Friday Fruit (8/15/14)

#NMOS14 Columbus

This week, we're setting aside our normal Friday Fruit routine to focus on the week's events in Ferguson.

Much of the narrative was shaped for the nation by where the information is coming from. In an effort to provide some balance, many voices have spoken up via alternative news sources.

Take time. Read these articles. Seek to listen, learn, understand, and act.

Getting some background:

• 9 Things about Ferguson that Will Make You Go Hmmm
• Police Dispatch Tapes From Michael Brown’s Shooting
• Video from Wednesday Night
• Standoff in Ferguson [Video]
• Eyewitness to Michael Brown shooting recounts his friend’s death
• Michael Brown’s Death Didn’t Happen in a Vacuum
• Understanding What’s Happening in Ferguson

Reflections:

• On Mike Brown in Church: The Importance of Sitting in Lament
• I Raise My Hands: A Prayerful Response to Ferguson
• Strange Fruit that Hangs from American Seminaries: A Letter from a Black Seminarian
• When Terror Wears a Badge
• Ferguson Is Closer Than You Think
• First they came for the Black people, and I did not speak out
• I Don't Know How to Talk to White People About Ferguson
• America Is Not For Black People
• When Parenting Feels Like a Fool’s Errand: On the Death of Michael Brown

I'll be RTing updates throughout the day from @BTSFblog, but you should also definitely follow @ShaunKing @AntonioFrench @ryanjreilly @AishaMoodMills and @FeministaJones (there are many other folks doing great work. Those will get you started).

Apologies to those who wrote great articles on other topics this week (I promise, I'll include them in next week's group).