We are all here to serve each other. At some point we have to understand that we do not need to carry a story that is unbearable. We can observe the story, which is mental; feel the story, which is physical; let the story go, which is emotional; then forgive the story, which is spiritual, after which we use the materials of it to build a house of knowledge.

… people on teams with humble leaders are more engaged, more satisfied with their jobs, and less likely to leave.

You ever start reading a book but can hardly get through the introduction before setting it down and telling everyone you can about it?? That‘s how I‘m feeling about Pure by Linda Kay Klein right now! Looking forward to reading the rest of the book and wishing I read it sooner.

“They assumed that we were native Jamaicans and presumed that in buying their plane tickets, they had bought the right to own images of Jamaicans to later display for their enjoyment and other people‘s entertainment. I didn‘t know then, basking in the innocence of childhood, that I was having one of my first experiences with the subtleties of racism.”

- wow this is powerful and I wish I would have read something like this 10 years ago

“The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”

Jesus was always too busy being faithful to worry about success. I‘m not opposed to success; I just think we should accept it only if it is a by-product of our fidelity. If our primary concern is results, we will choose to work only with those who give us good ones.

It seems more likely that God would be interested in the way we actually live- how we live and care for one another and our planet- than the limited, flawed, inaccurate beliefs we cling to in our minds.

you do not just wake up and become the butterfly - growth is a process

When I give something I do not possess, I give a false and dangerous gift, the gift that looks like love but is, in reality, loveless- a gift given more from my need to prove myself then from the others need to be cared for. That kind of giving is not only loveless but faithless, based on the arrogant mistaken notion that God has no way of channeling love to the other except through me.

One sign that I am violating my own nature in the name of nobility is burnout. Though usually regarded as the result of trying to give too much, burnout in my experience results from trying to give what I do not possess- the ultimate in giving too little! Burnout is a state of emptiness, to be sure, but it does not result from giving all that I have: it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place.

Dominant classes of people throughout history have always been more likely to admire peers who enter into solidarity with the oppressed over oppressed people who become agents of their own liberation.… We prefer heroes who are “safe“— who do not disturb the status quo too terribly, who refuse to return the violence visited on them, who follow well-trod paths of pursuing social change rather than attacking the system itself.

They remind me of moments when it‘s clear- if I have eyes to see -that the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me. In those moments I sometimes catch a glimpse of my true life, a life hidden like the river beneath the ice. And in the spirit of the poet, I wonder: what am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be?

Stop what you‘re doing right now and read this book

If we look Indian history squarely in the eye, we are going to get red eyes. This is our past, however, and we must acknowledge it. It is time for textbooks to send white children home, if not with red eyes, at least with though-provoking questions.

Yes 🙌🏻🙌🏻

“Most textbook authors protect us from a racist Lincoln. By so doing, they diminish students‘ capacity to recognize racism as a force in American life. For if Lincoln could be racist, then so might the rest of us be. And if Lincoln could transcend racism, as he did on occasion, then so might the rest of us.”

“Nines tend to attach to relationships or scenarios that need mediation and reconciliation so they don‘t have to face their own reconciled inner self.”

Well call me out why don‘t you? 😳

Learning so much about Atlanta already and I‘m only 1/5 of the way finished 👌🏻

“To be awake is to lament that much is wrong with the world, but to be awake also means we are prisoners of hope.”

“Five-sixths of all Americans never take a course in American history beyond high school. What our citizens “learn” in high school forms much of what they know about our past.” Yikes 😬

Oh boy. I‘m so excited to read this!

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

“President Clinton closed his remarks in 2000 with an unequivocal statement: ‘in genetic terms all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9 percent the same. What that means is that modern science has confirmed what we first learned from ancient faiths. The most important fact of life on this earth is our common humanity.‘”

Born Malcolm Little, Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam in 1952- “Members of the NOI exchanged their “slave names” for “X,” which stood for the loss of their unknown African families and names.” - I‘m shook. This is so powerful.

“What we can see depends heavily on what our culture has trained us to look for.”

“The church must divorce itself from partisan politics, reclaim its prophetic zeal, and renew its commitment to subverting the power of empire.” 🔥🔥🔥

“God is actively restoring all things, including fallible people like you and me, as well as those we sometimes mistakenly believe are beyond the point of redemption.”

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

“Largely because of this penalty-centered view of justice, Western Christianity‘s understanding of justice has become intrinsically intertwined with state law. Due to the complex and historic relationship between church and state in our nation, there is little distinction between committing a sin against God and committing a crime against the state.” Woah. The connection that Gilliard is making in chapter 9 is blowing my mind.

Thought provoking and gut wrenching

If ever there was a how-to book on how to be a Christian in the modern day world, this is it.

For me, this was a good reality check. Would recommend to individuals who are interested in making the world a better place, especially for those in the “helping” sector.

Cringeworthy how real so many of the situations that came up in this book are. Necessary read for individuals living in neighborhoods where gentrification is happening, has happened, or will happen, ESPECIALLY for those who are the gentrifiers. Good intentions are not good enough.