Podcasts about Vincent Harding

Season 4 is here! And we're back, with a series of intergenerational conversations between elder and younger organizers about important topics in our movements today, produced by the National Council of Elders,  First up: we're digging into the work of building networks and practices of community safety, mutual aid, and transformative justice, and in resisting the construction of new prisons and cop cities.  This episode is hosted by Aljosie Aldrich Harding (she/her) a servant-leader with NCOE, Movement Elder-in-Residence with Project South, and comrade and partner of the late Dr. Vincent Harding. Joining Aljosie in this conversation are: Rahim Buford (he/him) founder of Unheard Voices Outreach, based in Nashville, TN. Bassey Etuk (he/him) movement organizer with Project South, based in Atlanta, GA. Amelia Kirby (she/her) who works with the Sycamore Project, the Yarrow Institute for Abolition and Organizing, and the coalition Building Community Not Prisons  based in eastern Kentucky. Janet Wolf (she/her) who is a member of the National Council of Elders  based in Nashville, TN. Janet's work focuses on public theology, transformative justice and nonviolent direct action organizing to disrupt and dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline through leadership by and partnership with those who are now or have been caged. Special thanks to Building Community Not Prisons - who are working to stop the construction of a federal prison in Letcher County, KY - for letting us name this episode after your coalition!  

Three major commemorations converged last week: the birth of the Anabaptist movement, the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (and the broader movement of which he was part, including our Anabaptist ancestors, Rosemarie and Vincent Harding), and the anniversary of the first national collective action of Mennonite Action. Thanks to the Pastoral Team for Mennonite Action, we notice a thread through these significant commemorations: “the willingness of ordinary people to take actions that simultaneously speak a no and a yes.” Another story for today: fisherfolk in Luke's gospel who leave everything (including a mountain of fish, representing a mountain of wealth) to follow Jesus. God, grant us wisdom and courage as we join these many ancestors of ours in walking a path that says NO to security and status quo and YES to the risky, uncertain, and liberating Way of Jesus.Sermon begins at 6:14Scripture: ​​​​Luke 5:1–11ResourcesThis sermon was taken whole cloth (with some of my own riffs added) from “Prayers for a significant week” from the Mennonite Action Pastoral Team, January 20, 2025.Anabaptist Community BibleEpiscopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde imploring President Trump to “have mercy” on immigrants and LGBTQ people targeted by his policies, at the end of her inaugural prayer service sermon in the National Cathedral, Washington D.C.: video clip linked here.The Movement Makes Us Human: An Interview with Dr. Vincent Harding on Mennonites, Vietnam, and MLK, Joanna Shenk, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism, and Mothering, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, with Rachel Elizabeth Harding, Duke University Press, 2015.BibleWorm podcast: Episode 623 - The Call of Simon, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jrothers?Image: covers of the two Harding books noted aboveHymn 57 Holy Spirit, Come with Power. Text: Anne Neufeld Rupp (USA), © 1970 Anne Neufeld Rupp, trans. Barbara Mink (USA), © 1988 Music: attr. B. F. White (USA), The Sacred Harp, 1844; harm. Joan Fyock Norris (USA), © 1989 Joan Fyock Norris. Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, license #A-726929. All rights reserved.

A brief history of HBCUs through conversations with five scholars about the second curriculum which informs movements for Civil Rights in the midcentury US, segregation scholars and the long withholding of postbaccalaureate education from HBCUs [40:00], the aspirational Black University Concept in W.E.B. DuBois and Vincent Harding [75:00], and the challenges facing HBCU students today [84:00]. Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Jelani Favors, Crystal Sanders, Andrew Douglas, Jared Loggins, Dominique Baker Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/HBCU, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com

The wonderful civil rights elder Vincent Harding liked to look around the world for what he called "live human signposts" — human beings who embody ways of seeing and becoming and who point the way forward to the world we want to inhabit. And adrienne maree brown, who has inspired worlds of social creativity with her notions of "pleasure activism" and "emergent strategy," is surely one of these. We're listening with new ears as she brings together so many of the threads that have recurred in this season of On Being: on looking the harsh complexity of this world full in the face while dancing with joy as life force and fuel, and on keeping clear eyes on the reasons for ecological despair while giving oneself over to a loving apprenticeship with the natural world as teacher and guide. A love of visionary science fiction also finds a robust place in her work and this conversation. She altogether shines a light on an emerging ecosystem in our world over and against the drumbeat of what is fractured and breaking — the cultivation of old and new ways of seeing, towards a transformative wholeness of living.adrienne maree brown's influential books include Emergent Strategy, We Will Not Cancel Us, and Pleasure Activism. More recently, she has published Maroons, a work of speculative fiction, and she co-edited the anthology Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements. She also co-hosts the podcast How to Survive the End of the World. And, a special heads up: in late summer 2024, adrienne maree brown will publish a phenomenal new book — Loving Corrections.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.______Sign up for The Pause — a Saturday morning companion newsletter to the On Being podcast season, and our mailing list for news and invitations all year round. Be the first to know as tickets go on sale for the On Being 2025 live national conversation tour.

The subject tonight is Love And for tomorrow night as well, As a matter of fact I know of no better topic For us to discuss Until we all Die! - Hafiz Crisis, war, injustice, and violence have a certain logic—and social change processes working to address these challenges carry a similar, reactionary logic. How can love help us to step out of the perceived reality of “what is possible” in building peace during conflict? Turning points in conflicts and crises are often mysterious, require acts of enormous creativity, and a willingness to risk. Social change is an artistic act, mobilizing love and prophetic imagination–and it requires us to step into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence. In this series, join Host Serena Bian in speaking with three people who bear witness to the best and worst of humanity, holding a courageous moral imagination. Working and witnessing the front lines of injustice, war, climate change, these peacebuilders, mystics, storytellers hold space for the miraculous to emerge, refusing to be bound by a perceived reality of “what is possible.” Events in the serves Monday, April 29 | Deepa Patel Weds, May 29 | Aljosie Aldrich Harding Tues, June 25 | Kalyanee Mam Aljosie Aldrich Harding Reared in segregated North Carolina, Aljosie began learning, teaching, and building social justice skills along with organizing in the 1960s as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lome, Togo, West Africa. She has been a servant-leader at the Institute of the Black World (Atlanta), a think tank and advocacy organization, and the Learning House (Atlanta) an independent Afrocentric freedom school. She has worked in community organizing in several southern and northern cities and in empowerment building with women's circles, organizations, and colleges. With her co-worker, partner, and late husband, Vincent Harding, she built intergenerational relationships with social justice and peace organizations across the United States and abroad. Her organizational links have included the Bruderhof, Soka Gakkai International, Young Adult Quakers, the Dorothy Cotton Institute, the Walter Rodney Symposium and Foundation, Tewa Women United, Kid Cultivators, and the Yale-National University of Singapore. As a spiritual guide (director) she shares healing justice practices in all her organizational work. Serena Bian Serena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail's soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. Working with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Serena serves as a Special Advisor and brings a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. As a chaplain-in-training, Serena is pursuing questions of how we chaplain the end of extractive systems that isolate communities from themselves and one another. She is involved with multi-generational, multi-spiritual communities like the Nuns and Nones, devoted to courage, peacebuilding, and love. She participates on the Board of Commonweal and CoGenerate. #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #interfaith #peacebuilding #peace

In Seasons 1 and 2 we brought you excerpts from oral history interviews with members of The National Council of Elders (NCOE). In our 3rd season we're bringing you a series of intergenerational conversations between elder and younger organizers about important topics in our movements today. First up: we're digging into the transformative power of radical love! At a time of chaos and uncertainty, relationships rooted in love, of ourselves and one another, can move us forward in ways that call upon values that make life meaningful and joyful. In caring for ourselves, for each other, and for the earth that sustains us, by encouraging actions that enable us to heal what has been broken, we restore life and create visions of the worlds we all long to bring to life. This episode is hosted by Aljosie Aldrich Harding, (she/her) a servant-leader with NCOE, Movement Elder-in-Residence with Project South, and comrade and partner of the late Dr. Vincent Harding. Joining Aljosie in this conversation are: Elder Kathy “Wan Povi” Sanchez, (she/her) who is a member of NCOE and a founding elder with Tewa Women United, based in northern New Mexico. Autumn Gomez, (they/she) with Tewa Women United and Three Sisters Collective, based in northern New Mexico. Shea Howell, (she/her) with the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center and an NCOE member based in Detroit, Michigan. Ru Colvin, (they/them) with The Solutionairies Collective based in Detroit, Michigan. La'Die Mansfield, (she/her) with Project South based in Atlanta, Georgia. rakaya nasir-phillips, (they/he) with the Young Voices Action Collective (YVAC) and a member of The NERVE! podcast team, based in Greensboro, North Carolina.    

It's Let's Rage Coogs presented by the Saxenian Family! We break down everything that happened between the Houston Cougars and the TCU Horned Frogs in the Quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference Tournament! Big thank you to Steve Saxenian, Mike and Jennifer Pittman with Star Pizza, and Vincent Harding for being sponsors on today's show. #collegebasketball #gocoogs #big12basketball --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pawd-slama-jama/support

This live recording of Dr. Vincent Harding's song for the freedom movement is of a multi-racial “movement choir practice” in Denver, CO in December 2014, being led by Minister Daryl J. Walker. We are deeply grateful to the Freeney-Harding family for letting us use the song for this podcast. This song has been the theme song of our podcast since the beginning. Enjoy it now in its entirety. Lyrics: 1 - We are building up a new world (3x) Builders must be strong. 2 - Courage, sisters, don't get weary, courage, brothers, don't get weary. Courage, people, don't get weary, though the way be long. 3 - Rise, shine, give God glory (3x) Children of the light!

This public radio documentary explores the practice of nonviolence in the quest for justice and equality. You'll hear archival sound from the U.S. civil rights movement, including interviews with associates of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Dr. Vincent Harding, a King speechwriter and first director of the King Center in Atlanta; Dorothy Cotton, who served as Education Director […]

Aljosie Aldrich Harding talks with young organizer Destiny Hemphill about the importance of inner heart work and healing justice, the power of great teachers, and how community is essential to organizing. Reared in segregated North Carolina, Aljosie Aldrich Harding began learning, teaching, and building social justice skills along with organizing in the 1960s as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lome, Togo, West Africa.  She has been a servant-leader at the Institute of the Black World (Atlanta), a think tank and advocacy organization, and the Learning House (Atlanta) an independent Afrocentric freedom school.  She has worked in community organizing in several southern and northern cities and in empowerment building with women's circles, organizations, and colleges.  With her co-worker, partner, and late husband, Vincent Harding she built intergenerational relationships with social justice and peace organizations across the United States and abroad. As a spiritual guide (director) she shares healing justice practices in all her organizational work.

