Research by Topic: christian-citizen
No time for silence
Published January 13, 2017“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words in his famous “Beyond Vietnam” speech given at The Riverside Church on April 4, 1967 — a year to the day before his assassination. Many criticized King for speaking out against the Vietnam War, saying doing so would detract from and harm his work for civil rights. They said it wasn’t his fight. They said the war was too politically controversial and complex. Historians point to this speech as the beginning of the end, a sure road to his assassination.
Filed under: Martin Luther King Jr, christian-citizen
The mass incarceration of people with disabilities in America’s jails, prisons
Published September 6, 2016By Rebecca Vallas America’s four-decade-long experiment with mass incarceration and over-criminalization is widely recognized as a failure. We lock up a greater share of our citizens than any other developed nation, destroying lives and separating families at an annual cost of more than $80 billion. In addition, we do little to prepare individuals behind bars […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
Pyschologist: Church can act as healing agent in midst of crisis
Published September 6, 2016By Dr. Sally Quiñones-Rodríguez When I read and hear about recent tragedies—such as the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the assassination of Philando Castile and police killings in Dallas—my memory reverts to other violent acts, such as those at Columbine High School (1999) and Virginia Tech (2007). Each of these acts was orchestrated by […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
What would it take to improve police interactions with people with disabilities?
Published September 6, 2016By Curtis Ramsey-Lucas On July 18, the White House convened a forum on disability and criminal justice reform. Ronald Hampton, an advisory board member for the National Association for Police Accountability, was a panelist at the event. A retired police officer with the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department with more than 20 years on […]
Filed under: the-christian-citizen, disabilities-ministries, disability-ministry, christian-citizen, curtis-ramsey-lucas
For the healing of a nation: trauma, grief, keys to wholeness
Published September 6, 2016By The Rev. Dr. W. Kenneth Williams In the early 1990s, extending my role as a volunteer chaplain with the Brighton fire and police departments, Rochester, N.Y., I was asked to train in critical incident stress management (CISM), a relatively new initiative for firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services responders. CISM is an intervention […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
On listening to one another
Published September 6, 2016By The Rev. G. Travis Norvell The recent killings of police officers, the killings of unarmed black males by police, the killings of those in an Orlando nightclub and the terrorist attacks both at home and abroad have nearly drained the last vestige of hope from all of us. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that churches […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
Equality in diversity
Published September 6, 2016By The Rev. Douglas Avilesbernal Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. — 1 Corinthians 12:27, (niv) My wife and I recently had our first child. Because we both work, we had to find childcare for him at least twice a week. Conveniently, the church that […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
Preachers: Say something
Published September 6, 2016By The Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle The first challenge for being witnesses for Jesus is to see something; the second is the willingness to say something about what we have seen. These two aspects of the work of a witness go hand in hand. Preachers cannot speak prophetically about what is happening in the […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
Weeping blood (Genesis 4:1-10)
Published September 6, 2016By the Rev. Wendell Griffen Early on the morning of June 12, 2016, one man re-enacted the Genesis account of Cain and Abel on a massive scale. Armed with a semiautomatic pistol and assault rifle, Omar Mateen shot his way into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. He then massacred 49 persons and wounded scores […]
Filed under: christian-citizen
Deafening silence: The ongoing genocide of Native Americans
Published September 6, 2016By The Rev. Dr. Cassandra Williams On Dec., 21, 2013, 18-year-old college student Ma-hi-vist (Red Bird) Touching Cloud Goodblanket was home on winter break when he experienced a mental health episode. Goodblanket’s parents called 911. After police arrived, they refused to allow the parents into their own home. When police emerged from the home, they […]
Filed under: cassandra-carkuff-williams, casey-williams, the-christian-citizen, native-american-ministries, christian-citizen
