Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

MLK

  • The holiday doesn’t mark an end to racism. It reminds us of its consistency.

  • You’ve seen the memes on facebook or watched the exchanges on television about the Black Lives Matter movement. You know its origin on Twitter and you know that a response sprang up just as quickly: #alllivesmatter. You know that somehow, a witness to the brutality of black bodies turned into yet another culture war moment…

  • [bctt tweet=”A poem for King, justice, and repentance. #ReclaimMLK” nofollow=”yes”] When we speak of a dream, we speak not of the hazy sleep indulgence, the phantasm of our psyche, but the very call of GOD to make this world radically different from the way it is. The dream, a tricky encounter of revelation. Assaults our…

  • GUILT When the preacher said “I’m absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt.” My white ears hear the condemnation and the righteous call for peace. My poet ears hear the economy of language and concern. My pastor ears hear the prophetic reminding us our guilt…

  • Fifty years ago today, the most powerful, religious moment in our shared public history occurred: the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  And I can’t help but believe that we’ve missed the most important part. I’ve written about how we’ve domesticated King’s message and the intention of the moment into it’s direct opposite purpose.…