Check out the Spring leg of the Troubling the Water Tour in 2024! Would love to see you if you’re close by! Reach out to us on the site to explore getting your city on the Summer/Fall leg! #TTW @broadleaf_books @EmpowerYourOrg benmcbride.com/events

A genocidal mindset is spreading at an alarming rate, both in international communities and here at home in the United States. Recent polling from the 2019 Lethal Mass Partisanship study shows that 15 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats agreed that the country would be better off if large numbers of the opposing party just died.   Why is dehumanization the biggest spiritual problem we’re experiencing today? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll tell you.

Like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out, “The prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease.”  With any approach to social change, organizing and leadership development has to be based on an accurate analysis of the problem we aim to solve. If we have a certain diagnosis of the disease to be cured, we’re going to have a particular prescription and a particular approach to the solution.  In other words, if we think we’re dealing with a teddy bear and in reality it’s a grizzly bear coming at us, we’re going to be in trouble. So an exact estimate of the situation has to be where we begin. Today, again, we are confronted with the question: Are we dealing with a political problem or a spiritual problem? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll tell you.

We want to build a world that upholds the sanctity of all life. #TroublingtheWater invites us to explore what it means to create radical belonging for ourselves and others, particularly when we’re navigating real differences.  Managing the temptation to flatten or erase the humanity of an “other” person is real when the stakes are high, and yet drawing upon our shared humanity is vital during these times of heightened tribalism and discord. With all the violence happening in our local and global communities, safety and belonging are topics we must explore together. Inaction is not something we can afford. Give the gift of belonging and order a Christmas copy of my book 📕 Troubling The Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging. It’s right on time for the world we have and I hope it has seeds for growing the world we need and the future everyone deserves! Audiobook🎧is available for download now! If you've read this far, here's a gift opportunity for you. Every 5th person who reposts this graphic to their story will receive a FREE, signed copy of Troubling The Water from me.

Everyone deserves to belong. We’ve established belonging as our core belief and an antidote to the discord, dehumanization, and violence occurring in so many of our communities.  So what exactly does belonging mean? More specifically, what does this concept of structural belonging really mean and why is it critical to creating the world we all deserve? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll tell you. The answer is not as soft as you might think.

As social beings, belonging is something that all humans need. Individual expression is important too, no doubt, but some of our deepest emotional needs can only be met when we’re part of communities that make us feel at home. So what exactly does belonging mean? More specifically, what do we mean by this concept of cultural belonging and why it is vital to creating the world we all deserve? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll give us some shared language and understanding. — We want to build a world that upholds the sanctity of all life. #TroublingtheWater invites us to explore what it means to create radical belonging for ourselves and others, particularly when we’re navigating real differences. Managing the temptation to flatten or erase the humanity of the "perceived other" is real when the stakes are high, and yet drawing upon our shared humanity is vital during these times of heightened tribalism and discord. With all the violence happening in our local and global communities, safety and belonging are topics we must explore together. Inaction is not something we can afford. Order your copy of my book 📕 Troubling The Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging. It’s right on time for the world we have and I hope it has seeds for growing the world we need and the future everyone deserves! Audiobook 🎧 is available for download now!

Everyone deserves to belong. That means *all* people, regardless of identity, have the agency to thrive. So how do we challenge the cultural and structural conditions that leave too many people outside the circle of human concern? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll tell you. — We want to build a world that upholds the sanctity of all life. #TroublingtheWater invites us to explore what it means to create radical belonging for ourselves and others, particularly when we’re navigating real differences.  Managing the temptation to flatten or erase the humanity of the “perceived other” is real when the stakes are high, and yet drawing upon our shared humanity is vital during these times of heightened tribalism and discord. With all the violence happening in our local and global communities, safety and belonging are topics we must explore together. Inaction is not something we can afford. Order your copy of my book 📕 Troubling The Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging. It’s right on time for the world we have and I hope it has seeds for growing the world we need and the future everyone deserves! Audiobook 🎧 is available for download now!

Everyone deserves safety. That’s a non-negotiable belief. So where do we start our work to change the conditions that bring every single person into the circle of human concern and create safety for all people? Give me 60 seconds and I’ll tell you. — We want to build a world that upholds the sanctity of all life. #TroublingtheWater invites us to explore what it means to create safety for ourselves and others, particularly when we’re navigating real differences. Managing the temptation to flatten or erase the humanity of the “perceived other” is real when the stakes are high, and yet drawing upon our shared humanity is vital during these times of heightened tribalism and discord. With all the violence happening in our local and global communities, safety and belonging are topics we must explore together. Inaction is not something we can afford. Order your copy of this book📕 . It’s right on time for the world we have and I hope it has seeds for growing the world we need and the future everyone deserves. Audiobook 🎧 drops November 28th!

Great time sharing the message of #TroublingtheWater🌊 with great leaders in San Antonio with HE Butt Foundation! #Belonging #Becoming #Bridging #WidentheCircle

As we enter the next year of political activity nearing a consequential election, the temptation to constrict our circle of human concern versus widening it will feel even more accessible! A fair question is “how do we call out the global genocide and domestic assaults that leave already marginalized people in danger?” “How do we contend for a stronger democracy while defending the milquetoast version that has failed Black people for centuries?” Our ancestor, Dick Gregory, calls us to think about what we must contend for rather than only what we can resist! In #TroublingtheWater🌊, we unpack how our personal becoming IS as critical to the structural belonging our world desperately needs. Through my personal stories and those of leaders across our country, this book maps a reflection we must all have on “who must be become” to create a world where everybody belongs? Order your copy📘📘📘 (a.co/d/56HgpAW) today and reflect on how the leadership of those closest to the pain will always empower our way forward to the right solutions! 🎧Audiobook drops on November 28th!🚨 #democracy #belonging #becoming #dei #racism #palestine #israel #gaza #biden #trump #democrats #republicans #blackchurch #blackwomen #blackmen #bridging #peacemaking #politics #justice #voting

Fundamentalism just doesn’t make sense in hard moments. When Christians are welcoming the plunder of their fellow Christian so they can get caught up in the rapture by praying for their Jewish friends who they don’t believe are going to heaven with them, you know the math doesn’t work. Maybe we should just stick to God finding us parking spots at the mall. 🤷🏾

A reflection: Sometimes looking at others helps me look at myself. Sometimes, when you’re hurting, you think everybody is against you and you can mistakenly empower narratives that deepen victimhood. The truth is, sometimes people ain’t thinking about you at all. Sometimes you’re just hurting.

While we witness the historical and modern failures of fundamentalism, we do have opportunities to reshape how our past and present beliefs can widen the circle of human concern rather than constrict them. Every moment is not one for bridging, but every moment calls on us to strive for radical belonging! Join us at @empowerinitiative in our mission to foster belonging through cultural and structural change! Our new book📘 #TroublingtheWater🌊 accesses personal stories, case studies, frameworks and tools to activate your leadership! a.co/d/aVbR4qA