Who Are We
I am pleased to announce a new concept set to debut by the end of the first quarter of 2021. It is a stand-alone Magazine named Three-Fifths. Why the name “Three-Fifths?” The inspiration for the concept of three-fifths was inspired by a series of articles in the Accord1 Blog. The articles identify the constitutional pillar of the devaluation of African Americans’ humanity and its extrapolation into a system of injustice.
The Three-Fifths Compromise written into the constitution in 1787 allowed southern slave states to enumerate the African Slave population’s bodies to bolster their representation in the federal government. Yet, this population was apportioned out of the American experiment by a mathematical equation that stated that the African slave population would require five, i.e., the Three-Fifths Compromise for every three white people. All the while, they had no vote.
Why a magazine and why now? Three-Fifths is simply the next progression on the way to the ultimate goal of Building the Bridge Together. Through a thoughtful conversation involving societal reckoning, racial equity, historical perspective, and spiritual insight, it is the hope that this magazine will become one of the many tools used to dismantle Systemic Racism. Understanding that Systemic racism involves the inequity affecting many brown, black, and indigenous people across America, Three-Fifths offers a voice of clarity in an ambiguous world of racial bias.
Three-Fifths is not just a vehicle for following the latest story of injustice, police shootings, etc. though we will remain current. We want to speak from a 50,000-foot big picture perspective to inspire the readers to empower and motivate stakeholders, fostering real change. With our launch, we want to speak from the heart with entries about tangible ways that communities of the majority can reach out in partnership with marginalized communities of color in ways that are not patronizing but collaborative.
“And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8b New King James Version
Our contributors bring varied and unique experiences, worldviews, and intellect, not only to identify the problem but to offer solutions to this continuing difficulty America faces. They represent the ethnic diversity that guarantees a multiplicity of thought equal to the comprehensive problem’s task while paving a way toward solutions.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin
PUBLISHER/EDITOR AND FOUNDER
Kevin Robinson has been a pioneer in the area of diversity, having lived it being raised in Perry Township, Ohio as a young child of the first African American Family in the area and school.
With all of the negative realities of pre-nineteen-seventies suburbia serving as a focal point in his life, he chose unity over division. Many years in the making through a long career as a professional Fire Fighter, 1985-2018), bachelor degreed senior co-pastor (1993-2001), staff pastor (2004-2006), evangelist, consultant, and mentor/mediator to many in the area of multicultural ministry.
Kevin and his wife, Beverly, have established a track record of building up multi-ethnic congregations and Building Bridges in the corporate world. Kevin and Beverly are also Authors of the book entitled The Coat of Many. Colors.
Kevin has been a consistent voice for the voiceless and a “Bridge Builder” in the founding of Accord1. In this perspective, the initial apparatus to promote Synergy could offer the development of intersections between various ethnic communities, i.e., “Building the Bridge Together” over the ethnic-cultural divide.”
“The term Synergy describes the pattern by which phenomena relates to each other including how people relate to each other and other phenomena. A synergistic pattern brings phenomena together interrelating them, creating an often unexpected, new, and greater result from the disparate, seemingly conflicting parts.”
Synergy, Healing and Empowerment Richard Katz 2012
With the events of the 2020 Racial Reckoning, Kevin continued to elevate as a voice for those who have been left behind, inhibiting a true synergy. The urgency of the moment dictated a need toward the call for racial justice to achieve a genuine and lasting synergy. Kevin has led many groups and town hall meetings on racial justice as a traveled speaker, both domestically and internationally. Kevin has facilitated as a discussion leader and built small group ministry models for ministries both large and small. He has also led many larger group conversations/workshops of books and video series, including White Fragility, The Color of Compromise, Divided No More, etc. Henceforth the founding of Three-Fifths Magazine became an independent apparatus for working toward racial justice by embodying the principles captured in the scripture of Micah 6:8
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 NKJV
REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS
Jacquie Abram is the international best-selling and award-winning Author of Hush Money: How One Woman Proved Systemic Racism in her Workplace and Kept her Job. She has been featured in Forbes, Yahoo News, CBSNews, and NBCNews and is an Amazon #1 Best Seller, as well as the recipient of the Readers Favorite gold medal for social issues novels.
