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If Hate Can Be Engineered Into Systems, Then So Can Love
This article was presented for republication in Talk Black Arkansas by Wendell Griffen
If Hate Can Be Engineered Into Systems, Then So Can Love
Howard Thurman’s Lessons Remain Relevant Today
by Dr. Chris Jones
“What does the religion of Jesus have to say to those whose backs are against the wall?”
— Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (1949)
The Architecture of Oppression
Howard Thurman wrote those words in 1949, when oppression was easy to see.
It was codified and conspicuous. It was written into law, reinforced by custom, and maintained through violence.
Today, oppression wears a different face. It is systemic and subtle.
It hides in algorithms that decide who gets seen, in school funding formulas that reward wealth, and in policies that treat compassion as inefficiency.
But whether oppression is declared or disguised, it is still engineered.
And that means it can be re-engineered.
Howard Thurman (1899–1981) was a theologian, philosopher, mystic, and civil rights pioneer whose ideas quietly reshaped 20th-century America. He served as Dean of the Chapel at both Howard University and Boston University, becoming one of the first Black deans at a predominantly white university. A mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited offered the moral and spiritual foundation for the nonviolent movement. His teachings centered on the dignity of every human being, the power of inner liberation, and the conviction that love is the most revolutionary force in the world.
The Physics of the Human Spirit
Thurman wasn’t writing policy. He was mapping the interior world of the disinherited. Those whose backs were pressed against the wall of society.
He believed liberation begins with the inner life: courage over fear, truth over deceit, love over hate.
What he offered was not a political manifesto, but a human operating system.
He was saying: if the forces that bind us can be built, then the forces that free us can be built too.
That’s a systems truth.
Every structure (social, physical, or spiritual) carries design principles.
And every principle can be redesigned.
Fear and Courage in the Age of Invisibility
It all starts with understanding the world in which we live.
In Thurman’s world, fear was physical. It came from mobs, laws, and public threats.
In ours, fear is quieter but constant; fear of being unseen, unheard, or replaced. It seeps through social media metrics, economic instability, and the daily pressure to perform.
And it’s just as corrosive to the soul.
Thurman’s answer still holds: courage is not the absence of fear but the refusal to let fear define the parameters of your purpose. The antidote to invisible fear is visible integrity.
Truth as Resistance
Thurman warned that the disinherited often resort to deception as a means of survival. In his time, that meant code-switching and compliance to avoid punishment.
Today, our deceptions are digital.
We filter our lives, curate our words, and measure authenticity in engagement rates.
But truth remains the only path to liberation.
To live truthfully. To refuse the mask of performance. This is still an act of moral rebellion. It’s how we reclaim our agency in a world that monetizes illusion.
Love as Design
Thurman called love “the central ethic of Jesus.”
Not sentimental love. Strategic love.
Love that refuses to mirror hate.
Love that builds when hate destroys.
He taught that hate binds us to our oppressors, but love releases us to imagine something new.
And if hate can be designed into laws, policies, and systems, then love can be too.
That’s the work of our time: to make love structural. To build economies of equity, technologies of empathy, and politics of care.
Love is no longer just a moral stance. It’s a design challenge.
Dignity in a Data-Driven World
Thurman told those who had been dehumanized, “You are a child of God.”
That was his rebellion. That was his revolution.
Today, we are measured by numbers; income, followers, credit scores, GPAs, and rankings. We live in a data-driven world that can make divine worth feel like a lost language.
Reclaiming dignity now means remembering that data describes us, but it does not define us.
Our humanity is not a variable in an equation. It is the reason the equation exists.
The New Frontier of Faith
Thurman’s faith was fierce and quiet. It was not loud, not performative, but persistent.
It inspired King to carry Jesus and the Disinherited during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
That same faith must now power a different kind of resistance. One that operates inside the systems we’ve built.
Faith now requires imagination.
It’s the belief that love can be coded, equity can be legislated, and justice can be quantified. Not for control, but for community.
The moral frontier of our age is to make the unseen forces of compassion as measurable as the ones that divide.
The Formula for Liberation
Thurman’s wisdom offers us a kind of social physics. A truth about the energy that governs human progress. The table below outlines how Thurman saw these energy forces expressed and how they are expressed in modern times.
The Wall Still Stands
The wall Thurman saw still exists. Not of bricks and laws, but of bias, apathy, and indifference.
But the blueprint to dismantle it is the same: Courage. Truth. Love. Dignity. Faith.
Because if hate can be engineered into systems, then so can love.
And if we can learn to build rockets that reach the stars, we can surely build societies that reflect the light that made them.
This article was inspired by a talk by Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown (What is God Inviting? Howard Thurman & Answering the Sacred Call). The Oasis at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church October 18, 2025
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America is Becoming a Cesspool
by Deborah Suttlar
October 17, 2025
A cesspool is described as a place of great vice and corruption. This current Administration operates with cruel corruption and deceit. This country, once described as the standard of greatness, has degenerated to the exact opposite. America is now at war with its own citizens. There is fear, disillusionment, loss of hope, anger, and feelings of betrayal.
