Black Wombs, Beirut is Burning, Five Civilized Tribes

KTF Weekly Newsletter

Hi everyone, 

We continue to mourn the death and celebrate the remarkable life and ministry of Dr. Ron Sider. Dr. Sider was the first influential Christian leader to encourage and endorse us when we launched our anthology and founded KTF Press. As author of the seminal book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and the founder of Christians for Social Action, he remained a tireless and fearless advocate for justice to the end of his days. We hope and pray that as individuals and a company we can follow in his footsteps, standing in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed in the name of Christ.   

Now, let’s get to it. 

Jonathan’s recommendations:  

• The ethnic justice and reconciliation that Jesus calls for can’t be reduced to a Black/White binary. God calls for justice in the face of all injustice and for shalom for all people. That includes reconciliation between the descendants of enslaved Africans that were held against their will by Native people in this country. Philip Deloria chronicles this complex and often forgotten history in “When Tribal Nations Expel Their Black Members” in The New Yorker.  The Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek/Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Seminole were known as the Five Civilized Tribes because they were willing to enslave Africans and adopted Christianity and other colonial practices. This article unpacks that history. Native suffering through genocide and forced displacement, African enslavement, and the complex dynamics between minority populations of this country are worthy of our prayer and thoughtful engagement.