Before Jacquie began her journey as an Author and DEI/Anti-racism Consultant, she had a career in higher education that she was very good at and that she enjoyed. A career that paid her a lucrative income which, as a single mother of two girls, was the only income that allowed her to not only provide for her family, but also to pay her bills. A career that spanned nearly two decades and by any measure should’ve been a successful career. But it wasn’t. Because throughout her career, she experienced racism in the workplace, not the kind you see in a lot of movies, books, and TVs shows about racism that occurred decades ago during a time when it was more overt and easily spotted, but the kind of racism that is more covert, hidden, and harder to prove.
After Jacquie’s career was derailed multiple times by multiple employers and she suffered racial trauma that was so severe she considered homicide and suicide, she pulled herself out of corporate America, wrote Hush Money, a book inspired by true events and co-authored by her daughters, self-published it, and sold it from the trunk of her car at parks and pop-up shops. Today, Hush Money continues to be read in numerous countries around the world and has achieved the following:
✔️International Best-Selling & Award-Winning book Featured in Forbes
✔️#1 Best Seller (Amazon) ✔️#1 in Best Eye-Opening African American Women’s Fiction (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️#1 in Books to Build Up Your Social Justice Literacy: Racism (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️#1 in Black Female Protagonists (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️#1 in Contemporary Women’s Fiction (Goodreads Listopia) ✔️#1 in Mixed Race Representation (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️#1 in Strong & Inspiring Heroines/Female Protagonists (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️#1 Fresh Speakers (Goodreads Listopia)
✔️Gold Medal Recipient for Social Issues Novels (Readers’ Favorite)
✔️#3 in Top African American Christian Fiction (findthisbest.com)
Hush Money is much more than just another book about systemic racism. For employees, it’s a roadmap, a survival guide for fighting racism and other forms of discrimination in the workplace. For employers, it’s a compass for finding and identifying covert racism in the organization. For allies who have never experienced racism, it’s a powerful way to step into the shoes of a racial discrimination victim.
Contact Information:
Phone: 719.582.6803 Email:
Linkedin: Jacquie Abram
Facebook: Jacquie Abram
Facebook Twitter: https://twitter.com/HushMoney2020
Rev. Joel A. Bowman, Sr. (@JoelABowmanSr) is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He serves as the founder and senior pastor of the Temple of Faith Baptist Church, in Louisville, Kentucky. Joel also maintains a practice as a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 30 years of experience in the mental health field. His commentaries and poems have been printed in numerous publications. Joel is married and he and his wife, Nannette, have three children, Kayla, Katie, and Joel, Jr.
Gabriela Buitrón is faculty teaching undergraduates at a large online university. Her education career spans more than twenty years and includes high school and college teaching and multiple teaching awards. Gabriela has a BA in Communication Education and an MA in Communication Studies. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Technology and Design.
Gabriela is a native of Quito, Ecuador. Raised in the upper-middle, privileged mestizo “majority” of Ecuador, she experienced racism and “otherizing” for the first time when she moved to the USA at 16. She came to faith in a White evangelical church, married a White pastor, and adopted two Black children, becoming a binational, multi-racial, bilingual, adoptive family.
Over the years, her experiences as a Latina woman in this country, a profound disappointment with the response of the evangelical church to the racism, both personal and systemic, that exists in our society, and a fierce desire to help create a better world for her children have driven her to dedicate every aspect of her life to the work of racial justice and its intersection with faith.
Gabriela’s professional work and research interests focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in online education, particularly as they benefit underrepresented undergraduate students. In October 2021, she presented a session on compassionate teaching strategies at the 28th HBCU Faculty Development Network Conference. She is also the lead author of a chapter called The Students We Have: Compassionate Grading in Online Courses to be included in the book Advancing DEI and Creating Inclusive Environments in the Online Space, which will be published in the Fall of 2022.
Gabriela homeschools her children and is passionate about providing them with an education that highlights the history and beauty of their ancestry and is not Eurocentric and Western-driven. This passion has led her to volunteer to be part of a team of administrators of a social media group called The Rest of the Story that curates diverse and inclusive curricula for homeschooling families.