When greatness is measured by economic success, while targeted citizens are subjected to cruelty, racism, discrimination, gender bias, partisan political attacks, and blatant acts of bullying by our own government, we are not a great nation. We have become the kind of country we once decried as fascist and dictatorial. Our government has become petty and cruel. America is becoming a cesspool.
For too long this country has been touting its greatness. However, saying you are great without action means nothing. We have promoted and maintained racist (slavery/Segregation/Jim Crow/Anti-Woke) legislation and an immoral agenda (Anti-Immigration) based on hatred and prejudice. The lie has been revealed in “living color,” by the way “people of color,’ are treated. We do not exhibit qualities of greatness. America now wants to be feared. Fear does not give you respect.
We have a president who prefers to operate based upon his racist biases, uneducated perspective and his propagandized agenda ignoring truth and engaged in vendettas. Although he is responsible for his persecutions for corruption and sexual misconduct. His stated political party has not only accepted his transgressions, lies, deceit and lack of morals, they have become his faithful followers and co-conspirators.
Currently, we have unstable leadership, deceitful racist, and heretical religious beliefs disseminated throughout our country. Those once considered educated, behave like uneducated fools. It makes you wonder, were we ever truly a Democratic Society? Has it all been just a ruse? A ruse to make people believe there would be equal status and opportunity when it was never intended for all of us. It is obvious it was only for the rich and white. Even those we expected to be aligned with us, have become silent or have joined in the fray. It is the way for the rich. America is becoming a cesspool, and everybody has jumped in. But we will not give in; it is a fight to the end.
Romans 15:19b, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
Deborah Springer Suttlar is a community activist and longtime supporter of public schools.
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Peace Hypocrisy
by Wendell Griffen
October 16, 2025
I am glad that Palestinians in Gaza are not being actively bombed, shot, and starved by Israeli Defense Forces. I am glad Israeli and Palestinian hostages have been released and reunited to with their families. I am glad that Donald Trump was not named the recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace prize.
But because I care about justice I will not celebrate Donald Trump’s “peace plan” for Gaza. That is also why I am not impressed by the recent announcement that Maria Corina Machado, a far-right activist supported by Trump, has been named the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s 20-point “peace” plan for Gaza doesn’t say a word about reparations to Palestinians whose homes, schools, religious shrines, cultural centers, energy, and other services have been destroyed by the U.S. backed Israeli war machine.
Trump and Machado supported the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. They praised Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government that systematically murdered defenseless men, women, children, journalists, aid workers, health care workers, and humanitarian workers who tried to help Palestinians in Gaza.
Machado has not criticized Trump’s extrajudicial killings of Venezuelans in international waters. Instead, she called for the U.S. to invade Venezuela and supports unilateral U.S. sanctions that have killed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
Trump and Machado traffic in violence. People who are serious about justice should not hail them as activists for “peace.”
Wendell Griffen is the author of Parables, Politics, and Prophetic Faith published by (Nurturing Faith, (2023) and
The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope (Judson Press, (2017). He is also an ordained minister and former elected judge.
www.fierceprophetichope.blogspot.com
www.wendellgriffen.blogspot.com
Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Arkansas
pastorgriffen@newmillenniumchurch.us
CEO, Griffen Strategic Consulting, PLLC
www.griffenstrategicconsulting.com
griffenstrategicconsulting@gmail.com
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Photo credit (The Associated Press)
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EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY........
by Joy C. Springer
October 17, 2025
EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY CONTINUES ……
Today, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) met to receive
a summary status reports of the Standing Subcommittees of the Arkansas
Legislature as well as other information in accord with state statute.
Once again, the Legislative Council was established by Act 264 of 1949 to collect data and information upon which legislative decisions will be made during regular session of the General Assembly. The Bureau of Legislative Research of the Legislative Council is a service agency within the legislative department of government. All members of the General Assembly have access to the Bureau of Legislative Research. The Legislative Council is the supervisory committee for the Bureau of Legislative Research,
and the Council coordinates the activities of the various interim committees and through the various committees provides legislative oversight of the Executive branch of government. The council consists of 36 regular members:
20 House members and 16 Senators. In addition, there are 24 ex-officio
voting members and 5 ex-officio non-voting members. (A.C.A. 10-3-301)
A summary of monthly revenue report from Dr. Silva as of September 2025
providing a comparison of the first three months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year distribution of gross general revenues with the same period of the 2024-2025
fiscal year were[i]:
Gross Revenues were up only .7%
($2.02 billion compared to $2.0 billion)
Adjusted General Revenues were down .6%
Net Available Revenues for Distribution up
only 1.6%
General Revenue available for Distribution
was up 75.3%, above the forecasted amount.
Net Revenues totaled $1,762,406, 799.00.
The Special Committee meeting of particular interest this week was the Hospital, Medicaid, and Developmental Disabilities Study Subcommittee. The report from the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of County Operations (DCO), was of particular interest. The goal of the DCO throughout the state of Arkansas include:
1) To provide accurate services by meeting or exceeding
federal accuracy rates for programs DCO administers.
