Why the USA Has Continual Racial Tension
I was going to write something happy this month, but the nation is gripped. I grieve at the rioting, but in this longer-than-usual post, I hope, as a white guy who’s learned a few things, to share some reasons why the USA continues to have so much racial tension—and my greatest hope. I’ve hyperlinked terms in case you’re not familiar with them. My friend Jerry is still in Louisiana, but we still have long talks on the phone. Last year he despaired that injustices against African-Americans like him never seemed to change. And he was most concerned for his grandkids….
Facing the the Plague
I would have written sooner, but I’m in the midst of moving… Consider a few things about COVID-19 from a Kingdom of God perspective: Psalm 91 tells us twice, in verses 3 and 6–7, that God will save us from “the deadly pestilence” and also “the plague.” One could take this presumptuously and falsely assume God will keep one safe. But those who experience the reality of the Bible’s promises are ones who deeply and diligently submit themselves to God and boldly expect in faith and by the leading of the Holy Spirit that God will do what he says…
The Legacy Museum and Memorial
In Montgomery, Alabama, I visit the Legacy Museum, where for the first time in my life I start to learn the full truth of the African-American experience, not just in slavery but from the Civil War to 1965: mob violence, Black Codes, Convict Leasing, lynching, institutionalized suppression through Jim Crow laws, and abuse through manipulation of the criminal justice system. I was speechless. The subjugation of blacks across the entire South, aided by inaction in the rest of the country, enabled an ever-evolving white supremacist caste system to perpetrate itself for one hundred years. I’m stunned that I never had…
Sanity for Ferguson, Missouri
Through all the fire and smoke and anger and fear and frustration–and through all the shouting–if we saw as God sees, what might we see? Everyone sees a police force that shows evidence of misconduct or poor conduct, particularly where African-Americans are concerned. We might also see a community that has had racial divide, enforced in the early part of the twentieth century by a fence that separated blacks from whites with a gate that was locked every evening until the 1940s. And ever since has been home to racial tensions. We might also see a dysfunctional family, in which a…
Jihadi Hunter Dad
Here’s a former military dad with guts: Dimitri Bontinck of Belgium had a son who converted to Islam, fell in love with a Moroccan girl, and apparently went to Syria to fight with ISIS. Unlike most of us who would fret and lament, this dude went after his kid, as in he went down there and brought the kid home. He’s even gone back down there and brought other kids home. Now that’s a real man. How many people would have such a combination of love and guts? Seriously. His son is now on trial, and Dad is advocating for…
