Kermit the frog said, "It's not easy being green." I, many years ago, reached the conclusion, "It's not easy being white," as well. I have my own measurement as I have assessed whether white persons are authentic in their commitment to racial justice. My measurement? Whether or not white persons are able to confront other white persons about their racially insensitive attitudes, and at times racist actions, toward those of us who are black.
Read MoreThose who suggest that today's justice is universal and embraces us all, are either unknowing and unobserving, or they are seeking to preserve their privilege and power at the expense of those without privilege and power.
Read MoreAlthough I do not agree with Dr. Carson's views on marriage equality, nor with the ways he is being embraced by some conservatives, my greater concern is how Dr. Carson identifies with America's greatest protest movement, the Civil Rights Movement. Do those who embrace Dr. Ben Carson because of his conservatism on a host of issues do so as a way of separating him from a movement that was neither liberal or conservative — America's Civil Rights Movement? ...Dr. Ben Carson, Oprah Winfrey has given witness to her long support of black justice by playing the role of Annie Lee Cooper in SELMA. If given the opportunity, what role would you have played in the film?
Read MoreWe may celebrate the anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964, a campaign for voting rights for African American, can be dismantled in 2013. That the advances in women's health is still open for debate. While marriage equality moves forward, lesbian and straight women still earn less for the same job a man does. What do all these things have in common? They call for millions of people to purposely cross racial, gender, sexual orientation and religious views and rise up together to demand equal protection and voice to ALL people.
Read MoreOn this Juneteenth and in honor of LGBTQ Pride celebrations worldwide, Truth in Progress is celebrating by launching our crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter for our 30-minute documentary film FROM SELMA TO STONEWALL!... The power of the human story to connect people, bring deeper meaning, and unite rather than divide is immeasurable. When a people rise up together, out of the struggle, there is a power that is unstoppable. FROM SELMA TO STONEWALL will be a resource for many audiences, individuals, national and local organizations, and classroom studies. Please back this goal by making a donation today. On this JUNETEENTH, freedom is on time!
Read More"Indeed, it is precisely in a period of great spiritual and societal hunger like our own that we most need to open minds, hearts, and memories to those times when women and men actually dreamed of new possibilities for our nation, for our world, and for their own lives. It is now that we may be able to convey the stunning idea that dreams, imagination, vision, and hope are actually powerful mechanisms in the creation of new realities — especially when the dreams go beyond speeches and songs to become embodied; to take on flesh, in real, hard places."
Read MoreIt will require unity, not uniformity among all Justice Movements as we challenge the economic inequality that hovers over the poor as well as the middle class. Division among movements that seek equal rights for people of color and movements that seek equal rights for gays, will not equip us for the struggles that we must face together.
Read MoreI, as a black person who is "straight" call upon those of us who are straight allies and advocates of gay rights, even as we with our LGBTQ colleagues, have reasons to rejoice today, we think about this, "What must it be like to be Gay and live in Arizona where Legislators, thought so little of me and my humanity that the passing of SB 1032 was almost a 'slam dunk'?" I in my life's journey have wanted those who are not black to imagine what it is like to "walk in my shoes". Therefore for those of us who are straight, may our celebrations be sobered as we imagine what it is like to be Gay in Arizona, the day after and the days after, the news about SB 1032. The "negative music" that embraced the Bill may be over, but the "negative melody" that made possible the passage of the Bill, lingers on.
Read MoreI wish I had a magic wand. I hate the fear, the violence, and the public exposure that puts LGBT people in harm's way. We must distill lessons from you and others who lived through the time of Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Movement, and still contend with racist landscapes. We must also learn from leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu who sees the anti-gay law in Uganda as equal to Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa. We must listen to those who have survived beatings, firings, and estrangement from families and faith for being LGBT. Most of all, we must dare to cross barriers and join forces so that our voices are stronger, louder, and more powerful. Yes, those of us who have been wounded by discrimination and the many and assorted travesties of life must become healers, Nouwen’s “wounded healers.” We must not be slow to this. Now is the time to speak out.
Read MoreI had thought as a now 80 year old, that in 2014 whatever it was that drove some white people to do what they did to those of us who were black, was a thing of the past and I would no longer have to spend time wondering about what it would be like to spend some time in the body, mind and spirit of a person who was anti-black. But, I have discovered that in this time that is NOT post racial or racist, I must continue to "IMAGINE" (Not the song of John Lennon) what causes some persons to hate blacks.
Read MoreHow many years will it take for humanity to realize the correlation between Nazi salutes that demeaned the victories of African American sprinter Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, and the anger and hurt that Gay persons and thoseof us who are not Gay feel as some believe that Russia should be able to host a "successful" winter Olympics without having its anti-lgbtq language and legislation challenged?
Read MoreLove is expressed in many ways, but to express it in justice, is to take seriously, the making of all humanity; "The Beloved Community"
Read MoreGil, how could a simple majority not decisively vote to end the suffering? It was after their vote that the second group that you were a part of was arrested from the stage where you stood between the delegates and the bishops, taken away by officers of the Cleveland police. Later, as I signed the papers for each of the 28 of you to get out on bail, the clerk said to me, “The Klan was here a few months ago. No one arrested them.” I believe Jesus would have wept at this sorrow.
Read MoreBut, it was Marilyn and her persistence about our going to Selma that caused me to make Martin Luther King's words; "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", become almost a mantra for me as I have sought, through Truth in Progress, to explore the relationship between racism and heterosexism. In this time when the Supreme Court issued rulings favoring marriage equality for same sex couples while at the same time, limiting affirmative action and voter rights for black people and others, it is important for Gay persons and the Gay rights movement, at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and beyond, to identify as never before, with the ongoing quest and struggle for racial justice.
Read MoreJim Bennett (not related to Marilyn), Midwest Regional Director for Lambda Legal, supports the work of Caldwell and Bennett. "In Illinois we know how important it is to build broad coalitions to work for justice and equality. I've known Marilyn and Gil for over a decade when we were working to change United Methodist exclusionary policies. They are visionaries with a keen sense of storytelling. Their documentary Truth in Progress captures the challenges and promise of diverse communities working together for change."
Read More"I was writing today about a question posed in the Washington Post which was, 'How come no one is talking about the fact that all of the perpetrators of these mass killings are white? Does anybody think that if they'd all been African American, we wouldn't be talking about race? So why aren't we talking about race?'"
Read MoreThe progression of AIDS is a multi-layered history as experienced by different racial communities, however the loss of so many loved ones was a tragedy shared. Exclusion, denial, stigmatizing, and discrimination from the government, medical establishments, church, and family only multiplied exponentially the pain and heartache. While AIDS is not a "gay disease," it is greatly significant to the history and formation of the LGBT equality movement.
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