Cornell West, Princeton professor, public theologian and cultural critic has a book that provides interesting insights into where we are in this society and how far we must go to achieve more justice and equity.

The book is called, Restoring Hope, a series of conversations between himself, politicians, activists and celebrities whose engagement in social change has been as significant as their contributions to popular culture.

The following excerpt from his conversation with Harry Belafonte is particularly interesting and has meant a great deal to me.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

(Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist, 1818 - 1895)

It is impossible for people to keep straight, living under such conditions.

Whole families crowded in one room, people living in shacks in the open, vice rampant, it is a miracle if children remain uncontaminated...

The first small step is to get water for them.

Rev. Charles Stovall presented the final meditation on this year's Good Friday Walk in Dallas, Texas. Rev. Stovall is the pastor of the Munger Place United Methodist Church, a church which recently hosted Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and the Pastors for Peace caravan.

I’ve always been interested in the civil rights movement and the general movement for social change. As I’ve read books on the people who’ve participated in the fight for equal rights, one name kept popping up who inspired many of these people to become active. Bayard Rustin is not as well known as Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, yet he played an important part in the middle of the twentieth century in organizing protests for civil rights and for anti war causes, and he helped bring Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence into the mainstream of American progressive thought.

His work on behalf of important progressive causes was informed by his Quaker faith, and his activism helped improve American society by tearing down segregation in the South and bringing to the forefront issues of economic justice and world peace.

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday who told me that there were so many people that didn't know Jana until after her death. Those were glued to the news and blogs looking for details about the case and about the friends and family who mourned her loss in Lawrence.

But, my friend said, that there was a huge gap in information following the funeral. Many of those who weren't in attendance didn't hear about the events and missed out on the opportunity to learn even more about this amazing activist who left us all too soon.

An amazing activist in Lawrence, Kansas was murdered this week by her ex-boyfriend. Jana Mackey was a 25-year-old law student. After a short time working for political campaigns and serving as one of the youngest lobbyists at the Kansas State House, her life was cut tragically short.

A friend of Mackey's posted on a blog about her shock and disbelief:

"The last time I saw her was almost a week ago at Henry's - as lively person I can imagine. Its still not quite sinking in that the most alive person I know is not..."

The Center for Community Change's Sally Kohn has a piece today about the passionate Millennial activism that is taking place online and the extent to which it happens off line.

We've kinda heard this complaint before with Thomas Friedman's Generation Q piece that slammed the Millennial Generation for not being disgusted enough by our contemporary world to take to the streets. In Mike's rebuttal of the piece and indeed many of us who spoke out against Friedman's uneducated assumptions, it isn't that Millennials aren't taking to the streets, indeed they are, they are just virtual streets.

Kohn is bothered by the virtual part. She agrees that young people feel "deeply connected" with causes - things going on in Darfur, Tibet, you name it.... But she fears the online activism will "erode the community values [Millennials] seek."

In 1992, when she was only 12, Severn Cullis-Suzuki brought world leaders to tears with a speech at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in which she chastised them for failing to protect her and her friends from the looming environmental catastrophe.

That was 16 years ago.

Her words remain more than relevant today. As I listened to her, I thought of the power, importance and nature of authentic community, no matter what the issue.

Take a moment and hear her out...

Back in the 1940s and 50s, white Dallas residents and politicians purchased land and created laws that relegated black Dallas residents to Rochester Park. Unknowingly to the black residents at the time, Rochester Park was a flood plain, as were many other parts of Dallas. The Dallas politicians purchased land (some of which is now the downtown area), created laws that provided them economic benefit, and redeveloped their land, causing even more flood waters to be channeled to the Rochester Park area. For more information, see Jim Schutze, The Accommodation. (fyi...This area is also known as Bon Ton, though in this blog, I most often refer to the housing development in Rochester Park called Turner Courts.)

Six months ago we started our very first Town Hall meeting in Turner Courts. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Dwaine Caraway, came with many different city staff and committed to us that he would not allow Rochester Park to be neglected anymore. For the next six months, he agreed to attend our meetings. With the exception of one meeting, he has been there and fulfilled his promise... and even when he's not there, he makes sure city staff people are. His assistant, Stephanie Pegues, has helped us tremendously and has always arranged for whatever city staff we asked for to attend the meeting. Mike Davis, has been an amazing advocate with us and for us--often, I'm sure, when we don't even know it.