Category: Hate Crimes

I am at a loss

.Reading time 1 minute.

I met an area rabbi for the first time this morning.  He shared his sacred space with me, his holy book with me.  We planned this meeting last week before the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg.  What a difference a week makes. If God works in mysterious ways, then humans work […]

Read More

Happy Christopher Columbus Day?

.Reading time 4 minutes.

I have the day off because Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.  But, we know this is not what really happened.  Because you can’t discover a place that is already inhabited by people, no matter how much you try to discount their presence, diminish their story and dismiss their culture.  Try telling them to go back where […]

Read More

In Memory of the Emanuel Nine: Looking for the words

.Reading time 2 minutes.

I looked at their faces this morning and sighed.  “God, help us.”  One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Lives. They say a cat has nine lives.  But, how many lives does hate have?  Why won’t it die?  How does it continue to live after this?  How can we let it live on […]

Read More

Taking down statues and taking back history: Symbols that segregate

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Recently, there has been a push to remove symbols of America’s racial past, specifically those related to American slavery.  In 2015, the Confederate flag came under scrutiny in North Carolina after the murder of nine worshippers at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church by 21 year old Dylann Roof.  Roof wanted to start a race war and the flag seemed […]

Read More

Mister Trayvon Martin

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

He was seventeen years old. He was murdered five years ago today. He was a child, never to become a man. Leonard Pitts writes a searing op- ed that asks, “Trayvon Martin had to be guilty of something, right?” I cried as I read the article. The answer is no but many Americans needed him […]

Read More