Cyber-Racism: Mexican-American Boy Sings National Anthem

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Sometimes I think thousands of years from now, when people are trying to sift through our current society's remains, they will uncover our social media as record and gauge of our social climate...and they are going to think we were assholes. Here is  10-year-old Sebastien De La Cruz singing the national anthem for Game 3 of the NBA finals in San Antonio: And here are some of the responses from that sweet performance:(See more of this cyber-racism over at Public … [Read more...]

Interracial Family Featured in a Cheerios Commercial #Racism

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Have you heard about the Cheerios commercial that has cause quite an uproar? Why? Because it features an interracial couple with a biracial child. (No, I'm not kidding.) Cheerios had to disable the comments on YouTube due to racist rants overloading the comments section. That didn't stop Reddit from continuing the conversation on their site. My defense for Cheerios is not an endorsement for their this product. Cheerios may contain GMOs, and so, as sweet as the commercial is, we are going … [Read more...]

A Race Issue: Topsy Turvy Doll

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This weekend in Carmel, I noticed a doll in the guest bedroom. The doll has been up on a shelf for decoration now for decades. I pulled it down to look at it when I remembered this antique doll had a secret. When you flipped her over she turned into a completely different doll. These “topsy-turvy” dolls originated sometime during the Civil War, and there is a lot of speculation as to why they were created. Some believe they were made for white children forbidden by their parents to … [Read more...]

A Fight Against Severe Injuries During Labor | Hamlin Fistula Clinic

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After some setbacks, Bryan and I finally met up with our group in Ethiopia. We met with the head of the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. If you haven’t heard about the fistula clinic, let me give you a quick overview: This from Hamlinfistula.org: “What is a Fistula? The most devastating of all childbirth injuries, an obstetric fistula develops when the blood supply to the tissues of the vagina and bladder (and/or rectum) is cut off during prolonged, obstructed … [Read more...]

Symbolism: Morehouse Students Graduate in the Rain

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Morehouse College is the alma mater of Rev. Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr., and this past Sunday President Obama addressed the graduating class of 2013. There has been some discussion over why measures weren't taken to protect the students from the heavy rains during the ceremony. This quote from Facebook presents a very interesting perspective as to why every part of that day was deeply meaningful to our country and the continued progress of human rights: This picture of Morehouse … [Read more...]

Billionaires Donate Their Earnings: “High Leverage” Charity Work

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Yesterday, we asked, on our Facebook wall, how much money you would donate to charity if you were to win the Powerball (As of yesterday it was at 600 million USD). Our group, overall, was extremely generous, but the percentages had a pretty wide range. Tonight, I happened to catch this article from the Wall Street Journal website that told the story of the changing idea of philanthropy. John Arnold was a natural-gas trader at Enron who founded his own hedge-fund with monumental … [Read more...]

Our Brother’s Keeper

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"Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9)           … [Read more...]

Advocacy: How to Handle Unexpected Media Attention (Page 2)

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<--back to page one In our case, Time wasn’t necessarily advocating for anything, so the next most identifiable person or thing to that cover would have been the subjects on the cover. That, mixed with a subjective interpretation of the image created a modern-day witch hunt. Most took the tagline that accompanied the image as advocacy for a certain style of parenting, and they assumed that I would say my style of parenting is superior to mainstream society, which isn't true of my … [Read more...]

Clean Water For the First Time

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I wanted to share this letter written by Sister Donna to Waves for Water. This trip taken by Jack Rose of Waves for Water would not have been possible without your donations. Read this and know you made it happen. December 17,2012 Dear Waves for Water, What a blessed thing happened when Jack Rose came in a world-wind trip to Ethiopia and Heartland. No idle tourist is he, not a beat or step in any direction except one, the bringing of, teaching about, workshop for, and installation of … [Read more...]

How to Be a Better Judgmental Person

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  Here are five steps to take to determine whether you are negatively judging someone without warrant. 1. Identify who or what is being threatened. Negative judgment is generally fear-based. Understanding what is causing the fear/threat is the first step in understanding and working through healthy judgment. For instance, strangers who followed the Casey Anthony trial may have judged her because they felt she was acquitted of murder even though she actually committed the crime. This … [Read more...]