Kara Bender has been a resident of the Chicago area for four years. Recognizing the many privileges she carries by being white, educated and middle-class, Kara attempts to hold the complexity of that reality and wrestle with the responsibility that comes with those advantages. Choosing to live in a low-income community in one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in the country was a conscious choice. Kara understands that all of life is connected and that she has a self-interest in working towards common liberation with those who are oppressed in society.

Kara has embraced a philosophy of “power with” her sisters and brothers (rather than power over or power for, others). For the past four years, Kara has been working with the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, a grass-roots organization of older adults working together to bring about positive social change. Although she is less than half the age of her counterparts, Kara works to organize the members around campaigns for more affordable housing. Her role as a facilitator allows her to create the space for conversation and decision making from those people directly affected by the issues, instead of coming into a community to tell the older adults what they should do. This enables the normal power dynamics to be converted as she asks questions, listens and follows the passion the community names. This is one practical way Kara is able to use her intellect and organizing capability in a nondomineering role, where she does not exert her privilege over others but uses her skills to draw out the knowledge and energy already present in people.

“Power with” is not a philosophy encouraged in society but rather one drawn from her faith. Kara understands Jesus’ calling as toward liberation and reconciliation. Jesus came promoting an even-ing of society, where the high may be brought low and the low be brought high. He called into question the power structures in the religious and household practices of his time: choosing to heal on the Sabbath, turn over tables in the Temple and eat with the marginalized. Through nonviolent direct action and storytelling, he modeled a new way of being in relationship with each other, creation and God. For those with privilege, be it color of skin, wealth, education or nationality, this requires choosing not to take that privilege for granted but recognize its harmful side effects and the way it contributes to cycles of oppression. For Kara, this begins by building relationships and understanding how to be in solidarity with others.

Kara’s philosophy of “power with” also plays out in her daily life. She has posed a question on which to reflect for one year: How do I cultivate a lifestyle that connects me meaningfully with my creator, myself, my community and the Earth’s rhythms in a way that is life-giving and sustainable for everyone? Kara relates to an intentional Christian (Mennonite) community where “power with” is played out not only in consensus decision-making but in sharing resources, including one’s finances. Kara bicycles frequently, eats as locally and seasonally as possible and promotes creative gardening (such as vertical and rooftop), effective in a dense urban area, to reduce ways her choices contribute to an oil-dependent and environmentally degrading lifestyle that translates into war, poverty, hunger and natural disasters for brothers and sisters across the world. Kara also is passionately involved in promoting and working toward racial justice in her local congregation—an area she would love to see Mennonite Church USA address better.

Kara is a great inspiration to me and challenges me to question my assumptions and my reliance on my personal privilege and power. Kara begs us to assume a position of critical analysis with our surroundings and our relationships. What systems of injustice are present in our communities? In Mennonite Church USA? Where do we see resistance and transformative work being practiced? How can we work to break the cycles of unjust privilege and power rather than acquiescing to their normalcy in our daily lives? For Kara, being a person of power and privilege is not an easy ride through life; rather it’s an ongoing struggle to do her own work of healing and participate with others in the process of breaking the chains of injustice and proclaiming liberation for all of God’s children.