Ok. To be fair, Brian and I don’t answer the question proposed in the title, but we make some headway. I thought I knew Brian pretty well, but I learned so much while we were talking. Did you know he taught Junior High? Well, ok, maybe you did. But did you know he holds a Masters in Special Ed in addition to his MDiv? Aha – got ya… you knew that too? I didn’t. Well maybe y’all do know Brian better than I do. We didn’t talk about hardly any of that. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The song we heard in this episode from David Lamotte was called Hope. Find David’s complete catalog and all the other peace, light and life giving stuff he is doing at http://www.davidlamotte.com

I wanted to address something I said about 5 minutes into the discussion. I said “the George Floyd thing.” Now, I edited out the extended period of silence and me stammering around trying to find the appropriate word(s) for the issues and actions surrounding the death of George Floyd and everything that has happened since. “Thing” is what I came up with and the conversation continued. As inarticulate and inadequate as labeling the incredible movement started by his death and subsequent events a “thing” is, I still struggle with what to call it.

It is larger than his death – decades larger, centuries larger, everyday larger. Its more than Black Lives Matter, White Supremacy, white privilege, white guilt, white fragility. Its oppression, repression, violence, hatred, inequality, inequity, racism, Its a lot of, well, things. I am not trying to minimize the movement – just the opposite. I’m trying not to pigeon hole it or reduce it any way. Its too big and way too important for that.

What do you call it? Anti-racism covers a lot. And I have a lot of work to do.