Feature – The Moral Beauty of Michael Curry’s Royal Wedding Sermon. His sermon began citing the Song of Solomon: “Love is as strong as death … its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.” From there he worked up a theme of love as fire. Dr. Martin Luther King saw power in love, Curry said: “Don’t underestimate it.” Then he cited “an old medieval poem that says, ‘Where true love is found, god himself is there.’” Presumably he meant the ubi caritas hymn, whose refrain translates as, “Where charity and love are, God is there.” Read more 
Watch : A Devastating Story of Hate and Murder. On February 22, 2017, Adam Purinton, a United States Navy veteran, walked into Austin’s Bar in Olathe, Kansas and singled out two South Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, who were there enjoying happy hour. “He approached them, asking, ‘Are you here illegally?’” Watch the documentary here.
Why America needs truth and reconciliation after Trump. Reconciliation is only possible when you start telling the truth. And while reconciliation is not complete justice—justice demanding, as it does, accountability and at least compensation—it makes it possible to move forward. Read more 

Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and suicides plummeted. Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas seems bound to kick off another national conversation about gun control. It is worth considering, as one data point in the pool of evidence about what sorts of
gun control policies do and do not work, the experience of Australia. Read more 
Why America needs a new approach to school desegregation. Despite all the time and effort invested desegregating the nation’s schools over the past half century, the reality is America’s schools are more segregated now than they were in 1968. Read more

Gentrification: Reversal of Historic White Flight Is Creating a New Black Flight. The debate over gentrification is alive and well, with communities across the country discovering that the influx of new neighbors — ones that once fled cities like Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland and more — is bringing more than shiny new Starbucks to their neighborhoods, namely, rising rents and higher incidences of 911 calls on longtime residents. Read more 
The History of Lynching and the Present of Policing : A new documentary on Michael Brown comes just in time. Stranger Fruit, Jason Pollock’s documentary about the police shooting of Michael Brown four summers ago, was released nationally on April 3 and will premiere on Starz next month. The film’s investigation of Brown’s killing invites us to grapple with a difficult legacy, and in so doing, challenges us to pursue a more just future. Read more
Black, Female and Running for Governor: Can She Win in the South? Stacey Abrams, center, a Democratic candidate for Georgia governor, posing with supporters. She is trying to win a statewide election in the Deep South without relying on conservative-leaning white voters. Read more 

The demise of the white majority is a myth. The tale of the coming white minority has roiled American politics. A recent political science study shows that white anxiety over lost status tipped the last election to Donald Trump, and Democratic Party leaders are banking on changing demography for a brighter destiny. But rumors of white America’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. That’s because the prevailing definition of whiteness is stubbornly stuck in the past. Read more 
Trump Judicial Nominees Threaten The Legacy of Brown v. Board. Linda Brown (left) with her parents Leola and Oliver and little sister Terry Lynn stand in front of their house, Topeka, Kansas, 1954. The Browns sued the Kansas Board of Education when Linda wasn’t allowed to attend a nearby school because it was segregated. Read more 

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