I can’t think of the last time I saw a nearly 20-minute video gain so much traction on Facebook. This one, a historical review from actor Romany Malco, has gotten more than 1.1 million views in just two days. Apparently people want to know more about how the United States got to its current position […]
Apocalypse now? What’s next?
I spent a few hours tonight with regional churches—and will report on what I noticed in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, I’m reflecting on all of the ways that our historical focus has undermined our ability to deeply see the social stakes, why Black people are so fed up, and what we can do differently. More tomorrow.
Welcome company
The density of bad news is such that we can say a place name, and, just like that, the name conjures up for us the entire tableau of suffering that unfolded there. Columbine. Virginia Tech. Aurora. Ferguson. Maybe we say a person’s name instead. Islan Nettles. Jessie Hernandez. John Crawford. Sandra Bland. In the last two weeks, there have been […]
All Our Euphemisms Are Like Filthy Rags
Note: This article features Anansi, the Akan spider-man. And because I love you, it includes no images of actual spiders. —KM A lot of people I know skipped church last weekend. A lot of Black people I know skipped church last weekend. A sprinkling of days after a young White racist slaughtered nine praying Black people in the oldest African Methodist […]
VIDEO: Reading With Different Ears: Amy-Jill Levine and Ethnocentrism
“While the New Testament may be seen as anti-Jewish, it need not be taken that way, because words inevitably mean different things to different readers. More problematic are those verses that on the surface appear quite benign, but when heard with different ears can be quite difficult. “[For example,] Galatians 3:28, which proclaims that in […]
John Newton, Zacchaeus, and a Life Beyond Complicity
This year, I told Twitter, I want to stable Rudolph and his red nose. I don’t want to hear the angels talking about peace and goodwill. With a nation still unwilling to comprehensively address abusive policing and community distrust as youth have asked, angelic pronouncements about peace feel premature, if not presumptuous. Over the weekend, I read through the goodwill messages that […]
