"The great evil of American slavery was not involuntary servitude and forced labor; the great evil of American slavery was the narrative of racial difference that we created to legitimate it. There was an ideology of white supremacy that we made up to make ourselves feel comfortable with slavery."
— Bryan Stevenson
moment of reconciliation
This was a beautiful moment.
1. Two white state troopers took down the flag, slowly, deliberately – showing deference to a long, broken past, acknowledging the need for reconciliation.
2. They handed the flag over to a black state trooper, giving over the history and power.
It could have been anyone taking down the Confederate flag, but the imagery of the sons of former oppressors taking it down and handing the power over to a son of former victims is powerful. Reconciliation begins with acknowledging the problem and continues with surrendering.
sidenote: I use former oppressors and victims not to say that the white state troopers had family directly involved in oppression or to say that black people still do not experience oppression.
lies.
you say you see me
but you aren’t even looking
I walk past with a hoodie, you see thug
I pull out my wallet, you see gun
I do anything, you see blood
lies.
you say you hear me
but you aren’t even near
empty voices crying out for justice
falling onto curbs of concrete jungle
you come closer at the sound of destruction
lies.
you say you feel me
but you aren’t me
I have born your burdens for centuries
I have built your country from scratch
yet I still cannot exist
lies.
I exist
- simply as a fragment of my own imagination
I’m dead
- that’s a reality you’d sooner face then me
I approach, you cower
I walk with dignity and grace
because you have no power
I am the oppressor
you are the victim
of lies.
the police are america's terrorists
As long as there have been white people and black people and brown people in America, the slaughter of black and brown people has been used as a form of control. For centuries, on a population level, the racial majority has voted and lobbied to give agents of the state more power to act without sanction, to militarize, to kill. Functionally, this has enabled them to wage war on behalf of the majority of the public; to express hatred and fear and aspire to power through campaigns of terror and carnage.
Yellow people, if you wonder why black and brown people don’t just act like you, it’s because we’ve accepted abuse and injustice as fact. Yellow people, if you wonder why you aren’t targeted, it’s because we’ve rolled over like dogs in the name of peace and harmony. Yellow people, it’s time to stand up, stand out, and stand by our fellow brothers and sisters of color and stop being bystanders.
walter scott
Warning: the video contains graphic content of a child of God losing his life.
How many more black men must die before we are willing to recognize that American culture is racist? And by racist, I’m not saying that you are shooting or lynching the black man – I’m saying that you watch the death and say nothing, or perhaps you say, “he must have been a thug.” Does his life matter? Or is he just another statistic, another number to which we can say, “thank God that America is a safer place.”
Wake up white America. Wake up Asian America. Now is not the time to remain silent.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
- John Donne
Come Lord Jesus, come.
How much longer God?
smoke
Martese Johnson, a third-year student in the [University of Virginia] and a member of the Honor Committee and Kappa Alpha fraternity, was arrested at around 12:45 a.m. on Mar. 18 … a state investigation into the use of force in Johnson’s arrest is now underway. Johnson was charged with resisting arrest, obstructing justice without threats of force, and profane swearing or intoxication in public at 4:21 a.m. … Johnson “was very agitated and belligerent but [has] no previous criminal history.” In the course of the arrest, Johnson sustained a head injury requiring 10 stitches.
Smoke. Haze. Fog.
My mind spins as I fall to the ground
In a whole forest but the only felled log
Crashing down, yet no sound
Yell. Scream. Shout.
I forgot that I was supposed to play dumb
I forgot that I wasn’t to stand out
I forgot that I was a fir in a field of tombs
Crackle. Sizzle. Pop.
My actions that led me here all blur together
I remember, my life is considered slop
In the way of land that’s considered better
Warmth. Heat. Burnt.
The dust settles but you are blind
Clouded by the cataracts you have learned
To refuse to acknowledge the signs
Fire. Fire. Fire.
(another) black life matters
Hundreds hold prayer vigil for unarmed black teen shot by white police officer..
We have heard it said, cops shoot first and ask questions later.
When we see another life lost at the hands of the police, how do we respond
- What are the facts?
- What was Tony doing?
- Why did the cop shoot?
- What was Tony’s criminal history?
- What was the cop’s history?
As Christians, we should pray first; ask questions later.
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 1:19
As Christians, we should mourn first the death of a human being, and not worry about why that person is dead. An individual made in the very image of our God is dead.
Pray for Tony, that God may have compassion on him.
Pray for Tony’s family, as they mourn the early passing of a son, grandson, brother.
Pray for Matt, the police officer, and his family as they wrestle with the implications of his actions.
Pray for the Madison Police Department as they navigate relations with the community.
Pray for the city of Madison, that the Kingdom of God may break through in the midst of trial and tribulation.
Mourn with those who mourn.
Romans 12:15
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4
john piper: i was a racist
Preach sir, preach.
Lucy came to our house on Saturdays to help my mother clean. I liked Lucy, but the whole structure of the relationship was demeaning. Those who defend the noble spirit of Southern slaveholders by pointing to how nice they were to their slaves, and how deep the affections were, and how they even attended each other’s personal celebrations, seem to be naïve about what makes a relationship degrading.
No, she was not a slave. But the point still stands. Of course, we were nice. Of course, we loved Lucy. Of course, she was invited to my sister’s wedding. As long as she and her family “knew their place.” Being nice to, and having strong affections for, and including in our lives is what we do for our dogs too. It doesn’t say much about honor and respect and equality before God.
wells
Living in a barren landscape, to dig for a well requires vision and hope — that at the end of the messy, labor intensive process there is water that brings life. God calls us to this. To dig wells. To labor for racial reconciliation. To do justice.
It’s not easy. It takes time. It’s often painful. But the result of digging deeper is life.
When God called His followers to enter into suffering, this was not merely suffering at the hand of persecutors — this was also suffering in the difficult labor of the Kingdom of God. Let us then suffer for the sake of the cross in pursuit of reconciliation.
(Source: c2.staticflickr.com)
christ in alabama
Christ is a Nigger,
Beaten and black–
O, bare your back.
Mary is His Mother
Mammy of the South,
Silence your Mouth.
God’s His Father–
White Master above
Grant us your love.
Most holy bastard
Of the bleeding mouth:
Nigger Christ
On the cross of the South.
- Langston Hughes (1931)
This poem is powerful, speaking volumes to the nature of American racism and distortion of Christian faith. But how much have we moved forward from the 1930s?
Racism doesn’t look like it used to.
We tell a black man, work your place in life.
We tell a black woman, stop complaining.
We tell black people, conform to fit into the majority system.
We tell black people, die to self as Christ did. You who once had no opportunity or hope now have it! Just play by our rules.