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There is no way to adequately cover the scope of the work that the Center for Racial Healing has completed in the past six years in a mere newsletter, but I will do my best to give you a good sketch. I am astounded when reviewing it, by the variety and quality of what...
Carols Munoz said, “I journeyed here from Venezuela to give my four-year-old son the things that he didn’t have—a meaningful education, the freedom to express his opinions without fear of persecution, a job where he can earn enough money to afford food.”...
When was the last time you took a moral stand and realized that it was going to cost you in the outer world though it was quite rewarding in your inner world because you stayed true to yourself? I think that the former Congressman from Illinois, Rep. Adam...
Unfortunately, there are some of our fellow humans who are still searching for the moon’s green cheese, hoping to find facts to bear witness to the earth being flat, convinced that we have never traveled to the moon, refuse to accept that our sweet little children were and...
The art of expressing kindness and being appreciative
As many of you know, I am the recipient of a Joseph R. Biden Presidential Award for Lifetime Service and Achievement. I can barely find the words to express my gratitude for this high honor. I want to note that many who...
A few weeks ago, while I was sitting in the Los Angeles Airport waiting for a connecting flight to Sacramento, I reconnected with a young woman activist who introduced me to Tricia Hersey and her wonderful movement centered around rest as a form of resistance to oppression. As I...
I was the only African American staff member on the Macon-Bibb County Mental Health Center Staff in 1973. I learned a lot during my time there and it has taken me almost thirty years to decipher some of those lessons. I learned lessons about white women that I have come to...
(Excerpts from my new book)
Preface
The house is on fire, and it’s time to stop standing around debating
about which fire extinguisher is best; it’s time to pick up one
and begin working to put the blaze out before the house burns to
the ground. This book of meditations on...
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois fatally shot Anthony Huber 26 and Joseph Rosenbaum 36. He wounded a third person, Gaige Grosskreutz 26. This was done with an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was acquitted of all charges as his trial came to a close a few...
Woke means awakened to the needs of others.
To be well informed, thoughtful, compassionate, humble and kind.
Eager to make the world a better place for all people.
Be Woke!
It does not matter what term might have been used to open up a discussion about...
Invisibility Blues
“somebody/ anybody
sing a black girl's song
bring her out
to know herself
to know you
but sing her rhythms
carin/ struggle/ hard times
sing her song of life
she's been dead so long
closed in silence so long
she doesn't know the sound
of her own voice
her infinite beauty
...
A few days ago, in Grand Rapids Michigan a traffic stop turned into another incident of police violence against a citizen. According to the independent autopsy report that was ordered by his family, he was shot in the back of the head with the gun making contact with his body.
One is left...
It was inspiring to listen to a recap of some of the highlights from the hearing for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, this evening. I heard her telling the story of being a first-year student at Harvard, who had come from very humble beginnings with no real preparation for...
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Hallelu, Halleu, HalleuJah
Freedom is on my mind. Everyday as I reflect upon the state of the nation and the planet for that matter,...
Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions…Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. Everything is waiting for you.
...
FEAR
Fear is the cheapest room in the house/I would like to see you living/In better conditions. … God wants to see/More love and playfulness in your eyes/For that is your greatest witness to the Divine. Fear is the cheapest, shabbiest, and most uncomfortable place to live.
Hafiz
...
God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4
Millions of us went to places...
Listen to this Sufi Wisdom:
Mulla Nusrudin was out in his yard with his lantern searching for something
when his friend came by and asked what he was doing. “I lost my key and
I am trying to find it.” The friend began helping him to search, they were
both down on the ground...
The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing announces that it is taking on the tough and sensitive topic of racialized trauma to explore at its depth for the entire year. This dynamic is under addressed too often and results in reducing the effectiveness of...
Memphis Chief of Police Cerelyn Davis can stand in front of cameras and talk about the inhumanity of the of the five police officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death a few days ago as if she has nothing to do with their dastardly behavior. But quite the contrary is true. She is...
Hello all,
Thank you for confirming your interest in traveling ahead with me,
I will have more to say about the Turquoise and Lavender Institute in a day or two,
But today... I want to share how heavy my heart feels as I reflect upon the abuses of power that are simply taking us over. Everywhere...
I watched her, week after week, sitting at the kitchen table meticulously doing schoolwork that was to be sent to Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas where she was a student working on her degree in education. This was before computers and distance learning. She was doing...
