White Privilege Illustrated: The HOLC Maps

June 26, 2020.Reading time 27 minutes.

Far too many times, I hear White people say White Privilege is a myth or a creation of the Left. But there are ways to VISUALIZE it…to illustrate it…show show its pernicious effects beyond shadow of dout. Exhibit A: The HOLC Maps. This is a long blog. I can’t apologize for that, because you need […]

Juneteenth and the “Power of Power”

June 19, 2020.Reading time 15 minutes.

Two thousand Federal troops. I keep coming back to that number. That’s the number of Union soldiers that accompanied General Gordon Granger into Galveston on the day Juneteenth was proclaimed in 1865. We White people barely understand Juneteenth to begin with, and what we do understand is often whitewashed. Yes, General Granger read that proclamation […]

Don’t Look Away

June 3, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

White Siblings, Don’t look away. Don’t avert your eyes. Yes, there is a danger even in reposting these because of the moral license they may give other racists who see them. But you….dear White sibling… You who are still more concerned about property damage and protesting “the right way”… You who every time there is […]

White Privilege

May 28, 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

My struggle to adequately describe the murder of George Floyd ended when I saw this picture late last night. Take a hard look at this picture, because if you let it sink in deeply it will help you see much of what is wrong with America today. One frame: Armed protestors, effectively taking over the […]

Jesse Jackson Had It Right

August 7, 2019.Reading time 52 minutes.

I voted for Ronald Reagan twice to be president. The next time I could vote, I voted for Jesse Jackson. If I was to write the story of my spiritual, social, and political transformation in two short sentences, those two would be it. Those two sentences are the metaphor for a social transformation that continues […]

White Men and Yearbooks

February 11, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

The following is a list of pictures of me in my High School and College yearbooks from the 1980s, excluding the standard yearly posed picture… — Picture of me at a Young Life meeting… — Picture of me at Key Club formal, with the other officers, in a dapper all-white tux… — Picture of me […]

Masterclass In White Male Privilege

September 28, 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

I want to speak to my fellow Straight White Men this morning. I want to show you a videoclip. It’s just :55 seconds of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing yesterday. I want to show it to you because it uncovers the ugly heart of White Male privilege like almost nothing else I’ve seen recently. This clip […]

My Speech at the Anti-White Supremacy Rally

August 26, 2017.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Many thanks to our good friends at First Unitarian, for posting this video of my speech at the “Anti-White Supremacy” rally in Dallas. What a great night it was. As I say in the speech, standing around and below me were almost twenty United Methodist clergy colleagues who stood in solidarity with us that night. […]

The Heart of a Servant

March 7, 2015.Reading time 15 minutes.

I’ve just returned from DFW Airport, where I went to see off our Guatemala mission team. They are headed for a week of mission with the good folks of ODIM Guatemala, which Northaven helped found and still supports in numerous ways. But, while I was waiting for our team to make their way through baggage […]