Rev. Brittini L. Palmer is a freedom writer, preacher, communications consultant, and graduate of Virginia Union University and the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. You can connect with her on all social media platforms @BrittiniLPalmer.

Posts By This Author

Why Has the United States Never Had a Black Woman Governor?

by Brittini L. Palmer 03-16-2023
It's long past time to radically disrupt the systems that stifle women and our democracy.
An illustration of a smiling woman with a red headband on a political poster with a mail-in ballot in hand and a mailbox in front of her. The poster reads, "Mail your ballet today! Vote by mail."

CSA-Printstock / iStock

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER Ella Baker utilized the strength of her voice at the height of that movement to fundamentally question the notions and ideas of equality and leadership in this nation. In 1969, Baker said, “[T]he system under which we now exist has to be radically changed.” This means “facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.”

Black women have long been considered the backbone for civil rights, social justice, church advancement, and animators of democracy in the United States. If this is so, then why are so many still overlooked for advancement in political power as well as the everyday jobs that they are more than qualified for?

While “women” won the right to vote in 1920, Black women fought for about another half century to exercise their right. The inequities of gender, race, and access are still with us — and there is no greater time than now to push hard for political and social advancement.

The Key to Howard Thurman’s Spirituality Is ‘What Makes You Come Alive’

by Brittini L. Palmer 03-14-2023

Image of Lerita Coleman Brown's What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman. Graphic by Mitchel Atencio.

As I began to read Lerita Coleman Brown’s new book, What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman, I received an overwhelming assurance that there was something to learn in this book about our turbulent and violent times.

The Truth About Black Women in Ministry

by Brittini L. Palmer 11-23-2021

Black women have been historically marginalized both in the church and society — and this trend continues today in theological education as well as the church. Neither the church nor the world of theology will survive if things continue in this direction.

God Does Not Will Black People to Die for Justice

by Brittini L. Palmer 07-12-2021

Those of us who consistently deal with inequities are expected to suffer or die for the sake of making the world a more just place. This causes God’s heart to ache and humanity’s blood to scream out from every corner of the earth. When pain and suffering become the primary means to achieving human rights, many begin to believe Black people suffering and dying for these rights is either God-ordained or a natural part of history. This is a lie. It is what James Baldwin might call a “palatable” lie, as it is “more palatable than the truth” — the truth that would have us fight back against injustice.

Where Do You Situate Yourself in the Fight?

by Brittini L. Palmer 06-30-2020

Men wearing protective face masks hold a photograph of Rayshard Brooks, the Black man shot dead by an Atlanta police officer, following his funeral, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Lynsey Weatherspoon

Whether their blood cries out from Valdosta Ga., or the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, their cries cannot go unanswered.

Black Bodies Are Devalued and Overlooked in Georgia

by Brittini L. Palmer 05-06-2020

Jan. 13, 2019: Protesters gather in Hurt Park, Atlanta to protest and make demands in response to Brian Kemp being elected as the Governor of Georgia. Credit: Shutterstock

Governor Kemp's COVID-19 response, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, replay a longer history.