Tag: Race
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Race Doesn’t Divide, Racism Does
After I shared my piece on whether or not Jesus’s skin color matters, I had someone suggest that what I write about race is divisive. I, of course disagree. I look at it as more of an intervention because I love everyone and I would like for us to get to a place where we…
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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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After Your Neighbor Calls the Police on You
Before reading this post, you may want to read the post, Before You Call the Police on Your Neighbor, to establish some context. So far every response to my blog post about someone calling the police on my family instead of knocking on my door to express their apparent concern for my dog has been…
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Before You Call the Police On Your Neighbor
Yesterday someone called the police on me because they were apparently concerned for my dog, Journey, who was in the backyard laying in the snow. Giving the person the benefit of the doubt, I imagine that they feel like they were doing something of a kindness toward Journey. The officers who did the welfare check…
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A Box as Big as the Universe
My uncle, Vernon Kitabu Turner, can’t be put in a box. And it is time that I thank God for him. He just loves God and has ceaselessly sought to understand the Spirit that he has witnessed as active his entire life by any means necessary. When I was younger, people told me that I…
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Questioning Injustice
Roderick Walker’s Lyft driver was pulled over and yet, according to reports, he was beaten and had a knee pressed on his neck when asked for his ID. Some people will ask the question, “Why didn’t he just give his ID?” The answer is that he had the right to ask and refuse since he…
The Roofless Church 