I would love to be able to say that after the storm comes calm, but that is not always the case. Sometimes, after the storm, we need to denounce the structures and systems that oppress us to the point that they stop or hinder recovery.

Me encantaría poder decir que después de la tormenta viene la calma, pero no siempre es así. A veces, después de la tormenta, hace falta que denunciemos las estructuras y los sistemas que nos oprimen a tal grado que detienen u obstaculizan la recuperación.

What we really need is faith. Faith in that arc and its bending, faith that what we do counts for something, faith that we can be the friends that God needs now.

Planet Fitness, the real-life Average Joe’s, come-as-you-are establishment, beat every church sign I knew with its slogan, The World Judges, We Don’t.

In this moment, all eyes rest on this moment in our history. It’s my hope that we are both worthy of that weight and can show the rest of the country that we can hold all this in tension for the sake of something better.