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
Introductory Post
Hello there! This is a quick introduction into my blog. The blogging world is new to me so I ask for your patience as I familiarize myself with the blogging world. For the month of January I will be blogging about the Black Lives Matter Movement in America. I will be talking about this movement and tying it into the Christian faith. It may be an unpopular belief, but I strongly believe that faith does have something to say in these important matters of humanity. (If you're