 In the words of Howard Thurman, preacher and early civil rights activist who profoundly impacted Mennonite civil rights leader Vincent Harding, Jesus came for those "whose backs were against the wall."

This documentary features recent interviews with associates of Martin Luther King Jr. on his philosophy of nonviolent social change. In addition to archival sound from the civil rights movement, we hear interviews with King associates Dr. Vincent Harding, a King speechwriter and first director of the King Center in Atlanta; Dorothy Cotton, who served as […]

We are living in a time of great challenge and opportunity. Across the African world people are challenging their historically rooted contemporary conditions. The practical work of the long tradition of African and Diasporic freedom fighters has provided the frame work for these various manifestations of Africana resistance to find a way forward---to think, reason, and see that another world is not only possible, but absolutely necessary. The current sociopolitical, economic, and cultural organization of global society is truly not sustainable. Amie Cesaire writing in 1950—in Discourse on Colonialism brings this notion to sharp clarity when he asserts that “A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it created is decadent civilization. A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilization. A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization…” (Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism: 31) Thinkers and fighters such as Amilcar Cabral, in a 1972 speech during one of his visits to the US argued that: “An objective analysis of imperialism insofar as it is a fact or a “natural” historical phenomenon, indeed “necessary” in the context of the type of economic political evolution of an important part humanity, reveals that imperialist rule, with all its train of wretchedness, of pillage, of crime and of destruction of human and cultural values, was not just a negative reality. The vast accumulation of capital in half a dozen countries of the northern hemisphere which was a result of piracy, of the confiscation of the property of other peoples and of the ruthless exploitation of the work of these peoples will not only lead to the monopolization of colonies, but to the division of the world…” (Cabral, 1972: 57 in Selected Speeches of Amilcar Cabral). How are we to understand this long tradition…that is finding material expression in the various movements around the African world? What is the role of Diasporic institutions, such as the HBCU? More importantly, as Vincent Harding once asked what is the vocation of the Black scholar and their praxis? I would expand this question to include what is the vocation of the Black and their praxis in relation to the entire African world? I recently sat down with Corey Walker, Dean of The College and the John W. and Anna Hodgin Hanes Professor of the Humanities at Winston Salem State University for a wide-ranging discussion of the role and responsibility of the Black scholar in this current phase of global African resistance. Enjoy the program…. Audio credit: Africa is a Country - mini-documentary - Shutting Down the Rainbow Nation - available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksgrJyOrd7AImage credit: Rob Siebörger. The Rhodes Statue at the UCT-ground. Photo taken 28 March 2015.

On Being's Krista Tippett joins Konda for a conversation on kinship, faith, spirituality, Black voices, democracy, Dr. Vincent Harding, and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times bestselling author. Krista is Founder and CEO of The On Being Project, a nonprofit media and public life initiative; host of the radio programs and podcasts, On Being and Becoming Wise; and Curator of The Civil Conversations Project. For more information about her ongoing work at the intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, community, poetry, arts, race, and healing, please visit onbeing.orgPrivacy Policy and California Privacy Notice.

'Leading Lives that Matter' is an anthology of written works that gets right down to the core of who we are as humans. Alhrik and Devan dig into the texts to discuss questions on vocation and identity. References: "Why Work?" by Dorothy Sayers (199). "Good Will Hunting" excerpt (285). "I Hear Them... Calling" by Vincent Harding (31). "I Resolve to Become a Jungle Doctor" by Albert Schweitzer (277). Genesis 2:15 ESV. Nehemiah 2:4 ESV. "The Martian" by Andy Weir.

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? For our Good Friday episode, Rev. Anne Dunlap discovers 3 signposts for our work as white anti-racist Christians in the long and terrifying story of Jesus' arrest and execution by Roman authorities in John 18-19. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? Palm Sunday is the story of the protest processional of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey and of an Imperial Parade with swords and shields gleaming in the desert sun. Join Jean Jeffress as they meander their way from last year's Pandemic Palm Sunday to this year's Pandemic Palm Sunday. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this episode, we welcome back Allyn Maxfield-Steele, in conversation with Seth Wispelwey, about John 12:20-33 and why (and how) white people need to get liberated from the lie of white supremacy. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this episode, we welcome back Blyth Barnow, in conversation with Anne Dunlap, about John 3:14-21 (yes, including lots of talk about *that* verse!), shame, and what's possible when we organize our people out of love for them, rather than fear of them. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this episode, Nichola Torbett feels around in this question: How do we create in our movements the kind of heartbreaking beauty that makes dismantling white supremacy irresistible for all white Christians? The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Donate to support the work of SURJ and Soulforce: https://bit.ly/SURJSF Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

Summary: Jesus tells the truth about the violence his people were both experiencing and perpetrating. That truth-telling leads to lament: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” And only then, in the wake of truth-telling and collective lament, can people find their way to the imaginative, healing, liberating path of Jesus. The writing of Joanna Lawrence Shenk leads us into engaging some Mennonite-specific truth-telling and lament about Dr. Vincent Harding and his experience as a Black prophetic leader in the mostly white Mennonite Church from the 1960’s on. We want to be willing! May we tell the truth, lament, and courageously find our way along the healing and liberating path to our Mother Hen Jesus’ wings. [sermon begins at 20:15]Scripture: Luke 13:1-9, 31- 35Photo: Vincent Harding speaks at the Eighth Mennonite World Conference in Amsterdam, 1967. Box 19, Folder 8. Mennonite World Conference Records, 1923-2012. Mennonite Church USA Archives, Goshen IN.Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929. All rights reserved.Together - Text and music: Nathan Grieser 2014, rev. 2018 © 2014As a Sigh Great with Yearning - Text: Pierre Jacob, English adap. Andrew Donaldson, © 2017; Music: Gaetan de Courreges; harm. Didier Godel © 1988Additional ResourcesThy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet - VT 398 - Text and music: Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith © 1984“Lament over Jerusalem: Commentary on Luke 13:1-9, 31-35,” Mitzi J. Smith, on Working Preacher blog, for February 28, 2021.Bibleworm podcast: Episode 227 – The Parable of the Fig Tree, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr.The Cross and the Lynching Tree, James H. Cone, Orbis, 2013.“Beggars & Saints: What needs to be burned away so that we can hear Vincent Harding’s enduring call to revolutionary nonviolence,” Joanna Lawrence Shenk, Anabaptist World, February 12, 2021.Read more: “A Prophet Pushed Out: Vincent Harding and the Mennonites,” by Tobin Miller Shearer, Mennonite Life 2015, Vol 69.

We continue in our Signposts In the Wilderness series: What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this episode, join Rev. Will Green as he ponders Psalm 22 and how we hold our pain without turning away from each other. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

For special episodes of The Word is Resistance, listen in as podcast contributors join in self-reflection in community with each other. What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? In this conversation, Revs. Claire Brown and Jean Jeffress reflect on Mark 1:9-15, Jesus being driven into the Wilderness. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For another awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition. Transcript available here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

For special episodes of The Word is Resistance, listen in as podcast contributors join in self-reflection in community with each other. What can we learn from each other - from our mistakes and misperceptions, from our places of pain and also our places of joy, which can guide us in this time as white Christians working for racial justice? For our first conversation, Rev. Anne Dunlap, Nichola Torbett, and Rev. Margaret Ernst, reflect on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, this years New Testament text for Ash Wednesday. The late Dr. Vincent Harding, elder and leader in the Black freedom movement, often spoke of “live human signposts” - people in our lives who can help us find the way towards greater wholeness and multiracial democracy. This Lent, we look towards each other, to the scripture, and to the live human signposts in each of our lives, to guide our path forward. For an awesome Lenten resource this year, check out Black Lent from our friends at The Good Neighbor Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina: tiny.cc/BlackLent, a Daily Devotional featuring 40 Black writers who are inspired by and embody the Black prophetic tradition.

 From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans laid their lives—many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders’ belief in non-violent activism was tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way. “Freedom Riders” examines the 1961 and earlier Freedom Rides from many perspectives -especially from the many women who were on the front lines, that of the Riders themselves, the Kennedy administration, and the international community. Featuring Carlton Bacon, Leonard Barrett, Jada Dixon, Kurt Soderson, Candy Brown, Kris Angela Washington, Itha Gabriel on Foley. Special guest James Lawson, Terry Sutherland riders from the summer of 1961 plus Dr. Vincent Harding. They will join the audience for a community dialogue on race and other issues that face our nation plus share the firsthand account of the rides. Featuring singers from ‘Southern Journey’ performing songs from the Southern Freedom Movement.   Next The Freedom Rides on Destination Freedom Black Radio Days

Our colleague Lucas Johnson catches up with one of his mentors, Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons. Now a member of the National Council of Elders, she was a teenager when she joined the Mississippi Freedom Summer. She shares what she has learned about exhaustion and self-care, spiritual practice and community, while engaging in civil rights organizing and deep social healing. Dr. Simmons was raised Christian and later converted to the Sufi tradition of Islam.Lucas Johnson leads The On Being Project's work in social healing as Executive Director of Civil Conversations and Social Healing. He is a community organizer, writer, and a minister in the American Baptist Churches. Read his full bio here.Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons is assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida and a member of the National Council of Elders. Her account of her work as an activist in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is featured in the book, Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC. 

