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Starting point
About three weeks ago I was encouraged by some Haitian friends to start using Duolingo. They knew of my interest in learning their language, and they had talked with me about the differences in the French and Haitian Creole languages, but there really wasn’t a place that would make it easy for me to learn kreyòl ayisyen. Then Duolingo announced they were releasing their course on Haitian Creole! They urged me to sign up, and so I did. I’m now about three weeks in, and it’s been a whirlwind. Here are some observations: Learning a language isn’t just about learning words. It’s about learning rhythms and logic and meanings of…
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The journey begins . . .
Today I started my first lessons in Haitian Creole (“kreyòl ayisyen”) using Duolingo. Wish me luck!
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Beliefs and Behaviors
The Jesus of the texts doesn't encourage harm for others—and the opponents of health protocols aren't demonstrating the person of the texts.
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Shadows on the Wall
CRT is about systems, not individuals. Systems are developed as shortcuts for lengthy processes so that we don’t spend all our time trying to figure out how to hand multiple situations and not have disparate outcomes.
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REVIEW: Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend
I’ve read many books this year, some of them similar to his in that they are life stories. This is the first one that I finished where I wanted to have more.
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Hard Questions, Hard Answers
Jesus gets to the heart of the matter, which is simply you can’t follow Jesus if you have more important things than Jesus.
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Real but Imaginary Threats
Much ink will be spilled in the next few months or even years about the topic of Critical Race Theory (CRT), both by those who think they support it and those who think they oppose it
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The Fear of Transparency
The myth of white success also develops the myth of white innocence. All the successes were due to white efforts that others seemed unable to copy; all the events of terror and destruction were minimalized and forgotten. And white innocence was preserved & confirmed for a people who could gladly declare their devotion to America as the land of “liberty and justice for all.”
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REVIEW: Good White Racist?
As your friend, I need to tell you something about myself that I also see in you, and it’s something that’s bringing harm to people.
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The Devil Is a Christian Nationalist
There is no divine right for Christians to control the government. There is no place in the Constitution for Christians to be given charge of the government to rule as “Christians.”
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REVIEW: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person
Absolutely great. Frank, honest, funny, touching, real. Frederick Joseph here is at once wonderfully endearing and approachable and also blunt and direct, someone who is self-possessed and self-aware, and someone who is going to be a great friend for whomever will let him be exactly that. I found myself laughing on quite a few pages, but almost in the next line wincing or even blurting out “oh my god.” There is so much truth here, and great observations, and the definite proclamation of “I am a man,” much in the spirit of the resisters of the 1960s. I appreciated so much the willingness to go into the paint, as it…
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REVIEW: Jesus and John Wayne
Du Mez answers the question “What happened to white Evangelicals between Clinton and Trump?” with provocative, well-researched data to show the inevitability of the election results in 2016—and 2020.
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Maybe the Tree Is Bad
If policing is such a difficult skill that it results in the killing of Black civilians again and again then perhaps the problem is not the civilians.
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REVIEW: Urban Apologetics
This is a solid book and a solid resource for any Christian, but it is focused on the needs of the Black Christian in today’s America.
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This Do
There is nothing that white American Christians have or want as human beings that our Black brothers and sisters do not want.
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The Purpose-Driven Lie
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On the Public Death of a Suspect
I am watching the trial of Derek Chauvin, taking place right now, to determine his culpability and guilt in the public death of George Floyd some ten months ago.
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Can This Racial Division Be Healed?
It’s fascinating and saddening to realize that the people who are outside the faith have a better understanding of Jesus and Christianity and the Gospel than many Evangelicals have.
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We Must See People in Color
It is the reality of America that white people do recognize color, and use it for judgment about a person’s character.
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Beyond the Sight Lines of Racism
Small acts lead to great effects, and nothing that we do is wasted when we are committed to doing well.
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REVIEW: How to Fight Racism
Working to bring our fellow human beings up to their full dignity as people who are endowed with full human, civil rights is a good thing for all of us,
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THE CHRISTMAS EVE PROMISE—Interview with Elyse Douglas
Do those people change history all that much as they live their little lives? We come and go like passing clouds.
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Fieldnotes on Allyship is Launched!
Fieldnotes on Allyship is launched—an anthology of eighteen writers from three continents writing about allyship for the Black community.
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When Church Becomes the State
Sometimes we think that by making our country an explicitly religious one, we will solve our problems. But the results are always worse.
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To My Evangelical Faith Family
To my white Evangelical family: You birthed me and raised me and gave me principles and sent me out into the world. I owe my character development to you. But now you’ve gone insane. I’ll just say this: a man, woman, or child does not need to be perfect in order to be treated as a human being who, according to our theology, bears the Imago Dei — the image of God. We were taught as Evangelicals to believe that all human beings are gloriously unique and valuable. This is embedded into our very theology of the Incarnation: we believe that Jesus was — and is! — not only God…
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The Confidence of Ignorance
It’s really sad when white guys don’t get it. There’s a sui generis difference between the experience of Black Americans and everyone else. I was in a discussion with some people, including some white guys, one who demanded to include his own viewpoint into any discussion about the value of Black lives, often expressed by the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” It was . . . an interesting discussion that went nowhere, because the discussion started from ignorance by this gentleman and never went any further than what he already was convinced was the whole truth. The sad thing isn’t so much that he didn’t listen. (Reader: he didn’t listen.) The sad thing is…
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REVIEW: Just Mercy
I got this book for Christmas, and it sat on my pile of “To Read” books because there were a dozen or so books waiting for me before I could get to this one. But I picked it up, and started reading. This is an extraordinary book, not only for the masterful construction of a story (I’m always looking for that) but also for the deeply personal and intimate way of telling us this story that brings us into the lives of these men and women and children who have been pushed onto a conveyor belt that leads to the extraordinary cruelty of the death penalty in the United States.…
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REVIEW: So You Want to Talk about Race
So you want to write a review . . . I was initially reluctant to read this book by Ijeoma Uluo. I had heard it was “hard” to read. But I had purchased it, and had it sitting on my desk for a few months. “I’ll get to it.” One day. Just not today. So then I was challenged by a friend to read it. I did—and found out that my fears were unfounded. This is a deep, rich, emotionally transparent book about race and even . . . how to talk about race. I need to be absolutely clear here, as absolutely clear as Oluo is in her own…
