BLM and Police
One huge misconception about the Black Lives Matter Movement is that they are anti-police. I have mentioned this before, but I cannot say it enough - BLM is NOT against the police, BLM is FOR speaking out against police brutality that rises from systemic racism. BLM wants to END systemic racism and state violence, NOT our means of safety. The police are vital to our nation, excessive force and racism are not. I am fortunate enough to live in a small city in Iowa where police
The 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment, we are taught, abolished slavery. Hooray! Rejoice! All is well! But in fact the 13th Amendment says this: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." And thus began the loop hole to the continued killing of black lives. Today I watched Ava DuVernay's documentary called The 13th . In it she co
'Black-on-black' Crime
I already thought my soul was on fire for this topic when I asked the dean of my seminary if I could spend my J-term on Black Lives Matter, but these two weeks into January have shown me that the fire in my soul has a lot of room to spread. And spread it does. The problem of black lives traditionally NOT mattering to/in this country opens up ones eyes into the ways in which this country has failed it's people. It is SO disappointing.. its maddening.. it demands change! That's
Fear and outrage
Fear is an emotion that everyone feels and nobody likes. Fear often expresses itself through other emotions - like anger. One other thing that really struck me about Ta-Nehisi Coates' book Between the World and Me that I talked about yesterday was his openness to talk about black culture and the role fear plays in black life. Currently in America there is a lot of fear going around - particularly fear of the "other." First of all, there is no "other" - we are ALL human bei
Dismantling the American Dream
On the cover of Ta-Nehisi Coates' book Between the World and Me , Toni Morrison is quoted " This is required reading". I couldn't agree more. Required especially if you're white. Coates writes about what it was like and what it means to grow up black in white America. It is written as a letter to his son and hits also on what it is like to raise a black son in white America. The horrors of our country are painted into a picture that is easy to see and impossible to ignore.
Colorblindness - the end of an era?
The more I read about the issue of black lives NOT mattering in our country, the more I learn about the era of Colorblindness. After the era of the Civil Rights Movement came the colorblindness era, the one which I grew up in and the one which I hope and believe is coming to the end of it's days. I only pray it will not merely be replaced by another disguise, but rather be abolished by truth and reconciliation - giving birth to possibly the era of being woke! I really app
Restorative Justice
Yesterday the story on repeat in the media was of four young black men and women who tortured a white, mentally disabled male in Chicago and posted a video of it to Facebook. This is a horrendous act of violence that no one should be subjected to. It is simply heartbreaking. What is also heartbreaking is the reactions I am reading on social media. People blaming the Black Lives Matter Movement, even though they have no connection to this situation or these people and they c
Freedom - an American value?
What does it mean to be an American? What values do our flag/National Anthem and other symbols represent/stand for? I would say that America has built it's foundation on the value of freedom for all. The ugly ugly historic truth, however, is that FROM THE BEGINNING, freedom for all has really meant - freedom for all white immigrants (such as the very people writing our documents and founding our country). The Native Americans were never intended to be part of this - they wer
To reconcile
"In these trying circumstances, the black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is forcing America to face all its iterrelated flaws - racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing the evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced." - Martin Luther King Jr. What does it
Stay Woke
Today was my first official day of my independent study on the Black Lives Matter Movement. For today I watched the short video "5 Ways of Understandings Black Lives Matter" and the BET Documentary "Stay Woke." The "5 Ways" video introduces the Black Lives Matter Movement as: 1. A Human Rights Movement 2. An Intersexual Movement 3. An Abolitionist Movement 4. An Artistic Movement and A Prayer. When I was in college and this movement started, I heard a lot of things being
