We are thrilled to announce the launch of the official Be the Bridge podcast!

Our first episode of the podcast features special guest Jennie Allen, Founder of IF:Gathering. Latasha and Jennie chat about how Be the Bridge got started four years ago. From the “circle” meeting at the African American Culture Center in Austin, Texas, to Be the Bridge groups in nearly all 50 states, it’s been a whirlwind.

Latasha and Jennie, along with a few others, met up twice a month for conversations that addressed poignant questions (at that time, there was no Be the Bridge curriculum as there is today). They felt things were really moving forward and lives were changing due to these conversations. Experiences were being shared. Then Ferguson happened, and the ground shifted. The country erupted.

“I think that’s when we’re going to see a generational shift when a generation rises up and says, ‘Not on my watch.'” –Jennie Allen

The conversations grew deeper as they began to tap into racial disparities and the systemic issues we see today. Had the protests in Ferguson not happened, conversations would have stayed at the surface level. They were committed to walk this journey together no matter how hard.

“This is a lifestyle, and you’re going to miss it, you’re going to make mistakes. But you get back up, you learn from them, and you keep moving.” –Latasha Morrison

Listen to the full episode and subscribe to the Be the Bridge podcast for more conversations on racial healing, equity and reconciliation!

The full episode transcript is below.

Latasha Morrison  0:12  

Well, we have a special guest for you, those of you listening to Sounds of Justice—and this shouldn’t be a surprise, but this is in honor of our anniversary edition. Yes, Be the Bridge is four years old! And I wanted to talk to a few people that were there from the beginning. So I have Miss Jennie Allen! Something new is added to her bio and I just gotta read this to you guys: Jennie Allen is the New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head, and the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering. She is a passionate leader following God’s calling on her life, to catalyze a generation of women to live what they believe. Jennie has a master’s in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary, and lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband Zach, and their four children. Thank you, Jennie for joining us.

Jennie Allen  1:13  

Oh, girl, this is so fun. Congratulations Tasha! And I cannot believe it’s been four years. I cannot believe that.

Latasha Morrison  1:22  

I know. Does it seem longer or shorter?

Jennie Allen  1:25  

It seems way shorter. But at the same time, so much has happened. So, in that regard, it feels like we’ve been doing this forever, IF:Gathering and Be the Bridge. But gosh, I mean, it also feels like yesterday we were in our first little you know, “gathering”…

Latasha Morrison  1:44  

Yeah, and we didn’t like, it’s funny how you hesitated on that because it had no name. There was no name!

Jennie Allen  1:51  

And then we called it…Yeah…And then there’s been so many names since so I’m like, what’s the current name? But anyway, it was, it was just our little circle. And it was totally organic and man, did God use it.

Latasha Morrison  2:03  

And then from there, once I formed an organization, then we started calling it Be the Bridge groups, but our group originally, there was no such thing as Be the Bridge! And so our group originally was just “the circle.” Yep! I know, and I mean time flies and we started meeting back in 2014…okay…2014!

Jennie Allen  2:32  

Yeah. Which is crazy because that’s the year that IF:Gathering started.

Latasha Morrison  2:37  

Okay, listen, I want you to tell me…I want to tell you a story. How did we meet?

Jennie Allen  2:47  

All these stories are so good and they have two perspectives, you know, like Tasha’s perspective and mine are very different. My first memory of you is with the tacos…Did we meet before that at IF:Gathering? Tell me that story, you tell me your side of the story!

Latasha Morrison  3:07  

Okay, so I’ll tell the story…you said that how we met—that we both have our own versions of how we met. Okay. So I…Okay, just let me just be honest, there are a lot of ladies in Austin named Jen and Jennie and Jennifer.

Jennie Allen  3:29  

It was a popular name in the 70’s and 80’s!

Latasha Morrison  3:32  

So I was getting confused at which Jennie or Jen who was Jennie or Jen! But I actually met you personally for the first time after the first IF:Gathering at that luncheon that we had. And so that was the first meeting.

Jennie Allen  3:53  

Okay, so we’re on track so far. Except, so I didn’t know you were gonna be there though. My friend Kim was like, hey, Jennie, I have heard that you want IF:Gathering to be diverse and that you care about that. And I’d love to go to lunch with you and tell you about my experience. And maybe she said she’d bring a friend or something. But I did not expect what I showed up to, so it was like five of y’all? And me I think?

Latasha Morrison  4:19  

Yeah, yeah, we did the gang-up! Yeah, we did the gang-up.