As we inaugurate a new president, it's a good time to talk about important questions about change, activism, and dialogue. Joanna Lawrence Shenk joins us to discuss activism, getting to know our neighbors, and whether or not dialogue changes anything. Guest Plugs * Iconocast - https://www.jesusradicals.com/iconocast * The Movement Makes Us Human - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38592732-the-movement-makes-us-human * Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13060639-widening-the-circle Show Notes * Regina Shands Stolzfus - https://www.goshen.edu/faculty/reginass/ * Family Systems Theory - https://thebowencenter.org/theory/ * Mennonite Voluntary Service - https://www.mennonitemission.net/Serve/Mennonite%20Voluntary%20Service * Jonathan Matthew Smucker - https://jonathansmucker.org/ * Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals - https://beyondthechoir.org/hegemony/ * Dr. Vincent Harding - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VincentHarding * Poor People’s Campaign - https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ * Poor People’s Campaign (Historical) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PoorPeople%27sCampaign * Faith in Action - https://faithinaction.org/ * The Backfire Effect - https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/ * There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America by Dr. Vincent Harding - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/532319.ThereIsaRiver Support the Podcast - https://www.patreon.com/wdtatpodcast Leave us a voicemail! https://www.speakpipe.com/wdtatpodcast Email your feedback to wdtatpodcast@gmail.com Follow us: Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/wdtatpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wdtatpodcast/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/wdtatpodcast Special Guest: Joanna Lawrence Shenk.

Episode details courtesy of The Bw Here Now Network. Ankhet Rumi and Omid join together to explore embodying truth through teaching, fighting for social justice, the contemporary American Saints of the Freedom Movement, working with anger, & the divine Sufi poetry and wisdom of Rumi. Returning from a short hiatus, Omid is back with the Sufi Heart podcast, welcoming friend, poet, artist, and fellow podcaster, Ankhet Rumi, to the show. This special episode will be dual-casted, not only appearing here on the Be Here Now Network, but also on Ankhet's self-titled podcast, Ankhet, which illuminates the wisdom of Sufi poet, Rumi, and elucidates Eastern mysticism for modern times, holding deep credence towards the transcendental poetry of existence, social justice, and radical love. Subscribe to Ankhet's podcast on Spotify and on Anchor Teaching in Truth: Embodying Social Justice Speaking to Omid's honest, nuanced, and trust-filled presence and teaching style, Ankhet shares, through the lens of a Black Woman, the importance of finding teachers with clear vision and true compassion for the injustices that plague our society. In a world where everything seems so compartmentalized and polarized, to find a teacher with a holistic, interconnected view pointing towards, and bringing people into, the presence of love and truth, is a rare and special embodiment. “As a woman of what is considered Black in this country, when we go looking, or we happen to run into a teacher, we must hear not only love, but even a deeper love, which is the one that refuses to turn away from societal injustices.” – Ankhet Rumi Explore the intersection of social justice and spirituality with activist and spiritual teacher, Konda Mason. Check out Ep. 2 of her brand new Brown Rice Hour The Freedom Movement: Contemporary Saints of United States (2:25) Omid, sharing his activism work, describes when he met famous Civil Rights Leader, Vincent Harding, that Vincent explained he and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never once called it the ‘Civil Rights Movement.' Instead they called it, ‘The Freedom Movement.' Through this lens, Omid and Ankhet view Civil Rights leaders such as Dr. King and Ella Baker as the true contemporary Saints of the United States, harkening a Sufi tradition optimism, that as long as there is one person remembering God, there is still hope for redemption. “Think about the wisdom of the Sufi tradition, that God will never destroy a people as long as there's one person left there who's remembering God. As long as this nation is producing John Lewis, Ella Baker, Martin King, Vincent Harding, Sister Amber; our destiny is not yet destruction. The hour is late, but it's not too late. There's still time for hope, redemption, and righting this ship.” – Dr. Omid Safi Join Omid as he reflects on Freedom Movement leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the pertinence of his message for today's world, on Ep. 11 of Sufi Heart Working with Anger: Colonialism, Lower Selves, & God-Remembrance (39:29) How can we learn to open ourselves to taking in the hard truths of history, like colonialism, slavery, and racism, while not being completely overtaken by anger? How can we notice when we are caught in our lower nafs (selves), and use this a reminder for coming-back to a state of God-remembrance? Quoting Rumi in regards to fighting for social justice, Ankhet and Omid explore practices and vantage points for working with anger, remembering that the base of reality is love. “I asked one of my dear friends, ‘Where does love fit into the revolution?' ‘Ultimately,' he said, ‘Where does revolution fit into love? Because all there is, is love.'” – Ankhet Rumi For insight into the divinely transcendental poetry of Sufi mystic Rumi, join Omid for one of his ‘Fireside Chats with Rumi,' on Ep. 15 of Sufi Heart

Come listen to a WUU service!In the last few months, we've witnessed the incredible transformation of the Confederate monuments in Richmond. As the late Black historian Vincent Harding asks, "What shall [we] do with the idea of an America in process, an America that is not a finished, sharp-edged block of white granite but is instead a malleable, multicolored gift of clay; still seeking, taking, giving shape, purpose, and direction?Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, MinisterDavid Hopkinson, Worship AssociateAusten Petersen, Director of Religious EducationDave Robbins, Assistant Director of Music, PianoHamed Barbarji, TrumpetLes Solomon, From the HeartThe YouTube version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luv9HzJSVggThank you for listening. For more information about the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists, or to join us on Sunday mornings, visit www.wuu.org.

Jamie Laurie is emcee for the alternative hip-hop band Flobots, and is a climate and racial justice activist. In this episode of EarthRising, we focus on the path of activism in society, and links between racial and climate justice.Jamie shares his experience of being mentored by the late civil rights activist and theologian Dr. Vincent Harding, who was a speech writer to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also reflects on the role spirituality has played in his own path in developing as a musician and activist. And, we discuss his core approach of using art as the main tool or technology to engage people in cultivating awareness around modern day social issues.This is a thought-provoking episode on current issues we've been collectively facing during this turbulent year, and the conversation ends with an offering from Jamie you won't want to miss! Episode Links:flobots.comBlurring the Lines Between Audience and Performer | Flobots | TEDxMileHighWonderbound and Flobots: Voices of the Dead

This episode is a conversation with Lara Scott, a visual artist living in upstate New York. We begin by talking about Lara's background, with the conversation centering around her thoughts on growing up in a mixed family: the families of both her mother and father have been multi-ethnic/multi-racial going back many generations. The conversation then turns to current events. Among other things, we discuss whether the notion of whiteness needs to be retired (and what that means) and the Black Lives Matter movement. Our conversation was recorded on July 25, 2020. If you would like to provide feedback or let me know that you'd like to come on the podcast for a conversation, you can contact me at hangingquestionmarks@gmail.com. The image for this episode is a photo of the painting Orchid Study by Lara Scott. You can find out more about Lara and her art—and how to purchase her work—by visiting https://themetamerquarterly.blogspot.com/. Here is a list of people, readings, websites, and quotes that Lara selected as being relevant to our conversation: People: Jessica B. Davenport, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi Readings: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class, by Lawrence Otis Graham; Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, by Toni Morrison Websites: http://occupywallst.org/ — https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ — https://blacklivesmatter.com/ Quotes: “The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.” Hannah Arendt, quoted by Lyndsey Stonebridge “Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.” James Baldwin, from The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985 "Oh, yes, they do. We have a fantastic time as we try to figure out, 'And now, what are the new songs, and what are the new words?' For instance, let me just mention one word that we've been working with lately. I've been on a campaign encouraging people as we think about the beloved community to stop using this word 'minority,' that there is something negative about that terminology because it always suggests that somebody else is the majority. The fact is, we are all now creating a new majority. We are all part of this beloved community. In community, the concept of minority simply doesn't work. You don't have a minority in a family. So we have got to get new words, new songs, new possibilities for ourselves." Vincent Harding, https://onbeing.org/programs/vincent-harding-is-america-possible/ Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld

Vincent Harding was wise about how the vision of the civil rights movement might speak to 21st-century realities. He reminded us that the movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s was spiritually as well as politically vigorous; it aspired to a “beloved community,” not merely a tolerant integrated society. He pursued this through patient-yet-passionate cross-cultural, cross-generational relationships. And he posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible?Vincent Harding was chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He authored the magnificent book Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement and the essay “Is America Possible?” He died in 2014.This show originally aired in February 2011.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org

Vincent Harding was wise about how the vision of the civil rights movement might speak to 21st-century realities. He reminded us that the movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s was spiritually as well as politically vigorous; it aspired to a “beloved community,” not merely a tolerant integrated society. He pursued this through patient-yet-passionate cross-cultural, cross-generational relationships. And he posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible?Vincent Harding was chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He authored the magnificent book Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement and the essay “Is America Possible?” He died in 2014.This show originally aired in February 2011.This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Vincent Harding — Is America Possible?" Find more at onbeing.org.