2) To provide timely service by meeting or exceeding
Federal timeliness requirements for program DCO
Administers.
3) To provide effective case management services, helping
our TEA[ii]and Work Pays[iii]
4) To provide competent, efficient, and courteous customer
service to clients of the DCO. O
The DCO Services include:
1) Health Care (Medicaid/CHIP) Eligibility where 864,019
individuals are being served.
2) SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that
provides food assistance to eligible households to cover a
a portion of a household’s budget where 222,513 individuals
are being served. (118,441 households)
3) TANF – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families- provides
assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for
in their homes or homes of relatives; to end the dependence
of needy parents on government assistance by promoting job
preparation, work and marriage; to prevent out of wedlock
births and to encourage the formation and maintenance of
two parent families.
4) Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) a time limited
program to help needy families with children who become
responsible for their own support and less dependent on
public assistance. There are 1731 individuals (717 house-
holds)
5) Workpays is an incentive program designed to encourage
working TEA participants to remain employed after closure
of their TEA case while increasing their hours of work and/
or their hourly wage. There are 68 individuals (21 households)
6) Summer EBT provides grocery buying benefits to low income
families with school aged children when schools are closed
for the summer. Each eligible child receives $120 in Summer
EBT benefits delivered through an EBT card to purchase
SNAP eligible foods. There were 293,727 children in the
Summer of 2024 compared to 336,107 children in the
Summer of 2025.
This report can be found at arkleg.state.ar.us/Calendars/Meetings for October 13, 2025.
The Educational Emergency continues….
[i] . The State Fiscal Year is July 1, 2025 through June 30. 2026
[ii]TEA is a program to help needy families with children become more responsible for their own support and less dependent on public assistance.
[iii]Work Pays is an incentive program designed to encourage working TEA participants to remain employed after closure of their TEA case while increasing their hours of work/or hourly wage.
State Representative Joy C. Springer represents District 76 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Representative Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equity in public education. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and the JBC Employee Benefits Division Oversight committee and as a 1st Alternate on the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.
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EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY:
By Joy C. Springer
October 4, 2025
EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY CONTINUES …… September 26, 2025
Today marks the end of another week with members of the Legislature
as we continued to receive additional data from interim and regular
committees. Today, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)
also met. I look forward to hearing the monthly revenue report from Dr.
Silva. As of August, 2025, the Revenue report for the month ending
August 31, 2025 compared to the same time during the 2024-25
fiscal year:
Gross General Revenues were up 5.7% ($1.3 billion compared to $1.2 billion)
Adjusted General Revenues were down 29%. Net Available Revenues for Distribution was up 7.9%
General Revenue available for Distribution was up 75.7% above the forecasted amount. Net Revenues totaled $1,126,144, 966.00
This information helps to form the basis for the other information that I
now wish to share. On Wednesday, members of the Legislature were
invited to attend a meeting at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.
During this meeting, we received information from President and Chief
Executive Office Randy Zook regarding the state of Arkansas. The
presentation was entitled: “Arkansas Ahead: 2025 Tour.” The first thing
that he shared with us was that “Arkansas is more economically com-
competitive that ever before. I thought: Wow, Arkansas is not a bad
place to live! Arkansas currently ranks 19th as being the most competitive
state in the nation. In addition, Arkansas ranks number 10 as having the
best economic outlook compared to the rest of the states in our nation.
Arkansas was 3rd best with its most recent tax changes. Arkansas ranked
12th best in the nation for doing business and 8thregarding the cost of doing
business in the nation. Arkansas ranked 3rd best in the nation to start a
new business. Over the past five years, Arkansas personal income growth
was at 18.7% as compared to the rest of the nation. It has also been
competitive in the labor force participation at 58.4% compared to the
national average of 62.2%. Another interesting statistic that also shared
was that more men nationally are dropping out of the workforce. In 1954,
2.5% of men ages 25 to 54 were disengaged from the workforce. Today,
that number has grown to 10.5%. This number computes to 6.8 million
men.
The takeaway from this meeting was that the Arkansas State Chamber has worked to reduce
“business taxes” resulting there being more money for economic growth, more money available for investments, higher wages for employees as well as more jobs and better jobs. You decide: wouldn’t you also like to see more educational opportunities for Arkansas as well as economic growth?
Educational Emergency continues….
Representative Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equity in public education. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and the JBC Employee Benefits Division Oversight committee and as a 1st Alternate on the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.
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Have yourself some Bible fun!
by Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
October 4, 2025
Assalamu Alaykum. Shalom. La paz sea contigo. Peace be with you. My peace I give
you, as Jesus said in John 14.
Have yourself some Bible fun!
There are thirty books in the Bible in the paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on it while fishing from his johnboat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judged the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brewed a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That’s a fact.
Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or scholar to see some of them at the worst.
Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fundraising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new sales record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported it was the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, “The books are all right there in plain view, hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal.
A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus. There really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. Good luck!
Peace in the name of Jesus,
Love,
I Am
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired district Superintendent in the United Methodist Church.
