The Bipartisan Imperialism that led to this Moment

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By Rev. Redeem G. Robinson (above), re-posted with permission from his Substack newsletter. Read more about his work at holytrouble.com.

Donald Trump has openly declared that the U.S. will take over Gaza, a proposal that amounts to nothing short of ethnic cleansing. Yet, rather than directing their outrage at the bipartisan imperialism that led to this moment, many Democrats have instead chosen to lash out at Jill Stein and third-party voters on social media. Their response is not a condemnation of Trump’s genocidal plans, nor is it an admission of how the Biden administration or previous administrations paved the way for this atrocity. Instead, their first reaction is a smug “We told you Trump was worse.”

This is the defining feature of neoliberal politics: a refusal to take responsibility for their complicity in imperialism, and then guilt those who refuse to “fall in line.” But let’s be real—Trump’s plan to take over Gaza didn’t just pop up out of no where. It is an extension of the genocidal policies already in place under Biden, who has armed Israel as it massacres hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. To act as though Trump’s rhetoric is some shocking departure from the status quo is pure gaslighting.

For months, the Biden administration has supplied Israel with weapons, and unwavering support as it bombs Gaza to clear it out for “development.” The U.S. vetoed multiple ceasefire resolutions, ensured that humanitarian aid was blocked or delayed, and rewarded Netanyahu’s war crimes with more military funding and even welcomed him with applause in Congress. Even as videos of starving children, children with missing limbs, and mass graves circulated globally, Biden stood firm in his defense of Israel’s so-called right to defend itself. Kamala Harris’ pathetic attempt to call for “pauses” in the genocide while continuing to arm the perpetrators should be a clear indication that this administration has never cared about Palestinian lives. Also, let’s not act like we forgot that the Palestinian voices were blocked and excluded at the Democratic National Convention. 

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RIP Kiah Duggins

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RIP Kiah Duggins (above), civil rights lawyer, legal scholar and professor at Howard University. She was on the plane that crashed in DC last week. Sumayya Saleh tweeted that Duggins was “an unapologetic radical, abolitionist, anti-Zionist movement lawyer whose North Star was Black liberation and prosperity.”

You can soak up the brilliance of Duggins debating bail reform here. To honor her, we are re-posting a piece she wrote with Bina Ahmad below. It was originally posted in The Appeal. Ahmad and Duggins argue for the abolition of police dogs, digging into the history of how they were used to hunt those who ran away from slavery.

The Thirteenth Amendment purported to abolish chattel slavery, along with what an 1883 Supreme Court decision called its “badges and incidents.” But the amendment left some infamous carve-outs: Namely, it remains legal to enslave people who have been convicted of a crime. But there is another remaining “badge and incident” of slavery that we must uproot: the police’s use of K9 units. The police’s practice of using dogs to attack human beings derives from enslavers’ practice of using slave hounds to attack enslaved people. This coercive history harms human beings and animals in order to perpetuate the racial and economic interests of people in power. One way we can honor the Thirteenth Amendment’s promise to rid our society of slavery—all of its badges and incidents—is by getting dogs out of policing.

State-sanctioned canine attacks–like those implemented by modern police canine units–were common in chattel slavery. Legal scholar Madalyn Wasilczuk speaks of how white enslavers “conceived of an enslaved person’s attempt to obtain freedom as a type of high-value property theft, appropriately recaptured with brute force.” The use of dog attacks to preserve enslavers’ economic interests was legal, and thus not a rare act committed by a few bigots. Wasilczuk explains that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 federally legalized slave patrols’ ability to seize slaves in free states, often accompanied by hunting dogs—and the act was later nicknamed “the Bloodhound Bill” as a result. Legal scholar Michael Swistara stresses that these dog attacks were intentionally gruesome. Swistara explains how, as early as the 1700s, records show enslavers “bred Cuban bloodhounds with the explicit purpose of raising them to enact violence against Black people” and “the scars of dog bites were so common that they” were physical badges of slavery, becoming “marks used to identify [Black] escapees in advertisements for rewards.”

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The Horrific Events that Transpired in Tulsa

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The Justice Department issued a report on Friday, January 10, 2025 on the Tulsa Race Massacre. The report documents the department’s findings, made during its review and evaluation of the Tulsa Race Massacre, undertaken pursuant to the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act. The Civil Rights Division previously announced it was undertaking this review during a Cold Case Convening held on Sept. 30, 2024.

“The Tulsa Race Massacre stands out as a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In 1921, white Tulsans murdered hundreds of residents of Greenwood, burned their homes and churches, looted their belongings, and locked the survivors in internment camps. Until this day, the Justice Department has not spoken publicly about this race massacre or officially accounted for the horrific events that transpired in Tulsa. This report breaks that silence by rigorous examination and a full accounting of one of the darkest episodes of our nation’s past. This report lays bare new information and shows that the massacre was the result not of uncontrolled mob violence, but of a coordinated, military-style attack on Greenwood. Now, more than 100 years later, there is no living perpetrator for the Justice Department to prosecute. But the historical reckoning for the massacre continues. This report reflects our commitment to the pursuit of justice and truth, even in the face of insurmountable obstacles. We issue this report with recognition of the courageous survivors who continue to share their testimonies, acknowledgement of those who tragically lost their lives and appreciation for other impacted individuals and advocates who collectively push for us to never forget this tragic chapter of America’s history.”   

