As The Crow Flies – Soaring Towards Justice and Flourishing: The Straight Line Isn’t Always the Easy One: Courage in Conviction
In life, we must take a stance to act morally and make ethically sound decisions. Truth is shaped by what we have internalized over the years: the learned traditions that create self-worth, loyalty, and action in the face of fear. … Continue reading As The Crow Flies – Soaring Towards Justice and Flourishing: The Straight Line Isn’t Always the Easy One: Courage in Conviction
A reflection on perspective, history, grounding, and action in the long work of justice and human flourishing.
Every September, the natural world begins to signal change. Birds move with purpose, guided by memory, instinct, need, and a destination they may never have seen but still know to seek. People are trying to find their way, too. Families … Continue reading A reflection on perspective, history, grounding, and action in the long work of justice and human flourishing.
August Theme: Reconstruction: What We Build After the Storm
After every great upheaval—whether personal, political, cultural, or spiritual—comes a defining question: What now? Following our exploration of Afterlife, which examined what remains long after systems, institutions, and injustices are presumed dead, and Backlash, which confronts the forces that resist … Continue reading August Theme: Reconstruction: What We Build After the Storm
Democracy Under Reconstruction, Again
Recovering America’s Democratic Memory “Be true to what you said on paper.”— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most Americans know that the Civil War ended slavery. Far fewer know what came next.After four years of war, the United States faced … Continue reading Democracy Under Reconstruction, Again
RECONSTRUCTION: Clear the Wreckage, Return to the Blueprint
We often build from brokenness. We grieve, then put ourselves back together again more times than we would like to admit. When I see the word “reconstruction,” I notice the prefix “re,” meaning “again.” That gives me hope. Hope that … Continue reading RECONSTRUCTION: Clear the Wreckage, Return to the Blueprint
The Game
Bernie Madoff became a sacrificial lamb because he violated the rules and took advantage of the untouchables: wealthy, “white,” male, landowners. Every now and then, they may drop one into the system to give the appearance of justice and no … Continue reading The Game
Peace, Be Still: Reconstructing America After the Storm
“If you get rid of unfair practices,quit blaming victims,quit gossiping about other people’s sins,If you are generous with the hungryand start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,your shadowed lives will be bathed in … Continue reading Peace, Be Still: Reconstructing America After the Storm
Every Reconstruction Builds a Moral World
No society simply survives a storm. Every society reconstructs. The only question is what it reconstructs. Some rebuild institutions while leaving injustice intact. Others restore public order while preserving the assumptions that fractured it in the first place. Still others … Continue reading Every Reconstruction Builds a Moral World
After the Fire, What Do We Build? Wilmington, 1898, the Voting Rights Act, and the Unfinished Work of Reconstruction
“Let us rise up and build.”Nehemiah 2:18, KJV Dear Reader, I am a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. My family and I are what I call geographical ancestors of 1898. We are not descendants looking back at a distant place. … Continue reading After the Fire, What Do We Build? Wilmington, 1898, the Voting Rights Act, and the Unfinished Work of Reconstruction