Foundry's Summer Guest Series starts with a guest sermon from Reverend Kimberly Scott For Such A Time As This-I. It is indeed and privilege and honour that I stand before you today…For Such a time as time…A few months ago, I could imagined I’d preaching for you today Foundry…The Day following my Ordination as an Elder in Full Connection of the Desert Southwest Conference….Had some one told 10 years ago that would be standing in a virtual pulpit/ anyone virtual pulpit today I wouldn’t have believed…Preaching, teaching and being a leader CHURCH in the was never on my bucket list church….But God, has been up to something for such a time as this….A time in which so much of our lives have been put on hold due to COVID 19 PANDEMIC ….A time in which LGBTQIA folks in the UMC are faced with the reality that their promise land has seemingly disappeared over the horizon, and in now out of site…AT a time such as this that our history, our past has seeming become our new or a renewed reality……. I know this your PRIDE SUNDAY, but it would be socially irresponsible to NOT You see I understand that there are some of you, who you assumed you’d lived through worst season of racial tension, discrimination, injustice and inequality in this country…I recognize that some of lived through the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights, Woman’s Lib and Gay and Lesbian Right Movement…AND there is at least one, generation of persons gathered here today who truly grew up believing they lived in a color blind society…Some of us thought systemic racism and homophobia was dead in this country with the election of Barack Obama, AND then there’s unfortunate reality that some gathered here today have seen the CHURCH at war with itself all your life due issues of colonialism, racism, sexism and homophobia….In other words, some of us have been waiting for TRANSFORMATION to come in in our streets, in the church and our world for way too long… We are sick and tired of being sick of creating new hash tags… So what is our call as faithful followers of a Jesus Christ who died so that all might be set FREE?What is our call as those who claim to serve a Jesus who died to set the oppressed free and so that through his Body humanity might live into the reality of the REALIZED Kin-dom of God?....I don’t have all of the answers but today text situates us in life of Esther to aid us finding our way forward…For Such A Time as thisII. The text: For Such a time as thisAlthough most of us have heard or are familiar with the famous quote for such a time as this, from the book of Esther.. Due to the fact that Esther rarely makes the lectionary many don’t know the full or context that makes that statement so profound. So let us start with who Esther is… She is a young Jewish woman, orphaned due the death of her parents. Fortunately, she is adopted by her cousin Mordecai. Mordecai serves as a courier within the Kings royal court…At this time in Bible History the Jews, God’s chosen people, are in exile. Jerusalem was conquered, its people taken in chains into Babylonian captivity. So the Jews of the diaspora have, settled and made their homes in Susa, and they are living as a recognized religious minority in the heart of the powerful Persian empire….Thus living on the margins… Thus, as an orphan and a Jewish female, Esther is a nobody among nobodies in this minority community. With her true identity kept secret, Esther first appears in the story as one of the young virgins brought into the king's harem, by her cousin Mordecai to be a possible replacements for Vashti, the banished wife of the Persian King.After a year living in the harem being trained, Esther pleases the king and is eventually crowned queen. Remember All this takes place while Esther keeps her Jewish identity thus her relation to Mordecia secret (Esth 2:10, 20). Meanwhile Mordecai he has won favor by serving the king faithfully and even preventing an assassination attempt. Somehow Mordecai’s Jewish heritage becomes known to an enemy by the of Haman. Haman is also a favored member of the King’s royal court. Yet, he is jealous of Mordecai and his standing with the king. Mordecai get into a power struggle with a Haman Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman, and this so infuriates Haman. Haman decides not only to put Mordecai to death, but also to slaughter his entire people. And he secures the king's permission to do this. Our text today in Esther 4 picks up right after Mordecai has learned of Haman's plot and he is distraught. In this distraught state, weeping, and dressed in sackcloth and ashes he shows up at the palace gate wanting to inform Esther of what’s taken place. After going back and forth with a messenger, Eventually Mordecai reveals Haman’s plot to exterminate all the, Jews…And pleads for Esther to beg for the Kings mercy to spare her people’s lives As was read in our text…When Esther first learns of Haman's plot and the threat to her people, her reaction is one of reluctance, helplessness and hopelessness. She tells Mordecai she could not approach the king without being summoned, and she could possibly face death, and besides the king has not summoned for me in thirty days, implying that she has fallen out of favor. Yet, Mordecai's is persistent and send on one last plea: “Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’” Esther 4:13-14 (NASB) III. What is this story about…Well right away we learn that the leaders of the Persian empire/ Haman, had an agenda… A racist agenda to exterminate all the Jews. We might now a little bit in this country about racist agenda to exterminate a group of people… We know a little bit AS Methodist about homophobic agenda to exterminate queer people from the church…. So we should be able to place ourselves inside this story… FOUNDRY….I need you to place yourself inside this story….FOUNDRY….I need you to place yourself inside this story…. Foundry…ESTHER…Esther you are facing the genocide of yourself your people…You are being given a difficult task….. 1. To choose action or to choose to be SILENT when your people needed her the most.2.Esther you’ve got to choose rather to confront your husband/spouse, the King, the power be, risking death simply by entering a room without being asked or to do nothing and continue to live a plus life as the Queen Esther. 3. Esther you can choose to plead with your husband/spouse the king, to stop this ethnic cleansing or to do nothing. 4. Esther you can save yourself and your people or you can do nothing. So secondly this is narrative about choice and free will?God always give use Choices right……Since the beginning…. Now..When we reflect on Esther’s life, who she was, where she had come from and then read 13-15 it can easily come across as Mordecai scolded her focus self-preservation In others words we might take it as MORDECAI calling her out for being selfish..…But listen….Let’s read the text again… Do not think that because you are in the King’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. More than any other thing the word that sticks out to me…Is the phrase…For if you remain SILENT time this….For if you remain silent this time HERE Mordecai catches ESTHER’s attention by clueing her in to the bigger picture…the broader context of who she is.. He essentially say her, although it feels LIKE you have arrived- You have not made it to your promise land because your in the King’s palace living a lavish life DON”T forget …You are still a JEW..….Mordecia is saying…Esther your LIFE is not simply about YOU…But about us……You did not make it to this PALACE: for yourself or by yourself or because of yourself..So, don’t to comfortable yet…WE-a collective WE are not arrived at your promise land..If you remain silent at this time and focus on yourself…Eventually relief will come to our people by you and your family will die…. In speaking these words to Esther…Mordecai draws her away from the needs of self and self-preservation to a sense of connectivism and into to the UNBUTU spirit.. I am BECAUSE you are…You are BECAUSE I amHe reminds her she had been CHOSEN for this TIME to set ASIDE her own interests, goals and desire to let go of her own ambitions, and face their common foe full-on.And how does Esther reply…him.​ With that message Esther is inspired….No she is compelled to take control…To act quickly in this crisis to save her people in the midst of the threat of death… She is obediently, faithful.. she is a team player….Eshter goes on to be the savior of her people….She was indeed call for Such a time as this…. She was called to risk her life and her legacy with no guarantees of a positive outcome. Just on faith and Goodwill… That’s the “for such a time as this” Mordecai challenged Esther to accept.And that’s the “for such a time as this” God also sets before you and me… So what do we learn from Esther?So what is Esther teaching here?First, this is call to not be SILENT when a CRISIS arise amongst our people..When we see harm being done..When injustice in present…In our world…In our churches… Over the last week, we’ve all heard the stories about people all over the world reacting with protest, riots and marches due to the George Floyd case….AND to BE quite I honest I really wrestled with my own response the first few days because quite frankly I was scared… I was scared about being hurt, arrested, being in the wrong place at the wrong time….Pause…And then across the screen flashed on a protestors sign….Silence = Violence…. Silence = Compliance… …Riots are the voice of the unheard….. And then the kicker…In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of FRIEND…I instantly felt convicted like I should be doing something…I took it as my call to stop sitting on the sidelines and to become a part of the solution….So wrapped up in Esther’s is a call, is Esther teaching us to use our voice to…To give encourage us …To give us courage AND The power to speak FREEDOM for the captive…For the oppressed…-Freedom is the call to a protect LIFE of via the ACT of love, TO SPEAK words of FREEDOM is to BRING ALL TO A PLACE OF wholeness and abundance… ---The call to speak of freedom and speak freedom into EXISTENCE for others , challenges evil, destructiveness, oppression, violence, decay, and defeats death….. AND this INDEED Good news! So-How do we speak of freedom in a world suffering? - We must be A voices for the voiceless…To speak NEW truth to power..Because next in our text, There ESTHER’s story models for us how to live OUT OUR CALL AND to put the community and God’s Kin-Dom building work ahead of our self-seeking ambition..Imagine that…God has given each of us a job/careers, resources, education and influence…. God has opened doors and given each of us opportunities for God’s Kin-Dom purposes. God didn’t create us to just sit back and live a lavish life not focused on the world around us. The more resources and privilege we have the more WE have that belongS to God… As Luke 12:48 teaches to whom much is given much is required…BECAUSE God placed us where we ARE today to literally be apart of building UP a NEW WORLD… PAUSEI had the privilege of attending the Iliff School of Theology at time when the late Dr. Vincent Harding was there…Dr. Harding assisted in the writing of many of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches….IN his experience walking beside and working with KING he was inspired to write a song sung to the tune of we are climbing Jacobs ladder, titled…We Are Building Up A New World….That is the song I lead in with today before the prayer…VINCENT HARDING charged us at Iliff to take seriously our responsibility at Building Up A New World…To take seriously our Kind-Dom building responsibility…THUS…Today we are in the midst of KinDom battle…The enemy would love to have it’s way by distracting us and having us be continue to be inwardly focused on the all things that matter to us…But God didn’t build us that way…GOD BUILT us to BE IN COMMUNITY….Esther could have easily continued to live the lavish LIFE in the King’s palace and let whatever happen to her people just happen…But she would have most certainly have missed her Kin-Dom Calling and an entire nation would have been lost…Instead an entire nation was grateful for how Esther responded to Mordecai’s REQUEST. Their lives were spared. How many lives matter to you? Who’s lives truly manner to you… How have you shown it…. I answered my call to ministry at a time I was mad at God the church for all the harm I had a experienced and openly queer lay person who faithfully served the church….But God said kin stop whining and crying about how horrible the church has been to you and God and be a part of changes the church, because are not the only one who has been harmed or being harmed by the church…..And that’s how convinced me of my first for such a time as this moment…. To leave behind, my church, my family and my career…You see as school counselor for 10 in las Vegas, NV I had witness LGBTQIA youth being harmed by due to the LDS, BAPTIST, CHURCH OF GOD upbringing to name a few.I saw countless numbers of students in and out of treatment center, some end up runaways and others victims of suicide….I know It is no mistake that the first Sermon God laid on my heart, An Untimely Commissioning to Speak, Just Might Save the Life of Nation or A People…With that sermon based on Moses calls story ..God was calling me new life of work….To save I believe a generation of LGBTQIA young people of Faith…….FOUNDRY it’s not just by chance that less than a year AGO today I met your PASTOR and we would do some really HARD, UGLY, GRIMEY work together in our fight LGBTIA liberation in the UMC…..It is not just by chance that the day after my ordination God has placed me an An openly QUEER/MARRIED, African American in before and placed it in my spirit to preach to proclaim For Such A Time as this because to the TIME IS Now….The time is NOW…My life, my ministry has been filled with taking risk… Foundry you are being called to LIVE as IF your loved ones lives are AT RISK..You are being CALLED to live as if you loved lives are at risk… As if those nearest and dearest to you are the ones facing extermination …Extermination from the church because they are LGBTQIA…. As if those who are nearest and dearest to you are the one being fed the crumbs from the table of a crumbling church… You are being CALLED to live as if you loved lives are at risk… As if those nearest and dearest to you are facing or EXECUTION in the street because of the color of their skin.. So many black and brown lives could spared in the world today if today if we’d ALL choose to step up to service, to speak out against racism and police brutality And to fight for legislative and policy changes even if it involves sacrifice, of our money time, gift and talents…So many QUEER and TRANSPERSONS lives and MINISTRY could be speared more of us would choose to step up the mic and SPEAK out, Us their resources and political influence to find a way FORWARD to CREATE the church that JESUS died to build…Finally…. Esther is teaching us here that our call to act is on God’s watch…God’s time not ours…Esther got the call for Mordecai and responded urgently.. Was the call timely? NO…In fact, it didn’t make human sense to Esther I’m sure.She was sure she had finally arrived.. She was sure she had finally become SOMEBODY..Of high stature esteem and respect………Yet Esther was obedient to the call… She used her privilege ..She sacrifice herself for the sake of others…For the sake of her people…How many times have received a call to be apart of something that would have caused you to make a sacrifice and you said…Oh no, not this at moment, this is terrible timing?….Or perhaps this is not my time… OR I’ve done all that I can do…I’ll leave it to the next generation to figure out……We are just prolonging our collective suffering….We are prolonging the the Kin-Dom reality the God so desperately wants us to experience…We are prolonging bringing an end to SUFFERING, INJUSTICE and OPPRESSION..… We have been called to be the ones to free the oppressed recover sight to the blind..… AND to bring about love, peace, and justice today for the transformation of the WORLD today in the hear now… Who are WE waiting ON to do our work for us? Let us not delay the Kingdom building any longer…. We have been called….For such a time as this. Because the time is now…… Let us pray….….We stand in awe of your timing, yet we have gathered together today embracing it… Because as the song goes, all we have is now; To be faithful, To be holy And to shine lighting up the darkness.. For Such a time as this we were placed upon the earthto hear the voice of God And do God will will… For such a time as this we stand in awe Oh God for how you’ve readied us for your service , for how you commission us for your service at your pace. … Oh God although the mystery of your timing seems to evade us, God in your timeliness and in your way you brought us here together from places near and fear, through many dangers seen and unseen, from many different life experiences, paths, cultures and social location and united as the Body. Yet, we must also confess oh God we have left much undone…We have not adequality to proclaimed good news to the poor. We have not adequately proclaimed liberty to the captives and allowed the blind to see, We have not adequality free oppressed, Continue to equip us in YOUR of work of Kin-DOM building… Help us oh God continue to build your kingdom of justice, peace fueled the passionate love of you oh God, self and neighbor. Empower us to see through your eye the inequalities of the world and in holy frustration be the change we want to see in our world. Let us no longer allow for injustices and evils that that rob so many of their future. Eternal God And above all, fill us with your Spirit and your Holy boldness…. That we might look to hours, days, and years ahead with hope, determination for such a time as this, because the TIME is NOW! https://foundryumc.org/

