In honor of Black History Month, and in recognition of our deep racial divides, we offer here the list of past blog posts focusing on African Americans, slavery, the Civil Rights movement, the Lost Cause narrative and Confederate monuments, racism, and related topics. 2/5/2016 Reincarnation and Genetics: A Novel Approach to Facing Racism 7/29/2016 SPLC […]
Civil Rights
Expressing Gratitude for Small Miracles
In order to keep sane during challenging times, it is always fruitful to express gratitude for things that go right or that bring hope. From a progressive perspective in the United States, we do have a few pieces of news for which we can shout “hurrah!” Confederate Monuments Come Tumbling Down In Richmond, VA, the […]
The Legacy of Slavery, Part II: The “Lost Cause” Narrative and Confederate Symbols and Monuments
In our previous post, we examined some of the current discussion around reparations for slavery. Many factors are coming together in our society that make it apparent that our “original sin” of slavery still has serious ramifications more than 150 years after the Civil War, ramifications that need addressing sooner rather than later because of […]
The Legacy of Slavery, Part I: A Look at Reparations
The issue of reparations has lately become a fairly significant part of our national conversation. The fact that we are even discussing this in 2019 shows that the legacy of the enslavement of African Americans still persists – 156 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 154 years after the end of the Civil War and the […]
What is the ADF and Why is Jeff Sessions Praising It?
Once again we in the United States of America are facing an egregious example of “doublespeak” by the Trump Administration. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has announced a “Religious Liberty Task Force” that is, in effect, a vicious attack against the LGBTQ community. Here is how the dots are connected: The ADF is the […]
Westar Wins Wilbur Award: Recognizing Religious Literacy Resources in the US
As we have noted elsewhere (HarvardX course, the SBL Annual Meeting and Scripture translation), religious literacy among Americans is sorely lacking. This is significant for several reasons. Misunderstandings caused by this absence often lead to conflict between people of different faiths and, at times, violence, injury and death. The gaps of knowledge in media stories […]
Teaching American Slavery: Confronting an Educational Deficit in Our Schools
As of the presidential election of 2008, the US has now had an African American President – for eight years. When Barack Obama was first elected, there was speculation, even hope, that the US might finally be entering a time of reduced racism. Of course, many others among us realized that merely the election of […]