Category: Race
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History Is Not a Competition
Trying to Win History Is a Lost Cause “To study history means submitting yourself to chaos, but nevertheless retaining your faith in order and meaning.” Herman Hesse, German writer and poet (1877-1962) True History is Full of Histories As some of us continue to honor what used to be known as Black History Month across…
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Death Where Is Your Sting?
As the world tossed and turned around me, I remained still. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” The yelling and screaming. “Get his ass.” The world is upside down. Feet where heads should be. The sky and ground have switched places. “Can you plant seeds in the clouds? If so, what…
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Does Jesus’ Skin Color Matter?
So, I watched this YouTube video where this Conservative Christian Black dude was trying to call out the hosts of the View for bringing up to the star of The Chosen—a series about the ministries of Jesus and the Disciples—that they were appreciative that in the show Jesus Christ was not blonde haired and blue…
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The Burden
Almost every Black person I know who has grown up in America knows what it’s like to feel the existential burden placed upon us that says, “You represent your entire race.”
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Indigenous Peoples’ Day – Bearers of the Way
In many ways, this was one of the most taxing messages that I’ve delivered. Working on it compelled me to stare into a the pain of proselytizing and missionary activity around the world where people were robbed of their lands and culture and often left with nothing more than the very Bible that was used…
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Juneteenth – Liberation Takes a Holiday
“What do you mean there’s no Juneteenth Festival here?” Like ignoring Daylight Savings Time and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it seemed like Arizona was on its own page once again. Growing up with festivals that celebrated African African Heritage such as Juneteenth and Umoja Festivals in the Hampton Roads area of VA, I was…
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Do Children Owe Their Parents? (My Black Perspective)
This is a question that was raised in a Black parenting group that I’m a part of. When I thought about the question, I recalled this scene from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner I saw when I was a child that changed my perspective on the parent/child relationship. The parent I lived with constantly reminded…
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Teaching What We Do Not Know: Awakening Abolitionists
“You know who you’re fighting. But do you really know what you’re fighting for? I mean really. Because when you do, there’s nothing anyone can take from you. When you know what you’re fighting for, it means you know who you really are and that you’re of infinite worth. With that knowledge, you live everyday…
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Permission to Speak Freely: “Let’s Talk as Equals”
Whether we intend them to or not, most of our conversations happen in frameworks that are upheld by socially accepted ranking systems. As I’ve witnessed it, when conversations happen in a context where someone believed to hold a “higher social ranking”, it is virtually impossible to have the conversations we need to have in order…
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Hear the (W)hole Story
Why is it that so many people see other perspectives and experiences as a threat? And why is it that we also tend to fill in holes and gaps in stories with whatever the path of least resistance offers us? As a person with a philosophical bent, I can admit that in most cases, I…
The Roofless Church 