Beth Wise

Tag: race

She Can’t Speak For Us: An Open Letter to Good White People

Hey there good white people- We need to chat. But first, a story. You might know that I volunteer with an organization called Faith in Texas, which is a “multi-racial, multi-faith movement developing civic leadership in faith communities for economic and racial justice.” They had a press conference today at Robert E. Lee park in Dallas.…
There Is An Answer to Racism

…and “coming together” or “stop the hate” ain’t it. The Baby’s lovely bipap machine had Alex and I up at 4am this morning and then I flopped around in bed for an hour and a half, blowing my nose and feeling an impending allergy attack coming. I finally got up at 5:30am, determined to go…
New Wineskins

I went to a vigil in Balch Springs for Jordan Edwards last week. It was everything you would want a vigil to be- beautiful and sad and moving and comforting. Like most, I was horrified by Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice’s deaths. I have been deeply affected before by deaths caused by police brutality, but…
On (Not) Being Self-Disciplined

Those who knew me in any capacity during my 2003-2009 years knew that I had a very weird, special snack that I ate every day. Cheesy rice. Or, more specifically, Minute rice made with one Wyler’s chicken boullion cube mixed with shredded cheddar cheese. I was so committed to this daily snack that I mac’guyvered…
Peace, Peace

“‘When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of…
Faith and Deeds

I’m teaching Sunday school this month. My first day was yesterday. Usually, teaching Sunday school is a hellish experience, more akin to a cage fight than the idyllic picture of children learning quietly about Jesus around a table. We are lucky if we can get through the lesson without someone using the word ‘boobs’ or…
Why So Serious?

Alex and I got the opportunity to go to a fancy restaurant on Saturday evening. We’ve been watching entirely too much Food Network and I felt a hankering to eat somewhere other than, say, B.J.’s Pizza. We went down to Fearings Restaurant, which happens to be inside the Ritz Carlton. Don’t worry, we weren’t pretentious…
On Why My Feelings Need to Share the Stage

Do you know what I realized last night? During elementary, middle, and high school, I only had ONE teacher of color. Yep, Señora Batts, middle school Spanish teacher, was a Latina woman. Other than her, I cannot think of a single instructor, band director, principal, coach looked like me. Even at Texas A&M, I can only…
Dear White People, We Need a Book Club

I went to a community meeting a few months ago where we went around in a circle to introduce ourselves and, as part of the introductions, we had to identify our preferred gender pronouns. Now, as an evangelical white girl from West Texas, I was obviously an outlier here, but thankfully, I have enough progressive…
Shooting Nerf Guns at Moving Cars

Truth: I would not have wanted to parent my father when he was a child. He was a complete mess. As a toddler, he climbed over the fence and started to walk towards the circus. As a teenager, he rolled the car out of the garage and took it on a joy ride. He replaced…
Jesus Loves the Criminals

A few weeks ago, I finished a book at the behest of a friend. He had been bothering me to read it for about a year, but non-fiction is hard for me, ya’ll. But I finally picked it up at the library. I devoured it. I think it took me three days. And that’s with…