Mumbi Kigutha

Thanksgiving is a holiday designed to celebrate individual freedom and liberty — at the same time as those same liberties and freedoms are stripped away from others. It is a holiday rooted in domination, exploitation, appropriation and violence. 

What is the collective toll on individuals — Afghan, Syrian and American — of the 20-year war on terrorism? Is the world safer for anyone? Was it fair to wage destruction and mayhem on an entire country for the perceived actions of a few?

Horizons: Watching multibillionaires spend enormous amounts of money to rocket to space shows the extreme inequality of the global health crisis as many people around the world struggle to access basic needs.   

Many of our world problems stem from racism and white supremacy disguised as white saviorism. An acknowledgement of that in this country, in our church and religious communities would be a good starting point.

Horizons – People are despairing. Is it because of heightened, more visible racism? The effects of the pandemic? Are these feelings a result of last year, or the sum total of our lifetimes finally boiling over?

Horizons - The demands for unity we keep hearing, especially from the perpetrators of violence, fall short for me. I have struggled with imagining reconciliation, a value and a practice that I espouse in most of my other work.

Horizons - A global dearth of true leadership has marked 2020. But throughout this year, I have also experienced a surging of hope within me, due to the efforts of young people around the world.

Horizons - It is imperative that religious congregations encourage and support newer members.

Horizons - The cry of lament is for every Black woman, past and present, who has been forgotten, sidelined and/or erased.