Recommendation: Faith in Full Color

This bi-weekly recommendation is for a different project started through an interfaith grant made available by the Interfaith Youth Core. I get the feeling that, because of the great work of the IFYC to distribute grants to willing and worthy participants, we will never need to worry about running out of content for this blog here at The Ethicist. The work they've done is extensive and worth recognition! Am I hinting at a possible future rec? Maybe.

For now, we're recommending Faith in Full Color, an online zine created by Harmeet Kamboj. That first volume is Interfaith Perspectives on Race and Justice, an ever important intersection that is so often overlooked in our discussions of injustice and oppression. The cover, placed below is an artistic interpretation of Breonna Taylor, a victim of police brutality, and now a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement and greater movement for racial justice as a whole.

Inside the volume is work by seven writers as well as an opening from Kamboj, the editor. That opening by the editor I will share in part here, because I believe nothing will better describe the internals of this ezine than what she has already written:

"This project emerged in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd,

Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and Nina Pop at the

hands of police and white supremacists during the summer of 2020. [...] White

Christian supremacy has long threatened the lives and legacies of our

ancestors, our families, our communities, and ourselves. But faith is so

much more than violence. For so many Black, Brown, Indigenous, and

Queer folks, faith is liberation. For so many, faith begets liberation. We find

comfort in our faithful prayers, calm in our faithful reflection, and solidarity

in our faithful communities."

What caught me reading the work of each writer was the feeling of unity between each piece despite the faith background of the individual. Yet, at the same time, no individual threw their faith away in order to write with that unity. It was, after all, their faith beliefs above all else that call on each of them to speak on race and justice.

It is Nordia Bennett's connection to her church community, what Fabiana Flores Manning learned in The LDS Church, and the deepheld faith of Azani Amarachi Creeks that drives their hands to write (or type); that drives their hearts to seek justice, and understanding.

I would highly suggest reading the entire ezine. It isn't long, yet the writing inside speaks to issues we've been dealing with for centuries. Not just race, but immigration, gender, and the concept of the stranger.

It can be read at this link here; and be sure that if another volume of Faith in Full Color is released, we'll be sure to cover it here.