Gabriela’s hobbies include writing, reading, and talking through movies with her family.
Lisa Colón DeLay is a writer, designer, teacher, speaker, and host of the broadcast Spark My Muse. (sparkmymuse.com) She holds an MA in Spiritual Formation and is the author of “The Wild Land Within” published with Broadleaf Books.
Doc Courage! (also known officially as Dr. Angela Courage-Mellott) is the CEO of Courage! Communication 4 Change, author, speaker, and university teaching faculty member.
She holds a Master of Arts in communication with focus in interracial and intercultural communication. Her Doctorate in Higher Education with emphasis in College Teaching and Faculty Leadership equip her to empower student, pastors, church leaders, and employers to build bridges of communication in the classroom, organizations, community, and across cultural groups.
Her intentionally multiethnic and multicultural life experiences and lifestyle led her to focus on the science of interracial and intercultural communication, which together uniquely qualify her to lead healthy conversations that empower people to better communicate with diverse others.
Dr. Courage creates, facilitates, and speaks at events as a dynamic educator on interracial & intercultural communication, conflict & faith’s role in personal and organizational inclusion, diversity, and creating equity by amplifying the voices of marginalized people groups, and educating audiences to connect history with modernity.
Dr. Courage has co-authored “5 Blinders to Seeing Colorr” with her friend and colleague Dr. LaTonya Jackson, and has written a study guide to accompany the “Loving Our Neighbors” workshop which she designed and facilitates at faith based organizations. Her “Loving Our Neighbors” workshop, is a resource to help faith-based organizations become more representative of the Kingdom of God in behavior towards diverse people groups and diversity within local church bodies and the larger community.
Dr. Courage’s mantra is, “The quality of your communication dictates the quality of your relationships.”
Dr. Tammy Hodo is the founder and President of All Things Diverse LLC, which provides consulting
services to businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and government entities
who value diversity and want to develop a high performing inclusive workforce. All Things
Diverse, LLC is dedicated to helping organizations realize the full potential that can only be
achieved through deliberate action. The company is committed to helping its clients create a
workplace culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Some of the services her company
offer include diversity, equity, and inclusion training and workshops, assessments and surveys,
strategic diversity planning and diversity audits.
Tammy earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Urban Studies, with a
minor in Sociology in which she specializations in Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity. She
obtained her Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbus State University, and
bachelor’s from Albany State University. She worked in academia for over 18 years in a variety
of positions, including faculty and university administrator. Tammy continues to be active in
academia as she writes academic articles relevant to the experiences of minorities in America.
Her most recent publications (2021) are two chapters In African American Families: Research,
Theory, and Practice, which was published by Cognella Academic Publishing. She wrote about
“The Urban Experiences of African American Families” and “Theoretical and Methodological
Issues of Studying the African American Family. Currently she is writing a book with a
colleague entitled: Having the Hard Conversations on Race, Ethnicity, Politics, and Social
Justice in Workplace and Educational Settings, which is due to be published this year (2022) by
Routledge.
Her company has had contracts with the City of Jacksonville addressing policing and trust with
minority communities (Safer Together). The City of Tampa training employees on Diversity and
Implicit Bias as well as the federal government division of Veterans Administration in which we
teach employees about Cultural Competency, Microaggressions and Communication Styles,
Dr. Hodo has written course content for an educational vendor on Implicit Bias and
Microaggressions https://www.vectorsolutions.com/resources/blogs/implicit-biasmicroaggressions-higher-education/ She recently wrote course content for Discrimination
Awareness in the workplace https://www.vectorsolutions.com/course-details-edu/discriminationawareness-in-the-workplace/ss-staff/course-discrimination_awareness/. As a TEDx speaker, she
discussed the Social Implications of Race https://youtu.be/a4jPGhN5TCM.
She is also a service-connected disabled veteran of the U.S. Navy.
