Lisa Sharon Harper Repentance will require people of European descent to face this truth When the image of God was crushed, broken, twisted, distorted, covered, or erased, the ancient Hebrews originally hearing this text would have understood these acts against humanity to be acts…
Idelette McVicker Like moving to Taiwan Leaving whiteness and entering an anti-racist world were, for me, like moving to Taiwan. I didn’t know the lay of the land. I didn’t know how to get around. I…
Lisa Sharon Harper The Native American slave trade But Black oblivion is not the only kind of oblivion within American colonial slavocracy. Mystery compounds mystery with the southeastern states’ prolific investment in the Native American slave trade. Long…
Andre Henry Black rage is suppressed Virginia legislator James H. Gholson said in an 1831 speech “Our slave population is not a happy one, but it is a contented, peaceful and harmless one.” And because ideas…
Robert P. Jones White Christians stand out in their negative attitudes about racial, ethnic, and religious minorities To be sure, most white denominations, and most white Christians, have today taken pains to distance themselves from slavery, the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation, and overtly racist…
Justin Phillips Sit, listen, and share One such example of choosing who I would dialogue with came from joining a student group devoted to racial reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. That group helped me consider this…
Heather McGhee The stubborn belief that needs to shift So what is the stubborn belief that needs to shift now for us to make progress against inequality? I found my first clues in a series of psychology studies. Psychologists…
Uncategorized Indigenous nations sue North Dakota over ‘sickening’ gerrymandering The suit charges that diluting Indigenous power violates their voting rights and will handicap tribe members who run for office https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/21/native-american-tribes-sue-north-dakota-gerrymandering
Lisa Sharon Harper Black deaths were not recorded, except as property loss Sin is passed down from generation to generation. As it goes, it snowballs. At some point, within five generations of Ballards in Camden, South Carolina, someone bought or was gifted…
Ibram X. Kendi Claiming “color blindness” THE COMMON IDEA of claiming “color blindness” is akin to the notion of being “ not racist” - as with the “not racist,” the color-blind individual, by ostensibly failing to…
Robert P. Jones The earliest phase of the Christian Right movement didn’t bridge the Protestant-Catholic divide The earliest phase of the Christian Right movement didn’t bridge the Protestant-Catholic divide. But when Protestant Christian Right leaders such as Jerry Falwell Sr. followed the advice of Catholic political…
Susan K Smith In many instances unwilling to abide by it Our beloved Bible gave us the Great Commandment, found in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is significant that these words are found in all three of…
Uncategorized The Creation of Blackness To understand Whiteness we must begin with Blackness. In the emergence of Blackness, Whiteness finds its origin and its meaning. Though the African story traces back to the deepest reaches…
Heather McGhee Today our schools are nearly as segregated as they were before In my gut, I’ve always known that laws are merely expressions of a society’s dominant beliefs. It’s the beliefs that must shift in order for outcomes to change. When policies…
Justin Phillips Whites tend to live as if we are unmarked racially I hated coming to the realization of what people of color potentially faced every day: I was a body; I experienced the world as a body now. In turn, others…
Robert P. Jones The Sacred Work of White Discomfort by Robert P. Jones https://robertpjones.substack.com/p/the-sacred-work-of-white-discomfort
Jemar Tisby Why Removing Racist Symbols and Monuments Matters by Jemar Tisby https://jemartisby.substack.com/p/why-removing-racist-symbols-and-monuments
Catherine Meeks How then does one begin? For many years I believed and hoped that altering psychological processes like changing the master status, making people aware of their projections and how they “other” people, would solve the…
Heather McGhee Affirmative action The idea of affirmative action looms large in the white imagination and has been a passion among conservative activists. Some white people even believe that Black people get to go…
Ibram X. Kendi Dueling consciousness White people have their own dueling consciousness, between the segregationist and the assimilationist: the slave trader and the missionary, the proslavery exploiter and the antislavery civilizer, the eugenicist and the…
Heather McGhee The zero sum is a story by wealthy interests for their own profit In decade after decade, threats of job competition - between men and women, immigrants and native born. Black and white - have perennially revived the fear of loss at another’s…