Dr. Michelle Loyd-Paige spoke openly and honestly about her experience as an African-American woman on the opening night of the Engage 2016 conference, a multiethnic gathering on the grounds of Calvin College in Grand Rapids this past June. For many, including the two of us, that talk was one of the highlights of the conference (which is significant because there were so many great speakers!). Loyd-Paige’s talk was prophetic in two senses—it spoke truth to power and it was a sign of things to come
Looking for summer beach reads? The staff of the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue and the Office of Social Justice have done the searching for you.
In the space of two weeks in June, over 400 people participated in two mass Blanket Exercises. Wow. Each one was significant in its own way. I first participated in the Blanket Exercise (BE) just a...
In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its plan to ship 500 metric tons of surplus U.S. peanuts to Haiti. The surplus stems from a 2014 Farm Bill that incentivizes an increase...
The Declaration is a clear pathway to never again: we must never again allow a forced relocation, never again allow residential schools, and never again allow the patronizing postures that shaped colonial relationships and their ongoing legacy.
What do you, a Honduran citizen, think about US immigration? How does it impact your community? Your family? What would you want to tell people in the United States about immigration? These were the...
Often the toughest conversations offer the most important learning. Sometimes the conversations we work hardest to avoid, we most need to enter. Tough conversations can be hard to navigate and risky...
Ultimately within discussion and debate a person's goal is to get to the place where they can say of their challenger " we're talking the same language.". Two parties may disagree ultimately, yet...
But the hospitality we were shown in Mangulile did not have requirements or qualifications. This was give-up-my-seat-for-you, give-up-my-job-for-you, give-you-the-brand-new-shirt-off-my-back kind of hospitality.
Writing on dialogue and respect for the "other side" has its challenges. As much as I’d like to think I’m adaptable, I bring biases to a task like this. Like any biases, mine are formed by experience...
I have had a pair of moosehide moccasins for five years now that I absolutely love. I love them because they remind me of how I have had the way I look at the Earth and how the way I approach Creation...
I am so honored to be speaking here today as an ally who stands in solidarity with refugees and immigrants of any status. Especially in this political climate, it is so important for us all to open...