Rev. Tobias K. Houpe is a licensed and ordained minister and a native of Columbus, OH. He is the current VP of the International Fellowship of Faith Ministries (IFFM), and recently appointed as the Director of Operations for Tel International based out of Dallas, TX. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from, The Ohio State University in 1983 and studied extensively in the department of Black Studies holding memberships in several Black Student organizations and represented the College of Fine Arts on the Student Government during his senior year. In 2003, Rev. Houpe was requested by then Ohio Senator Ray Miller to work as his Legislative Assistant, where he served at the State House.
Upon graduating from OSU, Rev. Houpe joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ (currently Cru) and functioned as Campus Director for Clark Atlanta University at the Atlanta University Center (AUC), and expanded his ministry to include Tuskegee University. After leaving the ministry of CCC, Rev. Houpe started his own 501c3 international ministry, called the African American Christian Connection (AACC) and began a ministry to incarcerated youths and mentoring gang members.
In 1989, as a staff member of CCC, Rev. Houpe made his first international missions trip to South Africa while the nation was under Apartheid and in a state of emergency. He relocated to Cape Town, South Africa in 1994 during the nation’s first all-race election. Upon his return to the United States and in the latter part of 1994, Rev. Houpe became an investigative journalist and columnist for the Call & Post and Columbus Post newspapers and has been the guest on several radio broadcasts, and a local TV talk show.
As a missionary, Rev. Houpe has had an extensive national and international travel schedule including Turkey, India, Italy, England, Dominican Republic, and several nations throughout the continent of Africa. He also partnered with a Christian Native American missions team in 1995 and took part in 14 summer mission projects in Arizona and New Mexico on Navajo Reservations.
In 2007, Rev. Houpe took on a life partner and married Kingston, Jamaican native, Althea Bernardette Leslie. He is currently working on writing 3 books: an auto-biography focusing on his experiences as an African American Missionary; a book and lecture series on the topic of racism, entitled “Hoodwinked,” addressing the origins of American racism/white supremacy and its’ current day ripple effects; and racism/white supremacy in the hijacking of Christianity and its’ role in colonization, American slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, and beyond.
Arthur L. Jones, III is an Episcopal Priest whose canonical residence is within a Diocese in the Northeastern region of the United States. Before joining the Episcopal Church, he was licensed and ordained as a Pastor in the Missionary Baptist Church. Arthur is a 1989 graduate of a HBCU (Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia) with a BA in English Literature and Language. He is a 2018 graduate of a PWI (the Sewanee School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee) with a M.Div. Arthur also did graduate studies at both Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.
Arthur is a native of Thomasville, Georgia – a small, affluent town of 30,000 residents located in extreme Southwestern Georgia. Although afforded a comfortable upbringing alongside his two siblings by two loving, hardworking parents, Arthur experienced racism and treated as “other” during his childhood as the direct result of being one of the few students of color in a class only two years removed from school integration within his hometown during the early 1970s.
Arthur took to heart his parents’ fervent beliefs that he could be anything he wanted to be in this life if he worked hard, made good choices, received the best education possible, and stayed out of trouble. And despite success in radio, print journalism, IT, education, and the non-profit sector, the subtle and blatant racism he has consistently encountered has challenged his optimistic personality and positive outlook.
He is happily married to an Episcopal Priest (Jennifer) – and together they are raising a 16-month-old son in upstate New York.
Arthur retains great interest in staying abreast of trends and issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion globally in general; and nationally in particular. As an Op-Ed newspaper columnist, Arthur has written extensively about race/ethnicity as related to sports, current events, politics, music, religion, and the arts.
He serves (and has served) as a member of several executive boards. He has been a proud and active member of numerous community service based organizations: including the 100 Black Men of America, Inc.; the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; and the NAACP to name a few. Arthur is well-versed in both American history and African American history. He is passionate about justice in all its forms: economic, social, political, environmental, educational, etc.