To Be Disobedient in the Face of Power

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A message from Chani Nicholas, re-posted from her website.

I tried to stay off the internet that day. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of being stressed out by what men in power with bad hair, worse fashion sense, and criminal records or intent are going to do to us all next. I’m not saying what they have planned isn’t anything short of terrorizing, but I’m no longer offering my cortisol to their whirligig willy-nilly. I know that every piece of news I lay my eyes on over the next four years is going to be demoralizing, to say the least. I need to conserve my energy. No need to spend any excess on the first day, I thought. This isn’t 2016. I’m wiser and far more wary. I want to keep as much of myself intact as I navigate my way through the onslaught of violent acts that are promised to us.

But I saw it anyway. Clear as day. We all did.

The images of the openly transphobic billionaire, left arm raised, fingers taut, reaching for the gold medal of supremacy were everywhere. The richest man in the world — a man who promotes the far-right party in Germany, the AfD, the British anti-immigration party, and Reform UK — in a full Nazi salute.

Which he did twice.

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Kirkridge Retreats for 2025

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Kirkridge Retreat Center in PA is offering a compelling line-up of retreats in 2025.

Dear Radical Discipleship community,

I wanted to reach out to this beloved circle to let you know about retreats that are happening at Kirkridge Retreat Center in 2025. We would love to have you here at some point this year.

You can also see our full list of retreats here: https://kirkridge.org/retreat-programs/

Grateful for you all,

Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

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Spiritual Genius

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

The opening paragraphs of “Communities of Care and Concern” by Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson, an assistant professor of Homiletics and Worship at Christian Theological Seminary in Indy. As a practical theologian, Nick interrogates how intentional and unintentional practices shape Christian identities and configure worldviews. Click on The Political Theology Network here to read it in its entirety.

Oppression overwhelms. Its incessant dehumanizing and dishonoring practices work together to undermine human dignity and quench the spark of hope that dreams of otherwise possibilities. Surviving and overcoming oppression require what Mother Ruby Sales has coined “spiritual genius.” This genius represents a determined refusal to surrender one’s value and worth to the deformed imagination of the oppressor.

Sales describes this genius as conscience-making work, where the fundamental narratives that make life meaningful affirm self-love without requiring hatred of others. For Sales, spiritual genius requires intimacy with the Creator and the ability to never let hate take root in the heart.

Similarly, Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is on the 15th,  said in his final book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?,

“The worth of an individual does not lie in the measure of [their] intellect, [their] racial origin or [their] social position. Human worth lies in relatedness to God.”

The ultimate problem with oppression is its intention to profane – to render the oppressed beyond divine relationality – to violently desacralize the human subject.

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Manufacture Consent through Popular Support

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Some helpful analysis from the [Fred] Hampton Institute as we head into another Trump administration.

Trump worked out two deals to gain a ton of political capital before even taking office. The first (which was probably done months ago and contingent on him being reelected) with his close friend, Netenyahu [the temporary ceasefire deal], and the second with fellow Ivy League capitalist Shou Zi Chew [overturning the Tiktok ban]… 

We don’t know exactly what the long game is here but we do know that (1) Trump unconditionally supports the colonial apartheid state of Israel, has very close ties to Netenyahu, and wholeheartedly supported the genocide of the Palestinian people, and (2) Trump’s support of “free speech” is conditional on such speech being in line with the capitalist/imperialist narrative (although with a more controlled-ops orientation, ala Infowars, Rogan, etc). 

What we anticipate is that this political capital is being used to manufacture consent through popular support for some early power moves being planned by his administration (US/Israel expansion, destroying Iran, pressuring China, more fascistic domestic policies regarding immigrants, the homeless & the poor/disabled, strengthening the internal police/surveillance state, etc.). We should also know is that Trump has proven to be an asset to the American empire (including the “deep state” that supposedly hates him), has proven his loyalty to unrestrained capital, and has proven to be no friend of the struggling, working-class masses here in the US. 

The bottom line with all of this is that overt fascism is a *systemic* development rooted in capitalist decay. While Democrats/Biden have served an important role in pushing this systemic transition, they’ve also effectively set up Republicans/Trump to play an even more important role. With this pre-arranged political capital supercharging his facade as an “anti-establishment outsider,” Trump now has a clear path (with popular support) to guide this capitalist decay into a more organized and powerful form of fascistic corporatism. 

Running in Circles on Racial Justice

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting Empire1 Comment

By Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Senior Advisor, The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA

We keep running in circles when it comes to addressing racial justice in the US. This means that with every advance we almost come back to the same place and must fight the battles all over again. It doesn’t mean that progress has not been made, but the progress retrogresses due to the immediate backlash that charges any advance to rectify past racial injustices as an affront to white people. At best there is an ebb and flow when it comes to rectifying the racial harms and damages of the past. Race history and the many initiatives to rectify past wrongs is more of a circle than a linear line. It may be an expanding circle considering advances, but for every victory won there is a vicious throw back. It is almost like the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” where morning after morning we awaken to histories repeating itself, and where victories of racial justice are swept away by the courts or a change in the body politics. The struggle continues, and in many cases, we must begin again. 

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