Friday, July 15, 2016

June 13, 2016: challenged

It's summer which means I have time to read again!  Two years ago, I started to read through a book list that highlighted one book that was set in each of the 50 states.  I got 4 books read.  This summer I decided to pick up the list again.  If you're interested, the link to the blog and book list is here: 


Today I am reading "White Boy Shuffle," the book for California.  It was a really great, challenging story.  It highlighted racial injustice in LA.  The main character is an African American man who grew up in a predominately white neighborhood but moved to a black community in LA when he was in middle school.  He starts writing poetry and ends up using his poetry to challenge others to stand up against white privelege.  Throughout the book, people send him their poetry. These are beautiful, raw lines describing life.  The poem below was submitted by the character's dad, who throughout the story was uninvolved and unsupportive of the main character's life.  


This challenged me.  So much is going on in the world.  So many things that I am fired up about, or should be committed to fighting against or working toward.  It keeps me up at night, praying and crying, but sometimes things seems so big and impossible, that it's easier to worry instead about laminating name tags or cutting out game pieces.  Praying is powerful, but I want to make sure I am listening to the Spirit when He is telling me to act. 

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