Jesus of Nazareth — A First Century Victim of Police Brutality

Today -- "Good" Friday -- is observed as one of the most solemn days in the Christian calendar, when Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion and death is memorialized in song, ritual, and worship throughout the world. Good Friday is traditionally comemorated as an occasion to recall Christ's central role in salvation history; gratefully reflecting upon how [...]

Resistance is Futile, Vision Changes Everything

As the nation and our world reflects, with concern, on the first year of the Trump administration, a theme of "resistance" has pervasively defined the social and political movement responding to a litany of federal initiatives that threaten the well-being of marginalized communities throughout the United States. Women, people of color, undocumented men, women and [...]

Incarnation — The Divine Mystery of Humanity

"The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5) -- A majority of the globe has been ensconced in a festive atmosphere of celebration for the Christmas season. Commercially, the most wonderful time of the year begins on Thanksgiving Day and concludes on Christmas or New Year's Day. However, [...]

Radical Patriotism is an American Value

Today's political times are some of the most trying experienced by the United States of America in a generation. Last year's presidential election -- and the ensuing federal administration -- have been catapulted into unrelenting scrutiny. The specters of collusion and election fraud, covertly driven by a foreign power, threaten the very foundations of American [...]

Resurrection — A Cosmic Call to Transformation

"Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised." -Luke 24:5 Easter is a resounding victory of hope, love, and infinite joy. Collectively, the nefarious powers of corruption, injustice, fear, institutional oppression, and imperial domination, collectively led to the torture, suffering, and ultimate death of [...]

Safeguarding Human Rights in the United States

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, sixty-eight years ago, December 10, 1948. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, guiding the effort of crafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document was pivotal in establishing the legal concept [...]

Dear Millennials, A Little Humility Goes a Long Way

The United States of America learned early, November 9, 2016, Donald J. Trump had been elected its 45th president. Words cannot express how utterly horrifying this reality is for many Americans -- Latinos, women, immigrants, African-Americans, disabled citizens. Donald Trump repeatedly insulted, denigrated, and denied the collective identity of all these segments of the American [...]

An Open Letter to my Heterosexual, Brothers of Color

Dear Brothers, For the past three years, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has captivated the United States of America's political conscience. Building upon the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, #BlackLivesMatter has justly highlighted the underlying specter of institutionalized and structural racism in our nation -- forcing Americans to confront the disproportionate impact [...]

Holy Week — A Microcosm of Existence

Holy Week, the most solemn liturgical period of the Christian calendar opens triumphantly with the joyous Palm Sunday acclamation, "All glory, laud, and honor to you, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!" Recalling Jesus of Nazareth's last days, the week commences in an atmosphere of exultation and unrestrained hope; [...]

Advancing Dr. King’s Radical Dream

      Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has occupied a uniquely referential position in American history since his 1968 assassination. For generations, Dr. King has been celebrated as the towering icon of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. His perennial legacy is typically encapsulated to the virtues of non-violence and courageously advocating [...]