Welcome back to Tough Mind, Tender Heart. Welcome to those who have remained with us and to those who are just joining in on this newsletter and wanting to grow antiracist principles/ethics. Please feel free to email content ideas/topics that you are curious about. We would love to engage in different ways.
This particular newsletter is set to come out as many prepare for Pride Month. There is a context to Pride month that winds its way through so many stories, bodies, and moments in time that I would be negligent to try to sum it up. I boldly place Pride Month in this newsletter though because this antiracist work that we are doing is both granular and able to hold all of the stories of the collective. There is a beauty in sitting with queer stories from across religious traditions, ethnic lines, bodies, educational states, and economic statuses. It is my hope that putting some of my weak words before you all that we will lean into the houses of queer wisdom. These houses have been built by so many that have gone before us and are continuing to build coalitions in the belief that queer stories deserve to exist in this world. We work in the day and in the night until we are all one. And I don’t mean a unity birthed out of conformity. I am speaking about a unity evidenced by sacred differences. In this newsletter I will bring together a few strands of wisdom from people you may or may not know. Are we doing queer work, liberation work, or antiracist work? Disability Justice work? The answer? Yes.
“Find freedom in the context you inherit”
― Lee Maracle (Stó:lō)
When you look around those in your circle of wisdom and relationship, who is not there? As you read books, have drinks, and listen to podcasts…who do you not find? These questions are hard to broach in progressive spaces because often people are doing the best that they know how to do. Often, we don’t know what we don’t know. As we move through a time of queer remembrances, joys, and lament, it may be easy to miss who is missing? For the many who don’t feel safe enough to access the word “queer.” For those who don’t feel smart enough to hang in our circles. All I ask is that you look to see who isn’t at your table. Until we all are one.
Robert Monson
co-director
Robert (he/him) is a runner, musician, and a Black theologian committed to softness, contemplation, and liberation for all. As a recent seminary graduate (with distinction) and a current PhD student, Robert studied in-depth the intersection of Black Liberation Theology and womanist theology. Weaving together these two strands of liberation have been important work as well as other liberation based theologies. “How can we help facilitate community and provide answers to a hurting world that is reeling?” remains an important question in his work. While in school, Robert’s scholarly work was recognized and presented at various national conferences/outlets. Podcasting (two shows) and writing remain important aspects of his daily life as well as marathoning the latest Star Trek show(s).