Jonny Clark

Black people are still living with the trans-generational consequences of evil not being properly named and exorcised from America. The Confederates were not the evil, nor was Kirk. But ideas of white supremacy are a demon that will kill, steal and destroy.

This article challenges us to not venerate the words of someone who died a tragic death. Coates believes there is a symmetry here to how Confederates were rehabilitated in the post-Civil War era.

“I feel like there is a new religion emerging, I think I will call it Christendom’ism. Those who are drawn to it still attend churches, but I believe they have stopped believing the Sermon on the Mount has much relevance to our world today.”

The opening lines of what I wrote, in reference to the white supremacist rally in London at the weekend, the cheering of genocide in Gaza and the response in the USA to the Kirk shooting were:

Last week I wrote some reflections on this American guy and the tragedy of his murder. I decided not to publish what I wrote for a few reasons. One is that I doubt much good could come of it. Everyman and his dog had an opinion on a guy most people my age had never heard of prior to his killing.

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

Ta-Nehisi Coates does a good job of separating “the great crime of Kirk’s death from the malignancy of his public life?”

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/c...

If you’re in Belfast join us at St Anne’s Cathedral on Saturday at 11.30am for the Service for the Day of Reflection. If you’re not near these two places, perhaps consider how you could reflect on the loss and pain of the Troubles and how you can act for hope in the future.

To close the night we watched the 7 minute short film Vacancies, by Paul Hutchison. Paul is an artist who creates, imagines and curates spaces for reflection, lament and hope.

It was a full but beautiful night and as always Claire Humphrey brought us into the space beautifully.

Cate Turner who directs Healing Through Remembering, spoke about the Day of Reflection.
Dr Kieran McEvoy took us through the challenge of legacy in our society and where we are at, 27 years after the Good Friday Agreement.

In a zero sum world, they epitomise the truth that “an enemy is someone whose story you have never heard” and they show us that there is hope in the world’s most intractable conflicts. We also had some great songs by Joe Healy, and from @marianickolay and Erin Hill @hillerink.

These two souls were brought together in tragedy with the Brighton bomb. Years later Jo initiated contact with the man who killed her father. They have now told their story of friendship over 300 times.

In the last three years at Borderlands we have brought together conversations with victims and ex-combatants from different sides. It was a huge privilege last night to host Jo Berry CBE and Pat Magee last night at the Black Box.

I want to join with many Jewish voices and Palestinian voices in celebrating the beauty of Palestine, of Palestinian lives, of their culture and the depth of their warm hospitality. I heard this quote tonight from Kwame Ture: “Peace is the white man’s word, liberation is our word”. Amen.

This is what Trump proposed last week: the permanent displacement of Gazans into surrounding nations, after the mass slaughter of 50,000 innocent lives, so the land can be re-colonised by a population that aids the demographic agenda.

In reality one way to be able to have all three, to be a Jewish nation, to be democratic state and to have all of the West Bank and Gaza is to ethnically cleanse.

It has been said that Israel wants 3 things but it can only have 2.: it wants to be a democracy, it wants to be a Jewish state, and it wants all of the land of historic Palestine, which of course includes the West Bank and Gaza. It can have any two of these things but it can’t have three.

While Gaza has been the focus of our attention there has been shocking violence against Palestinians in the West Bank for many years but especially in the last two years. It is an area that has been under occupation since 1967. Israel’s actions make a two state solution impossible.

YouTube video by mbroders Ry Cooder - How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live

Well William Graham sent me down a rabbit hole of Ry Cooder. This is just wonderful. youtu.be/6efQ_GyQW3o?...

Small Wins. In the middle of dark February, as war and peace (and not much peace) fill the news, we gathered for Borderlands. We had a stunning night with music, sonnets, heartbreaking stories, hilarious, life affirming stories, and a deep sense of human connection. We meet again 11 March, Belfast

Dissident Hymns: A Sermon for the Trump Era My punchy sermon 3 weeks into Trump 2.0

A beautiful sermon from @matthewdtaylor.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/matthewd...

This is my Valentine. We actually celebrate it on the 13th February because that was the day I arrived in Baltimore in 2002 to visit her. 23 years ago!

Goodbye to the lost children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it | Nesrine Malik There is no way to rationalise the horrors inflicted on Gaza’s innocent children. Now is the time to mourn them fully, says columnist Nesrine Malik

Today on a day when we say the words “Never Again”, let us remember the Palestinian children sacrificed to the gods of greed, vengeance, fear and indifference. Goodbye to the children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

YouTube video by Jonny Clark Michael Longley recites ‘Ceasefire’ at Rostrevor Literary Festival 2021

One of the great Irish poets, Michael Longley has died. He wrote about the Troubles in The Ice-Cream Man and in the poem Ceasefire. I videoed him reciting Ceasefire at the Rostrevor Literary Festival in 2021. youtu.be/OEap7m1DHMk?...

My most-liked cartoon of 2024 and it's a serious one 👀

Too many of us are blind to our privilege. Let's have a self-aware 2025!

“I am so glad that Jesus was born in a stable. Because my soul is so much like a stable. It is so poor and in unsatisfactory condition —yet I believe if Jesus can be born in a stable, maybe he can also be born in me.”

~ Dorothy Day

Oh I just realised your comment was a reply Jarrod. Dr Gafney, I’d love to show you Belfast and some parts of Northern Ireland, Ireland, border areas? I wonder when you’ll be here?

Jenn would love to meet her. I can find some connections. I wonder why she is coming. It would be amazing to meet her.

Whose woods these are I think I know / It sometimes takes a Village though.

What a gift this man was - and what gifts he gave! I am forever grateful to have learned from him, been encouraged by him, and worked with him for compassion and justice.