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THE RIGHT-WING ENTERPRISE TO RE-INVENT CHARLIE KIRK
by Wendell Griffen
September 19, 2025
THE RIGHT-WING ENTERPRISE TO RE-INVENT CHARLIE KIRK
"I will not give Charlie Kirk a post-mortem character makeover."
Since the September 10 murder of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old husband, father, and right-wing social media influencer who headed Turning Point USA, public discourse about his ideology, influence, and religious identity has dominated social and news media platforms. Kirk has been remembered by people who loved him, people who despised him, people who benefited from his affection, and people who suffered harms from the views he championed.
Bottom of Form
All of this is normal, not extraordinary. It is customary to eulogize the people we like after they die, and customary to criticize people we do not like. The deaths of people we like grieves us. The deaths of people we dislike should not make us insensitive to the grief of others. We can, and should, have empathy for the people who grieve the deaths of people we dislike, even if we hold a different view of their deceased loved ones.
Nevertheless, empathy does not require me to eulogize Charlie Kirk. Empathy for his loved ones does not require me to eulogize his bigotry toward people of color, women, immigrants, Muslims, and other marginalized people. The proof of that bigotry is irrefutable.
Empathy also does not compel me to suspend intellectual and moral critique concerning his history of endorsing vicious politicians and policies. The proof of that history is equally irrefutable.
Charlie Kirk’s death does not compel me to pretend that I do not know about his bigotry and history of endorsing vicious politicians and policies, no matter who else chooses to eulogize him.
Nor does Kirk’s death require that I tolerate efforts to lionize his ideology and its harmful impact on vulnerable people. I do not owe fealty to Charlie Kirk’s bigotry. I will not obey officious edicts from anyone to honor it, be silent about it, let alone validate it.
Charlie Kirk’s professed Christianity was blasphemous and fraudulent. Jesus was a child of Jewish ethnicity born in Palestine, a place that Kirk falsely said did not exist. Jesus became an immigrant child with his parents after he was marked for death by a sociopathic politician when he was a toddler. Jesus denounced bigotry towards immigrants, women, and people of different ethnicities. Knowing this about the religion of Jesus gives anyone who respects intellectual honesty good reason to question Charlie Kirk’s professed fealty to the religion of Jesus.
Charlie Kirk’s professed love of country was idolatrous. His devotion to bigotry was hateful. The tragic fact and hateful cause of his death does not erase the harmful ideology Kirk espoused, the lies he trafficked, and the harms caused by the policies and politicians he supported, despite what Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, or anyone else says, thinks, or does.
For these and other reasons, I denounce the despicable enterprise that Trump, Vance, Miller, Bondi, and other right-wing figures are mounting to censor, intimidate, and silence people who criticize what Kirk believed, said, and did. Trump, Vance, Miller, Bondi, and others are free to disagree with Kirk’s critics and detractors. They are not entitled to our deference nor our obedience.
Charlie Kirk held, espoused, and made his fortune by trafficking views that were racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, and otherwise despicable. Count me among those who have the good sense to not be suckers for the right-wing propaganda enterprise to give him a post-mortem makeover.
Wendell Griffen is the author of Parables, Politics, and Prophetic Faith published by (Nurturing Faith, (2023) and
The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope (Judson Press, (2017). He is also an ordained minister and former elected judge.
www.fierceprophetichope.blogspot.com
www.wendellgriffen.blogspot.com
Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Arkansas
pastorgriffen@newmillenniumchurch.us
CEO, Griffen Strategic Consulting, PLLC
www.griffenstrategicconsulting.com
griffenstrategicconsulting@gmail.com
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
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52 WEEKS
By Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
September 18, 2025
ALHAMDUILLIH - HAMDULLAM (Arabic) Haruchhasham n(Hebrew).
Hello, hello, hello to all my schoolmates.
52-week challenge. We have been blessed to have 52 weeks to live life each year, and it is a blessing. But in these 52 weeks, I want to challenge us as I challenge myself. While I do not have 52 different challenges, I do have a few.
One challenge is to develop and have self-reliance: the belief and mindset that we can overcome life’s challenges. What do I mean by that? I mean things we are working. Some are physical things like, for me, getting rid of stuff. I don’t know if we all were born to be hoarders or if just some of us will be, but a massive challenge, sometimes, is getting rid of things. Not just getting rid of it but maybe give it away or donating it.
Another challenge is letting ourselves know that our own well-being is a priority and being committed to nurturing that well-being. But how do we define being in good shape with our well-being? I think it comes to 3 factors.
One is having mental well-being. That can be a double-bladed axe. Having a good sense of mental well-being helps us to not be upset about things to such an extent that we lose sleep. I have been blessed with having a pretty good sleep. I only get up for bodily functions.
The second thing is to nurture our physical well-being. I have mentioned before that I exercise. People may think about athletes that pass early even though they were in peak physical condition, but all of our bodies are different. The lord blessed me to be a medic in the army, and I remember the doctor always saying that doctors and lawyers are licensed to practice and they can help us mint our physical well-being.
