Fifty years ago this month, the small city of Selma, Alabama, was much in the news. And now Selma is in the news again, partly because it is the 50 th anniversary of what happened in 1965 but also because…
The ‘next America’ demands change from churches
The headline for this column is misleading. The “next America” actually is the “now America.” To paraphrase the late cartoon character Pogo, “We have seen the future, and it is here.” And it means most Baptist congregations and their denomination…
‘Others’ – a hymn to remember Martin Luther King Jr
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” (From: The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., 2011).
Finding a way forward through relationships
“On the Pulse of Morning”
January 20, 1993, was a big day for the woman who was born in 1928 and named Marguerite Ann Johnson. You probably don’t know her by that name, for she was introduced as Maya Angelou before reading one of her…
God have mercy: A Latina prayer
Quoting King
A host of activities filled the calendar on Martin Luther King Day. Community service projects, downtown parades, clergy breakfasts, and ecumenical worship services were all on the slate to honor Dr. King’s legacy and celebrate the 86th anniversary of his…
Reflecting on the contributions of Martin Luther King Jr
Inclusion reflex
‘Selma’ reveals a Martin Luther King who struggled with both the system and himself
There are few movies that should be required viewing. Most movies are merely candy we consume quickly and forget. But there comes a time when a movie rises above those confectionary tomes and becomes something much more. Selma is such…
The Myth of Righteous America: Why white people support Darren Wilson
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the choking death of Eric Garner in Staten Island have dominated the news cycle for weeks, making it almost impossible to get any other issue onto the agenda. Immigration, Ebola and…
Peace on Facebook or Ferguson or Long Island or Cleveland
There’s a certain hollow and rather pernicious powerless-ness that wells up within me as I’ve quietly taken in the scenes, voices and verdicts (or, rather, lack thereof) unfolding before us all over the last couple of weeks. So much so,…