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anthony talk about: * Feeling late to the Black Lives Matter movement and going to Ferguson * Learning to lead national campaigns for peace * Realizing communication is about storytelling * Being seen, being heard, what it means to win * The need to inspire vision as a leader * Optimism vs hope * Finding affirmation in current events while still taking the long view * Managing frustrations and engaging in self-care * The idea of being "well-adjusted to injustice" * Meeting Cornel West (!) and mentorship from Dr. Vincent Harding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Harding) * The need to question authority, who benefits from it * Redefining profit to include greater context * Hope in future generations voting with their career choices * Leading "with" vs "over" * The joy of asking a ton of questions :) * What white people can do to join the movement and show support: * Get off the fence * Don't jump in unschooled, but don't wait until you think you know everything either * Don't assume your help will fix everything * Get used to being uncomfortable, exercise those muscles, grow * Don't let this moment pass you by * That Anthony's movie (https://www.anthonygrimes.com/mr-somebody-watts-la) was chosen for the Tribeca Film Festival! * Missing going out and dancing, traveling You can find Anthony at his website (https://www.anthonygrimes.com), and on most social media as @antbuilder Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

On this month's episode, we talk to Jemar Tisby, author of The Color of Compromise, about the shameful history of the American church's complicity with racism and racial oppression. And in One Last Thing, Dan and Tim switch personalities: Dan has been listening to a podcast, while Tim has been listening to an audiobook. Some of the things we discussed in this episode: Mr. Tisby mentioned the books The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, by Mark Noll and White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo. Mr. Tisby also talked about GT Gillespie, Myrlie Evers and the Supreme Court decision Shelby County v. Holder. He also encouraged listeners to watch all of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which too often gets reduced to the single sentence about "the content of their character." Tim brought up Lee Atwater's infamous comments about race and winning elections, and he and Mr. Tisby talked about Republicans' strange insistence on turning ballot access into a partisan issue. Dan mentioned Orval Faubus, Vincent Harding, and the book Noah's Curse, by Stephen Haynes. Dan's OLT was the podcast Office Ladies. Tim's OLT was the book Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard. 0:00-1:19: Introduction 1:23-34:59: Tisby interview 35:04-40:11: Dan's OLT 40:11-43:47: Tim's OLT 43:48-44:55: Credits

This week, we’re talking about our history with political action as we gear up for a big year in politics, both local and national. In upcoming episodes, we’ll be interviewing experts on the census and its importance. In the fall, we’ll interview some local candidates, and if primary season is any indicator, you’ll definitely get a chance to hear us vent about American elections. This week, we’re casting our minds back to how we all came to be fascinated by and working in American politics. Kelly and Becca both trace their involvement back to their parents. Becca was a young marcher for the ERA, and Kelly’s family brought her into the Democratic party fold in the 1970s. Katie talks about how her experience of learning from teachers like Vincent Harding who were leaders in the Civil Rights movement taught her how to be engaged and active in the struggles of her community, eventually leading her to her position today on her local school decision making council. Jenny’s experience as a rural young woman writing letters for Amnesty International brought her to her work on the Letters to Mitch project. And we couldn’t forget about the time that Kelly ran for local office, and we all got involved. Running for office isn’t for the faint of heart, so we’re dedicating this episode to Elizabeth Warren who ended her run for President this week. We were inspired by her energy, humor, hope, and compassion. So to use the phrase that’s the highest praise you can get in our Appalachian region: “Elizabeth, we appreciate you.” #ThankYouElizabeth Recorded at Front Porch Studios, Berea, KY | Produced by Troy Price | Edited by Kelly Smith | Music composed and performed by Elly Green | Artwork by Jessica Holly

A civil rights elder and speechwriter for Martin Luther King, Jr., the late Vincent Harding brought the wisdom of the movement to young people in hurting places. He offers the image of a “live human signpost” as a guiding light toward the kind of support and mentorship we can offer one another in our work toward a beloved community. “When it comes to creating a multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious, democratic society, we are still a developing nation,” he says. “But my own deep, deep conviction is that the knowledge, like all knowledge, is available to us if we seek it.” Vincent Harding taught at Iliff School of Theology. He authored the magnificent book “Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement” and the essay “Is America Possible?” Find the transcript at onbeing.org.

Environmental Forums for City of Austin Council Candidates 2018 Shades of Green hosted Environmental Forums for our City Council candidates to find out their positions on critical issues facing the City. Each candidate is asked to elaborate on their position on issues regarding climate change, transportation, water and other important environmental topics. Part 1 today includes candidates running for District 1. In the studio we had candidates: Natasha Harper-Madison Mariana Salazar Reedy Spigner (Other candidates Mitrah Avini, Lewis Conway Jr., and Vincent Harding were invited but unable to attend)

This week on the Sufi Heart Podcast, Omid reflects on the teachings of social activist Vincent Harding and examines the way that love sparks the flame of justice within us.Fins show notes and resources here: https://beherenownetwork.com/sufi-heart-ep-3-flame-of-justice/Vincent Harding, a historian, author and activist who wrote one of the most polarizing speeches ever given by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in which Dr. King expressed ardent but compassionate opposition to the Vietnam War. In this episode, we look at Harding’s teachings around the intersection of social action and the heart.

Austin Monitor Radio: District 1 candidate Vincent Harding by Austin Monitor

This week Rev. Anne Dunlap draws the connection between Jesus being unwelcome in his hometown and teaching his team to shake off the dust from their feet when they are unwelcome (Mark 6: 1-13), with some Langston Hughes and Dr. Vincent Harding to help us think about all of this in the context of the 4th of July. "This empire that holds the truths of white supremacy and capitalism to be self-evident is a space where compassionate community is unwelcome. This empire is a space that tries to sap us of our collective power..." Action links: *"Let America Be America Again," by Langston Hughes https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/let-america-be-america-again ***"Civil Rights Figure Talks Nonviolence and Faith in Today's Society," by John Dear, National Catholic Reporter, June 26, 2012. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/civil-rights-figure-talks-nonviolence-and-faith-todays-society ***Mijente Immigration Policy Platform https://mijente.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Mijente-Immigration-Policy-Platform_0628.pdf Transcript can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

Vincent Harding was Martin Luther King's longtime friend and advisor. They first met in 1958 when King was laid up in bed, recovering from an assassination attempt. Harding said King's death made some people in the civil rights movement wonder if the country was worth fighting for.

