And So Jedidiah Brown Gave All of Himself to the City He Loved

For Highline, Ben Austen profiles Jedidiah Brown, a Black Lives Matter activist and minister from Chicago. Austen writes, “I’ve now heard Jedidiah speak dozens of times, addressing city officials, television cameras, people on the street. Even more than his pastorly locutions, it’s his unmannered rawness that is most striking. Completely immersed in the moment, he braids together bits of Scripture, snatches of recent conversations, current events and his recurring themes of community and fairness – ‘letting the spirit come out of me,’ as he puts it.” Brown has struggled with handling the trauma that comes with his work. Austen writes, “Many of these activists were unprepared for the emotional anguish, the self-recrimination and financial burden, the media spotlight, the attacks from outside and within the movement.”

Read at Highline

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