Tag: Racism

  • The greatest challenge to free speech on campus isn’t protest.

    The greatest challenge to free speech on campus isn’t protest.

    There’s a lot of exercising of free speech these days. And I love it. Well, I love the positive kind. And the kind which provokes us to better ourselves. Of course, I’m not into the kind which denigrates and destroys. The kind which labels and causes emotional harm. That kind I struggle to defend. I’m…

  • Our work just got harder

    Our work just got harder

    I didn’t watch the returns Tuesday. My excuse was that we don’t have cable. But really, it was because I was afraid. I hadn’t processed what would happen if Trump won, but something told me…I don’t know. Maybe not. I didn’t check until after 9. I listened to Slate’s live feed. And I heard it…

  • Want

    Want

    WANT As a supporter of gun control, I’m often asked “If a man breaks in and has your wife at gunpoint, wouldn’t you want a gun?” Want? For what? To kill? What I would want is a howitzer. Or Jason Bourne. Or to have Blade’s sword and his powers. Or the police. Or maybe just…

  • The Dream of GOD, a Nightmare of Privilege

    The Dream of GOD, a Nightmare of Privilege

    [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…

  • More than dogs

    More than dogs

    Given our country’s spotty record on race relations, on exploitation of others, it is far too easy for us to ignore our place in the mess. a call to reconciliation Proper 18B  |  Mark 7:24-37 Feeding the dog We don’t know the original question the woman asks Jesus. Only its subject and that she begs.…

  • Oversimplifying the problem is killing us

    Oversimplifying the problem is killing us

    We are fond of the dialectic method of arguing. In this, there is always “us and them” and things are always “black and white”. We assign sides and it is simple and clean. Life is never so simple and clean. Those raising concerns about systemic violence in the criminal justice system, particularly toward young, unarmed, black…

  • Innocence

    Kalief Browder, Held at Rikers Island for 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide The fact that Kalief Browder was innocent is a tragedy. The fact that his mother found his lifeless body is a tragedy. The fact that he was abused in prison by guards and prisoners alike is a tragedy. The fact that he…

  • What Ben Affleck reveals about our deepest need

    What Ben Affleck reveals about our deepest need

    When I heard that one of Ben Affleck’s ancestors owned slaves, I didn’t even blink. That he didn’t want to share that on national television surprised me even less. In our gotcha era of dualisms and polarities, an outspoken liberal actor/writer/director would be easy fodder for the outspoken conservative media personalities. His deep shame, perhaps…