In this practice, you’ll learn how to facilitate a group game called the SINGDOWN. This exercise is designed by Jonny 5 & Brer Rabbit of Flobots to reconnect us with the power of collective song by immersing us in a lighthearted experience of collective singing. Follow along with the facilitator guide Jonny 5 wrote for us here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-WUwdQ6qQtFap00yhYWnZMpmmijJisT3ywfkSOPmNbw/edit?usp=sharing Download the corresponding conversation (episode 19) titled “Songs for the Streets” to learn more about how this can translate into powerful songs for direct action. We talk about the role of artists in leadership, the Flobots’ late mentor Dr. Vincent Harding, the role of music in embracing and holding the range of emotions in our movements, comic books and creativity, and crafting our social justice spaces to be places that people deeply want to return to.   RESOURCES: Facilitator guide for leading the singdown: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-WUwdQ6qQtFap00yhYWnZMpmmijJisT3ywfkSOPmNbw/edit?usp=sharing Listen to song recordings & peep Flobots’ ‘Songs for the Streets’ songbook at http://www.flobots.com/singdown Check out Flobots’ latest album, NO ENEMIES: http://www.flobots.com/music/ Their podcast is called Jonny & Brer’s Unnamed Friendcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonny-brers-unnamed-friendcast/id1285472158?mt=2 This exercise is often facilitated at Momentum movement building trainings as part of a module Stephen designed called "When Did We Stop Singing?"  You can sign up for their email list at www.momentumcommunity.org -- ABOUT OUR GUESTS Jonny 5 (James Laurie) & Brer Rabbit (Stephen Brackett) are Denver-based MCs that make up the band Flobots, as well as educators and community leaders. Their recent album, NO ENEMIES, is influenced by stories shared by their longtime mentor and Southern Freedom Movement historian and professor the late Dr. Vincent Harding, and inspired by their grassroots work hosting workshops, classes and keynote speeches about using collective song to build social movements. More at http://www.flobots.com/ JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Sign up for the email list at www.healingjustice.org    Social media: Instagram @healingjustice, Healing Justice Podcast on Facebook, & @hjpodcast on Twitter   This podcast is 100% volunteer-run. Help cover our costs by becoming a sponsor at www.patreon.com/healingjustice THANK YOU: Editing by Yoshi FieldsMixed and produced by Zach Meyer at the COALROOMIntro and Closing music gifted by Danny O’BrienAll visuals contributed by Josiah Werning

This week we’re singing and learning with Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit of the band Flobots. We talk about the role of artists in leadership, their late mentor Dr. Vincent Harding, the role of music in embracing and holding the range of emotions in our movements, comic books and creativity, and crafting our social justice spaces to be places that people deeply want to return to. You’re joining us between sound checks when they recently performed in Brooklyn on their “Rise + Shine” Tour. ---- AFFIRMATIONS Each week we feature community voices uplifting people, organizations, and communities that embody the values of healing justice. Submit your own personal shout-out to spread love on the airwaves here: https://healingjustice.typeform.com/to/YjvuU2 This week’s AFFIRMATIONS come from Sara celebrating the speakers tour volunteers of Sunrise who are hitting the road for climate justice, and Lissa sharing gratitude for her friend Nat in all her work and the way she shows up. Thank you for sharing your community love! ----RESOURCES: Listen to song recordings & peep their ‘Songs for the Streets’ songbook at http://www.flobots.com/singdown Check out Flobots’ latest album, NO ENEMIES: http://www.flobots.com/music/ Their podcast is 'Jonny & Brer’s Unnamed Friendcast': https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonny-brers-unnamed-friendcast/id1285472158?mt=2 We refer to Momentum training, where we met. You can sign up for the email list at www.momentumcommunity.org The song we play in the intro is “Handlebars” from Flobots’ 2007 album “Fight with Tools” -- ABOUT OUR GUESTS: FLOBOTS Jonny 5 (James Laurie) & Brer Rabbit (Stephen Brackett) are Denver-based MCs that make up the band Flobots, as well as educators and community leaders. Their recent album, NO ENEMIES, is influenced by stories shared by their longtime mentor and Southern Freedom Movement historian and professor the late Dr. Vincent Harding, and inspired by their grassroots work hosting workshops, classes and keynote speeches about using collective song to build social movements. More at http://www.flobots.com/-- JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Sign up for the email list at www.healingjustice.org    Social media: Instagram @healingjustice, Healing Justice Podcast on Facebook, & @hjpodcast on Twitter   This podcast is 100% volunteer-run. Help cover our costs by becoming a sponsor at www.patreon.com/healingjustice   THANK YOU: Editing by Yoshi FieldsMixed and produced by Zach Meyer at the COALROOMIntro and Closing music gifted by Danny O’BrienAll visuals contributed by Josiah Werning

Summary In this episode, Dr. Derrick Hudson joins us to discuss the legacy and writings of Dr. Vincent Harding. Join our Support Team Visit our Patreon Page:  Patreon.com/Sankofa (Rewards: Signed Books & Opportunity to Win Ancestry DNA Test!) Links 25$ off an African Ancestry DNA Test Dr. Derrick Hudson’s Page at Colorado School of Mines […]

Summary In this episode, Dr. Derrick Hudson joins us to discuss the legacy and writings of Dr. Vincent Harding. Links Book–There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America by Vincent Harding Book–Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement by Vincent Harding Book–Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero […]

Rev. Anne Dunlap takes on "Trinity Sunday" and questions why we celebrate this doctrine, meditating on the words of Dr. Vincent Harding: "Love trumps doctrine, every time." "What I am saying is, I am not interested in celebrating A doctrine thrust at me On the point of Constantine's sword... ...I'm thinking now about how Every time someone is baptized, We inscribe them with doctrines About what power is What maleness is What whiteness is We re-inscribe a doctrine Of white maleness as divinity Every time we repeat that formula." As always, resources for the call to action, references, and copyright/permissions info can be found in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

A special episode in memory of Dr. Vincent Harding (July 25, 1931 – May 19, 2014), from the National Association of Pan African Students special service in his honor at Iliff School of Theology, 5/17/17. Texts are: • Psalm 46: 1-7 • Excerpts from “There Is A River” and “Remnants "Dr. Harding, How did you do it? With all that you saw and lived and bore, How were you not just angry all the time, bitter? Dr. Harding, How did you love us, The magnificent mess that we are, as you liked to say, How did you love us so much, So much? There is a river, A river that moves towards freedom." Links to learn more about Dr. Harding and Rosemarie Freeney Harding are included in the transcript, which can be found here: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/the-word-is-resistance.html

In this episode, recorded at the Kinsler Bartimaeus Institute in February of 2017, Elaine Enns, Ched Myers and Joanna Shenk offer input on the history of enslavement, the eras of reconstruction and the drafting of the Beyond Vietnam speech that Dr. King delivered on April 4, 1967, one year before he was assassinated. Many people in movement communities are familiar with the Beyond Vietnam speech, but few know about the man who drafted it, Dr. Vincent Harding. Elaine and Ched offer analysis of the history of movements for justice in the United States, encouraging us to neither overplay our current political reality or underplay the obstacles and oppression of the past. Joanna shares from her personal relationship with Dr. Vincent Harding and from his own words describing the experience of drafting the Beyond Vietnam speech and what it means for us today. Elaine Enns and Ched Myers are co-directors of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Elaine recently completed a doctorate of ministry on historical responsibility and intergenerational trauma among Canadian Prairie Settler Mennonites and their relationship with Indigenous neighbors. Ched Myers has authored Binding the Strong Man and Say to This Mountain. Together Ched and Elaine reside in the Ventura River Watershed.

Part Tow of the interview with Bay Area human rights activist Reverend Phil Lawson. Reverend Lawson has spent his entire life on the front lines of social justice movements with the Methodist Church, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party, the immigrants rights movement, and as a Pastor in many churches throughout the United States. He was subpoenaed by the US Congress in efforts to undermine the Black Panther Party, studied with Bayard Rustin, and co founded with Dr. Vincent Harding the National Council of Elders.  Reverend Lawson was the Director of Interfaith Services for the East Bay Housing Organization and was instrumental in building Interfaith support for “Occupy Wall Street.”  He is a co-founder of the Black Alliance for Justice Immigration. Join us on Africa Today to hear this remarkable life story. Hosted by Walter Turner. The post Interview with Bay Area Human Rights Activist Reverend Phil Lawson, Part Two appeared first on KPFA.

A special two-part interview with Bay Area human rights activist Reverend Phil Lawson. Reverend Lawson has spent his entire life on the front lines of social justice movements with the Methodist Church, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party, the immigrants rights movement, and as a Pastor in many churches throughout the United States. He was subpoenaed by the US Congress in efforts to undermine the Black Panther Party, studied with Bayard Rustin, and co founded with Dr. Vincent Harding the National Council of Elders.  Reverend Lawson was the Director of Interfaith Services for the East Bay Housing Organization and was instrumental in building Interfaith support for “Occupy Wall Street.”  He is a co-founder of the Black Alliance for Justice Immigration. Join us on Africa Today to hear this remarkable life story. Hosted by Walter Turner. The post Interview with Bay Area Human Rights Activist Reverend Phil Lawson appeared first on KPFA.

In an unsettled political moment, at the end of a divisive campaign, the late, great civil rights elder Vincent Harding is a voice of calm, wisdom, and perspective. He was wise about how the civil rights vision might speak to 21st-century realities. Just as importantly, he pursued this by way of patient yet passionate cross-cultural, cross-generational relationship. He reminded us that the Civil Rights Movement was spiritually as well as politically vigorous; it aspired to a “beloved community,” not merely a tolerant integrated society. He posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible?

The late civil rights elder Vincent Harding was chairperson of the Veterans of Hope project at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, where he was professor of Religion and Transformation. He posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible? This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Vincent Harding — Is America Possible?” Find more at onbeing.org.

The civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander is one of the people who is waking us up to history we don’t remember, and structures most of us can’t fathom intending to create. She calls the punitive culture that has emerged the “new Jim Crow,” and is making it visible in the name of a fierce hope and belief in our collective capacity to engender the transformation to which this moment is calling.

Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at the Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, and has served as the director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California. Her book is “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Michelle Alexander — Who We Want to Become: Beyond the New Jim Crow.” Find more at onbeing.org.

"Racial Coding and Profiling in American Politics" REBROADCAST of August 6, 2011 LIVE DISCUSSION with  Dr. Vincent Hutchings, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan Saturday, November 14, 2015 10 pm ET Rebroadcast We will be back LIVE and Call - In November 21, 2015.  ABOUT Dr. Hutchings Dr. Hutchings is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Hutchings teaches courses in African American politics, public opinion & voting behavior, and Congress. His research interests focus on the circumstances under which citizens are attentive to political matters and engage in issue voting.   BROADCASTING BOLD BRAVE & BLACK Join us on FACEBOOK  BROADCASTING BOLD BRAVE & BLACK Join us on FACEBOOK and Learn More abut this episode OCG on the Web: http://ourcommonground.com/ Community Forum: http://www.ourcommonground-talk.ning.com/ Follow us on Twitter: @JaniceOCG ?#‎TalkthatMatters?

