#PropheticGrief banner from Middle Collegiate Church website
The Huffington Post is running a new inter-faith series on #BlackLivesMatter, starting with The Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D., who writes a moving first-hand account of her thoughts and observations following the news that a 7th church was burning.
Rev. Lewis shares the call to action of her friend, a Muslim leader, in trying to make sense of these tragedies. She connects these contemporary issues with her personal story, and shares how her parents, who lived through Jim Crow laws in Mississippi, raised her to be resistant to racism she’s faced. She finishes with four suggestions for how we can all fight racism each day.
From the article:
- Read Toni Morrison’s Beloved with friends, the most diverse crew you can assemble. Listen deeply to the story for the scars and resilience of Black people and let it power your empathy.
- Sign and share this petition from Muhiyidin d’Bahaa, a young activist I met when I was in Charleston. Follow #BlackLivesMatter to stay in the conversation.
- Participate in a Week of Resistance Against Racism #ThisIsWORR #PropheticGrief July 12-19. Go to www.middlechurch.org to find out how.
- The next time you hear a racist comment, the next time you are exposed to a bigoted joke, resist it by calling it what it is.
#ThisIsWORR is the hashtag for “Weeks of Righteous Resistance“, a movement coalescing around the burning of black churches, and #PropheticGrief is a hashtag where clergy are sharing grief and pain around hate crimes.
Rev. Elder Darlene Garner posted a sobering ‘roll call’ of black voices silenced by hate and black churches burned in her article, Praying While Black, including the mother of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Alberta Williams King, who was killed while playing the organ in a black church in 1974.
What prophetic voices are you reading right now? What are you doing to push back against racism?
Posted by David Streever