The third thing is our environmental well-being. We can control our environment, and you should strive to not stay or live in bad situations. I used to always tell my kids if they were somewhere and it didn’t feel right, just go to the bathroom. Create space between you and a negative environment.
The next part of our 52-week challenge is to practice the power of empathy and compassion to create a better world. Every person whether man or woman, or boy or girl, can have an empathetic mindset. Empathy means that while you can’t be in anybody else’s shoes, you can imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes. When you are considering that circumstance, also consider what you would do if you were in their shoes. This doesn’t always have to be about money, but I just happened to be at a counter a day or so ago and I and another person were trying to buy some stuff and someone else came up. I had just a few items, and the person allowed me to go in front of them. They just said, “No, you go ahead!” And that just struck me as empathetic and kind. Those simple moments of letting yourself be in an empathetic mindset give you the opportunity to paste that on to someone else.
I don’t care what the public are saying. They must be running into the wrong people or something ain’t right. I see too many people that say hello and that are smiling. I think this world is in much better shape than we realize and I want to help it along by passing on an empathetic mentality.
The last thing we must do for our well-being is to prioritize our rest, peace of mind, and the holy healing we have to do each day. I talked about exercising and men in good shape and all of that but my son and I were talking business-wise about my business plans and this and that and he said, “Daddy, just what do you think Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and all those other folks do?” I said I don’t know, and my son said they find time to think. I think we all need to find the time for us to think and in that thinking we are peaceful, we are restful within ourselves. That thinking is rest we need but it also adds to our peace of mind. But peace of mind isn’t always silent or silence. My peace of mind sometimes is looking at a cowboy picture or looking at a black and white movie or a mystery from the 40s and 50s. I love watching them and finding peace there.
The last challenge is the healing of the heart. I can’t say too much about the healing of the heart because I don’t know how many stripes we have. But I do know that Scripture says by His stripes we are healed and that makes me emotional thinking about Jesus taking those stripes for us. His taking those stripes for us means we are living in a healing place, and we can go and live a life of healing and make a difference in the world.
That’s our 52-week challenge. You don’t have to deal with them every day, but you can pick through them and find the ones that make sense for you. I am challenging myself and others to strive to make the world a better place.
Love,
Dr. Charlie Edward McAdoo
Dr. McAdoo is a retired district superintendent in the United Methodist Church
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EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY CONTINUES …… September 19, 2025
By Joy Springer
September 19, 2025
Members of the Legislature continued to meet this week to review additional data received from interim and regular committees. On Monday, the Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Advisory Council met to release its 2025 findings, fulfilling the requirements set forth by Act 391 of 2021. The report serves as both an update on where Arkansas stands in addressing dementia
and Alzheimer’s disease, and a call to action for where the State must go next.
The information provided by this committee is very dear to me as I served as a “caregiver” for my mother for over 16 years.
The numbers are “sobering.” Today, more than 60,000 Arkansans over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer’s dementia, accounting for over 11 percent of the state’s senior population. The impact is not confined to those diagnosed. More than 173,000 Arkansans provide unpaid care for loved ones, contributing an estimated 265 million hours of care each year. Economists value that work
at more than $5.4 billion annually, a figure that underscores just how much families shoulder in the absence of formal systems of support.
Despite these challenges, the Council’s report highlights important progress. Public health data collection is expanding, with new survey modules set to capture more accurate information about cognitive decline and caregiving in the coming years. Caregiver education and referral programs are growing, support groups are more widely available, and respite grant programs are
helping to provide relief to families who give so much of their time and energy to loved ones. Training for health care providers, first responders, and memory-care professionals is improving as well, ensuring more Arkansans interact with people who understand the realities of this disease.
At the same time, the report makes clear that significant work remains. Rural communities continue to face barriers in accessing screenings and specialized treatment. Funding for programs is often limited or uncertain, creating challenges in building sustainable, long-term solutions. And stigma still surrounds dementia, discouraging families from seeking help or talking
openly about symptoms until the disease has progressed.
Looking ahead, the Council stresses the importance of preparing for the future. Arkansas’s aging population is growing, and the number of people affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias will only increase in the coming years.
This report can be found at arkansashouse.org.
Today, members of the Senate Committee on Children & Youth and the House Committee on Aging, Children & Youth and Legislative Affairs met at the Arkansas State Police Headquarters. The subject of today’s meeting was a presentation by Major Jeff Drew, Commander of the Child Abuse Hotline that is operated and maintained at the Arkansas State Police headquarters. Some
members voiced concern that they did not understand the process and wanted more clarification regarding its operation.
The Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline's purpose is to receive and record reports of suspected child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, allowing trained personnel to assess the information and determine if an investigation by the Department of Human Services (DHS) or Arkansas State Police is necessary to ensure child safety and provide necessary services. The hotline serves as a central intake
point, staffed 24/7, and is the initial step in a process that involves investigating claims, removing children from immediate danger, and connecting families with support and services.
After today’s presentation, hopefully, members of present received a clear and precise understanding of the work being done by the employees of the state of Arkansas who, I believe, are professionally performing their duties.