Arthur’s areas of interest include sports, writing, journaling, mentoring your people, communing with nature, politics, cooking/baking, travel, movies, skydiving, and spending time with his family members and friends. He plans to launch his own podcast in the near future.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Lewis is the Executive Director of the Peace Garden Project and also leads spiritual formation groups at Duke Divinity School. She is passionate about the intersection of religion and the environment, as well as helping people and communities reach their full potential through creativity that engages the spiritual and the natural worlds. She is an award winning filmmaker and hosted the Radio Show Unpacking Faith that examined connecting our spirituality with daily life. Michelle is the first person of color to hold joint Master’s degrees in Religion and the Environment from Yale and she completed her Doctoral work at Emory University. She Lewis is a current candidate for the United States Senate in North Carolina. In her free time, she writes, rides her bike, tells jokes, and bakes cakes.
Carliss Maddox is an accomplished author, poet, educator, playwright, and entrepreneur. She is a native of Georgia and has lived in Maryland for the past thirteen years. She has published two children’s books, Firstgarten, and #thebuildup:12 Daily Affirmations for Young Boys of Color, as well as a collection of poetry entitled R.A.U.W. (Real and Unadulterated Words of Poetry). One of her poems, Face the Mirror, was featured in the book, Writing for My Sanity by Melony Hill. Additionally, Carliss is also the owner of Carli and Company, a business dedicated to shifting mindsets and changing narratives by providing uplifting and empowering books, writings, and apparel for adults and children.
Carliss holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration (cum laude) and a Master of Arts degree in Education with a Specialization in Early Childhood. She received her educational leadership training in Educational Administration and Supervision from Morgan State University. As part of the AFT/BTU Teacher Leaders Program, a select group of 15 teacher leaders within Baltimore City Public Schools, she developed and presented a proposal for a parent and family engagement program called P.I.L.L.A.R.S. Her academic recognitions include Outstanding Educator in Gifted and Talented Education and a Trailblazer Award. During her distinguished teaching career, she has been nominated twice for Teacher of the Year in Baltimore City Public Schools. Carliss is a multi-faceted educator with a wide range of responsibilities. Along with her role as an Early Literacy Coach, she has also served as an early childhood teacher, a curriculum writer for the Gifted and Talented Program, and an after-school tutor. In addition, she served as an Instructional Coach for a grant-funded project with the University of Maryland Language Science Center.
Carliss is very passionate about being involved in the community. She is currently serving as the President of the Greater Baltimore Urban League Guild. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, The National Association for the Education of Young Children, American Federation of Teachers, Baltimore County C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates), and the NAACP. Furthermore, she was awarded the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service by the Department of the Army for her commitment to community service. As part of the Greater Baltimore Urban League, she organized the Maarifa Multicultural Youth Book Fair, which won third place in the Community Service Award category for the Eastern Region at the National Urban League Convention Conference in 2022.
In her free time, Carliss enjoys researching African-American history and tracing her family roots. She has a wide range of interests, including art, theater, food, culture, music, and a good laugh. She is currently working on a children’s book about civil rights and a narrative poem about black women throughout history.
Stephen Matlock is a full-time editor and part-time author and gardener, often overwhelmed by both words and weeds. Along the way to adulthood (a promised destination and not a requirement of the journey), he has tried his hand at many things, from running a restaurant to technical writing, where the goal is to tell people what to do, but nicely. He lives with his wife in the Pacific Northwest and has seen his children fly away to build their own lives, although they do return regularly for food, advice, and help on finding what that pesky sound in the car engine means other than money. Like most people in his faith community, is still working out the details of what it means to follow Jesus.
Carl McRoy is an ordained minister, a frequent feature writer for Message magazine, author of Yell at God and Live, R U TUFF ENUFF?, and Impediments to Power: What’s Blocking Your Blessings?, and founder of the “Your Liberation Library” video/podcast series.
Dr. Medina-Cortes is an agent of change who believes everyone should have access to an education. Dr. Medina-Cortes graduated from Columbia Southern University with a Doctorate of Business Administration, Master of Organizational Leadership, Bachelor of Criminal Justice Administration, and Eastland-Fairfield Police academy, where she was voted to lead as the class President, ensuring everyone in her class passed the Ohio Peace Officer State exam. Dr. Medina-Cortes has worked in the criminal justice system for over fifteen years seeing the justice and injustices of individuals. Dr. Medina-Cortes has over 10 years of experience as an investigator of financial – white-collar crimes. Dr. Medina-Cortes is also an educator, Adjunct Instructor, and police academy instructor who has taught on community policing, interview and interrogation, domestic violence, and a few other topics.
