“Our ways of knowing often leave out the voices of those marginalized while retaining the perspectives of those who held power. Realities and stories from the marginalized are often ignored or forgotten. Perhaps one of the biggest threats to America is the immigrant and the foreigner in that they may offer us another way of knowing. This may be true from a scarcity mindset, but from one of abundance, it can be seen as the biggest opportunity. Learning and the sources from where we attain our knowledge is a lifelong journey, with periods of unlearning, relearning, discovering new ways of knowing, and rejecting past ones that no longer serve us or our community.”

“Lately I’ve been listening more closely—not just to the world around me, but to the echoes within me. What do you hear when you sit with the truth of your own formation? What do you hear when you listen for what your faith, your church, your practices are shaping you to become? As a descendant of enslaved people—specifically a Black woman whose foremothers were bred like cattle to create this nation’s wealth—I find myself asking what it means to now use my voice to ask for that wealth back, to reclaim what was extracted from our bodies and redirect it toward the flourishing of Black people.”

“Maybe that is the invitation of this moment: to choose hearing when the seeing is too much. To let our ears become instruments of discernment when our eyes are overwhelmed by the spectacle of power and the theater of intimidation. Could it be that in a time of trouble and chaos we need to hear at all costs? Hear from the Spirit, and hear from those who walked before us through storms that should have crushed them!”

Regarding their Christian faith, Black slaves' response to their treatment and their culture was one of lament and hope. Black slaves in the colonies desired real physical liberation, not solely spiritual liberation, but one that allowed them to live freely and be distant from the brutal treatment of their slave masters. Their lament for their condition and the hope they had can be found in slave songs. Louis Adams, in her slave narrative, recounts…

But what could happen when we collectively decide to break free from fear? It's something those in power conveniently overlook. They're all about crushing the vulnerable when they're down, thinking that's the end of the story. But what they fail to grasp is the resilience of the generations that rise after surviving the horrors of mass genocide, whether it's in Gaza, Cuba, Sudan, or right here in America—hidden beneath the facade of a justice system that was birthed out of the erasure of Black and Indigenous people.

I celebrate that theological discussions have become more public, and I am also glad that it has paved the way for people's deconstruction journey. I noticed that as people began to learn more about their faith through podcasts, YouTube videos, and books, they began to question what they really believe. This, coupled with people experiencing personal church hurt and abuse or learning about the historical injustices of the Church and Christians done in the name of faith, has led many to abandon their Christian faith or put it under an intense microscope.