Just Keep Swimming South Category
Race, Religion, and the Lost Cause: Observation from the National ONA Gathering
Posted on June 19, 2019 Leave a Comment
Today is June 19th, Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when news of Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier finally reached enslaved persons in Texas. It coincides with the National Gathering of the UCC Open & Affirming National Gathering and a Race and Religion course assignment on whether the Lost Cause still exists […]
Alabama Gilead: The Beguiling of Conservative Women
Posted on June 3, 2019 1 Comment
for Jenny Nixon Last weekend, I attended the National Gathering of the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ, a denomination with a history of social justice advocacy that dates back to colonial New England. The UCC has always, to my knowledge, ordained women ministers, and it is a space where I feel welcome […]
Season of Lilacs: Memoir For My Mother
Posted on May 6, 2019 6 Comments
Down home, where they know you by name and treat you like family, Down home, where a man’s good word and a handshake are all you need. Folks know when you’re fallin’ on hard times you can fall back on Those of us raised up—down home. (Alabama, 1985) Prologue When my grandmother died, it was April, […]
Louisiana Black Church Fires: A Psalm of Community Lament
Posted on April 17, 2019 4 Comments
Holy God, we must speak the names. St. Mary Baptist. Greater Union Baptist. Mount Pleasant Baptist. Louisiana smolders. In the names and the smoke our sin is manifest. We do not speak of their pain because the pain is their own—it belongs to their hearts. We do not get to cry those tears. Theirs is […]
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