Dr. Medina-Cortes has spearheaded a translation committee to obtain translated brochures in Spanish in order to better equip and educate the Latino-Hispanic community on available resources. In her efforts of being successful in the creation of the translation committee, Dr. Medina-Cortes and team were awarded a teamwork award.
Dr. Medina-Cortes has dedicated many years of her life to volunteering within the community where she resides, serving and educating those underserved and underprivileged communities. An advocate and a voice for the unspoken. A native of Puerto Rico, and the first and only family member to obtain a doctoral degree.
Matthew Philistine is from Wilkes Barre, PA. He’s an investment advisor representative, providing investment advice and insurance protection to families as well as businesses. One of his interests is mentoring new startups to succeed. Matthew also enjoys writing about dismantling systemic racism and educating people about racial equity. Mr. Philistine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Care Administration and a Master of Health Administration degree from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and spending time with his family.
Naphtali Renshaw is a connector and an innovator, which means that she often finds herself setting tables with one hand and flipping tables with the other. She spent a good deal of her childhood surveying the world through a moving van window, often somewhere between Oregon and Texas. It is very possible that a childhood of shallow roots and transitional belonging prepared Naphtali to do the work that she most loves to do: identify and create spaces and opportunities for belonging where there are few. Usually, these spaces exist somewhere in the places between communities of faith and communities who have been historically marginalized.
Naphtali has a bachelor’s degree in English and Cross-Cultural Studies, and a graduate degree in Global Development and Justice, with an emphasis in Peacebuilding. She has been a newspaper columnist, a barista, and a maverick librarian. Naphtali has volunteered in various capacities in churches of various denominations, was almost a youth minister, and once ran a concession stand at a summer camp, but only once. She is a public innovator and has participated in and helped launch several grassroots initiatives related to societal justice, community development, and church engagement.
Alongside her partner of 15 years, Naphtali has been both a foster and adoptive parent, and has become an ardent advocate for the transformation of public systems. She and Jared have a total of 4 children and are at home in Eugene, Oregon where Naphtali serves as Area Community Connector and Innovator to extend relational engagement efforts of local Wesleyan congregations and to amplify voices of unheard communities.
Frank Robinson is a retired pastor from California who has a diverse and unique background in both rural and urban ministry. Frank’s life from a young age has been one of crossing barriers, of learning and dealing with diversity, race and many related issues. In 1984 Alabama, not long after a local lynching, he married his wife Sandra. Theirs is an interracial marriage, which was a scandal at the time. Their first child was born across the state line so no one would kill him. In 1992 Los Angeles, Frank was at his desk on Crenshaw when, following the Rodney King beating verdicts, the city went up in flames. He went into the riot area each day, then helped organize and work community clean up. He is a fine artist and a writer, the author of Letters To a Mixed Race Son, which began with the idea that if someone killed Frank, he could speak wisdom, love, purpose and direction to his son. Frank and his wife Sandra now live in Texas. They have four lovely, intelligent, grown children. Their home is a blessed home.
Rodney S. Sadler, Jr. is Associate Professor of Bible and Director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, NC.
He is a graduate of Howard University (1989, B.S. Psychology/Philosophy), Howard University School of Divinity (1992, M.Div.), and Duke University (2001, Ph.D. Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology), and has also studied at Hebrew University (1990). He is an ordained Baptist minister who has served in pastoral supply roles at several Presbyterian congregations and as interim pastor at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church (American Baptist) and Sardis Baptist Church (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) in Charlotte, NC.
He is a widely published author and editor. In addition to authoring numerous articles and essays, he is the author of Can A Cushite Change His Skin: An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible, co-author of The Genesis of Liberation: Biblical Interpretation in the Antebellum Narratives of the Enslaved, and has served as a managing and associate editor of The African American Devotional Bible and the Africana Bible respectively. Among his research interests are the intersection of race and Scripture, the impact of our images of Jesus for the perpetuation of racial thought in America, the development of African American biblical interpretation in slave narratives, the enactment of justice in society based on biblical imperatives, and the intersection of religion and politics.
