This month we’d like to share a blog from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, written by Chandra Crawford.

by Freddie Hamilton

The world is changing rapidly, and I believe ultimately for the better. On one hand, America seems more divided than it has been since the years leading up to the civil war. Yet, from my personal experiences, as well as anecdotally, more of us are more accepting of racial differences; and engage in interracial, multiethnic, and LGBTQ+ relations and marriages in America. And, we are in general, more accepting of individuals determining their own gender identity.

by Freddie Hamilton

Religion, spirituality, music, singing, chanting, drumming, movement, and alignment with nature are inherited traits of BIPOC and is a part of the African ethos and Black culture.

When Christianity was introduced to the enslaved Africans, these elements became part of their church rituals. And, of course the enslaved African’s original beliefs and practices were interwoven into the American version of Christianity. These enslaved Africans and their offspring created and adopted songs that told their story and captured their longing for freedom and a better life. They regularly used these songs of inspiration in church services to describe how their faith in Jesus, in God, in the Christian bible was helping to sustain them, and giving them the strength, tenacity and faith to survive against all odds.