Race

Race

Reconciliation

Posted on by Clay Rivers
The Cathedral Church of Saint Luke

A couple of weeks after Easter Sunday, a very dear friend of mine, Mrs. Adams, received a call that her brother-in-law, an Orlando resident, died. This would be bad news for most people, but for my friend this news was fraught with additional angst.

  1. She is ninety-five years old and lives just outside Westchester, New York.
  2. Although Mrs. Adams spent decades in central Florida, Orlando is not a place full of happy memories for her. Having witnessed Ku Klux Klan marches and experienced more social and civil injustices than you or I could imagine, you can understand why upon leaving the Sunshine State ten years ago, Mrs. Adams (a Black woman) had no intention of ever returning to Florida.
Race

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism”

Posted on by Clay Rivers
Image by Kristina Flour, Unsplash.com

For the longest time I’ve wanted to broach the subject of racism on my blog, but I wasn’t sure where or how to start the conversation. Earlier this week, Cheryl Strayed, the #1 New York Times best selling author of the memoir Wild (which became a hugely popular film starring Reese Witherspoon) posted this article by Dr. Robin DiAngela (which I have reposted below in its entirety) on her Facebook page. The following article is by no means a blanket indictment, but an important and insightful starting point for dialog.

Race

Privilege 101

Posted on by Clay Rivers
The star-belly Sneetches and their less fortunate counterparts, the plain-belly Sneetches.

priv • i • lege  (noun) a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people: education is a right, not a privilege  |  he has been accustomed all his life to wealth and privilege.*

This principle is easily understood and universally holds true. A privilege always requires that at least one criterion be met. Here’s three of my favorites, but I’m sure you can come up with your own.