Commentary
People take part in a march calling for justice for those killed by police officers near the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi
I recently spoke with a good friend who was in the gospel choir with me at Clemson University. He sang. I played drums. During our time there — in between meals and practice and concerts — we felt the suffocation. That suffocation was in between the Black gospel choir and white Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings, between Black Clemson and white classes. It was not the type of suffocation that kills you; it was the kind that smiles in your face and puts arms around your shoulders and waves hands in praise and sways your body side to side while never getting rid of slaveholding names and memories and theologies. It was the type of suffocation that enjoys the feeling of your presence but fails to embrace the fullness of your humanity.
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The question is: How do we broaden our bandwidth for advocating with our African American brothers and sisters while also bringing into view what is happening to Asian Americans in this moment? How does this moment continue the entire history of anti-Asian American racism? How can we expose the ways “racial capitalism” has sought to turn “non-white” races against each other?
A Palestinian man looks out as the remains of a building, which was destroyed in Israeli air strikes, are reflected in a window in Gaza, May 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
The images of civilian deaths and escalating violence in Israel and Palestine are heartbreaking. As this moral, political, and humanitarian catastrophe continues, we must urge our elected leaders to call for an immediate cessation of the current wave of violence, while also building the political will to interrogate the root causes of the crisis.
Palestinians gather at the scene where a house was hit by an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip on May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!”
Palestine and Israel are back in the news. So again, we Palestinians hear this common refrain. But such calls are no longer enough. I say this as a pastor who believes in prayer, leads prayer services for peace, and genuinely values your good intentions.
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The new CDC guidance has also prompted many pastors and faith leaders to revisit their own masking and social distancing guidelines for worship. But as an immunocompromised person, I want churches to know that if you choose to allow your congregation to unmask now, before we have any sort of herd immunity, you are asking immunocompromised people to choose between risking their lives or being excluded from church.
A McDonald's sign in in Tiegard, Ore., on May 4, 2021. Photo: Tada Images / Shutterstock.com
Rather than reflecting the truth of the motivations of both workers and employers, the "labor shortage" conversation is a tactic to adjust public perception and create the political will big corporations need to capture cheap labor –– it's propaganda at its most straightforward.
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As your pastor, I am proud of you. God is proud of you. I can say that without any doubt in my mind. Yes, you have passed your exams, but the pride I am talking about is the hard work and spiritual dedication you’ve put into your own soul and spiritual growth.
Palestinian women walk at the site of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Israeli air and artillery strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
By May 14, reports indicated that at least 122 Palestinians, including 31 minors, had been killed and more than 900 wounded since May 10. In Israel, at least seven people were killed, including one child. While the immediate violence must be brought to an end, the realities of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine cannot be ignored.
Science in HD | Unsplash
The American Jobs Plan invests in rebuilding our economy, creates millions of good-paying jobs, helps workers transition out of the fossil fuel industry, and protects our health, land, air, water, and global climate.
Biden's plans are not just about good politics or good policy — they’re about what government can do to relieve human suffering, about whom government should invest in. These are not just political matters but ethical ones. So let’s look at Biden’s three big plans from a moral, theological, and biblical perspective.
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Punishment should not be synonymous with "accountability" or "justice." Rather, justice and accountability should be centered around acknowledging damage and seeking restoration.
Steve Harmon (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) in Monster on Netflix
Director Anthony Mandler's movie Monster, focuses in on a myriad of social issues — race, class, mass incarceration, crime, and the U.S. penal system — but it also is a monster movie of sorts.
The voices of mothers, of women, and all who have mothered us have long been essential in movements for justice. That work continues, as we are closer than ever to winning the 100-year battle to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment would protect women and LGBTQ people from discrimination on the basis of sex and gender-based violence. But until the Senate acts, the amendment will not move forward.
Chuck Collins and Rev. Jim Wallis talk about the extreme wealth inequality and how everyone has a role in fixing it.
The U.S. prison system is an afront to human dignity and in sharp contrast with God's vision for justice on earth. Christians' commitment to love, hope, and justice should inspire us to work toward abolishing the prison system.
People with breathing problems due to COVID-19 wait to receive oxygen support for free at a Sikh temple in Ghaziabad, India on April 27, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
It is painful to know that here in the U.S., some states have vaccines that are going unused when vaccine shortages exist around the world.
Garden Of The Gods, Colorado Springs, Colo., United States
With each new instance of gun violence, creation cries out with the victims. Creation also helps us center ourselves in relation to God when God feels absent.
A man practices inside his car on one of the main street of Harlem in 2010. Photo: wagner stephane / Shutterstock.com
Two important promises I’ve made to myself: I will never again watch a video of a person being lynched by the police and I will not allow my writing to be used in a way that makes Black pain a spectacle.
A local resident walks along the “Say Their Names” cemetery on the day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
By now the ritual is regrettably predictable. A public official approaches a podium emblazoned with an official seal, perhaps flanked by the flags of their city and state, and maybe the U.S. flag. Just outside the frame, the shutters of a dozen cameras snap, capturing the official’s somber expression and ever-so-gently bowed head.
Police officers stand guard as people demonstrate outside the Ohio State House after an officer shot and killed a teenage girl in Columbus, Ohio, on April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gaelen Morse
Chauvin’s conviction was a relief, but our policing and justice systems still need a radical overhaul.