Author Archives: jjenkins
The Stigma of “Stop and Frisk”
BY JESSICA JENKINS “The first time I was stopped, I was 11 or 12… I remember my heart beating a thousand miles a minute. I got into my position on the ground in front of the cops and I compared … more
On Mother’s Day, more than enough love to go around
BY JESSICA JENKINS Yesterday morning in Mass I was thinking about mothers. Officially, I have two: The one who brought me into this world, and the one who raised me. But I really have many more mothers than that. Early … more
A Lifetime of Isolated Incidents
BY REV. JOHN H. VAUGHN Rev. Vaughn is the Vice President of Auburn Seminary. This piece was originally published on March 28 on The Huffington Post I am a black man, a member of the clergy, and the father of … more
Who Would Jesus Shame?
BY JESSICA JENKINS A casual observer of our nation’s current electoral politics might be forgiven for wondering if some kind of nationwide time machine had plunged us a few decades into the past. Birth control and women’s health care are … more
Whose Values? The post-Prop 8 Equality Movement
BY NICOLAS CABLEThis piece originally appeared on State of Formation on February 10. On Tuesday, a critical victory came in the national movement toward LGBT equality, as a federal appeals panel ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Prop 8, which was … more
“If you live your life in fear, it’s not much of a life worth living.”
BY JESSICA JENKINS Macky Alston‘s new film Love Free or Die chronicles the life of Bishop Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop. Bishop Robinson’s 2003 consecration in New Hampshire brought to a head tensions in the U.S. Episcopal Church, … more
Alabama Rises Up
BY JESSICA JENKINS Today, a statewide coalition in Alabaman is launching a campaign to repeal HB 56, the country’s harshest immigration law yet. The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice kicks off the “One Family, One Alabama” Campaign at 7:00 pm at … more
The Horrible Truth – Penn State Is the Tip of the Iceberg
BY ISAAC LURIA Isaac is the Organizing Director of Groundswell. This post was originally published on The Huffington Post. What if the horror of what happened at Penn State was happening on a larger scale all over the country? What … more
Equality and dignity for all – from the pulpit to the playground
BY JESSICA JENKINS One of our priorities at Groundswell is promoting dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in all aspects of life - including our legal system, our schools and our faith communities. … more
A Groundswell on Wall Street
BY VALARIE KAUR I’ve been speaking about a rising generation ready to emerge from the shadows of the last decade and enter a new era of social change. Now we are seeing something emerge — a grassroots campaign has caught fire, turning … more
Is the Good Samaritan a Criminal in Alabama?
BY REV. J.C. AUSTIN Reposted from the Huffington Post. One of my earliest memories is of a tornado roaring through my neighborhood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I was less than four years old, but I vividly remember sitting in the linen … more
Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer – The Burden of Care
BY REV. J.C. AUSTIN This article was originally published on The Huffington Post on Sept. 23, 2011. One of the interesting things about Facebook is how it can sometimes burst the protective bubbles in which we often hold our more … more
From Fear to Friendship: Invite Your Neighbors to Dinner
BY JESSICA JENKINS This Sunday, October 2, the American Muslim Voice Foundation is organizing the inaugural “National Invite your Neighbors to Dinner Day.” With the aim of fostering mutual respect and community from the ground up, the Foundation encourages all … more
State of Formation Invites Rising Religious and Ethical Leaders to Contribute
BY JESSICA JENKINS Our friends at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue are looking for emerging religious and ethical thinkers to contribute to their State of Formation forum. State of Formation “is a forum for up-and-coming religious and ethical thinkers to draw upon the learning that is … more
Pledge for a More Perfect Union
BY JESSICA JENKINS Groundswell has had some great press from our friends and allies in the last week. India West featured this article about Valarie’s post 9/11 activism, highlighting Groundswell, our Rudin lecture launch event, and our ribbons of hope project. (By … more
Moral Values and America’s Youth
On Sunday, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about the decline of morality among America’s youth. We at Groundswell have a different understanding about the morality of young people in our country. Our director Valarie wrote to the New … more
9/15/01
BY VALARIE KAUR I’m writing tonight from Mesa, Arizona, where a family friend was murdered ten years ago. His name was Balbir Singh Sodhi. He was a turbaned Sikh man who owned his own gas station and was well-loved for … more
“United We Stand” conference on the eve of 9/11
BY JESSICA JENKINS United for Change and Zeytuna College host a landmark conference that synchronizes beautifully with the Groundswell mission TOMORROW in Washington DC on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary. From the organizers: “As the tenth anniversary of the … more
Ribbons of Hope
BY JESSICA JENKINS Today is the start of the 9/11 Ribbons of Hope display in Battery Park, New York City. We’ve been collecting ribbons from all over the country this summer with messages of hope, renewal, and healing. Neama Alamri … more
