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Speaking Truth with Grace

A Conversation with Osagyefo Sekou

Rev. Osagyefo Sekou is a Renaissance Man – a musician, organizer, theologian, author, and documentary filmmaker. He was on the ground during the Ferguson and Charlottesville protests. Chanda sat down with Rev. Sekou to talk about the many layers of civil disobedience, philanthropy’s role in activism, and how the fight for racial justice has evolved.

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About Our Guest

Osagyefo Sekou

Noted activist, theologian, author, documentary filmmaker, and musician, Reverend Osagyefo Sekou was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in the rural Arkansas Delta. Rev. Sekou’s music is a unique combination of Arkansas Delta Blues, Memphis Soul 1970s funk, and Gospel.

Rev. Sekou was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Education and Research Institute at the time of Michael Brown Jr.’s killing and traveled to Ferguson in mid-August 2014 on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation to organize alongside local and national groups.

He was arrested multiple times during the Ferguson Uprising, including for “Praying while Black” outside the Ferguson Police Department in September, alongside over 40 clergy, faith leaders and community members. In February 2016, Reverend Sekou stood trial for his first arrest in Ferguson and was found not guilty. With the Deep Abiding Love Project, he has helped train over 10,000 clergy and activists in militant nonviolent civil disobedience through the United States.