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“MAMA RUBY”
03/03/2022
“MAMA RUBY”
LEAD HOST: Lisa Sharon Harper GUEST: Ruby Sales “I never will talk about my ancestors as being back in the day as they are part of a continuum.” Few have worked harder to cut and mend the ties between oppressor and oppressed than the one and only . The FOUR are honored to be joined by this iconic human rights activist, public theologian, and social critic. She offers wisdom beyond words for all of us on the unconquerable strength of the Black spirit through history; the subversiveness of prayer; and the “social and spiritual cataracts that interfere with the way we see ourselves.” Her resolute messages reverberate for future generations as she expresses concern for the false sense of freedom in the age of technocracy. Ms. Sales witnesses profound strength in the American Black family, including her own. But for too many people of African descent, family stories were buried as a strategy to conquer us, and that toll remains to this day. It’s something TheFour’s Lisa Sharon Harper has taken on, documenting this nation’s history through a richly researched 10 generations of her family story—Black, white and Native American—in her newest book, . Like Harper’s family story, Mama Ruby calls for repair through truth-telling, reparation and a measure of forgiveness to cut the ties that still bind. Ms. Sales’ long fight for freedom began in the 1960s with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, at Tuskegee University, as a student freedom fighter in Lowndes County, Alabama. And it nearly got her assassinated. Jonathan Daniels, a white freedom worker from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, pulled Sales out of the line of fire. But Daniels was shot and killed. The assailant was acquitted by an all white jury. Ms. Sales has bravely been on the national scene since, dedicated to the work of racial, sexual, gender, and class reconciliation, education, and awareness. She’s been a mentor to many, including members of The FOUR. Her current project, , plays leading roles in public policy debates on poverty, prison industrial complex, the shrinking budget for human needs, voting rights, privacy and judicial issues, and neo-conservatism; train grassroots volunteers and staff; and houses SisterAll Programs that bring together Black women from all walks of life to renew their historical roles as a community of activists, spiritual guides, and leaders on the front lines of racial, economic, and human rights, using non-violence and participatory democracy to build up a 21st-century front-line crusade for racial justice. Among her many recognitions and awards: Certificate of Gratitude for her work on Eyes on the Prize; featured in Broken Ground: A Film on Race Relations in the South; in 1999, Selma, Alabama gave her the key to the city to honor her contributions there; 2000, Dan Rather spotlighted her on his “American Dream” series; 2009, named a HistoryMaker for her contributions to civic affairs; 2013, awarded the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Living Legacies Civil Rights Recognition Award; and in 2014, Sales was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. Ruby Sales knows our ancestors are part of our continuum. Should you wish to find your family story, advances in genealogy, DNA science and increased availability of documentation are making it possible for us to reclaim our histories.
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