I’ve been engaging in hard conversations about race for the past seven years. Sometimes I’m asked if they matter, if anything can change hearts and minds. Not long ago, a friend who is a devout Christian and a person of…
Finding inspiration from Fannie Lou Hamer when freedom is under assault
This weekend, I have found strength and solidary in the words of Galatians 5: “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit.” In this same chapter, we are told that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. All…
The road to equity for all is still too long, but here’s a hero we need to remember
People always stand at particular points in history, sometimes fully aware of where they stand, but sometimes giving little or no notice. Today we stand at a juncture worth noting — Black History Month behind us, and in the first…
Where are the good Republicans?
Even with frequent emotional appeals for the passage of two voting rights bills — the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — Senate Republicans, along with Democratic holdouts Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, defeated the…
Old tricks: For America’s Black citizens, there is nothing new under the sun
Throughout American history, when Black people have been able to advance toward equal opportunity, the mainstream power structure has tended to change its own rules in an effort to reinforce its control. In the decade immediately following the abolition of…
Beyond ‘I Have a Dream’: Meditations on Martin Luther King Jr.’s hard words for white Christians
White people regularly dilute the words of Martin Luther King Jr. to be more palatable. No one is more prone to this temptation than we white Christians who want to think of ourselves as the kind of well-meaning people who…
Biden administration rolls back Trump-era discrimination waivers in foster care
Civil rights and separation of church and state groups are thrilled, but conservative evangelicals are dismayed that the Biden administration announced Nov. 18 the reversal of a Trump-era policy that allowed discrimination against foster parents because of their sexual orientation….
Thoughts on Jesse Jackson’s 80th birthday
For two years, we have been living through the age of COVID-19 which, as we all know, has spread through numerous and ongoing waves across the world. Vaccinations have made a difference. But from time to time, COVID-19 infects individuals…
Three reasons 2021 looks like 1961 in voter suppression
John Lewis spent his 21st birthday in a Nashville jail, Feb. 21, 1961. Lewis was arrested with 25 others after leading a public demonstration to gain admission to a whites-only movie theater. Several protesters, Lewis included, were students at American…