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Racism, Discrimination, Diversity & America (Part 4) - Drew Brees, Bubba Wallace, and Hope

             If you’ve been following the sports world as of late, you have likely noticed that sports are having a major impact on America and the world’s conversation about race. In the Premiere League, their players are wearing jerseys that say, “black lives matter” on the back while the NBA will allow something similar when they resume their season at the end of July 2020. Formula1 racing in Italy displayed a banner that says, “end racism” on their course. Many college football players have called out their coaches for their actions or inactions (Clemson & Oklahoma State) as it relates to race conversations and discipline. Moreover, some college players threatened to transfer to another university if their state flag didn’t remove the confederate flag from its design. Other college athletes asked that the names of campus buildings change from the person they were named after because the buildings were named after people who perpetuated systemic racism or owned slaves themselves

Racism, Discrimination, Diversity & America (Part 3) - My Time At A Maximum Security Prison

 " It ’ s crazy man…you literally woke up early this morning and drove to prison.”                                        – Huggy Bear, San Quentin State Prison inmate               This quote was said to me by Huggy Bear, a jokester and one of the inmates at San Quentin, who was flabbergasted that I decided to wake up early on a Saturday morning to travel to California ’ s maximum-security prison to spend time with him and some of his inmates. Huggy could not stop giggling and shaking his head saying,  “ you woke up early to drive to prison!” There are times when I shake my head in disbelief too and think…what am I doing here? But I wouldn’t have it any other way.   Playing Basketball at San Quentin State Prison             It was a cool Saturday summer morning and I woke up, got dressed and headed out the door to go play basketball with some friends from Seminary, except this was not your normal basketball game. I was heading to San Quentin State Prison to play basketball with s

Racism, Discrimination, Diversity & America (Part 2) - Growing Up in a White Neighborhood

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” -         The Pledge of Allegiance, 1954 I don’t know about you, but every morning from grade school through high school we recited the Pledge of Allegiance (with our hand over our heart) before starting our school day. Anyone else? I have no problem reciting the pledge of allegiance, so I am not here to dissect it as much as to point out the last three words… “justice for all.” Our current racially-charged climate has all of us reflecting upon those words. We’re asking questions such as “what is justice?” “What is injustice?” “How do you regulate an injustice?” “Who can rightly judge what is right and wrong?” Just read the comments on any social media site and you can see the plethora of opinions out there. It is interesting how the word justice has produced so much emotion within us and out of us…and sometime