The bullet that killed Medgar Evers didn’t stop in his chest. It ripped through his body, through the wall of his home, and lodged in the refrigerator inside where his wife and three children were still awake. Fortunately, the Evers family had trained for just such an occasion. They immediately dropped to the ground for […]
Category: History
June 9 marks a grim anniversary in the history of civil rights. On that date in 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer, a poor sharecropper from Mississippi, endured a vicious beating orchestrated by white police officers. Three books— The Senator and the Sharecropper by Chris Myers Asch, God’s Long Summer by Charles Marsh, and I’ve Got the Light of […]
James Meredith has always been his own man. You have to be if you’re going to be the first black student at the University of Mississippi. In 1962, Meredith integrated that bastion of white supremacy in the South. White rioters spent the night in bloodshed and destruction that left two people dead. Nevertheless, Meredith graduated […]
Nothing demolishes the idea of American exceptionalism more thoroughly than an honest account of how people of color have been treated in this country.
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. By setting aside a time to recall soldiers who died fighting for this nation, American citizens rightly honor their sacrifice and that of their family and friends. What often gets overlooked in the observance of Memorial Day, though, is the different experience of African American soldiers. In one […]
I’m the mother of two pink loving girls–gifts I wouldn’t trade for the world. Raising daughters is a high calling, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to shape and shepherd the hearts of my two little women. As we recognize the achievements of women this Women’s History Month, my prayer is my labor as a […]
Anne Blankenship, assistant professor of religious studies at North Dakota State University, tells the story of how Japanese American Christians wrestled with their faith, theodicy, and betrayal when they were forced into internment camps during World War II and abandoned by their White Christian neighbors. This is a story of suffering and uncertainty with significant ramifications […]
Divided By Faith (2001), the famous book written by Emerson and Smith, carefully documented how white Christians and black Christians generally have different perspectives of race and racism in America.[1] This classic book on race and religion also shows how the evangelical movement in America is a racialized movement that cannot be separated from white […]
Dr. Ben Carson got off to a stumbling start as the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In front of a room full of federal staff workers, Carson seemed to categorize African slaves as immigrants. Speaking of America as the land of opportunity he said, “There were other immigrants who came in […]
Ancestors on Mission: Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753 – 1784), widely known for her poetry, and as thee first African American woman published in pre-Revolutionary America, was also a notable apologist, abolitionist, and missionary. Her journey to these shores was cruel and traumatic. In 1721, slave trader Playten Onely requested the Royal African Company […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jemar and Tyler recap Black History Month 2017 Donate to RAAN Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook Resources from this episode: 1. Eyes on the Prize Documentary: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0031WNYHK/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488314362&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=eyes+on+the+prize+america%27s+civil+rights+years+1954-1965 2. The Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching by Frank A Thomas https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1501818945/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488314419&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=frank+a+thomas&dpPl=1&dpID=51YYNlRbv6L&ref=plSrch 3. […]
February 26, 2012 marked a resurgence of the civil rights movement in America. Seven years ago, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American was walking back from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida wearing a hoodie and carrying Skittles and iced tea. Moments later, he was fatally shot by a neighborhood watchman. The circumstances of Martin’s killing polarized the nation […]
There is something wrong with reducing black life down to comparative terms that perpetuate a narrative of white affluence and black victimization. These two opposing views have collided in the recent public framing of black life in America as downtrodden, destitute, and hopeless–and they speciously encourage double consciousness.
Conviction is not just how well we can write our theological creed, but how well we live out a reflection of the Triune God in all areas of life. This is our call as the church today.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jemar and Beau take a look at the history of Black History Month and what it means to Christians both in minority and majority cultures. Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook
It has often been remarked that American history has undergone a vigorous “whitewashing,” whereby contributions of minorities (namely black people) have largely been overlooked or flat out disregarded.
For over thirty years, U.S. citizens have celebrated the third Monday of January as the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. A day set aside for this remarkable civil rights leader should be universally welcome, but I admit that I approach the day with mixed feelings. Which Dr. King do we honor on his national […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jemar and Tyler are joined by Pastor for New City Fellowship OPC – Grand Rapids MI, Dr. Mika Edmondson to discuss the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Here are some quotes from this interview: Jemar: A lot of times, I’ll see scholarships studying the civil rights movement, […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jemar and Tyler are joined by Adam A.T. Thomason and BJ Thompson to discuss the election, division, & how we move forward as a nation. Donate to RAAN Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook
Growing up in the Black Church has been a rich blessing that I do not take for granted. As a young boy, at Calvary Baptist Church in Portsmouth Virginia, I heard the Christ-centered bold preaching that arrested my soul and caused me to be drawn to surrender my life to Christ. In that same Church, […]