Reinhold Niebuhr During the Time of the White Compromise

The story of how the theological ethicist, Reinhold Niebuhr, dealt with race during the “white compromise” (from after Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement) gives us a good picture of what will work and not work in re-directing American Prosperity toward a sustainable future. In his early years, Niebuhr argued against the Ku Klux Klan in Detroit, and supported sharecropper cooperatives in Arkansas. He guided his later ethical analysis of national and international groups by what he called “Christian realism,” which assumed that groups had limited capacity for doing good. At the height of his national status, he wrote books as though American history was the same as white history. He suggested caution in applying the Brown v. Board of Education decision to white families and after the civil rights movement had disrupted the “white compromise,” Niebuhr moved somewhat closer to Martin Luther King Jr.’s view of the “beloved community.”

Bridge to the Beloved Community: John Lewis's Interracial and Jewish Community Outreach

This article captures my personal relationship with Congressman John Lewis, his wife, Lillian, and their son, John-Miles. Readers will discover Congressman Lewis's unique ties with the Jewish community and his lifelong commitment to strengthening Black-Jewish relations. It notes the issues he championed—from voting rights to Israel's security—and includes his own words marching in solidarity with the Jewish community and speaking out for freedom for Soviet Jews.

Prison Theatre and an Embodied Aesthetics of Liberation: Exploring the Potentials and Limits

Prison theatre practitioners and scholars often describe the sense of imaginative freedom or “escape” that theatre and drama can facilitate for incarcerated actors, in contrast to the strict regimes of the institution. Despite this, the concept of freedom or liberation is rarely interrogated, being presented instead as a given—a natural by-product of creative practice. Drawing from John Dewey’s (1934) pragmatist aesthetics and the liberatory pedagogies of Bell Hooks (2000) and Paulo Freire (1996), I propose an embodied aesthetics of liberation in prison theatre that adds depth and complexity to claims for freedom through creativity. Reflecting on over twenty years of prison theatre practice and research, I propose that the initial “acts of escape” performed through engaging the imagination are merely the first threshold toward more meaningful forms of freedom. I frame these as the following three intersecting domains: “Acts of unbinding”, which represents the personal liberation afforded by experiences with theatre in prison; “acts of love”, which expresses how the theatre ensemble might represent a “beloved community” (hooks); and “acts of liberation”, which articulates how these experiences of self-and-world creation may ripple out to impact audiences and communities. An aesthetics of liberation in prison theatre can, therefore, be conceived as an embodied movement towards personal and social renewal; an approach that deepens our understanding of its oft-cited humanising potential, and its limits.

In Millennial Footsteps: California Social Movement Organizations for Generation Z

This article highlights main themes that emerged from our panel featuring youth organizers and scholars of youth social movements in California. We focus on how organizations uplift youth leadership, foster queer inclusivity, build across racial difference, and cultivate “beloved community,” a concept popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Our organizations address the root causes of inequities that threaten low-income communities of color, while adapting to contemporary challenges by proposing new modes of social change. For example, youth-centered leadership has long been at the crux of youth organizing; meanwhile, “healing” has increasingly emerged as a prominent aspect of youth organizations devoted to social change. This article thus summarizes our panel’s insights about youth organizing across California.

Mindful Eating: Reinvigorating American Culinary Diaspora in a Low-income Community

The culinary history of America is a rich melting pot of cultures from across the world, seasoned with the heritage of diasporas. This research note explores the existing culinary diaspora of American food and how the practice of mindful eating has prompted a revitalization. The author examines how American cuisine is perceived and its connections with a dark period of the nation's past in the context of the "Beloved Community." There is a need to review the diasporas that gave rise to these culinary traditions that have stemmed from slavery and are endemic in low-income communities. A better understanding can prompt a rethinking about how these communities can adopt mindful eating practices. This note extends the literature on culinary diasporas by reconsidering a beloved American culinary tradition.