“We don’t allow Black children to be children in America" | Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson at

In this 2021 Festival of Faiths session - “The Ghosts and Growing Edges of Black Faith” - the Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson explains how Black children in the U.S. are not afforded the opportunity to simply be children. Growing up in the Black church, however, he says he and his adolescent peers found a space to form their identities and “be children - singing, laughing, dancing.”
Wilson is president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund: www.childrensd...
After the police killing of Michael Brown Jr., Wilson co-chaired the Ferguson Commission, which in 2015 released the “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity” report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility.
Accompanying Wilson in the full festival program were Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Sunni Patterson and Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack. Watch the session in its entirety here:
• The Ghosts & Growing E...
About the Festival of Faiths:
Based in Louisville, Kentucky, the Festival of Faiths is a nationally acclaimed interfaith event of music, poetry, film, art and dialogue focused on a contemporary theme and featuring a diverse lineup of spiritual leaders, teachers and practitioners.
In 2021, the Festival of Faiths examined issues of systemic racism in America and the role of spirituality in healing from the trauma of oppression. Sacred Change: Essential Conversations on Faith and Race celebrated the unique beauty, power and strength of Black faith experiences while facing the profoundly brutal outcomes of genocide, slavery and “profit at any cost.” Renowned speakers and artists helped us challenge prevailing narratives and explore pathways to truth, repair and hope in framing a future defined by justice.
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