In part two of this interview exploring the practice and practice of education, the late Dr. Vincent Harding (Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology, and Chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project) argues that we can only teach young people how to pay attention by actively paying attention to them. He also addresses the role of faith and faith-based communities in fostering nonviolent action.  Masao Yokota (Adviser to the Ikeda Center) conducted this interview in 2001.  (Part 2 of 2)

In this interview from 2001, the late Dr. Vincent Harding (Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology, and Chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project) shares ideas on the purpose and practice of education: its relationship with our humanity, how teachers can impart something more valuable than knowledge, and why adults should pay attention to children. Masao Yokota (Adviser to the Ikeda Center) conducted the interview.  (Part 1 of 2)

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons is assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida. She is also a member of the National Council of Elders. Her account of her work as an activist in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is featured in the book, “Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.” Lucas Johnson is international coordinator of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and an ordained Baptist minister. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson — The Movement, Remembered Forward.” Find more at onbeing.org.

Wisdom for how we can move and heal our society in our time as the Civil Rights Movement galvanized its own. Lucas Johnson is bringing the art and practice of nonviolence into a new century, for new generations. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was an original Black Power feminist and a grassroots leader of the Mississippi Freedom Summer.

The Context of White Supremacy hosts our annual counter racist year-end review. We'll reconsider major events and patterns of the previous twelve months of world wide White Supremacy. 2014 was marked by the loss of black legends. Dr. Maya Angelou, Mayor Marion Barry, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, Amiri Baraka, Ruby Dee, Sam Greenlee, Vincent Harding, Herman Ferguson and Yuri Kochiyama all transitioned. All of these Victims of Racism invested their superb talents and life currency in countering Racism. Whites spent most of the year tarring Richard Sherman, Michael Brown, Jr., Renisha McBride, Tamir Rice, Al Sharpton, Boko Haram, Elliot Rodger and black people in general as thugs and terrorists. Conversely, innocent Whites like Darren Wilson, Donald Sterling, Cliven Bundy, Theodore Waffer, and Jill Abramson were defended as White martyrs. This was the 25 year anniversary of Do The Right Thing, and "police" departments continued their lengthy tradition of chokeholds, terrorizing and killing black people. Whites recognized the 20 year anniversary of the Rwanda genocide and demonstrated the same disdain for black life when the Ebola epidemic menaced the west coast of Africa. There was much White noise for black corpses, but lesser, muted White effort for improving the existence of living black people. INVEST in The COWS - http://tiny.cc/ledjb CALL IN NUMBER: 760.569.7676 CODE 564943# SKYPE: FREECONFERENCECALLHD.7676 CODE 564943#

Sermon by the Rev. Ed Bacon at All Saints Church, Pasadena, on Sunday, June 15, 2014. Readings: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 and Matthew 28:16-20. Watch this sermon on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQHSH2YEDv0 For more about the mission and ministry of All Saints Church visit http://www.allsaints-pas.org and follow us on Twitter @ASCpas. Donate to support the mission and ministries of All Saints at http://www.allsaints-pas.org/support/donate/.

You’ll hear from Dr. Vincent Harding, Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado and a personal friend and speech writing colleague of Dr. King in the 1960’s. Also mixed into our program, you’ll hear Dr. Clayborne Carson, who at Coretta Scott King’s request, has been directing the King Papers Project since 1985. Dr. Carson established the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University in 2005. The speeches these scholars chose were… King’s last address, the night before his assassination in Memphis in April, 1968. Also, the speech he made a year to the day before he was killed, called “Beyond Vietnam,” in which Dr. King came out publicly and explicitly in opposition to the Vietnam War. And from March of 1965, Dr. King’s remarks that he made at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery marches, considered a turning point in the struggle for Voting Rights and equality for African Americans.

You'll hear from Dr. Vincent Harding, Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado and a personal friend and speech writing colleague of Dr. King in the 1960's. Also mixed into our program, you'll hear Dr. Clayborne Carson, who at Coretta Scott King's request, has been directing the King Papers Project since 1985. Dr. Carson established the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University in 2005. The speeches these scholars chose were… King's last address, the night before his assassination in Memphis in April, 1968. Also, the speech he made a year to the day before he was killed, called “Beyond Vietnam,” in which Dr. King came out publicly and explicitly in opposition to the Vietnam War. And from March of 1965, Dr. King's remarks that he made at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery marches, considered a turning point in the struggle for Voting Rights and equality for African Americans.

Martin Luther King, Barack Obama and the Civil Rights Movement. The Legacy of Vincent HardingOn Monday May 19, 2014, a veteran of the Southern Freedom Movement, known to most as the Civil Rights Movement, passed away from an aneurysm while on a speaking tour in Philadelphia. He was 82. Harding was born and grew up in New York City. He obtained a B.A. in History from City College of New York in 1952, a M.S. in journalism from Columbia University in 1953, and advanced degrees in History from the University of Chicago in 1956 and in 1965. Dr. Harding served as senior academic consultant for the PBS television series Eyes On The Prize. He taught at numerous institutions throughout the United States and eventually served as Emeritus Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. In 1960, he and his wife Rosemarie Freeney Harding moved to Atlanta, Georgia where they started up Mennonite House, an interracial volunteer service centre and gathering place for the Southern Freedom Movement. In the turbulent years that followed Harding would be involved in anti-segregation campaigns as a counsellor and participant. It was during this time when he came to meet and work with Dr. Martin Lutrher King. The two would become close associates. It was Dr. Harding who is credited with drafting one of King's most famous and arguably most relevant speeches. “A Time to Break Silence” was a no-holds barred condemnation of the Vietnam War. King delivered this speech at Riverside Church in New York City, exactly one year to the day before King was assassinated. In addition to authoring numerous articles and books including Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero, Vincent Harding was a significant behind the scenes player, pacifist, and social justice advocate during an important period in American history. This week's Global Research News Hour pays tribute to Dr. Harding's life and legacy by airing a speech he gave at the University of Winnipeg on April 2, 2009. The talk was entitled Martin Luther King and Barack Obama's Other Ancestors. It was a tour of some of the less talked about influences on the American Civil Rights Movement and addressed the question of whether America's first black president truly was the fulfillment of Martin Luther King's dream.

We are "Divinely Circulating" on the first episode of the Inner Light Radio Show with our newest host Rev. Deborah L. Johnson on Life Conversations Radio Network tonight LIVE at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern. Also, joining Rev. D for an inner soul conversation will be hosts: Life Coach Ade, Ombassa Sophera, and Celeste Morgan welcoming her to the Network. Get ready for “Wilhelmina,” and other delights as well as some spoken word. Rev. Deborah is also going to “Pass the Baton: A Tribute to Dr. Vincent Harding.” For the life he lived, the lives he touched, and a world that is not the same, we want to acknowledge one who is now an ancestor. Rev. D. will share her personal reflection of her dear friend, mentor and teacher. Join us for a spiritually intimate and inspired conversation. Call in number is 347 426 3346 or  Listen ONLINE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/life-conversations/2014/05/21/inner-light-radio-show-with-rev-deborah-johnson Inner Light Ministries is an independent religious non-profit organization founded in 1997 by Rev. Deborah L. Johnson. We are an Omnifaith outreach ministry dedicated to healing individual and collective consciousness through the energy of love and the revealing of our own inner light. With Oneness as our principle tenet, we teach the practical application of Universal Spiritual Principles to all of life’s circumstances. “Pain pushes, until vision pulls” and this ministry is pulled by vision. Vision is about possibility. We dare to live in the possibilities of Oneness and envision a spiritually empowered world.  For more info about Inner Light Ministries visit this website: www.InnerLightMinistries.com

What might words like repentance or forgiveness mean, culturally, in this moment? These are questions of the emerging church, a loosely-defined movement that crosses generations, theologies and social ideologies in the hope of reimagining Christianity. With Phyllis Tickle and Vincent Harding, an honest and sometimes politically incorrect conversation on coming to terms with racial identity in the church and in the world.

This is the unedited version of On Being’s produced show, “Racial Identity in the Emerging Church and the World.” Emerging church elder Phyllis Tickle and civil rights veteran Vincent Harding in an honest and sometimes politically incorrect conversation on coming to terms with racial identity in the church and in the world.

At this year's Friends General Conference gathering in Greeley, Colorado, Lucy Duncan and Madeline Schaefer sat down with renowned civil rights activist Vincent Harding, to discuss the legacy of MLK and the March on Washington, Trayvon Martin and the future of democracy in America.

In this episode, Joanna and Tim interview Mark Van Steenwyk. Mark Van Steenwyk is the co-founder of the Mennonite Worker in Minneapolis, an organizer at JesusRadicals.com, a producer of the Iconocast podcast, and the author of That Holy Anarchist and the upcoming book, the unKingdom of God: Embracing the Subversive Power of Repentance (which is available for pre-order). This interview is co-sponsored by the Mennonite Church USA and the Christian Peacemaker Teams and is part of the Widening the Circle mini-series. To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz. * * * * * Intro and bumper music for this episode is  All Along the Watchtower as performed by Jimi Hendrix.

In this interview, Joanna and Jarrod interview Vincent Harding.   Vincent Harding is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He is chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project, which he founded in 1997 with his late wife, Rosemarie Freeney Harding. As longtime activists and teachers, the Hardings began their work in the Mennonite Church in Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1950s and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1961 to join with Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the southern freedom movement. Vincent Harding occasionally drafted speeches for Martin Luther King, including his famous anti-Vietnam speech, "A Time to Break Silence" which King delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, exactly a year before he was assassinated. In ensuing years, the Hardings served as scholars, advisors, and encouragers for a wide variety of movements, organizations, and individuals working for compassionate social change in the United States and internationally. Three of his most recent books are: Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement; Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero; and We Changed the World. This interview is part of the Widening the Circle mini-series. To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz.

In this episode, Joanna interviews Mary and Peter Sprunger-Froese. Since 1979, Peter and Mary Sprunger-Froese have been Mennonite peace activists with an ecumenical community in Colorado Springs. They work with homeless people, refugees, and nonviolence seekers. They find the Anabaptist story deeply sustaining in their Christianized military setting. This is a part of the Widening the Circle mini-series. To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz.

