I’m white. I can use AirBnB instead of hotels when I travel. I can drive around wherever I want without fear of getting pulled over for no reason. I can shop in stores without being followed by employees or security. My culture is always the dominant culture surrounding me. I never have to assimilate to […]
Dennis Hammond – Episode 20 – on being raised in inner city Lansing, finding Christ and going to Honduras
Noah Filipiak interviews 18-year-old Dennis Hammond on being raised in inner city Lansing, how he found Christ, his June 19-26th trip to Honduras and how the odds are stacked against inner city black youth. The catalyst of this interview came from Noah helping Dennis fund-raise for his $1600 missions trip and realizing how different it […]
Black Lives Matter Yard Sign Vandalized After 3 Months #BlackLivesMatter
Honestly, I was surprised my Black Lives Matter yard sign made it as long as it did. After three months, it finally met its first round of vandalism. You can see in the photos below that someone decided to write the word All all over the word Black with a permanent marker: Having the […]
Props to Lansing Police Chief Mike Yankowski for Attending #BlackLivesMatter & Justice Events
I attend a fair number of #BlackLivesMatter and local justice events in Lansing. This morning I was at Action of Greater Lansing‘s Martin Luther King prayer breakfast held at Union Missionary Baptist Church. Lansing Police Chief Mike Yankowski was in attendance at the breakfast this morning. He didn’t have to be there, he was there […]
Interview with Tyler St. Clair on Planting a Church in Detroit, Fundraising as a Black Man & much more
Noah Filipiak interviews Pastor Tyler St. Clair about his upcoming church plant on the NW side of Detroit, the neighborhood Tyler and his wife both grew up in. Tyler’s target location is one of the “bad parts” of Detroit, with all of the symptoms of urban poverty ever-present. After being guided to plant in other […]
Finding Balance in Race Issues: Not Easy, but Necessary
We are naturally drawn to extremes when it comes to race issues; I am no exception. I wrote an article a few months back after University of Cincinnati (white) police officer Ray Tensing shot and killed unarmed (black) man Sam Dubose at point blank range. I was trying to make a point. I went to […]