Tag: #blacklivesmatter
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What makes a man like Muhammad Ali?
In his essay, Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin wrote about a chronic disease he contracted as a young black professional after being refused service at a New Jersey diner. Hearing the racist rationale that, “we don’t serve Negroes here,” Baldwin was overcome with: “a kind of blind fever, a pounding in the skull…
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A Reason to Live, Even in February
It’s hard to love life in February. All I see on my drive to work is the grey sky mixing into the grey snow that melds with the grey cement of the cracked and salt-stained road beneath my wheels. Black branches poke and scratch the sunless sky as I begin to look for color—any sign…
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Holy Listening with Stephen Colbert
I am a fan of Stephen Colbert. I am even more of a fan after watching his interview with DeRay McKesson, a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement and the new Campaign Zero, this past Monday on The Late Show. Colbert introduced himself to McKesson as possibly “the whitest person you’ve ever met.” Then, after a…
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The Hard Work of Welcoming
I have three fantastic student interns this year who are learning about the hard work of welcoming. At our college’s Presbyterian House we host a “Dinner and Devotion” program every Sunday that we advertise as “All Students Welcome.” Of course, not all students feel welcome attending a religious and spiritual life program, unless you work…
Teri McDowell Ott 