I was raised in a Christian home, attended Sunday school, and was active in my church. An active faith is something I’ve always had (except for those first couple years of college). Since my mid-twenties, I have considered myself an evangelical Christian. Evangelical defined as one who spreads the good news of Christ’s teachings—salvation, redemption, love one another, among others. That was until 2007 when conservative Christians began their power-grab with refashioning the Jesus of the Bible—the itinerant Jewish rabbi who railed against the powerful, the self-important, and the Haves, and taught the importance of caring for the marginalized, the oppressed, and the disenfranchised—into a political savior of their own making.
Tag: racism
The Horror of “When They See Us”
“When They See Us,” Ava DuVernay’s Netflix limited series about the wrongly-accused Central Park Five is a horror show, not because the graphic depiction of violence five Black and Latino boys — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — suffer at the hands of the New York district attorneys and the NYPD, or because these then boys were robbed of their youth and innocence by a broken and corrupt criminal (in)justice system, or because of the anguish five families endured due to no reason of their own. No. The horror of “When They See Us” is that the very acts of abject racism perpetrated against McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise in DuVernay’s masterpiece continue to occur with impunity in these United States some thirty years later.
My Hatred: What Lies Beneath
Photo by Stephen Radford on Unsplash
I hate. A lot.
Yes, the guy who ends his essays with Christ’s second command to “love one another,” hates. There, I said it.
How You’re Wasting Your Time Arguing with Angry People
Photo by taha ajmi on Unsplash
People who don’t listen aren’t interested in a conversation. What they want is to stand on their soapbox and give a lecture.
It seems with each passing day that it’s becoming more difficult for people with differing opinions to have reasonable discussions about those differences in opinion. Call me an optimist, but I do believe it’s still possible. The trick is to
have a strategy before you start the discussion. Otherwise, it’s way to easy for the conversation to dissolve into a real world version of “Clash of the Titans.”
Are You Ready for Some Football?
Pre-Game
Yesterday, Nike kicked off a new ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary of its iconic Just Do It campaign — three days before the 2018 NFL Kickoff Game takes place in Philadelphia, with the Falcons visiting the Eagles.
Racism is a Bad Look for Anyone (Especially If You’re the Star of a Top TV Network Sitcom)
Roseanna Barr by Vera Anderson, Getty Images.
I’ll keep this short.
Roseanne Barr. What hasn’t been said about her? How about this? She’s thoughtful, well-grounded, humble, and socially aware. Or perhaps, she has an unparalleled sense of nuance in areas of race, equality, and social justice. No? What about this then? She’s a pioneer at finding new frontiers that unite all Americans.
The Two Steps to Getting Someone on the Anti-Racism Express
Image by Russ Ward on Unsplash.com
All Aboard
A popular question going around lately is: how do I get my cis-het white male friend to acknowledge that racial inequities exist and that it’s wrong?
In order for anyone to begin to understand the unbridled interpersonal and institutional racism that People of Color face on a daily basis, they have to have already embraced two prerequisites —
Conversations on Racial Reconciliation: Beyond the Basics of Racism 101
Image by Rawpixels.
A couple of weeks ago, I announced in this post that United Thank Offering, a ministry of The Episcopal Church, is considering a grant proposal I’ve written and submitted for a series of workshops on racial reconciliation. Awards won’t be announced until early July 2018, so that gives me plenty of time to plot, plan, and flesh out some ideas.
Blue Sky Theory: What If Instead of Not That
Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash
Disney Imagineering is the company’s think-tank full of super-creative designers, storytellers, and engineers who dream up theme parks, resorts, and attractions. All projects go through a crucible of development phases before they’re deemed ready for the public. During the first phase, everyone is encouraged to think outside the box and develop ideas that know no bounds. This phase has been dubbed the Blue Sky phase.
You Can’t Have Your Privilege and Equal Rights, Too
Chinh le Duc, unsplash.com
My parents and grandparents used to wield an old maxim when I was a kid: you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. I vaguely understood its meaning as: you can’t everything you want. If I had a cake—a slice, a cupcake, or an entire cake—of course I’d eat it, and that would be the end of that. What needed to be discussed? Ah, the sweetness of youth.