LOS ANGELES, CA - Today, social impact production company Fame Currency and its racial justice initiative #breathewithme Revolution joined forces with Sojourners and the Black Music Action Coalition to produce a national call on the Biden-Harris Administration to establish a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT).
In a new campaign video, “The Word is Calling Us,” #breathewithme Revolution and Sojourners have convened faith leaders from across the U.S.-- who represent millions of faithful Christians who are committed to racial justice-- to leverage their voices to demand action to end systemic racism. The video premieres today exclusively via NowThis.
Although the Bible and Christian faith have been misused and abused to justify slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and white supremacy, the “The Word Is Calling Us" video powerfully shows that the words of scripture hold all Christians accountable to always stand for love, justice, and truth.
“This chorus of diverse Christian leaders offers both powerful pastoral and prophetic word to our nation that we must engage in the deeper work of truth-telling as a prerequisite for racial healing and transformation. Now is the time for the Biden Administration to create a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Commission, building on the linked efforts through HR 40 to establish a Commission to investigate and make recommendations around overdue reparations,” said Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners.
Participants in the video include: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor - President, Sojourners; Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant - Senior Pastor, New Birth Cathedral; Dr. Joel Hunter - Chair, Community Resource Network; Cecelia Williams - CEO and President of the Christian Community Development Association; Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson - Senior Pastor of the historic Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York.; Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry - Dean of Sisters Chapel, Spelman College; Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie-Martin - VP OF CHURCH ENGAGEMENT, AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY; Dr. Barbara Williams- Skinner - CEO and co-founder of Skinner Leadership Institute; Bishop Claude Alexander - Senior Pastor of The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; Rev. Dr. Brianna K. Parker - Founding Curator, Black Millennial Café, LLC; Rev. Dr. Gabe Salguero - Co-Pastor of the multicultural Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene in New York City; Shane Claiborne - Author and Activist, Red Letter Christians; Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah - Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism, North Park University; Rev. Terrance M. McKinley- Director of Racial Justice, Sojourners; Jim Wallis - Founder and Ambassador, Sojourners; and Bishop Vashti McKenzie - African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“The Word is Calling Us” is part of the #breathewithme Revolution’s ongoing content efforts driving action for Racial Justice. In January 2021, #breathewithme Revolution produced the campaign video “17 More Ways” in which artists Alicia Keys, Khalid, Mary J. Blige, Ty Dolla $ign and 13 others brought attention to the 17 ways Black lives have been taken too soon due to racism over the past four years. Check out the video HERE via NowThis, as well as coverage of the campaign from Pitchfork, People, L.A. Times and Billboard.
#breathewithme Revolution was formed to turn protest into policy to confront systemic racism and create real equity. #breathewithme Revolution co-founder Leigh Blake brings decades of esteemed charitable efforts using music and culture to change lives through initiatives such as Keep A Child Alive and the We Are Here Movement with Alicia Keys through her creative impact engine Fame Currency. Blake helped reinvent celebrity activism in the YouTube era in 2016 when she and Keys launched 23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black In America for Mic.com, featuring appearances by Beyonce, Rihanna, Chris Rock, Taraji P. Henson and more than a dozen others.
Says Blake: “It’s time for real action, the days of lip service are over. We call on everyone who said they cared to take real racial justice action and end the days where we speak with high ideals and fail Black America on every level.”
Prophet, Co-Founder of Fame Currency, #breathewithme Revolution and Co-Founder/Co-Chair of Black Music Action Coalition, adds: “If we are serious about healing this nation, this country must have a Truth Commission to root out and repair the deep racial divide in this country. We are urging the Biden/Harris administration to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Senator Cory Booker’s call for a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Commission in their first 100 days. We owe it to our ancestors to push this country to live up to its promise.”
To further amplify the movement for racial justice, the #breathewithme Revolution Truth Commission team led by Dr. Paul Zeitz and Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter has signed on more than 240 organizations through a national coalition in support of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s U.S. Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Commission. Participating organizations include the NAACP, UCLA and Howard University, among many others, bringing together artists, activists, journalists, educators, cultural icons, social and racial justice organizations and movement leaders in an unprecedented national movement. Check out the full list of participating organizations HERE
Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, UCLA professor, #breathewithme Revolution’s Transformation Architect explains: “Black people are still suffering from the effects of Slavery. No human deserves to live within and under such a brutal regime of inhumanity. Black people along with their indigenous and Native American counterparts have, however, earned relief, repair, and a refund from the global, federal, regional, and local governments that have failed them, all the while taking tax money and creativity from them for centuries. A U.S. TRHT Commission is the key to unlocking the nation’s truths whereby we begin living in a country healed, restored and transformed guided by principles of love rather than hate, and by our shared humanity rather than false, dangerous ideas of human hierarchy.”
“Our nation is in pain. The wounds of our history of racial tyranny remain unaddressed all while, more trauma and grief are added with the senseless murders of black bodies by police, and the persistent, systemic marginalization of communities of color. Our country can no longer simply hope for change. We must work toward just solutions. The deep wound of our nation’s past has not and will never heal if we do not deliberately work towards healing and transformation. The establishment of a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) must be a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, Congress, and our faith communities,” said Rev. Terrance M. McKinley, Director of Racial Justice, Sojourners.
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ABOUT THE #breathewithme Revolution
The #breathewithme Revolution is a movement to turn protest into racial justice policy. It is led by co-founders Leigh Blake & Ann Haggart of Fame Currency, Prophet & Damien Smith of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and Sia Lyimo & Andy Downham of graphic design firm Kandi London. #breathewithme’s leadership team also includes Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, UCLA Professor and coiner of #BlackLivesMatter; Indy03, Recording Artist and Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director, Build A Movement 2022. #breathewithme Revolution is operating under the fiscal sponsorship of The Giving Back Fund (GBF). Visit #breathewithme Revolution’s official website or follow #breathewithme on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more information.
CONTACT
For Sojourners
Jessica Felix Romero
For #breathewithme Revolution:
Andrew Hampp
646-761-3165
For Black Music Action Coalition:
Biz 3 Kathryn Frazier / Tori Johnson kathryn@biz3.net tori@biz3.net
Courtney Lowery