Justice Archives | All The More: Collective Blog

The Butterfly Effect: Building Trust in Society

May 28, 2021 Sarah Steinmann 4 min read

Last summer, I penciled in my journal, “Build trust in society.” We know healthy relationships require authentic and reciprocated trust. We know healthy communities are the sum of healthy relationships. With this in mind, when the fabric of our society feels like it is tearing apart, what would it look like to build trust in society? What would it look like to increase, instead of decrease, the trust we have in one another and in our leaders? Many of us came out of 2020 feeling fragile and worn thin. For many of us, the year held both much beauty and also great loss. We witnessed death brought by covid, and we experienced a hundred smaller losses in our reality of normal. For many of us, we took a look at the fabric of our systems and found it to be frayed and hurtful to people of color. For many of […]

We cannot hate those He loves

March 26, 2021 TaKasha Smith 4 min read

All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:10-11 Many years ago, a friend of mine (father of 3 and long-time friend who I’d worked and done life within many different capacities) told me it meant a lot to him that I loved his children so well. He is not an incredibly emotional man so the strong feeling behind his statement struck me, and I never forgot the importance of the moment. I don’t have children, but I think I’m beginning to see the depth of what he felt. In recent years, I’ve seen a lot of […]

Living in Injustice

October 2, 2020 TaKasha Smith 7 min read

When I was in elementary school the Ku Klux Klan held a march through my hometown. I don’t know the exact route they took, but I know they passed the Bus Center where all the public busses met to exchange passengers and start their routes over again. I know because that is where I was introduced to the Klan. I had heard the name before, knew it wasn’t something good… but I couldn’t have imagined the fear and confusion that I would feel when I saw them. There was never a time in my life when I didn’t understand what unjust hatred was. I knew there was something about me (that I couldn’t control) that made people actually hate me. I knew there were people who wanted to hurt me. I knew the world was not safe for me, and for weeks I jumped at every noise while I walked […]

The Privilege of Privilege

June 12, 2020 Kathryn Pesyna 5 min read

This piece is primarily addressed to my fellow White American brothers and sisters. When I was little, I would revel in the collection of stickers. I always loved finding pretty ones and shiny ones. I loved the ones with special characters and big vinyl stickers and traditional gold stars. I always had high hopes for these stickers. I wanted to use them for projects and to decorate my notebooks and water bottles. I would wait for the most special moment to use those stickers, but whenever a moment presented itself, it never seemed to be the exact right occasion to use them. I never wanted to risk messing them up or using them on a subworthy project. They would remain in their packaging, always admired and held with great expectation, but never used. Several weeks into this pandemic, I, like so many others, began feeling deep grief and lament. But […]

Political Homelessness

May 1, 2020 Victoria Scrima 4 min read

On November 8, 2016, I curled into my bed at 3 am repeating, “No, no, no, this can’t be,” as my friend attempted to console me. We were glued to our TVs late into the night, witnessing the surprising win for the 45th Presidency of the United States. In 2016, I would be called an engaged citizen. I watched the debates. I kept up with political headlines. I knew my stances and was prepared for a political conversation on various hot topics. I donated to my favorite candidate and even bought a shirt (Ru-Bae-O, anyone?). I kept up with the statistical projections, and I was ready. I felt our country was finally moving in the right direction. DIVISION AND ALLEGIANCE As we neared the election, I put my absentee ballot in the mail tray at my job. As I did, the receptionist – a Christian and friend of mine – […]

How do I make a difference?

February 3, 2017 Melanie Badyna 4 min read

“This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3, emphasis added)