The Educational Emergency continues….
Representative Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equity in public education. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and the JBC Employee Benefits Division Oversight committee and as a 1st Alternate on the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.
opinions
A Plague Has Swept Across America
by Deborah Springer Suttlar
September 13, 2025
America is in absolute peril, and this plague of hatred has only highlighted the hypocritical pronouncement of “Make America Great Again.” This slogan has proven to be a fallacy of epic proportions.
When greatness is measured by economic success in which targeted citizens are subjected to cruelty, racism, discrimination, gender bias, partisan political attacks, and blatant acts of a bullying president, there is no greatness. What do some Americans really value other than wealth and themselves? It is guns, flags, a song, and their whiteness.
This country has long praised its own greatness, but what is it really? Throughout history America has maintained racist (slavery/Segregation/Jim Crow, Deportations) legislation and an immoral agenda (white privilege) based on hatred of others. The response or lack of response to the race-based deportations, racist attacks against Black culture, injustices to equal access to opportunity for non-white people, is a reminder of the real history of America. The history they want to hide. However, you cannot hide what you do “in plain sight.” The gerrymandering in Texas and Missouri is proof of their racist agenda against Black people. We are subjected to a country which has implemented laws to ensure “no access for representation” for Black and Brown people who do not vote Republican. The plague is here, and Americans are infected. A country which places “In God We Trust “on their currency, but no love in their hearts. There is no evidence of godly people defending those who are being oppressed. Truth and justice are illusive right now. The Bible is being misinterpreted and used as a weapon to promote hate. What kind of people do that? Not great ones. Racist deceptive people do that.
We are under unstable leadership, subjected to conspiracy theories, cheaters, and heretical religious beliefs which have produced racist fools. People hired as officials of the law wear masks to commit injustices and are violating human rights and civil rights. The current administration is concealing facts, spreading misinformation, and appointing untrustworthy officials. We know what greatness truly looks like. What we are witnessing is far from greatness, it is racist madness. It is also a spirit of darkness.
A plague has swept across America, and it will take a Savior to destroy it.
Psalm 84:10 I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
African Proverb: He who has done evil expects evil.
Deborah Springer Suttlar is a community activist and longtime supporter of public schools.
opinions
Do We Remember?
by Dr. C.E. McAdoo
September 5, 2025
ALHAMDUILLIH - HAMDULLAM (Arabic) Haruchhasham n(Hebrew).
Hello, hello, hello to all my schoolmates.
For those of you reading this article, you know we were all in school at one time—and across the country, school has started once again. This article is about Black schools, inspired by a desire to celebrate and remember their legacy.
Many of us need to be more aware of the history we experienced growing up. As a Baby Boomer, I am deeply interested in restoring and preserving the rich history of the Black schools that shaped us. I hope you will read this article and perhaps share it with friends who may also be interested.
In Arkansas, public schools were segregated until 1956 and, in some cases, much longer. The last high school to integrate was Magnolia High School, where full integration did not occur until the 1980s.
I hear the voice of Emmett Till calling from his grave.
Greetings to all African Americans in Arkansas and those who have since moved elsewhere. Thirty-four years ago, I believed that an association of “Black High Schools” would be an important organization for this state. That vision was sparked by the burning of a Rosenwald school in Sherrill.
In the spring of 1989, my son was asked to paint a sign in front of Pine Bluff Merill High School. Though no longer in use as a school, it was, to my knowledge, the oldest standing high school on its original plot of land in Arkansas.
I vaguely remember negotiations with the Pine Bluff School Board about its future. Tragically, in July 1987, the school burned, leaving only a small portion salvageable.
At first, I thought of it as just another fire. But soon after, a blaze consumed the Rosenwald school in Sherrill. That’s when the reality of loss—both of schools and of history—truly hit me.
• How many of our former Black high schools are still standing?
• How many are being used for more than just storage?
• How many are remembered for their cultural and historical importance?
Post-integration, our schools were deemed “not good enough” for White students. But the truth is, these schools held generations of memories, triumphs, and legacies:
• Basketball, football, and track meets.
• Plays, speeches, and school fairs.
• Teachers and leaders who shaped our lives.
To let all of that fade into obscurity is, I believe, a cultural tragedy. When we fail to preserve our own history for our children and grandchildren—so they can see and feel where they came from—we lose part of ourselves.
But it is not too late.
We still have the 1963–1964 Arkansas Directory, listing 116 Black high schools (the last year they were identified as such). Many people across Arkansas remember schools not even included on that list. Together, we have the opportunity to form the Arkansas Association of Former Black High Schools with these goals:
1. Identify every Black high school that ever existed in Arkansas.
2. Assist former students in writing a history of each identified school.
3. Mark the sites where schools once stood, even if the buildings are gone.
4. Develop a statewide roster of alumni from these schools.
5. Publish the histories and ensure copies are available in high schools, public libraries, and college libraries across Arkansas.
6. Plan regular gatherings to honor these schools and their alumni.
7. Establish a permanent historical site in each county to house memorabilia.
Now, thirty-four years later, I must apologize to my elders for taking so long to begin this work. This endeavor will take years of commitment and collaboration, but anything worth doing must start somewhere.
