Black History Month & Anti Racism
Hard Truths
Facing the complexity of "the truth" is not always as straightforward as we'd like because the truth is not always just one thing.
Hurt Feelings
As part of our Black History Month offerings, we wanted to highlight another piece of writing from Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle. We’re grateful to Dr. McMickle for allowing us to re-publish these reflections and grateful to Rev. Myra for offering these powerful submissons (and her incredible leadership related to equity and anti-racism work). Today, there is a new form of white privilege emerging that involves banning any books, canceling any courses and classes, and curbing any public dialogue to shield…
A LONG TIME COMING. A HIGH COST PAID.
The United States Congress finally found the courage to confront our racist history of lynching. We, as people of faith, must also confront this history.
A History Lesson
It is important for us to understand histories accurately so that we can more clearly see how systems of oppression work and have worked.
Teaching Our children The truth
Curious children and thoughtful teachers, parents, and grandparents can use books to help children to become leaders who do better than their forebears.
Lena Gantt: A Gem I Should Have Known
Lena Gantt knew how to get things done in Rochester: She would call a legislator daily. She’d sit in a leader’s office until she got some face-to-face time. She’d take buses to and from meetings, getting there on time and leaving late into the night. Mrs. Gantt and her family came to Rochester in 1952, looking for a better life. Like other African Americans who moved North during the Great Migration, Mrs. Gantt moved from one place of struggle to…
A Strategy for Reform
We are at a pivotal moment to act together against the evil and disease of racism that has invaded our systemic and institutional life! So, where do we start?
Liz Nicolas: Anti-Racism Work ‘is an ongoing commitment to justice’
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…
Rethinking Privilege
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.…
Unity And The Power Of Reading
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…
What Am I Called To Do?
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…
Sharing the Burden
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…
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