Many years ago, I was having a conversation with a woman with whom I had gone to high school. She was a successful attorney, living in Pennsylvania, and had a good life — except for her long-term boyfriend. He was…
The white church isn’t dying; it’s in exile
In mid-September, I returned to the church of my childhood, McLaurin Memorial Baptist Church in Edmonton, Alberta. The last time I had been inside the church was for the 1998 funeral of my mother. There are still a handful of…
How Miss Marple and British crime fiction help us explore mysteries of the soul
“Jane Marple. Look at her well. I tell you, that woman knows more about the different kinds of human wickedness than anyone I’ve ever known,” says a character in an Agatha Christie story. In another story, Miss Marple explains, “Human…
Seeing whitewashed history for the pale reality it is
On a recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Richmond, Va., I saw things from a different point of view. As I looked into racial minority issues, predominantly those of Africans, I was shocked at how melanin became evil. It is…
Whether blind, blurry or oblivious, failure to see whiteness distorts God’s image in others
When people think about and discuss race, they often fail to see and acknowledge whiteness, distorting the image of God stamped upon all people, Erica Whitaker told participants in a Baptist News Global education conference on hidden racism in Colonial…
Emotions run high as BNG group walks the sacred ground of Richmond’s mass grave that got paved over as a parking lot
The morning exploration of a long-hidden slave processing site in downtown Richmond, Va., was so overpowering for Kan’Dace Brock that she had to be comforted by others touring the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail and historic burial ground. Walking the location where…
In Colonial Williamsburg, a paved-over parking lot and an almost-lost school teach lessons about racism
Recent archaeological and architectural discoveries revealed part of “the hidden story of racism in colonial America” for participants in a Baptist News Global educational tour of Colonial Williamsburg and Richmond, Va. In Colonial Williamsburg, they visited the original building site…
Baldwin, Bobby and the necessity of hard conversations
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…
Two views of parenting, and how school lunches and school libraries are alike
One of the underlying factors in today’s battles over public education is two polar opposite views of parenting. Parents who want to ban books from school libraries and tell classroom teachers what parts of American history to teach and how…