I will provide the first version of information on Black schools in Arkansas before integration. If you are interested in reviving and preserving this vital history, please contact me. Together, we can make sure these schools are never forgotten.
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo conciselr@gmail.com
(501) 779-0649
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church.
opinions
the writer is a witness
By Starlette Thomas
August 16, 2025
Eugenic and nationalist imaginaries are retelling the same old stories of a favored “race” with God-given superiority and the church’s blessing to steal land predestined to be colonized. It’s a “Master Narrative” set, the Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and Survival of the Fittest repackaged. It is also the reason why some writers write.
We are pencil-pushing and cleaning up history. We are keying data and citing our sources of self-regard. Thank you, Toni Morrison.
We are patiently waiting for the words to come to us and holding our tongues lest we interrupt them as they gather, lining up behind our teeth. Either way, as vessels, we are trusting the process and for me, the Muse.
We are often creating while destitute of the silence, stillness, time and space it takes to pen it down. The conditions are never right to draft a vision of a future world that is truer, braver and safer for all human beings and every living thing.
We are often creating out of nothing and out of necessity—lest we succumb to the meager and insufficient words around us. We are responding to a nudge or a nagging voice, which, when heard, means, “Write that down.” AI could never!
Amiri Baraka wrote in “Technology and Ethos” in 1969:
“Nothing has to look or function the way it does. The West man’s freedom, unscientifically got at the expense of the rest of the world’s people, has allowed him to xpand his mind— spread his sensibility wherever it cdgo, & so shaped the world, & its powerful artifact-engines.”
He posits that this technology developed from a “freedom” obtained through the exploitation of others, shaping the world according to Western perspectives. Baraka advocates for a different kind of technology—one that is more humanistic, rooted in consciousness and spirituality and not dictated by power or Western ideals.
The writer is a witness. The core of bearing witness through writing lies in the act of documenting and preserving memories, acknowledging their existence, and creating a record of events, emotions, and personal truths. It allows individuals and communities to speak their truth and challenge dominant narratives.
Raised writing utensil or hand before swooping down on the keys, the writer must tell it, can’t help but spell it out. We cannot keep our side of the story to ourselves but must spill our guts and thus, the beans.
Why? “Because those who monopolize resources monopolize imagination,” Ruha Benjamin teaches us in Imagination: A Manifesto.
“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive,” Audre Lorde explained. It is the reason why when it comes to the racial imagination, I try to leave little to it.
Because sociologist Patricia Hill Collins is right when she describes stereotypes as “controlling images.” It is best we imagine ourselves for ourselves, as the “white imagination” is a dangerous place to be. Claudia Rankine also makes it clear that it is safer this way: “because white men can’t police their imagination black men are dying.”
So, I punch keys and push back on attacks on personhood. Indentations are reminders of the importance of place-making. We are all somebody: somebody’s baby, somebody’s sibling, somebody’s parent, somebody’s entire world.
Writing is also resistance. It is an act of defiance to say, “That’s not how my story goes. That’s not how I see it and that sounds nothing like me.”
Because the storymakers of colonialism and patriarchy will talk over you. The storymakers of racism and white-body supremacy will tell stories about you. They’ll put adjectives and their agendas ahead of you.
So, tell your story before they do. Be a witness and write like the future depends on you.
Starlette Thomas is the Director of The Raceless Gospel Initiative, an associate editor, host of the Good Faith Media podcast, “The Raceless Gospel” and author of Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church.
opinions
I’m Getting Away from Using the Word Christian
by Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
August 8, 2025
ALHAMDUILLIH - HAMDULLAM (Arabic) Haruchhasham n(Hebrew).
I’m getting away from the word Christian. I’ll get into more depth with this, but what has been going on in our Christian communities—at least in some Christian communities—has, from my perspective, bastardized the word, Christian.
Yes, I am a 44-year United Methodist pastor. Yes, I have seminary credentials and have been to a lot of schools. Yes, I have been preaching for a long time.
But I do not believe it is right for us, as Hakeem Jeffries said in his monumental speech, to pray on Sunday and then prey on Monday—and do both under the guise of being Christian. Instead, I believe we should start using the term Christ follower and being that in truth. They were first called Christians in Antioch, in Acts.
Other phrases and words have been bastardized too. Like saying "nip it in the butt" instead of the actual phrase, "nip it in the bud," or saying "on accident" instead of "by accident." Another popular one is "I could care less," when the proper version is "I couldn’t care less," or "beckon call" instead of "beck and call." The improper versions of these phrases have become ingrained in many of our lexicons, and I fear this is what is becoming of the word Christian.
Now many of the articles I write do not have a direct Christ-following component to them as they are more general, but the times in which we are living require me to make where I stand clear. I go back to the What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)movement and, in considering that and my calling as a Christ follower, I must ask myself: “What am I doing for others?” I have to consider what I’m doing for myself and what I’m doing on a daily basis. Are these things Christ would do?
