Tag Archives: racism

America Up Close and Personal

My Real Memoir From the Big Orange to the Big Apple! It’s still the longest road trip I’ve ever taken. Our YMCA leaders were a married couple who, along with their two young children Brian and Judy, had signed on … Continue reading

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Scapegoatism

Thought for the Week Scapegoats were the animals the ancient Hebrews laid their hands on in order to cast away their sins. It was a symbolic act, meaning, “I’m ashamed of the evil in myself and I publicly disown it.” … Continue reading

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The Year My Conscience Awoke

My Real Memoir My modest brush with “persecution” seemed to kick loose some new level of awareness in me of when I was in 4th Grade. To be honest, there were lots of things that occupied more real estate in … Continue reading

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Until We Are All Free

“…until we are all free.” Those words are illustrated every year in the holiday Juneteenth. Which commemorates not the official 1865 proclamation that all American slaves were freed, but the real date two months later when the last slaves in … Continue reading

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2020 So Far

So, I saw this on my way to the market this morning, and thought, “Aha, well, that pretty much explains 2020 so far.

Posted in Humor, Quips and Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Was I a Racist? Am I Still?

©The Shakespearean Tavern Playhouse Why doesn’t racism ever go away? Why, after yet another round of protests and reforms, does it still rear its noxious head? In a word: Us. As in humans. We can change “the system” again and … Continue reading

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Imagine Having to Explain to Your Child…

Renika Williams, center, in the feature film Healing River. This week in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a black man named George Floyd choked to death while a white police officer knelt on his neck, ignoring his pleas. I am not qualified to … Continue reading

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On Earth as It Is in Heaven

We’re all a little bit racist. And sexist. And ageist. And dozens of other-things-ist. An ist is simply a bias or leaning, either away from or toward something. We lean toward what we know, and away from what we don’t. … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, For Pastors and Teachers, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , | 38 Comments

The Most Cringe-Inducing Ads Ever?

We live in the Age of Offendability, when the floors of public places seem to be carpeted with eggs. Yet we can all agree (or at least most of us can) that some things are always wrong: racism, sexism, drug … Continue reading

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The Content of Our Character

I decided to honor Dr. King by posting some of his most memorable quotes. The problem lay not in finding them, but in knowing when to stop! Imagine if he’d lived beyond his brief 39 years; oh, how we need … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, For Pastors and Teachers, Quips and Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments