With thanks to Doc and Robert and all the people I do not know who choose hope and life and love by helping young people think through their choices.
This poster is from the first Teen Forum. The audience has since expanded to include all young people age 13-18.
Photo: 19 October 2022; The Bronx, New York
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Family, Friends, Human Rights, New York, Photo
With thanks to my friend Jimmie Hawkins for the profound reminder that obedience to higher principles, values, and visions often requires disobedience to unjust and immoral laws, rules and regulations. Order Unbroken and Unbowed.
Photo: 25 June, 2022; Louisville, Kentucky
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Current Events, Friends, Human Rights, Photo, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Walking. Germantown.
International Migrants Day.
Unite 75 – Daara J Family
Immigrant – John McCutcheon
Ave Que Emigra – Gabby Moreno
The Migrant Worker – Jim Croce
Gourma – Etran Fintawa
Take Me to Cleveland – Robert Neustadt
No Geography – The Chemical Brothers
Look in Their Eyes – David Crosby
Why We Build the Wall – Hadestown
La Jaula de Oro – Los Tigres del Norte
Alien – Gil-Scott Heron
Cages – Redbait
Bad Hombres y Mujeres – Antonio Sanchez
La Frontera – Lagartijeando, feat. Minuk
Migration – Jonny Lipford
The Dreamer – Jackson Browne
My Only Home – Unchained XL, feat. Genesis Elijah & Femi Ashiru
A Safe Place to Land – Sara Bareilles, feat. John Legend
Running – Keyon Harrold, Andrea Pizziconi & Jasson Harrold, feat. Running feat. Common & Gregory Porter
Amor Migrante – Elena & Los Fulanos
Go Tell a Bird – Maya De Vitry
Beyond the Border – Bhi Bhiman
Godspeed – Radney Foster
Where We Are – Diana Jones
Migra – Santana
Immigrant Eyes – Willie Nelson
The Immigrants – Gabby Moreno & Van Dyke Parks
Deportees – Sweet Honey in the Rock
Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) – K’naan, Snow Tha Product, Riz MC & Residente
Refugee King – Liz Vice, feat. Hannah Glover
No Human Is Illegal – The Wakes
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights, Louisville, Music, playlist, United Nations
As the holy day approaches, a number of people are asking, “What is your favorite Christmas song?” A variation is “What non-religious holiday song that moves your spirit?
Recognizing the amazing amount of wonderful holiday music, whether intentionally religious or intentionally non-religious, that exists, I believe my answer would be the same.
Thanks to the Rev. Essie Koenig-Reinke (my daughter-in-love), pastor of Dickey Memorial Presbyterian Church, here is a brief reflection on the song that is my answer. This was originally written for the church’s Advent devotional.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Micah 4:3b)
“My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.”
So begins ”Christmas in the Trenches” by singer-songwriter John McCutcheon, a song about the 1914 Christmas Truce told through the eyes of Tolliver, a fictional British soldier.
On Christmas Eve in the filth and muck of the trenches along World War I’s Western front, peace broke out.
Most accounts say it began with German soldiers singing Christmas carols. Others joined. And almost in a collective impulse, many German, British, and French soldiers put down their weapons and met in No-Man’s Land.
They sang, shared photos, told stories, and traded gifts from care packages. Some reports speak of makeshift soccer games played on Christmas Day.
Peace did not last as “with sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.”
The war raged until November 1918 and did not end war—wars and conflicts have followed to this day.
Still the Christmas Truce was a wondrous moment. of peace and and promise and possibility, of hope and justice.
Those themes resonate each year at the manger. They echo through Jesus’ life. He invites us to live into them—at Christmas and through the year.
May we so do.
Check out this call for a 2022 Christmas Trues in Ukraine.
Filed under Advent, Current Events, Family, Human Rights, Music
Walking. Germantown.
Anniversary of Assassination of Sitting Bull.
Sitting Bull’s Medicine Song – Kevin Locke
2 Live & Die on the Plains – Frank Waln
Ghost Dance – Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble
Sitting Bull’s Memorial Song – Lakota Thunder
For My People – Litefoot
Now That the Buffalo’s Gone – Buffy Sainte-Marie
Assinboine: Warrior Death Song (for Sitting Bull) – Native Americans Songs and Dances of the Sioux, Apache, Kiowa, Hopi, Navajo, Cree, Seminole and Others
The Prayer – SupaMan
Aiionwatha Forgives (World) – Joanne Shenandoah
Life Surrounds Me – R. Carlos Nakai
Wovoka – Redbone
Lakota Forever – Brulé
Ghostdance – Bill Miller
Filed under Antiracism, Human Rights, Louisville, Music, playlist
Great Spirit,
you see them,
you accompany them,
two-legged and four-legged
making their way
from Lower Brule, SD to Mankota, MN.
They ride to remember.
They ride to honor the 38 Dakota
who were hung in Mankato in 1862
and two other Dakota, who were hung in 1864.
They ride in a spirit
of peace, understanding, and forgiveness.
May the horses and the riders
and their families and supporters
know your presence
offering strength and grace,
community and perseverance,
particularly in the cold of winter.
May their effort
touch hears and minds and spirits
across this country
and lead to repentance and repair
on the part of the dominant culture.
May it be so.
Amen.
The executions resulted from the US-Dakota War of 1862. This source is the Minnesota Historical Society. A Go Fund Me page by the Dakota 38plus2 Wokiksuye Horse Ride 2022 provides information about the ride and the history behind it, including the conflict and the establishment of the ride. It offers an opportunity to support the ride and links to a vide about the ride.
Filed under Antiracism, Capital Punishment, Current Events, Death Penalty, Human Rights
I broke the rule today that says post one photo.
As I searched through photos, I found two that spoke to me.
I could not choose, so I add both,
I am grateful for messengers of:
hope
justice
freedom
equality
equity
Photos: Harriet Tubman in Harlem, New York; John Lewis film viewed in Morningside Gardens, New York
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Human Rights, New York, Photo
Human Rights Day
Rise Up – Andra Day
Just One Candle – Abraham Jam
Wavin’ Flag – K’naan
Teach Your Children – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Give Peace A Chance – Aerosmith Feat. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars
When the Ship Comes In – The Pogues
White Man’s World – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Victor Jara’s Hands – Calexico
This Land – Gary Clark Jr.
Mothers Of The Disappeared – U2
Imagine – Willie Nelson
Is This the World We Created…? – Queen
Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Among the Believers – Little Steven
The Dreamer – Jackson Browne (feat. Los Cenzontles)
Get Up Stand Up – Bob Marley & The Wailers
Los Madres Cansadasas – Joan Baez
Dead Man Walkin’ – Bruce Springsteen
Not In My Name – John McCutcheon
Hammer and a Nail – Indigo Girls
Wedding March – Walter Rinaldi
Talkin’ Bout a Revolution – Tracy Chapman
Wonder – Natalie Merchant
Know Your Rights – The Clash
Solidarity Forever – Pete Seeger
One Song – Archie Roach
Respect – Aretha Franklin
Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan
You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind) – Buffy Sainte-Marie & Tanya Tagaq
Wake Up – Rage Against the Machine
Dear Mr. President – Pink (feat. Indigo Girls)
Libertad – Los Miserables
No Human Is Illegal – The Wakes
If I Had a Hammer – Emma’s Revolution
Which Side Are You On – The Freedom Singers
Lives in the Balance – Richie Havens
Deportee – Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger
Redemption Song – Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer
Our Precious Mothers – Bear Fox
One (Hu)’man One Vote – Johnny Clegg & Savuka
The Times They Are a Changin’ – Nina SImone
Fight the Power – Public Enemy
Jerusalem – Steve Earle
The Cellist of Sarajevo – A Lament in Rondo Form for Solo ‘Cello, Op. 12 – Yo-Yo Ma
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
A Change Is Gonna Come – Christine Anu
Call It Democracy – Bruce Cockburn
Canticle of the Turning – Princeton Seminary Choir
We Will Not Stop – Tom Chapin (feat. The Chapin Sisters)
Freedom – Beyoncé (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Woke Up This Morning – Mary D Williams
Everyday People – Sly & The Family Stone
Pastures of Plenty – Woody Guthrie
Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down – Eric Bibb
Hallowed Be Thy Name – Iron Maiden
Uncle Carl – Aaron Lacombe
Edge of America – Annie Humphrey
Ella’s Song – Sweet Honey in the Rock
How Can I Keep from Singing – Eva Cassidy
Residential Boarding School Song – Cheryl Bear
John Brown’s Body – Peter LaFarge
Harriet Tubman/Steal Away
Stand Up – Cynthia Erivo
Get Together – Keb’ Mo’
Peace, Love, and Understanding – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Let’s Make a Better World – The Blind Boys of Alabama
American Skin – Bruce Springsteen
Following the North Star – Rhiannon Giddens
Save the Children – Gil Scott-Heron
Peyote Healing – Robbie Robertson, Verdell Primeaux & Johnny Mike
Filed under Exercise, Human Rights, Music, playlist, United Nations
It is Human Rights Day. The world would take steps toward the time when all people could flourish, if we all respected and protected each other’s human rights.
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every[person seeks] equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt, 1958
Perhaps we can start, in those small places where we find ourselves, to honor the human rights of all we meet that we all might flourish,
Photo: 20 December 2018, New York, NY; display created by Tricia.
Filed under Advent, Antiracism, Family, Human Rights, New York, Photo, United Nations
If you are a faith leader, I invite you to join me in signing this call for a Christmas Truce in #Ukraine
If you do not consider yourself a faith leader, consider asking those you do view as faith leaders to join Dr. Cornel West, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bp. William Barber & many more in calling for a Christmas Truce in #Ukraine!
As people of #faith and conscience, believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet, we call for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, as roughly 100,000 German and British soldiers along the Western Front in World War I declared an unofficial #Christmas Truce and ceased hostilities for a short period.
We urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world’s ecosystems and annihilate all of God’s creation.
We invite religious leaders or organizational/denominational leadership to add their voice to the Christmas Truce campaign by signing on here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSe5UKB1EoxgPC…/viewform
Filed under Advent, Current Events, Human Rights
Along the Graybeard Trail 