Tuesday (09/08/2026): Gospel Demos & St. Worships with Berkeley/Oakland Neighbors ___FROM EXCLUSION OF GEOMETRY TO A GEOMETRY OF BELONGING On Africa, Oakland, the Moral Power of Maps, and the Neighbor Who Lives Beneath the Line
Every society draws lines.
We draw lines around nations and neighborhoods, properties and political districts, school zones and transportation corridors. We divide land so that governments can govern, cities can plan, people can own homes, infrastructure can function, and communities can organize themselves.
Geometry itself is not injustice.
The moral question begins when geometry ceases to serve human beings and human beings are required to serve the geometry.
A boundary drawn for administration can become a boundary of opportunity. A zoning category can become a boundary around housing. A highway can become a wall between neighborhoods. A district line can gather political power or disperse it. A property boundary can protect a home, but a landscape dominated by exclusion can also communicate who is welcome and who is not.
Eventually, therefore, every line must answer a question that geometry alone cannot answer:
What happens to human beings after the line is drawn?
That question takes us from the history of Africa to the streets of Oakland, from colonial cartography to redlining, from freeways to housing markets, and ultimately from an Exclusion of Geometry toward what might be called a Geometry of Belonging.
Pastor Steven G. Lee
St. GMC Corps
We draw lines around nations and neighborhoods, properties and political districts, school zones and transportation corridors. We divide land so that governments can govern, cities can plan, people can own homes, infrastructure can function, and communities can organize themselves.
Geometry itself is not injustice.
The moral question begins when geometry ceases to serve human beings and human beings are required to serve the geometry.
A boundary drawn for administration can become a boundary of opportunity. A zoning category can become a boundary around housing. A highway can become a wall between neighborhoods. A district line can gather political power or disperse it. A property boundary can protect a home, but a landscape dominated by exclusion can also communicate who is welcome and who is not.
Eventually, therefore, every line must answer a question that geometry alone cannot answer:
What happens to human beings after the line is drawn?
That question takes us from the history of Africa to the streets of Oakland, from colonial cartography to redlining, from freeways to housing markets, and ultimately from an Exclusion of Geometry toward what might be called a Geometry of Belonging.
Pastor Steven G. Lee
St. GMC Corps
September 8, 2026
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