To Practice Love Is to Disrupt the Status Quo
"I believe firmly that to practice love is to disrupt the status quo which is masquerading as peace." —posted on Austin Channing Brown's Instagram, June 17, 2020
Whiteness and "Power Over"
My faith was born in the Black church, but growing up I also was constantly surrounded by white Evangelicalism. I’ve been around whiteness a long time, and in all kinds of different denominations. I’ve seen them all. ...
A Prayer for White People
May we not lose awareness. May we not get distracted. May we not turn away.
In Honor and Praise to Black Rage
Deep in the shadow of night, down near the crossroads and cemetery gates, with bitter liquor and cigar smoke wafting, I greet you. ...
In Honor and Praise to Black Rage
Deep in the shadow of night, down near the crossroads and cemetery gates, with bitter liquor and cigar smoke wafting, I greet you. ...
Centering Myself
I come from a long line of strong Black women. My grandmother used to share stories about how she caused “trouble” in town when a white man hired her to put up the displays in his store window. At that time, all the Black women in town worked as domestics in the homes of white ladies, or in the...
The Deep Well of Black Lives
We will ring out the ghosts of those lost in the middle passages, lost to the whips and depravation, lost to the lynches and the bullets, lost to the prisons and the chains of racism.
The Flawed Understanding of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a radical. He was called “the most dangerous man in America” by the FBI and had a 17,000 page FBI file at the time of his death. ...
A Story Inherited
“Not belonging here” is a story I have inherited, an American inheritance. I am a free person born into an unfree place.
Prayer for Weary Times
Holy One, our hearts are weary; are tired; and are breaking. Our hearts are stretching as they are pulled and pushed, bruised and battered by all the suffering and brokenness and pain. ...
Black Women Worry More
Most married women fret about a tardy husband: black women like myself worry more.
All of Us Need All of Us to Make It
Unitarian Universalists believe that all of us need all of us to make it; this is why we are in solidarity with the movement for Black lives today and every day.
On White Supremacy Culture and Why I Use These Words
It's very uncomfortable for me to read/write/say "white supremacy culture," so it's my way of directly challenging my own right to comfort.
The Unitarian Universalism That Does Not Yet Exist
I'm in love with the Unitarian Universalism that does not yet exist. But I have to hold both the love for that thing and the love for the reality.
Visitors in the Struggle for Racial Justice
No matter what tactics and methods racial justice activists use, the general response of society will be a collective head-shaking and tsk-tsk-ing — because what people are actually complaining about are not the specific tactics that are being used in the struggle for racial justice, but that the...
Bearing Witness
Bearing witness is an act of compassion, empathy, solidarity and justice. It is a holy act. Humanity is at its most powerful and transformative when we experience the truth of another.
White Supremacy and Beloved Community
One Piece of a Deeply Sacred Whole
Prayer for St. Louis after Ferguson
The Offensiveness of My Pain
The offensiveness of my pain is why we have to remind America over and over again that Black Lives Matter: because if you lack empathy for our tears it’s likely that you lack respect for our lives.