SPIRITHOUSE IN ACTION FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

SpiritHouse is a frontline and consistent voice for racial justice. We have stood on the front lines, whether working to stop racist crimes against Black people; educating our children; economically, socially, or politically advancing our community; preserving the rights and liberties of all groups in our community; or building multicultural coalitions who work to contest the presence of racism in their communities and in the nation. Even when most of the nation was silent, SpiritHouse recognized the buildup of racism over the last 40 years. These are a few of the most recent ways SpiritHouse has raised consciousness about racism and how to stop it:

SpiritHouse on the Road (2012 to present):

• April 10, 2017 - Spiritual Activism: A Conversation with Ruby Sales. A conversation with Ruby Sales, public theologian, founder and director of the SpiritHouse Project, and icon of the civil rights movement, at Harvard Divinity School.
  View Flyer  •  Listen to the Sermon
• April 4, 2017 - Beyond Vietnam: 50th Anniversary. Presented by the Riverside Church, Iliff School of Theology, and Veterans of Hope in a special evening with Michelle Alexander and Ruby Sales on the 50th anniversary of Beyond Vietnam. On April 4, 1967, against the advice of advisors, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King delivered Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence in the nave of the Riverside Church, criticizing the Vietnam War. Written by Dr. Vincent Harding, the speech called on American to address the triple social evils of racism, poverty, and militarism. View Flyer
• December 16-17, 2016 - Sisters in Struggle: Folding Chair Sit-In. "We are mothers, grandmothers, and mentors of future generations. As the moral authority of this nation, it is our right and responsibillity to question this election. We won't stand for not being heard."
  Read Call to Action  •  View Media Alert  •  Visit Facebook Page
• March 18, 2016 - Stop the War on Our Children. A delegation of 300 black women stood in a day of action for black children.
  Read More
• December 12, 2015 - Ruby Sales appeared on the Sirius Radio show Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon.
• June 18-20, 2015 - Somebody Touched Me: I Felt the Power of the Empire Pour
  Out of Me. Community formation gathering held at White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. Organized by Cookman Beloved Community Baptist Church and the SpiritHouse Project. The Rev. Dr. William Shaw was the pastor. Featured Ruby N. Sales, Rev. Dr. Donna Jones, Rev. Dr. Leslie Callahan, and Rev. Dr. Renita Weems.
• November 12, 2014 - At Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C., SpiritHouse Project and our allies held the first national public memorial service, which included a public roll call of the 1000 black victims of state-sanctioned murders. Family members from across the nation whom have lost loved ones to these murders led a processional into Freedom Plaza. The theme of this gathering, A Charge To Keep: A Movement to Build, reminded us that this was more than a memorial service. It was a call to the living for us to keep our eyes on the prize of racial justice. As part of this public memorial service, 40 ordinary people and those publicly known presented a roll call of the victims by reading from scrolls. The readers came from a community of activists, pastors, artists, practitioners, workers, students, parents, and seniors. SpiritHouse Project opened up the circle of scroll readers to include voices of volunteers from the gathered participants.
  View Flyer  •  Read Open Letter to the Congressional Black Caucus
• September 12-13, 2014 – Held a Teach-In & Preach-In Tent Revival for Social Justice near Ferguson, MO. Featured talks by Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith and Rev. Dr. Freddy Haynes, among many others. Read More
• August 23, 2014 – Ruby Sales appeared on the podcast Our Common Ground, hosted by Janice Graham, for the episode "Ferguson Under Siege: Occupation in America". Also appearing on the show was Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou.
  Listen to the Conversation
• April 22, 2014 – Press conference, teach-in, service, and vigil conducted with victims’ families in Washington, D.C. to ignite a movement to protest present-day hate crimes, entitled "Raise Your Voice, Break The Silence". Read More
• March 2014 – SpiritHouse traveled to Washington, D.C. and New York to spread the word about the anti-hate crimes occurring around the country and to encourage support and attendance at the April 22, 2014 Breaking the Silence press conference, teach-in, service, and vigil planned for Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Ruby Sales, Susan K. Smith, and Nancy Talbot visited with members and mission groups of the Church of the Saviour, founded by N. Gordon Cosby (for whom the Fellowship has been named). Susan K. Smith preached, and Ruby Sales led an education session for youth at Presbyterian Church in Harlem, NY. They also met with the Mennonite community in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
• February 2014 – SpiritHouse Director Ruby Sales and Gordon Cosby Fellow Rev. Susan K. Smith were Black History Month speaker and celebrant at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. Sales led the morning Adult Education class, and she was the afternoon Luncheon Speaker. Rev. Smith provided the morning sermon. SpiritHouse is exposing the extrajudicial murders of Black people around the nation.
• Summer 2013, ongoing – SpiritHouse Director Ruby Sales, Cosby Fellow Susan K. Smith, and staffer Cheryl Blankenship traveled several times to Albany, GA to meet with Mrs. Jeanette Thomas, the grandmother of Nathaniel Lee III. We listened to her description of how her grandson died a suspicious death in Waycross, GA and how no one has been charged in his murder. During the year, SpiritHouse supported the family with obtaining court trial transcripts and transcribing these in order to identify contradictions.
• Spring 2013, ongoing – SpiritHouse Director Ruby Sales and Co-Director Cheryl Blankenship traveled to Valdosta, Georgia to meet with and sit vigil with the family of Kendrick Johnson. The family has held a daily vigil from January 2013 to protest the suspicious death of their son, whom the coroner and Georgia Bureau of Investigation said committed suicide. As the story has unfolded, we have learned as a result of an independent autopsy commissioned by the family that Kendrick died from blunt-force trauma. Later that summer, SpiritHouse was present at a rally held on the courthouse steps in Valdosta, Georgia. Rev. Susan K. Smith, SpiritHouse Gordon Cosby Fellow, was one of the speakers at this rally.
• March 2013 – SpiritHouse Interns traveled to Memphis, Tennessee as guests of Caritas Community to share their knowledge with community members and students from Rhodes College.
• February 2013 – SpiritHouse Daniels/Younge Interns traveled to Washington, D.C. as the only youth group invited to speak on the U.S. Supreme Court steps against changes planned to the Voting Rights Act. Interns for 2012 – 2013 represented Georgia State University, and Agnes Scott and Spelman Colleges. During the year, they researched issues of the Prison Industrial Complex, probation-for-profit system, the Southern Strategy, ALEC, and Voting Rights legislation.
• August 2012 – SpiritHouse Director Ruby Sales, board member Nancy Talbot, and Daniels/Younge Intern Dean Steed traveled to Jonesboro, Arkansas to learn and gather the story about and support the community on the suspicious death of Chavis Carter. We interviewed family and community members, visited the spot sustained by the blood of Chavis Carter as his body lay in the street, and participated in a community vigil.