Dr. Sadler’s work in the community includes terms as a board member of, Siegle Avenue Partners, and Loaves and Fishes, the Hispanic Summer Program, the Transformative Justice Coalition, the National Election Defense Coalition, the Voting Rights Alliance, Progress NC, and has been on the Executive Committee of the North Carolina NAACP, and served as Board President of Meck MIN. His activism includes work with the Community for Creative Non-Violence in D.C., Durham C.A.N., H.E.L.P. Charlotte, the Middle East Peace Working Group, and the U.S. Africa Ebola Working Group. He is the Co-Chair of People Demanding Action (Center for Common Ground), the Co-Chair of the Justice Action Mobilization Network, the Vice Chair of the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, the Co-Chair of the Truth Reconciliation and Anti-poverty Commission, the Co-Chair of the Faith in Solar Project, and he has worked organizing clergy with and developing theological resources for the Forward Together/Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. He also currently serves in Charlotte on the School Superintendent’s Clergy Advisory Council, and has served on the county manager’s Clergy Healthcare Advisory Team and Charlotte’s Review Team for the Police Foundation Report. In addition, Dr. Sadler has also hosted a weekly national radio program for the People Demanding Action Network called, the “Politics of Faith.” He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Reimagining America Project.
Dr. Sadler resides in Charlotte where he has lived since 2002.
Sarah L. Sanderson is a writer, editor, teacher, and speaker who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her first book, which focuses on Oregon’s history of anti-Black exclusion and the impact of that history on her own formation as a White person, is due out from WaterBrook Press in 2023. Sarah holds a Master in Teaching degree from Seattle University, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Links to her other published work may be found at www.sarahlsanderson.com.
Robin Schlenger, LCSW has many years of clinical and supervisory experience working in the nonprofit and public sectors. She is a therapist, clinical supervisor,
and a White Anti-Racist Consultant, Coach, and Organizer.
As a consultant, Robin specializes in facilitating presentations and training that are rooted in restorative and anti-racist principles, which include difficult dialogues, supervision across differences, and creating respectful and appreciative workplaces. She speaks extensively on white privilege from an individual and organizational perspective and what it means to partner with people of color in antiracist work.
Robin’s clinical experiences include working in hospitals, schools, counseling centers, and private practice with adults and adolescents, in individual and group therapy. She was a Clinical Director for a community-based organization where she supervised social workers, creative arts therapists, and licensed mental health counselors. As a part of the Professional Development team, Robin created and facilitated training, workshops, and small-group learning experiences both inside and outside of the organization.
After attending an Undoing Racism Workshop by the People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond, Robin became passionate about dismantling racism. Understanding that this work is an ongoing process, she continues to develop her own anti-racist lens while offering supervision and coaching to other clinicians, clients, and organizations that want to foster anti-oppressive practices in their own lives and work.
Robin is a current member of The People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond’s (PISAB) North East Leadership team. and a member of The European Dissent (ED) leadership team which is an Affinity Group of PISAB. ED is a group of people of European descent who “dissent” from the ideology of white supremacy and organize together with other whites and people of color to undo racism.
Robin received her Master’s in Social Work from New York University and has also studied Psychodrama, Drama Therapy, Playback Theater, and restorative conversations which she uses in her work. She has extensive experience in facilitating difficult dialogues and conversations about differences with a focus on growth, healing, and repairing.
Robin wants to acknowledge and lift up the BIPOC in her life whose generosity, and patience have made it possible to be doing this work. Without them, she would not be where she is today.
April Griffith Taylor, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a Human Resources Leader over thirty years of experience encompassing Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
April has earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Mass Communications and Journalism from Indiana State University and an MBA from Ashland University. She also holds a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification in Human Resources.
April has held board memberships with the National Black MBA Association and NewsReel Magazine for the Blind. As a recipient of “Who’s Who in Black Columbus” April has used her corporate platform to raise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awareness in corporate America.
April is a founding member of the Women’s Leadership Council (United Way of Central Ohio) and frequently volunteers in her community and church.
April currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, and lives by the motto “Healthy Mind, Body and Soul”.