I do know I am a sinner saved by grace, so I am not doing 100% of everything Christ would do. But I can, and do, just think about it. What does it mean to call myself a Christian or a Christ follower? For us as United Methodists and as United Methodist churches, it is all the aspects of grace. We believe in prevenient grace, the grace that goes before, the grace that is there before we get to it. God has already come and is already working on us and our decisions. So, we are not surprised to receive a bounty of grace, forgiveness, and affirmation.
I know this article and writing about the bastardization of the word Christian will upset some folks. But I think, with what is going on in the world today, we need to be upset about something. And some of that upset should be focused around the question: “Am I doing all that I can do to really be a Christ follower?”
This article isn’t particularly long, but I hope someone finds power in it and that it changes someone’s life.
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church
About Us
Why we must create our own narratives
Perception is reality. How we are viewed and what is said about us matters. It is abundantly clear that here in Arkansas, we as African-Americans don't control many, if any, statewide media groups. On any given day, COUNT the number of positive stories reported by print and television stations KATV, KARK/KLRT-FOX-TV, and KTHV, about African Americans in Arkansas.
In Arkansas, with the exception of KTHV, the media groups and their ownerships are conservative and often often distort people of color and specifically, BLACK families. As black consumers of the news, "that's the part we miss." How on the "regular" we are portrayed by white media groups and their local news stations and print media.
A study from the University of Illinois concluded that at best media outlets (a) promoted racially biased portrayals and myths that pathologize black families and idealize white families with respect to poverty and crime (b) play a dangerous role in spreading debunked stereotypes about black families and (c) at worst, amplify those inaccurate depictions for political and financial gain. We've all seen that type of behavior before.
When media outlets examined in the study reported stories about poor families, they chose to feature black families in their coverage 59 percent of the time, even though only 27 percent of families living below the poverty line are black.
Similarly, in coverage of welfare, 60 percent of families portrayed were black, even though only 42 percent of families receiving welfare are black.
Finally, the article addresses the real-life consequences of the continued distortion of black life by the media. "When the news media constantly associates black people with crime, it increases racial stereotypes among viewers, leading the public including liberal and conservative Arkansan's to disproportionately favor punitive criminal justice policies." As a collateral damage piece, when the poor are depicted as overwhelmingly black, it leads the public to support heavier restrictions on welfare because of a perception that undeserving black people benefit from it. Backers of corporate and right-wing policies gain when the news media blames black families for social conditions, while their own role in destabilizing society remains invisible.
This online publication exists to counter the narrative that constantly depicts African Americans as "less than." It exists to balance the negative view of African American life that is constantly depicted in the local news and information outlets in this state. We are so much more than the lip-service paid to us by those that control the news cycle. It's not about the reporting of the news, it's about the process of manufacturing the news. There is a saying that goes something like this. "If you control the messenger, then you control the message." Let's take some of that control back. As African Americans in Arkansas, let us create our own narratives. Most importantly, let us report and talk about the real issues.................. with our own voices,.... and our own opinions.
meet our contributors
opinion
opinion
opinion
Deborah Suttlar
Deborah is a longtime Community and Civil Rights Activist. Her column appears in the Opinion Section.
Click the link below to read read Deborah Suttlar's column.
https://talkblackarkansas.com/opinion
opinion
opinion
opinion
The Honorable Wendell Griffen
Judge Griffen will comment on the law and its impact on Black Arkansans. He will also discuss and legal and social issues on a state and national level impacting Black Arkansans and Black Americans.
Click the link below to read Judge Griffens column.
Finance
opinion
Religion
Gaining generational wealth is the key to Black economic family wealth and security. We will share strategies from the Association of African American Financial Advisors to help you and your family get there. We will inform you about managing your finances so that you can start your path to financial freedom.
Religion
Religion
Rev. C.E. McAdoo
Rev. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church. He will provide a weekly column on Religion and Black Arkansas.
Click the link below to read Rev. McAdoo's column.
https://talkblackarkansas.com/opinion .
At the State Capitol
State Representative Joy C. Springer
State Representative Joy Springer is a veteran school an civil rights advocate for African-American children and their families. She will provide a weekly column on state legislative and educational concerns affecting African -Americans .
Click the link below to read Representative Springer's column.
Medicine and health
This weekly column features a listing of top African-American doctors in Arkansas, and their areas of expertise. We will try to connect you with physicians who understand your physical, cultural and mental health needs. One study suggests that African American male patients who meet with black physicians often ask to receive more preventive services than patients who met with nonblack physicians. This study also suggested that black doctors are more likely to provide a comfortable settings to black patients, perhaps because of shared experiences or backgrounds. The study concluded that increasing the amount of black physicians could lead to a 19 percent reduction in the black-white male cardiovascular mortality gap and an 8 percent decline in the black-white male life expectancy gap.
Education
Who to call
Who to call
This weekly column will focus on educational happenings in the state including news from local school districts and the Arkansas Department of Education.
Who to call
Who to call
Who to call
People always have "who to contact questions." Whether it is a local city government office or a state government office, we will try to steer you in the right direction.