Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now

by Brenda Salter McNeil

We allow our fear to overcome us. Whenever race and ethnicity become part of the equation, we make sweeping generalizations and use those stereotypes to justify our fear and our actions.

It is important to note here that whenever people are being killed and lives are being destroyed, someone is profiting from it.

The belief that our humanity is interconnected is central to an ancient South African philosophy called Ubuntu. This term means “humanity to others” or “I am what I am because of who we all are.” Ubuntu conveys that “I cannot fully become who God created me to be unless you become who God created and intended you to be.” In other words, God created us to need each other to survive. We are meant to be nurtured in communities characterized by mutually affirming, interdependent relationships.

We Are Reconcilers