First came this blog, then came The Raceless Gospel Initiative, then came The Raceless Gospel podcast, Take Me to the Water and the Wild Goose Festival. Or however that nursery rhyme goes!

Since the publication of my first book, Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to share the raceless gospel at churches, with Bible study groups and Sunday school classes. In April, I even presented the raceless gospel to the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, whose General Commission on Race and Religion have adopted the book for their work and witness. On June 11th, I will present a paper titled “The Raceless Gospel: A Post- Colonial Response to Ontological Insecurity and White Supremacist Violence” for the “Leading Social Change Virtual Scholar Series,” hosted by the Peace and Justice Studies Association. Then, I’ll prepare to share with the good folks at the Wild Goose Festival. Needless to say, I’ve been busy.

If you are in the area or planning to attend, you’ll have two opportunities to hear from me:

Take Your Rest: The Raceless Gospel For Souls Weary of White Supremacy

Synopsis: I was tired of being racialized, of being color- coded for America’s caste system: blacks on the bottom, whites on the top, the rest somewhere in the middle. I could never get comfortable as a racialized identity is such a tight squeeze.

So, I had to go and prepare a place for me—free from white supremacy. It is a place where I can rest from laboring to prove my worth as a human being. I liked it so much that I changed my address and now invite others to meet me here through the proclamation of the raceless gospel. To awaken to your sense of somebodiness, you must first take your rest.

On the Tip of Your Tongue: A Pedagogy for the Self- Emancipated

Synopsis: The way of freedom is stuck in between our teeth. From tongue lashing to tongue loosing, we are words away from self- emancipation from systems that threaten and call into question our somatic sovereignty. First step and first word are linked. We must begin by speaking our new way of being into existence. Talk to ourselves and then talk back to the world’s systems of dehumanization, marginalization and oppression, interrupting this soul- crushing machinery.

It will require resilience as the climb is steep, long and winding. But if we will ever be free of “relationships of ruling,” then we must work to reach those words that affirm our dignity and our destiny to be free. And you are closer than you think. Liberation is just past your lips and on the very tip of your tongue.

And if you won’t be close enough to give me a hug, then please put your hands together and pray for me. Because the Raceless Gospel is going to the Wild Goose Festival!