an apology from a white supremacist arsonist

I just want to say


Seven churches burning
within a month
black churches getting blacker
by the moment

give me matches
a can of gasoline
and transportation
I'll make it seventy times seven

Forgive me
I didn't think to bring
enough marshmallows
to share

poem by rob g

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This is a false apology poem in the style of William Carlos Williams.

an apology from the Charleston shooter

For Pastor Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Rev Daniel Simmons Snr, Rev Sharonda Singleton, and Myra Thompson. Murdered June 17, 2015 during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, S.C.

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i just want to say

You welcomed me in
to your prayer time
let me sit
were very kind

an hour of that
was all I could take
I shot nine of you
in little time

Forgive me
I shouldn't have pretended
that prayer
mattered to me

poem by rob g

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Read more.

This is a false apology poem in the style of William Carlos Williams.

[stop using the words of MLK as a weapon...]

I need folks to stop using the words of MLK as a weapon to police the behavior of black folks, knowing you've never read one of his books.

— Austin Channing (@austinchanning) April 29, 2015

Austin Channing, responding to people who are using Martin Luther King's words about non-violence, to speak against the rioting in places like Baltimore, and who in the process miss the bigger picture and the reality of the lives of black people:

[Dear White Christians... ]

Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation:
"Outlines a new paradigm for American race relations and for achieving racial justice

In this provocative book Jennifer Harvey argues for a radical shift in how justice-committed white Christians think about race. She calls for moving away from the reconciliation paradigm that currently dominates interracial relations and embracing instead a reparations paradigm.

Harvey presents an insightful historical analysis of the painful fissures that emerged among activist Christians toward the end of the Civil Rights movement, and she shows the necessity of bringing "white" racial identity into clear view in order to counter today's oppressive social structures.

A deeply constructive, hopeful work, Dear White Christians will help readers envision new racial possibilities, including concrete examples of contemporary reparations initiatives. This book is for any who care about the gospel call to justice but feel stuck trying to get there, given the ongoing prevalence of deep racial divisions in the church and society at large.:

(from the publishers' page)

Catch Jennifer Harvey, the author, talking about the book in this video. Comparison of reconciliation and reparation starts around the 5 minute mark.





Read more about the book, including reviews, at the publisher's page.

piranha

A meeting I attended recently started with this delightful prayer:

The water I live in is full of piranha

and it doesn't do to have a bleeding heart in this locality.

Please God get me out of this water

or give me a shell or teeth . . .

Just don't leave me here with nothing but the conviction

that piranha are all God's children too.

Evangeline Paterson

from Life's Little Prayer Book 

compiled by Gary Lahoda

Well, it certainly got me thinking many thoughts. For starters, are piranhas all God's children too? I'm referring not to actual fish but to people who attack others. So to be practical, what about piranhas like Darren Wilson? Is he one of God's children? How do I love him?

Secondly, perhaps I'm a piranha too, but don't know it 'cuz, having eyes on the side of my head and no mirrors in the sea, I don't see that I also have big teeth like the piranhas around me. Seriously, though, we know how easy it is to consider our own sins, faults and shortcomings as "not that bad" compared to those of others. And how easy it is to think I'm okay (am righteous) and others are not okay (are sinful), instead of seeing our common humanity. Much easier to split the world into us and them.

Hmm. And should I be listing Darren Wilson as a piranha? Or is he just a cog in the systemic racism principality? Not asking this to make any excuses for his actions, but wanting to affirm that there is a bigger picture here than one person's racism.

What do you think?
I'm hoping that at least one of my 100,000 followers (I wish!) is brave enough to comment....

[you don't say... campaign by duke university]

"You Don’t Say? is a campaign founded by senior Daniel Kort and juniors Anuj Chhabra, Christie Lawrence and Jay Sullivan that aims to raise student awareness about the offensive nature of phrases and slurs used in everyday conversation through photographs shared using an online campaign." (source)

The latest part of this campaign features 41 student-athletes, who were each asked to choose a phrase that mattered to them.

What is it that #YouDontSay? pic.twitter.com/hykbOrfc2r
— You Don't Say (@youdontsayduke) January 15, 2015

Check out a lot more photos.
Additional photos of Cornell University students doing a series of similar ads.

Read more background info.

Follow on twitter.

just can't do it...

Can you imagine Jesus throwing spears at soldiers of the occupying Roman army? Or even at the pictures of faces of soldiers, for practice?

I can't. Would Jesus be acclaimed as the leader of the Jewish resistance movement? Certainly some of his people were hoping he'd be that kind of Messiah, but that's not who he is nor what he came to do.

Instead, he willingly gave up his life to show us that violence is not the way to go.

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And in the world late last week, outrage on Twitter at news of a South Florida police department using mugshots of black people for target practice. How's that for continued dehumanization of black people?

Police chief defends use of photos of real people for target practice. @NBC6 investigation #humantargets pic.twitter.com/ORdRa0wq1U
— NBC 6 South Florida (@nbc6) January 15, 2015

Granted these men were charged with crimes. That doesn't change the fact that they are human beings, with mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, other family members and friends. They are men created by the God of the universe, and no matter what, some glimpse of his image remains. Jesus loves them and gave his life for them.

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And in very related news, the BBC reports that Sgt. Deant, a soldier in the National Guard was shocked when she saw her own brother's face as one of the target images at the North Miami Beach Police firing range which she was using after a training session.

The photo of her brother Woody Deant had been taken after his arrest as a teenager for drag racing. It had been shot several times.

Mr Deant said he was "speechless" when he heard the news.

"Now I'm being used as a target? I'm not even living that life according to how they portrayed me as. I'm a father. I'm a husband. I'm a career man. I work nine to five."

The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

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And for a small glimmer of solidarity from WP:

In response to FL police using #humantargets - Clergy in uniform have now sent photos saying #usemeinstead @BrettBetkoski @nbc6 @deray
— Shane Claiborne (@ShaneClaiborne) January 17, 2015

Reminds me slightly of the Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe who at Auschwitz took the place of a man who was going to be killed by starvation.