As I try to become more anti-racist, I’ve been listening to Nina Simone a lot. She’s hard to listen to. But I’ve found it necessary for deeper living to listen to her. She has a clarity of language that makes her message accessible. And she tells her truth. I’ve noticed lately that when white people talk about racism, we talk in abstractions. It seems that … Continue reading The Heartache of Racism
We aren’t going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces. They don’t know what to do. I’ve seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church day after day. By the hundreds we would move out, and … Continue reading Martin Luther King, Jr: Sacramental Theologian
This is part two of a series of reflections on Charlottesville via Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech “I See the Promised Land” (text and audio here). See the Intro here. I can remember [applause], I can remember when Negroes were just going around, as Ralph has said so often, scratching where they didn’t itch and laughing when they were not tickled. [laughter, applause] But that … Continue reading How are Non-White Americans forced to live today?
After Charlottesville, what changes? The change is what matters. The posturing doesn’t matter. The marching only matters as a means to an end. After Charlottesville, as in after Charleston, Ferguson and Baltimore, what matters is the change in society to where black Americans can say “Yes! We are truly free!” Perhaps we forget this larger transcendent goal in the immediate skirmishes over policing and monuments. … Continue reading The Promised Land After Charlottesville
So for Father’s Day, I got an Ancestry.com DNA test kit. I spit into a little tube, mailed it off and awaited an emailed result. And the results are as intriguing as advertised. Prior to getting the results, I had my surname analyzed and found that “Raines” traces back to a village in Essex, UK called Rayne. Or it could come from Rennes in Brittany, northern … Continue reading I’m White, but I Don’t Feel Like It
It’s Black History Month. It’s important to observe it. It’s important to remember and learn and recommit to eradicating racism. One part of my observation of Black History Month is an examination of White Privilege. I am examining it as a cultural phenomenon, for sure. But I am more interested in examining it as a reality I experience. I want to know the privilege around … Continue reading A Cure for White Privilege? (Introduction)
I’ve had many thoughts on white privilege lately. This is in addition to those admissions I made earlier (here). In no particular order… I’ve identified some hallmarks of white privilege Ability to provide simple answers to complex matters. (i.e. “He shouldn’t have pushed that store owner.”) Propensity for nitpicking details of an occurrence while disregarding larger trends that lead to such occurrences. (i.e. playing the … Continue reading More Thoughts on White Privilege
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