Black Lives Matter and the Power of Mary’s Song

I had the opportunity to attend a beautiful and inspiring Black Lives Matter rally at Government Springs Park in Enid, Okla., on Saturday, with my wife Tammy. We have attended several of these events in recent weeks -- a youth march, an NAACP-sponsored march and rally, and a grassroots protest at city hall. All of …

It’s time to realize the promises of Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a day of celebration, and should be for all Americans. But, for white Americans, Juneteenth also should be a day of penitence, of commitment to change, and of reaching out in empathy and love to those who have been marginalized and oppressed to enable our privilege. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, and …

Listen to the voices of pain, anger and grief — Or, continue to be part of the problem

Last weekend, we all had the opportunity to attend two protests for racial equality and social justice in Enid, America. I attended both, with the understanding I would not cover either for the news section to maintain separation between news coverage and opinion writing. On Saturday, the Enid chapter of the NAACP hosted a march …

If we want peace, we must listen to the peaceful cries of the oppressed

When violence boils over as the inevitable response to systemic racism and injustice, white Americans rush to dust off quotes and images of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. “Look at King and Gandhi!” cries white America. “They were nonviolent and they changed the world!” There is some truth in that — but only …

Riots are the evil fruit of America’s systemic racism

There are prayers we pray and forget, the words falling from our memory faster than incense can rise and dissipate. And then, there are the prayers that stick with us for a lifetime. Sometimes these prayers stick with us because they are connected to trauma, loss or grief. And sometimes prayers stick with us because …

Emmett Till, ‘Strange Fruit,’ and the stench of political mendacity

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” When Billie Holiday sang those words in 1939 she evoked the forlorn pain of black America, living constantly in the shadow of the …

White privilege curriculum goes international

Regional faith leaders in Oklahoma and Kansas have been working for more than three years to foster community conversations around white privilege, and how it plays into issues of racial justice in America. Now, that work is crossing international borders, with a United Church of Christ minister taking the training program to Germany. The Rev. …

Faith leaders gather to tackle issue of white privilege

Oklahoma City -- Faith leaders from across the state joined a cadre of trainers from the United Church of Christ and Oklahoma Conference of Churches Saturday at First Christian Church of Oklahoma City, to tackle the issue of white privilege and racial justice. The 45 clergy and lay leaders of a diverse group of denominations …

We need to retake America from our Racist-in-Chief

The president of the United States is racist. Notwithstanding the justified outrage over the president’s latest romp in the white supremacist sandbox, this fact should come as no surprise — the president is racist. When the president tells four congresswomen, all U.S. citizens, they should “go back” to the “places from which they came,” we …

Churches tackling white privilege

The Oklahoma Conference of Churches is inviting churches across the state to join them in tackling the issue of white privilege, but there has been some resistance to the idea of opening that conversation. “Every time we start to publicize this event, we get a lot of pushback,” said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director …