It’s Time to Channel the Tidal Wave

The dramatic wave of support for the Black Lives Matter campaign shows an astonishing change in American awareness of systemic racism. There is overwhelming support for justice right now. Pew says 67 percent of all Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement.

So—now is the time to channel that tidal wave toward change, says the Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil. Now is the time—as her new book urges—that all of us should be Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now.

Please read our Cover Story, this week, which includes an interview with McNeil about her national focus on teaching about the hard work of reconciliation and justice. This summer, she is publishing two, valuable new books—Becoming Brave and a second book that is more of a “toolbox” for working toward justice. These books are perfectly timed for individual reading and discussions in congregations nationwide.

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We Contribute to the National Conversation Every Week

IF YOU FOLLOW our online magazine on a weekly basis (sign up for free email updates via the green box in the upper-right corner), then you know that our community of writers is deeply involved in the national conversation about diversity. Every week, we bring you fresh links to what our writers are doing and saying. This week, Victor Begg (author of Our Muslim Neighbors), spoke with the Christian Science Monitor as the CSM’s Editorial Board emphasizes the importance of inter-religious cooperation in response to COVID-19.

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Holidays & Festivals

FOURTH OF JULY:

What’s Going on at Mount Rushmore?

STEPHANIE FENTON, our Holidays & Festivals columnist, reports on the holiday—and also includes the latest news (and news links) to this year’s controversial plans by President Trump to bring back fireworks to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Why Did Lincoln say, ‘A Man Is Responsible for his Face’?

OUR QUIET FIRE COLUMN, this week, explores the importance of monuments—and the important of our individual faces—as we all grapple with our place and our vocation in this world. Lincoln scholar Duncan Newcomer takes us to Mount Rushmore—and also to Asia with the Catholic mystic Thomas Merton. What is the scale of your life? What monuments inspire you? What monuments move you to action? Please, share this column with friends, this week.

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Care to see all of our Holidays & Festivals columns? It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the address InterfaithHolidays.com

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How about Some Pure Escapism!?!

RODNEY CURTIS—our resident photographer, author and all-around funny guy, reminds us this week that—hey!—in the midst of these very troubling times …. yes, we also need to laugh and have fun with family.

 

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And, Speaking of Family Fun …

SPECIAL THANKS to all of our readers who sent texts, social-media messages and even phoned to share praise for last week’s marvelous cover story by Elisa Di Benedetto in Italy and Martin Davis in the D.C. area—who managed to cook up a shared pot of minestrone soup across the 4,300 miles that separate them. Talk about social distancing at dinner time!!

Celebrate Global Culture: Ask Friends to Virtually Bake Bread with You!

THIS WEEK, we are following up with a reminder of an easy way to connect with diverse religious and cultural traditions around the world—by baking bread.

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FAITH & FILM 

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ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns are these films available for streaming now. 

1. MALCOLM X—This week, Ed writes: “This review was written for the December 1992 issue of Visual Parables. I am bringing it up from the archives because of a new project highlighting ten films I believe every American white person needs to see in order to understand the currently debated topics of systemic racism and white privilege. With a few minor exceptions, the text appears as originally printed, but the two Scripture passages and a set of questions for discussing the film are additions.”
2. BOYS STATE—Ed writes, “The new documentary by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss is an interesting look at our democratic process in miniature, as seen at a Boys State meeting, one of 49 held each year in every state but Hawaii since the mid Thirties, sponsored by the American Legion.” (4.5 out of 5 stars)
3. IRRESISTIBLE—Ed writes, “This is the delightful story of a political operative who might be too smart for himself. Director/writer Jon Stewart’s political satire does not hedge by conjuring up fictitious names of political parties, though the characters themselves are made-up. Steve Carell’s Gary Zimmer is a political consultant of the Democratic Party, and Rose Byrne’s Faith Brewster works for the Republican National Committee.” (4.5 out of 5 stars)
4. SWEETHEART—Ed writes, “Director J.D. Dillard also co-wrote the screenplay of this tense thriller set on a desert island. The sweetheart of the title is Jenn (Kiersey Clemons), who finds herself swept up on the sandy beach of a tropical island.” (4 stars)
5. HEARTS BEAT LOUD—Because of Kiersey Clemons’s new film Sweetheart, Ed reaches back to 2017 to recommend this earlier film in which she starred.
6. DA 5 BLOODS—Ed urges viewers to see this 5-star direct-to-streaming film from Spike Lee about five Vietnam veterans.
7. SEE YOU YESTERDAY—Ed writes, “This science fiction thriller by first-time director Stefon Bristol and his co-writer Fredrica Bailey boasts Spike Lee as one of its producers. With its ripped-from-the-headlines relevancy in regard to police brutality you might think it was made last week, but it actually was released a little over a year ago when another shooting of a black man by the police was in the headlines. Indeed, its genesis goes back even further when Bristol had made a short film and Spike Lee  helped him to expand it into its present feature length. With many #Black Lives Matter news clips interspersed throughout, the film seems like a mixture of Back to the Future, The Hate You Give and When They See Us.” (5 out of 5 stars)
8. CURTIZ—This film about Michael Curtiz, the director of Casablanca, is full of factual errors. “Nevertheless,” Ed McNulty writes, “first-time director Tamas Yvan Topolanszky’ film, streaming on Netflix, is an interesting one thanks to a combination of excellent acting and crisp black & white photography.”
9. RETURN TO ME—Ed writes, “Director/co-writer Bonnie Hunt’s 20-year-old romantic film could easily have gone astray were it not for its solid cast and attention to details of character. The main characters—two lovers Bob Rueland and Grace Biggs, played by David Duchovny and Minnie Driver—are so appealing that we can overlook some of the film’s sentimental excess.” (4 out of 5 stars)
10. PROLONGED EXPOSURE—“This film might seem slow moving by anyone who has been misled by the false posters that imply this is an action thriller. Mr. Thoms’ insightful script is more of a character study.” (4 stars)

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