From Memory to Hope
BY REV. DR. KATHARINE RHODES Ten years ago, on 9/11, we knew who we were. Americans were the people who cried together and shoveled rubble together. We were the strangers who became neighbors. We were the citizens who lined up … more
Love, Not Fear, in Interfaith Relations
BY JESSICA JENKINS Reposted from Ministry Matters. On September 15, 2001, I received an email from my close friend and Stanford classmate Valarie Kaur, an email that would launch us both into a whirlwind over the subsequent decade. When the terrorist … more
From Fear to Friendship: Honoring 9/11 in California
BY JESSICA JENKINS The keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr. James Lawson, who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. labeled as “the leading nonviolence theorist in the world.” According to Time Magazine Rev. Lawson is one of the seven icons of the … more
Welcoming Newcomers: The New Face of Southern Hospitality
BY JESSICA JENKINS We wrote earlier this summer about Welcome to Shelbyville, a multimedia project that chronicles a southern town as its residents – whites and African Americans, Latinos and Somalis – grapple with their beliefs, their histories and their evolving … more
The Domestic Crusaders: A Muslim American Family on Stage
BY JESSICA JENKINS The Domestic Crusaders is an award-winning play written by Muslim American Wajahat Ali depicting the day in the life of a Pakistani-American Muslim family, showing this September in New York City. From the play’s website: “The Domestic Crusaders … more
Out of the Shadows of 9/11: Millennials, Moral Vision, and the Global Groundswell
BY JESSICA JENKINS From our colleagues at Auburn Seminary: On this tenth anniversary of 9/11, will a new movement of compassion, social justice, and moral calling emerge from the shadows? Will religion be a spark that reignites our moral imagination? … more
New Report Sheds Light on Islamophobia
BY JESSICA JENKINS On Friday the Center for American Progress released Fear, Inc:. The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America. The report traces the system of money and influence fueling the anti-Islam movement in America by profiling a small network … more
Bringing 9,110 meals to Boston on 9/11
BY JESSICA JENKINS Chris Stedman, Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, shares this invitation to community service on September 11. Members of the interfaith community at Harvard will package 9,100 meals to share with food-insecure children … more
9/11 Walks – “In Defiance of Fear, Misunderstanding and Hatred”
BY JESSICA JENKINS 9/11 Walks is encouraging Americans all over the country to honor this anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks by taking a walk – to get to know people in our communities from different backgrounds, cultures and … more
Oral Histories of Post-9/11 Injustice
BY JESSICA JENKINS Just in time for the tenth anniversary, Alia Malek’s new compilation of oral histories narrates some of the darkest aspects of the post-9/11 era. (Groundswell’s own Valarie Kaur participated as the book’s associate editor). Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 … more
Unheard Voices of 9/11 – Community Hearings
Reposted from Unheard Voices of 9/11, which is organizing community hearings in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Details below. Muslims, Sikhs, South Asians and Arab Americans were victimized twice by 9/11 – by the attacks themselves … more
Ramadan Reflection Day 11: My 9/11 Story
BY IMAM KHALID LATIF Reposted from The Huffington Post. Imam Khalid Latif is blogging his reflections during the month of Ramadan, featured daily on HuffPost Religion. For a complete record of his previous posts, click over to the Islamic Center at … more
Jews and Muslims in America Have More in Common Than We Think
BY JOSHUA STANTON Contrary to common assumptions, many Jewish and Muslim Americans enjoy warm relations. Yet we are only beginning to understand how and why this is so. A Gallup report released last week goes a long way to explaining … more
“All Atheists Are Muslim” – Finding Common Ground Through Comedy
“All Atheists Are Muslim” is a one-woman comedy show by Zahra Noorbakhsh, an Iranian-American Muslim woman in Northern California. Noorbakhsh finds humor in her own experience of trying to win her conservative parents’ approval of her cross-cultural romance. She pokes … more
UK Sikh and Muslim communities stand up against rioters.
BY JESSICA JENKINS The violence sweeping England’s cities this week is devastating. But out of the images of destruction have emerged positive signs of community and solidarity. Members of ravaged communities are already banding together to clean up their streets. … more
Park51 photo exhibit features American children from all over the world
BY JESSICA JENKINS NYChildren, a new photo exhibit at the Park51 community center in downtown Manhattan highlights the diversity of American identity by featuring New York City children from all parts of the world. A slideshow in the New York … more
30 Mosques in 30 Days
BY JESSICA JENKINS Ali and Tariq are two young Muslim men traveling the United States for the holy month of Ramadan, visiting a different mosque in a different state on each day. They are chronicling their journey with beautiful photos … more
Reflecting on the Evil of Racism and Islamophobia
BY JESSICA JENKINS NY Times columnist Roger Cohen reflects in his recent piece “The Racist Scourge“ on the tragedy in Oslo and on his own upbringing as a Jewish boy in apartheid-era South Africa. He writes that racism is “vile stupidity”, … more
