Stephen J. Matlock's Blog, page 32
July 26, 2017
Why Do White American Christians Do What They Do?
I don’t think I understand white Christian Americans anymore. I was born white. I was born American. I became Christian in my teens. I’ve tried to live a Christian life, and with that in the context of being both white and American. Mistakes were made.
July 2, 2017
Welcome to Braggsville–A Review
We saw “Welcome to Braggsville” at the Seattle Center, performed by the Book-It Repertory Theater, based on the novel by T. Geronimo Johnson. First off, let me say that the cast was stellar, and the leads were absolutely fantastic. They were in their roles in a way that led me to believe they weren’t acting;… Read More »
June 17, 2017
The Words of Good White Liberals
What are your thoughts, good people? http://kuow.org/post/understand-white... This is really hard for me to read, because it is easier to talk about racism and to march against racism than it is to do the hard work of confronting racism *in our own lives*. It’s my opinion that we want to tell others how to fix… Read More »
May 27, 2017
Should We Provoke White Supremacists?
Recently I responded (several times!) to comments about the fine, fine speech given by Mayor Landrieu’s at the removal of four monuments/statues which had been raised originally to support and defend the white supremacists’ governance of the South, first in the American Civil War and then in the overthrow and coup 10 or so years… Read More »
May 7, 2017
Jesus Was Crucified by the State
Jesus was crucified by the state, y’all. I see and hear my fellow white American Christians celebrating the fact that they are very close to imposing their peculiar version of Christianity upon an unwilling populace, because they have “captured Congress, the Presidency, and now the Supreme Court!” Jesus was crucified by the state. Jesus did… Read More »
April 15, 2017
Another Review of “Stars in the Texas Sky”
Another positive review of my novel “Stars in the Texas Sky” https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re... “Wonderfully written, read in one sitting. “This book made me cry for the injustice, it made me laugh when people got their just desserts, and there were several moments where the authors’ writing was so clever, I said ‘I see what you did… Read More »
January 22, 2017
Reclaiming Liberal
Recently I have been interacting with people who would conversate with me about various issues. Sometimes they are about politics or religion or race or sex. Sometimes they are contentious, talking about which football team is best or which way should the toilet paper hang from the roll—from the front, or from the back. And… Read More »
January 21, 2017
Intersectionality: Your First Steps to Understanding
“Intersectionality” is a long word, and looks complex, and perhaps annoys people. “Don’t make it hard for me to live,” is how it comes out when they ask for explanations. “Make it consumable to me, and not threatening, and make sure I stay in the center.” Well, here is an explanation that is as simple… Read More »
Naked, Partisan Politics: A Primer
I wrote this as a quick response to several white men criticizing the 2017 Women’s March on Washington who were arguing that the party of the left (the Democrats) should more fully embrace the plight of the “blue collar worker” & abandon the idea of intersectionality and allyship with people of color, women, the disabled,… Read More »
January 20, 2017
Taking the Next Step
I recently participated in a live video-conference discussing Dr. Hart’s book “Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Ive-Se...). We had a class of disparate people of this country, representing (at least) three Christian faith communities, and we talked about the essentials of Dr. Hart’s book. I came away with great encouragement,… Read More »
