Appalachian White PTSD

Debra Bendis in a book review of J.D. Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis titled "narrow escape" says:

"J.D. Vance marvels at how he survived a dysfunctional and dispirited society."  "Some people's expectations are so low that they quit trying for a better life."

Sounds like Exodus 6:9 which describes the impact of generations of oppression had on the Hebrew people.  Smashed in body and crushed in spirit, the Hebrews could not believe their promised deliverance, delivered in person by Moses.  For 400 long years, there had been no action by God.  To the people, God seemed to be a deistic God who didn't care about their plight or couldn't do anything about it.  "But when Moses delivered the message [direct from God] to the Israelites, they didn't even hear him---they were that beaten down in spirit by the harsh slave conditions."

Vance wrote:  "I want people to understand what happens in the lives of the [oppressed] poor and the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children."  And closely related "the cultural stigma against hillbillies."  The deadly and destructive impact that the combination of ethnocentrism, oppression and poverty have on any people.  Today the appropriate term is PTSD. The same thing has happened to Native Americans and African Americans.

Ethnocentrism and oppression cause enormous damage; the damage then causes the dysfunction in individuals, families, communities and cultures.  Vance is strong on describing the dysfunction, but weak on the causes of the preceding damage.

Some final observations from the reviewer, Bendis:

"Optimism is a precious commodity.  According to the Pew Economic Mobility Project, there is no more pessimistic group in America than working-class white people.  Their expectations are so low that many simply quit trying for a better life."

"As a result, working-class people feel betrayed.  The country that they dearly love and honor has not lifted them up.  It has ground them down and kept them in a corner.  Their politics are fueled by anger and a belief that an overeducated elite, infiltrated by alien religions and peoples, has abandoned them. . . .  No wonder Trump's candidacy is music to their ears, says Vance.  "His apocalyptic tone matches their lived experiences on the ground."

They don't know it yet, but Trump's attractive promises are hollow.  Hillbillies will actually be worse off as American bigoted billionaires pile up more and more billions.  It is a clever billionaire con game that will continue to oppress all of America's poor.

We all need to revisit the Sermon on the Mount.  Joseph Grassi, author of the book Informing the Future: Social Justice in the New Testament, calls Matthew, the gospel of Justice, primarily because he understands that the Sermon has two themes: the kingdom of God and justice.  I agree.

I think that 6:33 (NEB) is the key verse: "Set your mind [give your highest priority to] on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else."  Other verses such as 'poor in spirit' should be interpreted in the light of 6:33.  In regard to this book review, I wish to highlight several verses: "the poor in spirit" "hunger and thirst for justice"  "salt and light"  "fulfill the Law and the Prophets."  I tie these passages together in the following statements:

Only a kingdom people with truckloads of Jubilee style justice can truly bless the oppressed poor.

Only a kingdom church busy fulfilling the love and justice mission of the Law and Prophets can bless the crushed in spirit.

Only a kingdom church, anointed by the Holy Spirit, can be salt and light to those broken in spirit.

The Spirit-anointed church is good news to the battered and bruised poor when it takes Jubilee justice to those in a spirit of despair, struggling with oppression-caused PTSD.