by William Ackah, May 22, 2020 (Birkbeck Comments) I watched my first virtual funeral this week. I and around 80 others joined the 15 or so people who were physically present in Bristol UK to say goodbye to an amazing woman. I first met this woman nearly 20 years ago, when I moved to the …
by R. Drew Smith, April 30, 2020 (Black Perspectives) Against all odds, a movement for racial justice took hold in mid-20th-century America, emerging from within the racially-heated South, and drawing sustenance from a rich-array of Black religious sources. A cadre of activist Black clergypersons were among the central figures in this historic social movement, with organizations such …
Undaunted Resistance: Joseph Lowery and the Spirit of SCLC Read More »
by William Ackah, January 21, 2020 (Birkbeck Comments) Meghan’s Blackness has lost its sparkle even quicker than I originally envisioned when I wrote an initial comment piece shortly after the royal wedding. As I alluded to at the time and reiterate here, the sparkle of Meghan’s Blackness could not last because at its core Britain is …
Time to Shut Up! Racism, Royalty and the limitations of Britishness Read More »
by R. Drew Smith, January 15, 2020 (Sojourners) In 2020, January remembrances of Martin Luther King Jr. are occurring against the backdrop of two high-profile films emphasizing sacrificial servant leadership. First, the film Harriet provided a renewed focus on celebrated abolitionist Harriet Tubman. This biopic chronicles her mid-19th century enslavement in Maryland, her daring escape to a …
‘Until we are all free’: Learning from tubman, king, and stevenson Read More »
by Stephanie C. Boddie, November 6, 2019 (The Conversation) For many young people, the toughest choice they will ever have to make about food is what to eat at home or what to choose from a menu. But for Texas high schoolers Tamiya, Juliana, Trisha, Cara and Kristen, the choices they have to make about …
To solve the hidden epidemic of teen hunger, we should listen to teens who experience it Read More »
by R. Drew Smith, October 23, 2019 (Sojourners) Twenty-five years ago, Nelson Mandela was elected South African president after serving 27 years in prison for leading resistance against racially-oppressive apartheid rule. During that same moment in April of 1994, a horrible tragedy was unfolding further north on the African continent as longstanding ethnic grievances within …
National Reconciliation Without Accountability Rings Hollow Read More »
by R. Drew Smith, August 27, 2019 (Institute of the Black World 21st Century) With 2019 regarded by many as marking 400 years since the beginnings of African enslavement on the North American continent, the costs and consequences of that historic atrocity and the case for reparations for descendants of slavery have been receiving considerable …
by R. Drew Smith, August 2, 2019 (Religion News Service) (RNS) — American religion and politics have been stubbornly connected — except where we pretend they aren’t. Despite constitutional separations between church and state, religion has been more closely tied to politics and politics more closely tied to religion than most care to admit. And …
In Cameroon, religious freedom can’t be separated from politics Read More »
by William Ackah, May 24, 2018 (Birkbeck Comments) Symbols are important. For some people, seeing Meghan Markle marry into the monarchy, while a Black preacher expounded the word and a Black Choir sang at the ceremony, was viewed as ushering in a new area of racialised harmony and black cultural acceptance at all levels of …
What Happens When Meghan Markle’s Blackness loses its Sparkle? Read More »
