Stephen J. Matlock's Blog

We are not “waiting for Jesus to bring justice when he returns.” We are doing what Jesus told us to do as part of the creation of wholeness in our lives.And as such, "waiting for Jesus" is silly by these lights. We don't wait for someone who said he’s already here and always here.

You cannot understand Jesus if you have not an inkling of the theology of the Black church. Of womanist theologians. Of theologians of the "underdeveloped" world who cannot align themselves with empire because they are themselves under the boot of empire.

What is the answer we tell a father like Danté who just wants to send his kids to school and expect to see them return? What do we tell the mother in Tehran who sent her daughter to school, a smart, clever girl who is her hope for the future, and both of them not a clue that at the end of the day there would be no reunion?I do know this: what we are telling them now, as always, will always never be the truth.

Loving your neighbor does mean holding them accountable to our common principles and common humanity, and it does mean that there is a time when the consequences of violence and terror and destruction will be paid by those who commit the acts.Warning your neighbor away from the actions is a way to show love by warning them away from the consequences.

Seeing change in people will take time, sometimes far more time than we have patience for.

We have the Constitutional right to peacefully assemble, to petition the Government to listen to and respond to our grievances, and the right to say what we will without prohibition. (James Madison, primary author of the First Amendment

It’s finally done and published. Whew! This summer, along with my other activities, I helped edit a book of essays about staying resilient in times of great chaos and galloping fascism. Truly a labor of love from the writers, editors, and publisher, Fieldnotes on Fortitude: Resilience in Resistance contains sixteen essays by a wide variety of authors with their unique insights into understanding of our current condition. It will eventually be available in both online and retail stores, but for now, it’s available on Amazon. Fieldnotes on Fortitude: Resilience in Resistance Enjoy!

We just do not allow Black people in America to just exist. To be. To be learning and growing. To make mistakes and then figure out the way forward. To be children who are innocent and who love fun, who are mischievous and scared and reluctant to admit they’re scared. To boast and exaggerate, to hide and crawl away. To try new things and even reject them. Or to discover their talents and pursue their interests to become fulfilled in life.

Jim Crow is an evil, yes, and many of us have a social response of “that’s so terrible.”But we do not want to admit how terrible it was and is again.We are a country of people proud to be Americans but so ashamed of our actual history that we erase it and suppress it from being taught and learned and seen.

Some seventeen years ago now a man I didn’t much know but with whom I sparred asked a question of me that changed the course of my life: “You do know that I’m Black?”