Author: hcarmstrong
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Hitting the Target on Corporate Racism
Target’s recent rollout, and hasty removal, of a children’s clown costume styled in blatant, Jim Crow-era minstrel imagery featuring a Black child is appalling. A trite, flaccid apology claiming they “got this wrong” is an unacceptable recompense for globally influential, corporate racism. Read Article: Why is Black Excellence So Threatening? There is zero excuse for…
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Why is Black Excellence So Threatening?
The sudden, heartbreaking passing of Professor Jason Arday at age 41—just days after an intense public campaign pushed him to resign from his historic post as Cambridge University’s youngest Black professor—has laid bare the devastating human cost of systemic hyper-scrutiny. When Arday was appointed, the milestone was rightly celebrated as a triumphant breakthrough. Yet beneath…
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Y’all, I’m Tired
Y’all, I’m tired. Watching another Black family lay their young son to rest this week, 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells, brings back the heartbreakingly familiar pain. It is an exhausting, devastating rhythm: another life cut short, another family left searching for answers, and another name added to a tragic, unending list. I had the honor to…
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Dear Young Black Leader
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw…
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Let Freedom Ring?
The week after the Fourth of July always leaves a lingering smoke, not just from the fireworks, but from the deep ideological fractures that divide our nation. While some celebrated unbridled liberty, others found themselves reflecting on an unfulfilled promise. As Frederick Douglass famously asked in 1852, “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth 4th…
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George Floyd is Not a Joke
Recently in the roast of a public figure, another comedian made reference to George Floyd, mocking Floyd’s pleas for breath in his last moments. When a public figure steps onto a massive global stage and turns a taped, public execution into a lighthearted punchline, it signals a terrifying structural rot in our culture. George Floyd’s…
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Juneteenth: Freedom Restored
This week, I had the privilege of hosting a training intensive with a beautifully diverse cohort of Christian leaders. Spanning a wide array of racial backgrounds, varying perspectives, and denominations, our focus was equipping leaders to find true freedom from the culture wars. As we celebrate Juneteenth, our minds naturally turn to June 19, 1865,…
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Our Vote is Our Voice
How do we reconcile our national narrative of “progress” with legal decisions that seem to systematically dismantle the 20th century’s hardest-won victories? The recent action by the Supreme Court to expedite a ruling that effectively guts Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is more than a procedural update—it is a profound regression of American…
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Leading Without Self-Neglect
True leadership isn’t about being a superhero who carries every burden; it’s about being a catalyst who builds shared resilience. While empathy is a prerequisite for effective leadership, if you are not careful, ‘bearing one another’s burdens’ can easily degrade into ‘carrying their non-transferable loads.’ The most impactful leaders I know don’t strive for self-sufficiency;…
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The Altar of Action
My reconciliation work through Kathairo is based on Jesus’ words in John 15 “cleansing” is rarely just a surface-level endeavor. To truly purify the soil of our cities, we have to address the deep-rooted toxins of systemic oppression and racism. While policy shifts and economic programs are vital tools, there is a dimension of leadership…
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