Gena Thomas is a writer, a faith wrestler, a wife, and a mom. She and her husband, Andrew, have been married for 13 years and they have two elementary-aged children. Gena works as a program coordinator for World Relief’s Immigration Programs team. She has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, in USA Today and Christianity Today among other publications. She published her first book, A Smoldering Wick: Igniting Missions Work with Sustainable Practices in 2016 which merges international development practices with short-term missions. Published in 2019, Gena’s second book, Separated by the Border: A Birth Mother, a Foster Mother, and a Migrant Child’s 3,000-Mile Journey unpacks the story of reuniting her Honduran foster daughter with her family after separation at the US border. Alisa & The Coronavirus is Gena’s first children’s book, self-published in April 2020. She is working on an upcoming book about God’s abundance.
Prasanta Verma, MBA MPH, was born under an Asian sun, raised in the Appalachian foothills in the south, and currently resides in the Upper Midwest. A writer and speaker, Prasanta has a book about ethnic loneliness forthcoming in 2024. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Indianapolis Review, Barren Magazine, The Curator Magazine, Sojourners, a New York Quarterly anthology, Amethyst Review, (in)courage, The Truly Co., The Contemplative Writer, The Mudroom Blog, and others. When she’s not writing and working, she’s drinking chai, walking, or reading. Connect with her on Twitter @VermaPrasanta, Instagram @prasantaverma, or subscribe to her newsletter, at www.prasantaverma.com.
Michelle Ferrigno Warren is the president and CEO of Virago Strategies, a consulting group that works to strengthen community voices for systemic change by providing strategic direction and project management support for effective civic engagement. She helped found Open Door Ministries, a community development 501(c)(3) corporation in downtown Denver, to address poverty, addiction, and homelessness through social programs.
With policy expertise in economic justice and human service issues, she has served as advocacy and strategic engagement director for the Christian Community Development Association and done coalition work with the National Immigration Forum. Warren is a senior fellow with The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute and adjunct faculty at Denver Seminary. She and her husband live in Denver’s Westside neighborhood and have three adult children. She is the author of The Power of Proximity,Moving Beyond Awareness to Action, IVPress 2017 & Join the Resistance, Step Into the Good Work of Kingdom Justice, IVPress 2022. You can learn more about Michelle on her website and by following her on social media: @mcfwarren on FB, Twitter, IG
Michelle Ferrigno Warren, MPA
720.472.0871
Rev. Kris Watson is the founder of Nurturing Justice, Inc. She is a nationally certified trainer in the Sacred Conversations to End Racism curriculum of the United Church of Christ, working with clergy and lay people nationally in the important work to dismantle racism. Rev. Kris currently serves as an Associate Minister at Safe Haven UCC in Ridgewood, NY. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Association of the NY Conference of the United Church of Christ.
Rev. Kris is a graduate of Vassar College, and the Fordham University School of Law. She started her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office after which she entered into the private practice of law specializing in criminal defense and family law. In 2013, she obtained her Master of Divinity degree from the New York Theological Seminary.
In addition to the private practice of law, Kris is a mediator, mediation trainer, non-profit leader, organizational consultant, training consultant and change manager. She founded Nurturing Justice to advance the notion that there is no hierarchy of human value based on skin color, and to encourage relational transformation between different cultural groups. Nurturing Justice brings together a diversity of people who desire to be part of a nurturing community that pursues justice and racial equity through education, support, and action.
Nurturing Justice website: Nurturing Racial Justice through Relational Transformation (nurturingjustice.org)
Safe Haven UCC: Safe Haven United Church of Christ – A Haven of help, healing and hope! (safehavenucc.org)
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Stephen Allred, an attorney and ordained minister, served as an academy Bible teacher and church pastor for more than 14 years before taking a hiatus from church employment to practice law. On the side, he hosts the Do Justice podcast and serves as of counsel for the Church State Council, the advocacy and legal services ministry of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Steve is also the religious liberty liaison for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He is the author of Do Justice: The Case for Biblical Social Justice. He and his wife, Cheri, live in Northern California with their three children.
Three-Fifths 