When was the last time you took a moral stand and realized that it was going to cost you in the outer world though it was quite rewarding in your inner world because you stayed true to yourself? I think that the former Congressman from Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R) might have a few words to say about such a situation. I think that he could be joined by Rep. Liz Cheney (R) also. They both suffered the loss of their congressional seats partially due to their work on the Jan

Unfortunately, there are some of our fellow humans who are still searching for the moon’s green cheese, hoping to find facts to bear witness to the earth being flat, convinced that we have never traveled to the moon, refuse to accept that our sweet little children were and continue to be slaughtered in their elementary school classrooms, proclaim that the Holocaust did not happen, and enslavement of Africans was some type of work program. They are the folks who can engage the

The art of expressing kindness and being appreciative As many of you know, I am the recipient of a Joseph R. Biden Presidential Award for Lifetime Service and Achievement. I can barely find the words to express my gratitude for this high honor. I want to note that many who love me deeply and dearly responded that it was no surprise to them that I should get such an award, it was quite a surprise to me. For the past few days, I have spent a fair amount of time exploring w

A few weeks ago, while I was sitting in the Los Angeles Airport waiting for a connecting flight to Sacramento, I reconnected with a young woman activist who introduced me to Tricia Hersey and her wonderful movement centered around rest as a form of resistance to oppression. As I parted company with the young woman in the airport, I realized how much sense this idea makes when one takes a hard look at the oppression equations that have such a firm hold on us. Folks who are o

I was the only African American staff member on the Macon-Bibb County Mental Health Center Staff in 1973. I learned a lot during my time there and it has taken me almost thirty years to decipher some of those lessons. I learned lessons about white women that I have come to understand much better now than I did at that time. One day all of the white women and I were in the lounge before lunch time and the discussion about where to go to lunch began and one of the senior memb

(Excerpts from my new book) Preface The house is on fire, and it’s time to stop standing around debating about which fire extinguisher is best; it’s time to pick up one and begin working to put the blaze out before the house burns to the ground. This book of meditations on racial healing offers one such tool. We have arrived at the place in our shared journey where we are allowing conspiracy theories, distortions of history, fear, and outright lies about race and many other

Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois fatally shot Anthony Huber 26 and Joseph Rosenbaum 36. He wounded a third person, Gaige Grosskreutz 26. This was done with an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was acquitted of all charges as his trial came to a close a few days ago. How? Why? These are questions that thoughtful folks might care to ponder. Though it took a few days to recover from the announcement of this verdict, many of us were not surprised

Woke means awakened to the needs of others. To be well informed, thoughtful, compassionate, humble and kind. Eager to make the world a better place for all people. Be Woke! It does not matter what term might have been used to open up a discussion about the necessity for many among us to become more concerned about the welfare of others, there would have been a group of folks who would turn it into something that is negative. Unfortunately, the notions of developing a grea

Invisibility Blues “somebody/ anybody sing a black girl's song bring her out to know herself to know you but sing her rhythm scarin/ struggle/ hard times sing her song of lifes he's been dead so long closed in silence so long she doesn't know the sound of her own voice her infinite beauty she's half-notes scattered without rhythm/ no tune sing her sighs sing the song of her possibilities sing a righteous gospel let her be born let her be born& handled warmly” Ntozake Shang

A few days ago, in Grand Rapids Michigan a traffic stop turned into another incident of police violence against a citizen. According to the independent autopsy report that was ordered by his family, he was shot in the back of the head with the gun making contact with his body. One is left to ponder, why it was necessary to shoot him since he was on the ground with a gun directly connecting to his body? But the pondering is short lived because we have many threads that point

It was inspiring to listen to a recap of some of the highlights from the hearing for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, this evening. I heard her telling the story of being a first-year student at Harvard, who had come from very humble beginnings with no real preparation for being in that environment except a stellar intellect and a spirit of determination. She shared her concerns about being able to survive there amidst the dissonance that was being created

Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom Hallelu, Halleu, HalleuJah Freedom is on my mind. Everyday as I reflect upon the state of the nation and the planet for that matter, I find that my predominate question continues to be, “how can I find freedom in the midst of all of the forces that wish to oppress?” A few days ago, as I sat in a marvelous conversation

“With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." These words were spoken by President Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865, just 41 days before he was assassinate

Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions…Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. Everything is waiting for you. -David Whyte December 31,2023, ends my tenure with the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing. A Center that I imagined originally and helped to birth along with many others and then had the joy and challeng

FEAR Fear is the cheapest room in the house/I would like to see you living/In better conditions. … God wants to see/More love and playfulness in your eyes/For that is your greatest witness to the Divine. Fear is the cheapest, shabbiest, and most uncomfortable place to live. Hafiz This afternoon as I sit here writing my, A Few Shades Braver Blog after taking a short break, it appears that we as a people have made a collective decision to accept the invitation to occupy the

God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4 Millions of us went to places of worship on Saturday and Sunday and that fact alone should bear witness to our understanding that it would be a good idea to refocus our lenses in ways that could help us to “study war no more”

Listen to this Sufi Wisdom: Mulla Nusrudin was out in his yard with his lantern searching for something when his friend came by and asked what he was doing. “I lost my key and I am trying to find it.” The friend began helping him to search, they were both down on the ground searching and searching without finding anything. Finally, the friend asked, “where did you lose the key?” Mulla answered, “I lost it in the house, but the light is better out here.” Stories of the Spirit,

The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing announces that it is taking on the tough and sensitive topic of racialized trauma to explore at its depth for the entire year. This dynamic is under addressed too often and results in reducing the effectiveness of much of the race relations work that has been done and is being done in America. James Baldwin reminds us that “while you might not be able to heal everything that you can name, you will never heal anything that

Memphis Chief of Police Cerelyn Davis can stand in front of cameras and talk about the inhumanity of the of the five police officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death a few days ago as if she has nothing to do with their dastardly behavior. But quite the contrary is true. She is complicit with their behavior because they should have been stopped before they had a chance to kill someone. And she was the one who could have stopped them. She did not! Cornell McKinney reports that

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, and we all thought that true freedom had come, and we would not have to struggle for the right to vote ever again. We thought that we had won the right to be full citizens in the United States and that our chance to have our voices heard in the political arena had finally arrived. We had no way to know how wrong we were. It is unbelievable and hard to accept that freedom is not free. We are