Common Good Collective

Reader

This Reader is an expression of Common Good Collective, a vision for an alternative way, rooted in the act of eliminating economic isolation, the significance of place, and the structure of belonging. Whether you come at this from a place of economics, social good, or faith, we hope these reflections help orient your day in fresh, provocative, courageous ways. And most importantly, we hope these lead you into the sharing of gifts in particular communities—into co-creating a common good.

We read hundreds of articles and select the best ones for you by sending them to your inbox on Thursday.
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Invitation, Reader, Sabbath: Time for the Unexpected, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

I’m Tired, Are You?

Raven Gibbs, certified wellness counselor and founder of Mindfulness Movement NC, shares some thoughtful tips on how people can navigate through the intensity of living through COVID-19, racial violence, and a global antiracist uprising. Especially for Black and Brown folx, this is an extremely stressful and traumatizing time. Gibb gives a guide to help us continue to show up for ourselves and for our community with strength and love.

Honestly, I want to continue producing content that both inspires and enlightens, but this week, I’m tired. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Nina Pop. The list is overwhelming and the ongoing violence against Black people is exhausting. The current events coupled with the lasting trauma from years of inequality might lead one to ask “how does one heal if this keeps happening? How do we cope when history keeps repeating itself?

Frankly, I can’t answer those questions. I wish I could, but I can’t. Everyone processes information differently and coping is not a “one size fits all” ordeal. Coping is done at one’s own pace and with methods that are most suitable specifically for them. What I can do, however, is offer advice that has worked for me and stay hopeful that it helps you in some way. Read more

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 Leaving Egypt and Pharaoh, Possibly: Freedom for A New Story, Reader, Significance Of Place Permalink

The History of Policing

 

Red Summer 1919

 

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, as protests have occurred in all fifty states calling for justice on his behalf. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. In this episode of Throughline, the origins of American policing and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system. Read more

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 Eliminating economic isolation, Reader, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

Dr. Cornel West on whether US can break down racial barriers

Dr. Cornel West

When belonging breaks down – or was never possible because of the unjust design of our systems – people rise up. We have seen that over the past week in the streets of cities in all 50 states. For decades, Cornel West has been calling Americans to a deeper sense of belonging, even to the point of reinventing our society. Here he makes a turn as a guest on (surprise!) a Fox News interview, calling for this society to remake itself into one of deeper belonging.

We’re seeing people of all colors coming together. It’s a beautiful thing, but we have a system that is unable to respond. Looting is wrong, but legalized looting is wrong too. Murder is wrong, but legalized murder is wrong too. I look at the wickedness in high places first, then keep track of the least of these.

This content may be disturbing to some viewers.

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 Reader, Significance Of Place, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

‘In Every City, There’s a George Floyd’: Portraits of Protest

Beatriz Lopez

Here are some of the voices from the protests, which have included many people who say they’ve never protested before:

“In every city, there’s a George Floyd,” said Michael Sampson II, 30, of Jacksonville, Fla.

“It could be my father, my brother, my uncle, my cousin, my friend,” saidVictoria Sloan, 27, of Brooklyn. “It makes me angry.”

“I’m speaking for everybody, all my kinfolk, all my brothers and sisters who’ve gotten beaten up by police,” said Cory Thomas, 40, who said the police beat him when he was a teenager in Brooklyn. “I don’t condone the violence,” or the looting, he said, “but at the end of the day, no 14-year-old should be beat up by police.”

“There are people out there who are very negative,” D.J. Elliott, 30, a gym manager in Harlem said, in frustration about a small number of late-arriving, violent protesters. “And this is their golden opportunity.”

“If we don’t fight for change we’re not going to get it,” Douglas Golliday, a 65-year-old resident of a Minneapolis suburb, told The Star Tribune while waiting to be taken to jail along with his 44-year-old son, Robert, and other protesters. Read more

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 Poetry for Building Community, Reader, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

Foreday in the Morning by Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown

Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Jericho Brown, has an urgency to his poetry as he deftly names the forces — be it cop, disease, or addiction — that would have him dead while celebrating the beauty — a flower, a lover’s embrace, understanding — and all that helps him thrive in a burning world.

My mother grew morning glories that spilled onto the walkway toward her porch
Because she was a woman with land who showed as much by giving it color.
She told me I could have whatever I worked for. That means she was an American.
But she’d say it was because she believed
In God. I am ashamed of America Read more

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