Category Archives: violence

“Fear and Bad Behavior” A sermon at Lafayette Christian Church 10/1/17

My sermons keep getting shorter. This sermon includes the scripture reading and intro. The passage is about Moses getting water from the rock when his people are thirsty, but also about how our fear causes us to do harm when it remains unchecked.

¡Ya basta! Fasting to end Rape on the Night Shift

I’m in my second day of a five day fast with night janitors for a cause most people don’t even realize is a cause: many immigrant women cleaning buildings across our country live in fear of sexual assault by predatory managers who know they are working alone and need to keep their jobs. It’s stuffContinue reading “¡Ya basta! Fasting to end Rape on the Night Shift”

On choices and Orlando

When I was in eighth grade, I saw a bumper sticker on a car (in Akron, Ohio) that said, “Honk if you support civil rights, religious liberty, gay rights, disability rights, women’s equality…” I turned to my mother and said, “I would honk for the rest of them, but gay rights?” My mother is reallyContinue reading “On choices and Orlando”

Nonviolence, privilege and grief. Thoughts on South Carolina and a child I love.

This morning I sat down to write a letter to a beloved recent teen in my life, a newly minted thirteen-year-old. We go to protests a lot, and museums where we learn about farm workers and the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement. This beloved recent teen has been to hell and back, andContinue reading “Nonviolence, privilege and grief. Thoughts on South Carolina and a child I love.”

Can we talk about “the talk?” – teaching children how to protect themselves from “Protect and Serve”

I remember an incredibly uncomfortable Thanksgiving during Occupy Oakland. Not the cliche uncomfortable of Republicans and Democrats getting into immigration policy over the mashed potatoes and gravy. A friend of mine who had been arrested during Occupy for carrying an umbrella (the citation indicated it was a temporary dwelling, which had been banned from theContinue reading “Can we talk about “the talk?” – teaching children how to protect themselves from “Protect and Serve””

Christmas values – Day 11: Overcoming fear

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”

Thoughts on Serial, my killer ex, and Whose Lives Matter

I’m finally listening to the series Serial that everyone’s talking about (or at least all of my intellectual liberal White friends). It’s about a guy who’s been in prison for 15 years for killing his high school ex-girlfriend except he maybe didn’t do it. (As an aside, I’m on episode 8, and finally an attorney fromContinue reading “Thoughts on Serial, my killer ex, and Whose Lives Matter”

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”