In January of 1969, WCBS-TV in New York City began to broadcast a series of half-hour lectures under the banner of Black Heritage: A History of Afro-Americans. The series, which ran six days a week until June of 1969 (108 episodes in all), was produced by historians John Henrik Clarke, Vincent Harding and political scientist William Strickland—the later two who were founding members of the Institute of the Black World, a groundbreaking thinking tank that was based at the Atlanta University Center. According to historian Martha Biondi, by providing “ordinary Americans access to the Black history courses beginning to be offered on college campuses…these men personally bridged the gap between scholarship and activism.” Left of Black is proud to be of the many progeny of this visionary project, born during an era in which Black student activism on American college campuses helped transform institutions that less than a generation earlier, Black students were largely denied access to. This moment is chronicled in Martha Biondi’s new book The Black Revolution on Campus (University of California Press). A historian at Northwestern University, Biondi joins Left of Black via Skype to talk about what she describes as “an extraordinary chapter in the modern Black freedom struggle.” Biondi is also the author of To Stand and Fight: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Postwar New York City (Harvard University Press, 2003).

Convocation: "Martin Luther King--Servant Leader" with Dr. Vincent Harding

With today being Martin Luther King Day in the United States, in this video from 2010, Tavis Smiley examines Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stand against the Vietnam War and the influence of his legacy today. Tavis speaks with scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel. Feel free to email us at info@blackcanadianman.com. If you live in North America, you can leave us a voice mail at 1-866-280-9385 ; (toll free). God bless, peace, be well and keep the faith, Vibe and Vegas info@blackcanadianman.comhttp://thevibeandvegasshow.wordpress.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/vibeandvegas

Address to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference, Berlin Germany 1/10/09 'Imperial Power & Counter-Power':(M.A. Jamal's Remarks to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Germany / Jan. 10th, 2009 [SP. WRIT. 12/30/08] (C) '08 MUMIA ABU-JAMAL If one is to address the reactions to the recent election of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the U.S. Presidency, this can perhaps be best encapsulated by the term, exultation. For if ever a political figure rode the currents of a stellar alignment, Barack Obama did so. The exultation was both national and global. In my 1/2 century of life, I can recall no presidential election that elicited so profound a political -- indeed visceral! -- response. When one considers what role the left had in such a spectacular political event, again we must look to alignments; not of stars, but of constituencies, which converged to not only elect Obama, but to also close the door to the ruinous politics of the U.S. right wing, represented by the incumbent President, George W. Bush, and his presumed political heirs, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin of the Republican Party. While the U.S. left was a constituent part of the larger constituency, it neither drove nor directed the forces that elected Obama. In many ways it was hostage to those forces. Those forces were youth -- those between 18-28, who mobilized in ways never seen before; it was also African Americans who voted in unprecedented numbers for one they perceived as one of their own; add to this millions of women, some of whom felt, frankly, disrespected by the choice of Palin, who, though a woman, betrayed an astonishing lack of knowledge and expertise on issues, especially given the very real possibility that her running mate, sen. McCain, might not survive the rigors of office. But one cannot ignore the significant segment of those who felt betrayed or disaffected by the hard-right tilt of the Republican Party -- which ran almost exclusively on the notion that Obama was a "socialist", who in Palin's oft-repeated quote, "pals around with terrorists." For those beyond our shores, it may be necessary to briefly decode this language. The "socialist" tag was a kind of cleaned - up, classy version of 'communist', the ultimate slur in U.S. capitalist politics, only exceeded by the post 9/11 term "terrorist" (and by calling Obama a "pal" of terrorists, it was tantamount to calling him one). The last reference was to the alleged friendship between Obama and William Ayers, a Hyde Park educator who, in the 1960's, was a leading member of the Weather Underground, student anti-war and anti imperialist activists, who engaged in acts against property, and who supported the Black liberation movements of the era. In point of fact, Obama was, by no measure, a leftist. In the Spring of 2008 issue of The Black Scholar, African-American studies professor, Charles P. Henry makes the point explicitly, citing both Obama's own words, as well as a political biography of him in the New York Times Magazine. (1) Obama's quoted remarks are instructive: The Democrats have been stuck in the arguments of Vietnam, which means that either you're a 'Scoop' Jackson Democrat or you're suspicious of any military action. And that's just not my framework .(2) Obama's choices were illustrative of two poles of the Democratic Party: Sen. Henry 'Scoop' Jackson was so pro-war that he was called the "Senator from Boeing". (3) ; Hayden by contrast, was a student anti-war activist, and member of S.D.S. (Students for a Democratic Society). (Interestingly, Obama never referred to himself as a Jesse Jackson Democrat either). This leads us to the next query on the role of the U.S. anti-war movement; in a word, it is moribund. This, paradoxically, can be traced to the massive demonstrations of Spring 2003 in protest of the imminent Iraq War. For millions of people, this was their first, and last experience of mass action. Sadly, the lesson they learned was of their impotence, not their power, for Bush promptly ignored the protests, rattled the sabers of war, and launched Operation Shock and Awe. For many people, unused to popular protests, this short-term failure to stop the war blinded them to the rarity that such mass protests represented: never had the nation seen such mass protests before the war was begun. At this stage, the people were a Counter-Power, but they stopped far too soon. To further analyze the question of whether the election of Obama represents a leftist surge, or if the anti-war movement is in its ascendancy we need only recall that Obama is neither a leftist nor is he anti-war. The early stages of his electoral campaign were explicitly against the Iraq War. As he ran in the later stages, his sound bites announced a troop withdrawal in Iraq was necessary to buttress U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Indeed, given the events occurring as these words are written, there will probably be more U.S. anti-war protests against the Israeli blitzkrieg on Gaza in the next 2 weeks, than there was against the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan in the last two years. That, I think, succinctly states the case of where we are. But where we are need not determine where we can go. For people move by inches and by leaps. This was, undoubtedly, a giant step in U.S. history. This was not a day ever envisioned by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln or even John F. Kennedy. Yet, one of Black America's most revered historians, Vincent Harding, (author of the classic, There is a River), spoke for far more than himself when he said, "So my hopes are very much focused on him, but not on him alone. I see the energy that's been built up over these two years of campaigns, and I see the possibility that we could gather ourselves together and begin to ask, in a very powerful way, not what should Barack Obama be doing next, but where do we go from here? What is our role as committed, progressive citizens to move to the next stages?" Harding, a close confidante of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ended his comments on the Obama election with this fitting suggestion: "Maybe a democracy needs community organizers more than it needs commanders."(4) Maybe so. It appears Dr. Harding is suggesting that instead of empire, we need a republic, for if history teaches us anything, it is that the two realities are un- reconcilable. In the days of ancient Rome, the advent of empire spelled the end of the republic. In 193 C. E., an African seized the throne of Rome. Emperor Septimius Severus extended Rome's power, and strengthened its empire. His sons succeeded him, and exceeded him in cruelty and brutality. They didn't bring change -- they brought continuity. Will this empire be any different? Danke! Aus die Todeszelle, Hier Sprecht Mumia Abu-Jamal. Endnotes 1. Traub, James, "Is His Biography Our Destiny?", New York Times Magazine, November 4, 2007, pp.50-55. 2. Hayden, Tom, "An Appeal to Barack Obama", post to ariannahuff@aol.com, November 8, 2007; cited in Henry, Charles P., O"Obama '08 -- Articulate and Clean,"The Black Scholar, (Spr. '08) [vol. 38:no.1}, p.6, fn.17. 3. Johnson, Chalmers, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), p.211. Boeing received some $20 billion in defense contracts in 2006. 4. Wane, Aly (compiled by), "Historical Moment: Black Thinkers Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama", Syracuse Peace Council's Peace newsletter (Jan. '09: #780), p.7.

October 25, 2007 lecture of Clay Carson’s Introduction to African-American History Course (HIST 166) concentrating on the Modern Freedom Struggle.

Soon, every TV station and network, and many of the nation's radio stations, will air stock film footage (or tape) of Martin Luther King, Jr., his handsome dark face shining in a sea of dark faces, captured in his moment of triumph: the "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington. They will gladly air this 'safe' Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke loftily and eloquently of dreams. Few will dare air his remarks made at Riverside Church in New York City, where an older, wiser Martin spoke, not of dreams but of realities -- of social, and especially economic injustice -- of rampant American militarism, and yes -- the nightmare of white racism. One of those with him, who, too, would become a Rev. Dr., was Vincent Harding, a man who loved Martin, and who knew him as a brother, rather than an icon. Rev. Dr. Harding, a leading theologian and historian, wanted others to know the Martin he'd known; so he wrote a book: Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996 [8th printing]). As Harding teaches us, King fell into the pit of betrayal, when he took on the war in Vietnam: ".... King was bitterly rebuked for taking on the issue of the war. Some called it a diversion from the issue of black rights. Others feared the terrible rage of [President] Lyndon Johnson who brooked no opposition (certainly not from black Martin Luther King!) to his destructive policies. "Some members of King's own Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board of directors opposed his role in the antiwar movement, partly because they had seen the way in which the liberal white allies of the movement had withdrawn financial support from the radicalized young people of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), who dared stand in solidarity with the Vietnamese opponents of America's intervention ... "In the face of all this, partly because of all this, King persisted, and the Riverside speech - delivered exactly one year before his assassination, was the most notable result of his decision. Immediately the drumbeat of harsh criticism was heightened. It came from many ... including such black stalwarts as Jackie Robinson, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Carl Rowan." [pp. 70-71] Rev. Dr. Harding also recounts how the allegedly 'liberal' Washington Post assailed Rev. Dr. King for daring to oppose the war. The newspaper editorial called his words "Bitter and damaging allegations and inferences that he did not and could not document." In the view of the Post's editors, "many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence. He has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country, and to his people." [Harding, p. 71] To his credit, Harding explains, King did not heed such criticisms, for he knew that they were on the side of war and death. Harding writes that King became increasingly radicalized, and emboldened to speak out against injustice; Riverside was a turning point: "(Who knew that night, April 4, that he had precisely one more year to live, that the bullet was closing in?) For King saw the larger context. He had already declared in other places that his "beloved country" was "engaged in a war that seeks to turn the clock of history back and perpetuate white colonialism." Underlying this backwardness, he said, was America's refusal to recognize that "the evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism." [p. 101] This ain't the Martin Luther King we see on commercials, nor the ones we see in newspaper ads around the days of his birth or death. That Martin Luther King, anti-war critic, economic justice activist, advocate for the poor, fellow sufferer of the bombed and oppressed in Vietnam, a budding socialist (or at least anti-capitalist), had become, in Harding's words, 'the inconvenient hero.' May we remember who he really was. That King has almost vanished from our popular media, white-washed culture and history. Were it not for folks like Vincent Harding, he might have. Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal