A friend of mine has vowed to recognize every action as an act of love or reaching out for love. She vowed that in the midst of the Ferguson and New York protests and possibly even after the police shootings that was followed by some truly alarming statements by Fraternal Orders of Police and policeContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 11: Overcoming fear”
Category Archives: justice
Christmas values – Day 8: Community
Do you see it? Do you see who shows up for the very first Christmas? We’re so used to the image that we don’t even notice what’s crazy subersive about the melange of folks kicking it at the manger, but this is as close to Burning Man as 1st century Judea would have gotten (exceptContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 8: Community”
Christmas values – day 3: peace
I am sad about the Christmas tree in Jack London Square. I have taken my niece to see it newly lit. I have wandered the pop-up shops and wished I could afford to shop at them. I have basked in the joy of Christmas that I’m lucky enough to experience because my family is wholeContinue reading “Christmas values – day 3: peace”
The Ballad of Harry Moore
Preached at First Congregational Church of Oakland, December 14, 2014.I’ve had the story of one of our forebears on my heart recently on this Black Lives Matter Sunday. So while I was supposed to preach “People Get Ready,” my sermon this morning is actually “The Ballad of Harry Moore,” as written by Langston Hughes andContinue reading “The Ballad of Harry Moore”
Things said and left unsaid at #MillionsMarchOAK
Thousands gathered in Oakland yesterday, joining with marchers in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC. I marched with them, as part of the API solidarity contingent. And I found myself reflecting on what my solidarity looks like with this movement. What I did say: Black Lives Matter. Sometimes I want to clarify, “Black livesContinue reading “Things said and left unsaid at #MillionsMarchOAK”
This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment
Navigating “not Black or White” and “Nonviolent but not non-violent” as an ally and activist I suspect every woman of color in America has at multiple points felt that Donna Kate Rushin wrote the Bridge poem for her. As I wonder whether the bonds of friendship with my radical anarchist friends of color will hold andContinue reading “This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment”
“Things taken: Finding Healing on foreign soil this Thanksgiving”
18th annual Berkeley Multifaith Thanksgiving Service Northbrae Community Church, host Message by Sandhya Jha, Director of the Oakland Peace Center and Director of Interfaith Programs at East Bay Housing Organizations It is a real honor to be here this evening. I have worked with a number of you on affordable housing issues in Berkeley,Continue reading ““Things taken: Finding Healing on foreign soil this Thanksgiving””
My friend’s installation and my own journey in ministry
Don’t get weary. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t get played. Do you. That was the charge given to my friend the Rev. Jacqueline Duhart as she was installed as Associate Minister for Faith In Action at First Unitarian Church of Oakland on October 5. It was a good Sunday, and a deeply self-reflective one forContinue reading “My friend’s installation and my own journey in ministry”
Oakland, you’re the hot chick now:
Stop letting your boyfriends treat you like you’re lucky to be with them! Please forgive the heteronormative nature of the following piece. If you read my blog posts regularly, you know a few things about me: I’ve been the fat chick and I’ve been the hot chick. I’ve been with guys who treat me wellContinue reading “Oakland, you’re the hot chick now:”
Faith, fast food and the paddy wagon
photographs by Brooke Anderson: http://www.movementphotographer.com/ My father worries that if I ever try to go into politics, my arrest will ruin my career. “Not in Oakland,” I told him consolingly. “Ah yes,” he said; “Jerry Brown is from Oakland.” Neither of us is sure Jerry Brown’s been arrested for anything, but he remembered that IContinue reading “Faith, fast food and the paddy wagon”
Sandhya Rani Jha 