Daniel Hill

One of the disorienting things that comes with attempting to reckon with US history happens as you try to make sense of some the jarring contradictions - often coming from the same historical figure. Thomas Jefferson is a great example: The same man who penned "all men are created equal,” also argued against race mixing because black people were “inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.”

As points out in this post, Thomas Jefferson didn’t agree with slavery… yet owned over 600 slaves… and fathered innumerable children with many of these women.

also importantly notes that, “She was called his ‘mistress,’ but how can you be a mistress when you were enslaved, a child, and could not consent?”

Grateful to participate with this team of amazing leaders in Macon, Georgia this week. This group - pastors, professors, D+I leaders, and even a Supreme Court justice in Georgia - are gifted, committed and resilient in this pursuit of justice for all. I learned a lot and was very grateful to participate

Independence Day is a complicated holiday, because as Americans, many of us have a complicated relationship with our history.

There is always value in remembering the positive parts of history, and we tend to do that well as a nation. For instance, we enjoy freedom at numerous levels in this nation, and that freedom was hard fought for.

However, we also face a national problem of sweeping the ugly parts of our history under the rug. For a host of reasons, many feel threatened by honest retellings of how we got to where we are.

This is one of the biggest reasons why nationalism is so dangerous. Unlike patriotism, which can be positive, nationalism creates a fictitious narrative that denies truthfulness. It is dangerous for a number of reasons.

It took me a long time to develop an understanding of nationalism, and its in**ed relationship between white supremacy and American Christianity.

These slides represent my best attempt at describing what White Christian nationalism is, as well as why it is so dangerous.

Powerful reminder from Joy-Ann Reid

A word.