Author: John Pavlovitz

ALL LIVES MATTER… until someone dies in an ICE detention center and “well, they should have come here legally. ALL LIVES MATTER… until you want a haircut and “COVID-19 only kills old people.” ALL LIVES MATTER… until your neighbor dies of an overdose and “addiction is a choice.” ALL LIVES MATTER… until you find out they are LGBTQ+ and “that’s against my religion.” “ALL LIVES MATTER” when it’s convenient for you, otherwise it sounds like a lie. – Author Unknown White friend, we need to talk. When I joined millions of people in loudly declaring that Black Lives Matter,...

As I stood recently inside a glorious mass of humanity moving through the city streets with fists and signs and voices raised, I found my mind wandering. Even as I basked there in the radiant glow of disparate people assembling to celebrate black life and demand its defense, even as I joyfully gorged on the Tweets and photos streaming in from similar gatherings through the country, even as my tear-blurred eyes widened at the scale of the outpouring — I realized it could easily be for not, that it could all be a futile exercise. I looked around at...

And Jesus walked into the 3rd Precinct, sat down and began to teach them, saying: You have heard it said, “Whatever you do onto the least of these, you do onto me.” I’ve heard you repeat that in your churches and in your Bible studies. I’ve seen it on your social media profiles. I need you to understand what that means: It means that I am a black life. When you slowly suffocate a man to death in the street while he pleads for breath, you’re slowly suffocating me. When you drive your knee into his neck until it...