“I’m an African-American woman, whose parents grew up in Jim Crow, Mississippi. So I understand this idea the way the world isn’t loving the community, the neighborhood, right? But I come from a people who are resilient and resistant and who have learned how to have joy in the midst of suffering. … All of those kinds of practices are in most of our cultures, especially this whole idea of the model of Jesus of Nazareth: forgiving your neighbor, forgiving the one who hurts you. And I don’t mean ‘fake platitudes.’ I mean, a deep willingness to let go of the anger, let go of the bondage, let go of the baggage. So to have a practice of, I’m not going to let that roll off my back. I’m going to let that go. I’m going to resource myself with things that are beautiful and lovely and warm and life giving. And I’m going to give you the hand if you can’t get on the program of love, but I don’t need to be violent with you about it. We are stronger than that. We are better than that. We will not return hate for hate. We’ll return, hate with love. It really requires a muscle to be grown, right? … Can we take a walk in someone else’s moccasins and experience life from their perspective? I think that’s what grows our love for them” (“Rev. Jacqui Lewis: What Nobody Tells You about Loving Your Neighbor,” Relevant, December 10, 2025, https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/jacqui-lewis-what-nobody-tells-you-about-loving-your-neighbor/).
