[don-o]

It's not clear to me what the "Brixton" episode is all about; but, I post because a self identified black progressive woman is speaking some truth.

[don-o]

She gets it. I wonder if she will suffer the same fate as Paula?

[Tax-chick]

Unlike the Pope ... she acknowledged she hadn’t always gotten it right ...

Nothing like a little ignorant mudslinging to start the day. Include yourself, ma'am, in the "we" that doesn't always get things right.

[jimfree]

Let’s get this straight. I am not condoning...

Longing for the day when such qualifiers are not necessary and cheering Professor Dixon for her wisdom and sophistication.

[Mercat]

Paula wouldn’t be having this problem if it weren’t for her southern accent. This is anti-south bigotry.

[rlmorel]

It isn’t a bad article. Both of my knees were jerking in unison, but taking a snippet from deep in the article is certain to ensure you have taken it out of context.

All in all, what she says is true, I think.

[Yardstick]

The students struggled with their words–but in the end they learned. More importantly for all of us, their classmates were willing to love them through the process of naming their fear; embracing their root; and challenging them to find a new way of being. At the end of a very tense yet powerful discussion, one student said, “ well all we can say to this moment is–AMEN.” Indeed, Amen.

Would have been interesting to witness this little self-denunciation session.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Don-o, I agree with your assessment: Maria Dixon is "a self-identified progressive black woman who is speaking the truth."

I think some readers will be thrown off by the introductory "Brixton" discussion. Let me give it some context.

Maria Dixon, MDiv, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Communication at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

She annually takes her students to the U.K. for six weeks in London, which includes the colorful (in every sense) part of The City called Brixton, where over half of the population is of African or Caribbean descent, or Asian (read: Pakistanis and Middle Easterners). It is the home of the Brixton Mosque, the oldest Mosque in South London.

That may be why some of he students were afraid of Brixton.

She herself is progressive and black, but? and? --- this is the best part --- she is apparently a Genuine Christian with a capital G. "Gee ...it's true." As this rather paradoxical blog entry of hers illustrates: "Still Striking Out" (Link)

(What I wanted you to see is that her main complaint about the Christian Church is that it is not Christian enough: it isn't calling people to the saving power of Jesus Christ, our redeemer who died for our sins and has come that we might live in Him. Wow!)

So we've got some real complexity here.

Which is to say: a real human being. Maria Dixon, progressive, black, Methodist, Christian: a real human being.

I am proud to see her defending Paula Deen.

[Albion Wilde]

The Brixton reference is confusing here. She might be referring to the Brixton district in London that is home to many non-whites and also contains a lot of entertainment sites and a huge market, etc.

Electric Avenue, Brixton, London UK