The Grace of Playing: Pedagogies for Leaning into God’s New Creation (Horizons in Religious Education)

by Courtney T. Goto

Playing in a Detention Center Masankho Banda, a performance artist, healer, and teacher, tells the story of playing with inmates of San Francisco’s Juvenile Detention Center, Cell Block H, where the worst offenders are incarcerated. He recounted the story. I went in and I said, “My name is Masankho Banda and I’m here to sing and dance with you.” “Why?” looking at me like, “If you don’t give me a good answer, I’m going to take your head off. I don’t have a gun, so I can’t cap you but I’ll take your head off.” And I said, “Because I care about you and I love you.” “You don’t care jack. You don’t even know me.” I said, “Yes, I don’t know you but I don’t have to know you. All I know is that right now you and I are standing in this place.” I said, “What’s your name?” He told me. He was a[n Asian] young man . . . I said, “Where do you live?” He told me an address somewhere in the Mission [District]. And I started to sing just based on his name and his address and what I could see of his appearance. He went from leaning back, disinterested, to sitting up and looking at me.426