Martin Luther King Jr.
My generation failed to deal with racism
By Thomas Reese — June 1, 2020
(RNS) — We cheered for black athletes, we welcomed a few blacks to our schools and workplaces, but we still live separate lives in our gated communities.
Joseph Lowery, minister, civil rights leader, friend of King, dies at 98
By Adelle M. Banks — March 28, 2020
(RNS) — ‘He was a champion for civil rights, a challenger of injustice, a dear friend to the King family,’ the King Center tweeted.
Civil rights: The road to Bloody Sunday began 30 miles away
By Gary Fields — March 5, 2020
MARION, Ala. (AP) — Della Simpson Maynor remembers the mounted police officer cracking her elbow with a baton. She recalls the panicked marchers unable to escape the onslaught, and the scuffle between officers and a young church deacon who was trying to protect his mother and grandfather. Most of all, she remembers the gunshot. Two weeks before Bloody Sunday — the clash […]
In South Carolina, secular activists rival political might of black church
By Elana Schor and Jack Jenkins — February 28, 2020
CHARLESTON, S.C. (RNS) — Democratic candidates here are as likely to rally behind groups such as Black Lives Matter as they are to make traditional Sunday appeals to African American voters.
How the fight for racial justice pushed Charleston beyond the segregated hour
By Matthew J. Cressler — February 24, 2020
(RNS) — Moving beyond King's most segregated hour means fighting for fairness day after day, year after year in the name of all of the prophets who stand against injustice.
Dr. King in today’s America
By Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and Grace Ji-Sun Kim — January 20, 2020
(RNS) — Dr. King would recognize the progress that has been made, but he would not be dancing; he would be organizing. 'Change,' he taught, 'does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.'
Book: How Martin Luther King Jr. used the pulpit to ‘redeem’ America’s soul
By Yonat Shimron — January 17, 2020
(RNS) — He believed there were transcendent truths that had the power to change hearts and move them away from the political and social policies of segregation.
White evangelicals’ attacks on James Cone are about power, not truth
By Andre Henry — January 9, 2020
(RNS) — A specter has been haunting white evangelicalism, in the shape of the late James Cone, a founder of black liberation theology.
The priest who channeled Black Power into the Catholic Church
By Matthew J. Cressler — December 2, 2019
(RNS) — George Clements teamed with Black Panthers and helped create space to be both ‘authentically Black’ and ‘truly Catholic.’
King’s dream and Emmett Till’s death capture warring soul of our nation
By Kelly Brown Douglas — August 28, 2019
(RNS) — August 28 is the anniversary of both Martin Luther King Jr.’s 'Dream' speech and the lynching of Emmett Till, eight years apart.
Montgomery, Ala., churches part of city’s 200-year history of slavery, civil rights
By Adelle M. Banks — August 1, 2019
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) — 'It is the cradle of the Confederacy and the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement,' said a local church historian.
Has the time come for America to atone for its original sin?
By Paul O'Donnell — July 29, 2019
(RNS) — In one of the most significant developments in religious history, slaves cast aside passivity and servitude using a biblical story that is central to Jewish worship. It's time for America to complete that story with atonement in the public square.
Secular saints, folk saints and plain old celebrities
By Tara Isabella Burton — January 31, 2019
(RNS) — A Martin Luther King Jr., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Anna Nicole Smith may also carry many Americans' desire for a radical reframing of our collective values.
How can one person take us closer to racial justice? These three bywords will help
By Jemar Tisby — January 21, 2019
(RNS) — Christians must undertake courageous and urgent action to correct historic wrongs and their ongoing ramifications.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank: contemporaries with a common legacy
By Nancy Churnin — January 17, 2019
(RNS) — Two great souls who never lost their faith in love and humanity help us to understand the meaning of each of their lives.
