sat down—for what she believes in. She went out on a limb on behalf of people in another country whose working conditions scandalize her. I'm scandalized, too. But you don't see me making sacrifices because of it.

So—my hat is off to her. She's being a prophetic voice, not just with words but with deeds; not just with her lips, but with her whole body.

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God of power—

In the scriptures I read about prophets who made trouble, who did "street theater" to get attention for their message.
I read about the invasive, destructive protest your Son staged against moneychangers in the temple.
I'm mindful (albeit with mixed feelings) of the civil disobedience practiced by polygamous Mormons in the nineteenth century.

I pray for my student and those arrested with her.
I pray that university administrators will be moved to use the university's purchasing power to do whatever lies in its capacity—I should say, our capacity—to struggle against sweatshop labor.
I pray for the individuals I met in the Dominican Republic who work in exploitative conditions—I don't remember all their names, I don't remember all their faces, but you know them.
I pray for economic justice.

May the kingdom of God roll forth.

In Christ's name, amen.