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 […]
30-year-old Charleena Lyles had 3 children (ages 11, 4, and 1), and was pregnant with her fourth, who watched and listened as their mother was gunned down. They heard the pleading, promises, screams and gun blasts echo throughout their apartment. Dae’ Anne, the 4-year-old daughter of Diamond Reynolds, was in the backseat of Philando Castille’s […]
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 […]
The Lord has called me to do some redemptive work in a predominantly white Presbyterian church in Atlanta that desires to become more diverse. As I have started to interact with members, staff, and leaders, I have ran into this idea of the “authentic self.” This is a highly-individualized self-awareness developed by a specific worldview […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Tyler and Jemar are joined with SBC Pastor Earon James to discuss the controversy that surrounded the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2017 annual meeting. Jemar It feels like theological policing. That an African American pastor in good standing authored this resolution, it was deemed-the wording was deemed-too inflammatory, confrontational, […]
As the temple was a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, and we see now in a mirror dimly what will in Heaven be fully known, so my prayer for you, Papa, is that in your newfound ministry the Father’s heart for you will beat all the more clearly, your heart an echo of […]
LeBron James’ Los Angeles home was vandalized when an unidentified person spray-painted the word “Nigger” on the front gate. This discouraging event took me back almost three years ago to the sight of my own vandalized home. Much like James’ incident, an unidentified person, in the darkness of a cold December night, spray-painted the homes […]
Nothing demolishes the idea of American exceptionalism more thoroughly than an honest account of how people of color have been treated in this country.
“How do I find other Black kids for them to play with?” I was asked this question by a White adoptive mom of two Black preschool-aged daughters. After I recovered from the shock of the question, I responded she needed to start by meeting Black families in her neighborhood, children’s preschool, and church. If those […]
Mississippi was not a state I had ever envisioned moving to. Growing up in San Diego and attending college in Los Angeles, the deep south was both foreign in concept and periphery in mindset. However, two years ago in March of my senior year, I received a phone call. Instead of continuing onto graduate school, […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jemar and Tyler address the history of racial bias in Christian education, highlight key ways that racial bias still exists in these schools, and outline practical steps to end this continuing trend. As mentioned in the episode, we “pass the Mic” to listeners who have experienced this trauma […]
How might women fulfill their purpose while not violating God’s principles?
I thought being a black man in America was difficult. This is certainly true, but prior to reading Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes’ book, “Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength”, I made the incorrect assumption that so many others have made about the plight of the black woman. To be a black […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download You knew this one was coming… Tyler and Jemar debate the usefulness of the term ‘woke’, the definitions perceived around it, and the use of secular terms by Christians. Donate to RAAN Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook
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 […]
In a recent post, I introduced a series titled “Why Racism Might Defeat American Evangelicalism.” I mentioned the classic 2001 study of Emerson and Smith (Divided by Faith) in which they identified the American evangelical movement as a predominate white racialized movement, based on their multiple telephone surveys and face-to-face interviews with those who identified […]
Cultural and racial appreciation may come off well. But without God and a biblical approach, it can serve the wicked system of supremacy, envy, and power. Though Jordan Peele dressed these themes up with horror and humor, the racial issues and their implications are stark.
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 […]
The goal today is this: to untangle race, religion, and politics so that divisions in the world don’t cause divisions in the Church.
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 […]
