Blog
A collection of weekly reflections written by BLK South community and board members.
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Facing the Storm
What keeps us going when the work of justice feels like an endless fight? In “Facing the Storm,” Desireé Lucas draws on her Black Pentecostal upbringing, the wisdom of church mothers, and Frederick Douglass’s witness to explore the struggles of everyday life and the pursuit of collective liberation. From recurring bills and strained relationships to community organizing and confronting systemic inequality, she names the burdens that can leave us weary and uncertain. Yet struggle also connects us to those who came before us and persevered toward freedom. With honesty and hope, Desireé invites us to make room for rest, gather our courage, and face the storm together—trusting that the progress we seek may lie beyond the clouds.
Daylighting Courage Creek
What might it mean to bring our buried courage into the light? In Daylighting Courage Creek, Howard Thurman’s image of an “underground river” meets the practice of uncovering streams hidden beneath our cities. A walk along a recovering creek becomes a reflection on the quiet springs of confidence that sustain us through difficult times. It also becomes an invitation: to make room for those springs to surface in our own lives and in one another’s, then join together in the work of justice, mercy, and care for the places we call home. What could flourish if we kept a thousand little springs of action flowing?
Two Caged Birds
What happens when two caged birds encounter one another—each confined by different circumstances, yet each still reaching for freedom? In this reflection, I share the story of meeting Bull City, an unhoused neighbor whose dancing revealed a freedom that his circumstances could not contain. His movement became a mirror. A reminder that cages do not always look the same—and neither does freedom.