When the news of her death reached the nation something in me broke wide open. It wasn\u2019t just the fact of her death. It\u2019s that her death made headlines for less than one news cycle. I was angry and heartbroken and incensed and grieved and irate and perplexed and exhausted and dying inside. I\u2019m not certain when I was swallowed by the whale. But I was for sure in the belly of the beast; driving along the beautiful California coast from Sacramento to Monterey to offer a keynote address at the synod professional leaders conference– blind through tears. I don\u2019t remember, and it doesn\u2019t really matter what I actually said to the Lord in my car that afternoon. \u201cIn my distress I called to the Lord, and the Lord answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and the Lord listened to my cry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the sacrifice of one beautiful black life, I fortified a voice that advocates for Black bodies.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not yet in Nineveh. I am only now beginning to understand the reality of the task set before me. Through my television screen filled with visions of cities all over the world rallying and rising and rioting I am just now learning the enormity of the source sending me. I am stumbling and fumbling and walking slowly and being led by the Spirit and those who have been on the road longer. I\u2019ve been practicing what I will say when I arrive. I\u2019ve begun saying small snippets in places I would have never dared before. I\u2019ve rallied more. I\u2019ve organized more. Staff meetings are different with me around now (thank you for making space for this, Amy Reumann.) I\u2019ve begun saying in larger and larger spaces that the system we\u2019ve built around crime and punishment requires repentance. I\u2019ve been inviting others into the conversation. But we have not yet arrived in Ninevah. There\u2019s still room for you on the road.<\/p>\n
Bio:<\/p>\n
Regina Q. Banks lives in Sacramento, CA where she proudly serves as the Director of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy- California. She is very active in her community, dedicating most of her free time to organizing public advocacy to support a host of social and political causes. She is a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (a public service organization) and, when permitted, shares her life with an ill-tempered chihuahua named Ender Jay.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You remember the story of Jonah and the whale, right? God commands Jonah to preach repentance to his foes in the city of Nineveh. But Jonah wasn\u2019t down with being God\u2019s little messenger. Not about that. Not to them. So, he booked passage on the first ship heading anywhere but there. The Bible tells us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n