Juneteenth: remembering a woman snuffed out five years ago
It was five years ago, summer 2015, that Sandra Bland, driving while black, was wantonly pulled over by police very close to her home. In the dimness of our prevailing sadness, the malevolent passing of one young American woman in a Texas jail cell stands out in its grim narrative. Sandra Bland, in her consuming desperation and misfortune, must never be forgotten–especially in this summer of racial reckoning. We will never know...
The Memphis paradigm of racial failure and hope
‘Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.’ Martin Luther King Jr. included this cogent declaration within his Nobel-acclaimed ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’ in April 1963. The preacher was confined on that occasion because he led “illegal” protests in the city against the continuing and murderous oppression and voter-suppression of black people in that...
Israel is 72 years young.
The State of Israel marks the 72nd anniversary of its creation today, according to the Hebraic calendar. Blessed is the beloved historical homeland! In 1948, the United Nations was new, the thermal heat of the European Holocaust of the Jews still pressed, and the global Christian conscience was reeling from the truth about what happened in Europe between 1933—1945. For a flash, it was morally incumbent upon the nations of the world...
A new and spiritual guide to the complexity of relocation
Kiran Prasad, an emerging philosopher and writer based in San Diego, has written an intuitive, informative volume aptly titled: A Mindful Move: Feel At Home Again. Here is a consoling, insightful, pastoral narrative of an oft-repeated ritual in modern life: relocation. Even as Prasad describes the gritty details and pressures of changing a house, she effectively declares that one’s inner life is affected and fraught. So she is...
Purim: When a Remarkable Woman Led God to the People
Purim, or “Lots,”—a woman’s heroic story based on historical facts—recurs March 9-10. The Scroll will be merrily read, recounting the rescue of the Persian Jews in 357 BCE from a government-led genocide. It should be noted that God is neither mentioned nor quoted anywhere in the text. God is silent but Esther definitely hears from heaven. There are the beloved Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Scripture, including Ecclesiastes, the Song...