Category: Identity
You accept the job to work for an organization. As you began to get settled in, it becomes evident. As you walk into the meeting room and look around, you are the “only one”. In today’s workplace, Black people still manage to be the “onlys” —the lone representatives of an identity group. As a result, […]
“Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1969) was an anthem of Black joy as we continued the struggle of working to affirm Black dignity in the ‘60s. On the surface, the sentiment behind these celebratory words seems at odds with the New Testament’s language of self-denial and co-crucifixion with Christ. Jesus challenges […]
Read Part 1 and Part 2 here! Paul vs Jesus? Another case Benbow makes is that the Apostle Paul should be canceled because he approved the killing of Christians. She argues that his words are in contradiction with Jesus and should be valued less since Paul was once a “murderer of Christians.” She suggests Paul, […]
Read Part 1 here! White Sight and Black Lives Ellison’s image of the glass eye reminds us that the societal dehumanization of Black people is not the result of a fault in us. The fault resides in the gaze of persons and institutions that blend into “one single white figure.” The locus of moral […]
To the women who came forward and engaged the public about their experiences with Russell Simmons, I’m in solidarity with you. Speaking truth to power is freedom and being believed is healing. And your freedom, your healing is long overdue. Black women’s freedom is long overdue. We live in a culture that does not always […]
This is the 3rd Interview for A Series of Stories Exploring Black and Brown Perspectives on Work and its Worth. — When Ricardo tells me, “I don’t need a pulpit at work because everywhere is the pulpit,” I’m inclined to believe him. He’s the only person I know that can use chicken and the gospel […]
We have been forced, due to a lack of progress and an overall apathy, to become the freedom fighters of our own lives.
In our story, the black story, we have the best of us and we have the worst of us.
We are viewed as problems to be solved rather than people to be admired.
Being black in America shares the same pulse as being an artist. It is a discovery of what it is to be human.
Caribbeans and African Americans believe lies about each other and if there is no one in your life to challenge those lies, you will accept them as fact.
I wonder if the car seats in the back of my minivan will be enough to keep me from becoming Sandra Bland.
Note: This article originally appeared on Vox.com I almost swerved off the road the first time I saw cotton in full bloom. I had seen the dull green cotton plants crawling toward the sky through the summer months. Then, practically overnight, the cotton bolls exploded to reveal their fluffy prize. Nothing moves fast in the […]
There is a need for platforms to be constructed so that past, present, and future marginalized voices can be elevated. We choose by God’s grace to assert ourselves in the affirmative.
In the days of Jim Crow law and custom mandated racial segregation, physical signs of separation included placards over drinking fountains, separate entrances at movie theaters, and train cars dedicated to one race or another. It took a costly movement for civil rights in the mid-twentieth century to bring down those barriers and allow racial […]
Overt expressions of White Supremacy engulfed Charlottesville this past weekend. The evil, hatred, and violence incited by White Supremacists resulted in a death and injuries of brave image-bearers opposing such hatred. Many Christians have rightly spoken out against these overt acts of White Supremacy. Those who willingly embrace a White Supremacist ideology might not necessarily […]
As someone who does race work, every so often someone makes the comment, “All you talk about is race.” I usually keep it moving and avoid making any response, but the statement frustrates me–mostly because it’s not literally true. I talk about a lot things. But I do talk about race a good bit. Here […]
June is African-American Music Appreciation Month. We pay tribute to the legacy and contributions African-Americans have made over the centuries. As I reflected on this history, I was taken back to arguably the most influential musical genre in the African-American narrative: The Negro Spiritual. Touching on the meaning of the Negro Spiritual, Howard Thurman, an […]
