Blog (Page 41)

Liz Nicolas, whom I introduced briefly in my last post, is an attorney, coach, consultant, and anti-racism trainer who runs her own company, Black Amethyst LLC. I wanted to learn more about what a commitment to anti-racism looks like, so Ms Nicolas agreed to an interview by way of Zoom. This interview is recorded and linked here and below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqJDJkBq5Y I have much to learn on this topic, but I appreciate Ms Nicolas’s honest and clear discussion. She says that…

With seven of us children, my parents struggled to keep the bills paid, and it was tacitly understood that we could not squander food or money.  As for our house, we grew up in a modest Cape Cod in West Irondequoit. Though we had a happy life there, any one of us would say that the four-bedroom house felt crowded for a while, when we were all young and living at home.  I never connected “white privilege” to that house.…

Scroll down to the bottom not only to see today’s video interview with Melissa Parrish, but also to make comments and to see a suggested reading list posted in a previous blog entry.  In today’s first reading, from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul proclaims a message of unity. And although he is talking to the Jews and the Gentiles, one could imagine Paul urging us today to unify in this manner, as we work toward racial justice.  George Floyd’s…

Many of us ask God in times of darkness, “What am I called to do?”  In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is in a prison in which he is double-chained, asleep between two soldiers, with guards outside the prison doors. Yet in a dramatic rescue that he thinks is a vision or a dream, Peter escapes. Peter then realizes that he has been rescued by an angel of God. This is the same Peter who…

It’s common for those of us who are white people, perhaps awakened or reawakened to the racial injustice around us right now, to ask, “What can I do to help?” So I want to dedicate some of the blog entries to resources and people who can provide insights and wisdom. If you are not already familiar with the Spiritus Anti-Racism Coalition (SPARC), this group is “a coalition of Spiritus Christi parishioners, other faith communities, local activists, and concerned citizens with…

Steve and I are in the midst of reading Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, the top-selling book last week on The New York Times’s list of nonfiction books.  As you parishioners who read it and perhaps participated in the discussion of DiAngelo’s book know, the author essentially makes us examine what it is that keeps us from honest conversations about race.  DiAngelo also describes the innumerable racist structures in our society that may be invisible to us, unless we are open…

I’ve been struggling for many years to write a short memoir about my grandmother, and I struggle mainly because she is an unfinished story.  When I was 8, my parents told me and my six siblings that Grandma had lost her memory and had to be put into a facility that was part of “the State Hospital.” There would be no children allowed for visits.  In a flash, grandma’s life effectively ended for me.  I didn’t see her again until…

For comments, please scroll down to the bottom of this entry. Our son Brian has been home with me and Steve for a few weeks while he works remotely as a freelance musician in and around New York City.  With Brian at home, we’ve had a chance to have conversations about the recent killings of black men and women at the hands of white people, and about our work with the Spiritus Anti-Racism Coalition.  As you parents of out-of-town adult…