I was surveyed this morning about how the urban food movement can improve and more specifically about what the Chesapeake Urban Farming Summit could address in future gatherings. I sent the following note and I share it here hoping to provoke critical dialogue about the possibilities of the urban farming movement as it intersects...
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Tags: Agri-business, agriculture, Good Food Revolution, Growing Power, Healthy Food, Urban Farming, Will Allen
Posted in Beloved Community, Culture, Freedom!, Social Justice, The Simple Life, White folks, liberation theology | 3 Comments »
When you take a nearly 90% African American student population and you willfully ignore their culture while subjecting them to a European-American educational setting you set them up for psychological enslavement. The African student population is not permitted to engage in the process of knowing themselves, the story of their people on the map...
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Tags: African American Self Determination, African Educational Pedagogy, Andres Alonso, Asa Hillard, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore City School Board, Black Student Achievement, Carter G. Woodson, Governor Martin O'Malley, Jawanza Kunjufu, Jewish Schools in Baltimore, Kill Them Before They Grow, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Naim Akbar, Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Ray Winbush
Posted in Africans in America, Beloved Community, Black Nationalists, Culture, Free Your Mind, Maryland, Pan-Afrikan, State of Black America, White folks, baltimore, baltimore politics, black baltimore, liberation theology | 1 Comment »
Casual study of some of the major state-sponsored atrocities of history will reveal that oftentimes there was religious representation somewhere in the mix that attempted to provide theological sanction for the vicious brutality being enacted on others. Somebody who claimed to speak in the name of God, provided “permission” or spiritual cover that would...
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Tags: aboriginal, apartheid, Black Codes, Christians United for Israel, CUFI, George Zabelka, Israel, Jim Crow, Middle East, Palestine, Pastor John Hagee, South Africa
Posted in Christian, Clergy, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Faith and war, Free Your Mind, International Focus, Israel, Palestine, Pastor John Hagee, Politics, Religion, civil rights, liberation theology, preacher | 1 Comment »
In C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya’s classic work on the Black Church, they rightly describe the character and nature of the “Black sacred cosmos.” Much more than just casual weekend activity or flippant denominational recognition; Christianity for practicing African Americans is so interwoven into personal and social identity that it’s hard just to...
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Tags: Black Church, Christian Zionism, Christians United for Israel, CUFI, Israel, Israeli Apartheid, John Hagee, Palestine, Zionism
Posted in African American Christian, Africans in America, Beloved Community, Bishop Don Meares, Christian, Clergy, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Faith and war, Free Your Mind, Freedom!, International Focus, Islam, Israel, Jesus, Maryland, Palestine, Pastor John Hagee, Politicians, Politics, Religion, Social Justice, State of Black America, White folks, baltimore, liberation theology | 2 Comments »
As I continue exploring alternative ways of being in this world, I’m excited by people and groups who have moved past theoretical olympics or revolutionary diatribes against what is and into practical applications of what can be. I’m less concerned if these practitioners are perfect in the execution of their ideas. I’m more focused...
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Tags: Alternative Lifestyle, grassroots economy, JASecon, Simple Living
Posted in Beloved Community, Culture, Free Your Mind, Freedom!, Kingdom of God, Poverty, The Simple Life, activist, liberation theology | No Comments »
Last week I attended an urban agriculture conference organized by Engaged Community Offshoots, Inc. (ECO) and hosted at the United States Department of Agriculture. ECO is an organization which “seeks to reverse the effects of systemic poverty, racism, and environmental destruction through establishing and promoting social venture community-based businesses.” My friends at Baltimore Food...
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Tags: Common Good Farm, Food Stamps, Growing Power, SNAP, Urban Agriculture, USDA, Will Allen
Posted in Culture, Free Your Mind, My Story, Poverty, Social Justice, The Simple Life, liberation theology | No Comments »
One of the first things that I was told when it was known that I would become a pastor was to read the church bylaws. Second to scripture (and in some churches more importantly than the Holy Scriptures) the church bylaws provide information as to how a particular community of Faith chooses to organize...
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Tags: Church, Church bylaws, Church constitution, church corporate ladder, Emerging Church, Hierarchy, Pastor, Power Structure
Posted in Beloved Community, Christian, Clergy, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Free Your Mind, Jesus, Kingdom of God, My Story, Politics, Religion, liberation theology | 3 Comments »
Photo Credit: Telegraph.Co.Uk I have an uneasy feeling when it comes to Christian Missionaries. I know that sounds strange coming from a pastor. But anyone who reviews the history of missionaries from the Western, American context will find a deluge of disheartening examples connecting Christian Mission with subjugation, oppression, and the dehumanizing of Indigenous...
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Tags: aboriginal, avatar, Baptist, Christian Mission, Church, earthquake, Haiti, Jesus, kidnapping, Lamin Sanneh, Laura Silsby, orphans
Posted in African American Christian, Beloved Community, Christian, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Faith and war, Haiti, International Focus, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Politics, Poverty, Religion, White folks, africa, liberation theology | 3 Comments »
Many of you have been following the situation going on in Haiti – no, not the earthquake and recovery, but the arrest and pending trial of 10 U.S. Christian Missionaries who are under judicial scrutiny right now for the alleged kidnap attempt of dozens of Haitian children. This story disturbs me on many fronts,...
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Posted in Christian, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Haiti, International Focus, Politics, Religion, White folks, liberation theology | No Comments »
Technically, I started the year in corporate worship and fellowship at my church. For those not familiar with the Black Church experience, we observe what we call Watch Night Service on New Year’s Eve every year. It’s a night for us to reflect on the past year’s journey and look forward to the coming...
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Tags: apartheid, Gaza Freedom March, Israel, Middle East, occupation, Palestine, peace, U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Posted in Beloved Community, Culture, Events, Faith &/or Religion, Faith and war, Freedom!, International Focus, Israel, Kingdom of God, Palestine, Politics, Social Justice, activist, baltimore, civil rights, liberation theology | No Comments »