Jennie Allen  4:23  

I’ll tell you, my heart kind of sank when I got there. Because I thought, I mean, let’s be real. I knew I was not doing a good job—that IF:Gathering was not doing a good job! And gosh, I mean, still, I do not claim that we are doing a good job. We’ve got so far to go. So I knew it was going to be interesting. But what I didn’t know is: 1) that we would have so much fun, and that it would be such—that it would be so life-giving to me. And then 2) that you all would roll up your sleeves and say, “We want to help” and that was the thing that I couldn’t believe, and I walked out with a new sisterhood. You guys had this dream of pulling together. I think it was Ken Patton originally saying, “Hey, let’s meet after this and let’s do this little group together.” And I think we called it a reconciliation circle or…

Latasha Morrison  5:11  

We were calling it “the circle.” We just really said—actually, you said, “I would love to get some of my…” And this is kind of what sparked the conversation, after we talked and you heard our experiences. And you know, you came over and you sat down. We had lunch. And then you said, “This has been so good, I would love to have some of my friends together with you.”

Jennie Allen  5:44  

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it was! It was so good. And I did genuinely want to see IF:Gathering go in this direction. And I did not know how to do it, and I knew that. And so it was the beginning of something super special. And we kind of all invited people and our group was pretty amazing. And we started meeting with it once a month.

Latasha Morrison  6:09  

Yeah, we were meeting like once or twice a month, we would kind of mix it up between social meetings. And then also, we were meeting at the African American Culture Center in Austin. And so we would meet to have a session, but we had no curriculum. There was no plan, you know, we were just kind of talking. And we had some poignant questions that we would talk about for the first couple months. And then we went out for happy hours a couple of times, or lunch—we wanted to get to know each other outside of our profession. But I think the key thing about that…nobody spoke about what they did outside of the group.

Jennie Allen  6:55  

Huh, that’s so true.

Latasha Morrison  6:57  

Yeah, I didn’t know half the ladies there or what they did.

Jennie Allen  7:01  

But it was a Power Team.

Latasha Morrison  7:02  

Yes, it was. It was! 

Jennie Allen  7:04  

It just so happened, almost everyone there had different realms that they were leading in. And I think it blew us away. I just remember so many amazing conversations that began to change my life those first few months, but all of this (for context for everybody listening) happened before Ferguson. And I bet it’s hard for people to remember life before Ferguson! So why don’t you, Tasha, just talk about what Ferguson meant and why that was significant that we were meeting prior to that.

Latasha Morrison  7:35  

I know! Look at you like, wait a minute, I’m interviewing you! You’re not interviewing me!

Jennie Allen  7:40  

Well I can’t answer that, and I wonder what you’d say! I can’t answer that. Because [indistinguishable] literally different, right?

Latasha Morrison  7:50  

I think the thing was, when we were having this conversation, Ferguson allowed us to have an even more tangible conversation. We were really talking about life experiences. But really Ferguson allowed us to tap into the lenses that we were seeing the world through, you know, and then allowed us to tap into the racial disparities, the systemic issues that caused some of the issues that we were seeing. And so it allowed us to have a deeper conversation. I don’t know if we would have gone as deep if Ferguson would not have happened. Like, what for you

during this time stands out the most? What stands out the most for you? 

Jennie Allen  8:42  

Well, so many things. For one, I came in very naive, even though I had done a lot of training for adoption in this world. So my younger son is from Rwanda and is African American. And so I’d done a lot of the white privilege training through that process, praise God! I can’t remember what agency we used, but they did train us somewhat. So I had read in this field and all that, but I was so naive. And I think the experience at that point prior to it hitting the news and everything, was an awakening for sure. And I look at Ferguson and I specifically remember I have a vivid memory of all of us being on the floor. I don’t know if we were praying, or why we were sitting on the floor, but I remember looking into several of your eyes—and it was different. There was some grief and sadness that I remember seeing in you and over you guys when you would talk about what was happening. And I remember thinking the ground has shifted. That’s why I asked you that question. Because I still don’t know, to you, how the ground shifted. I know for me, it was the beginning of the world waking up—the white world. I don’t think it was a secret to people of color that the world needed to wake up, but I think what Ferguson and the ongoing media stories did in the years following just continued to show that there was a massive problem, and that we weren’t as far along as we wanted to think we were as a country.

Latasha Morrison  10:23  

I think we [should] explain probably why we approach a situation like [Ferguson] as related to systemic police brutality from the lens that we were looking at it, and the lens that community was looking at it from. Because for a lot of people, [Ferguson] was the first time that something like this maybe had been caught on video or that it touched the world in that sense, where our grandparents and our parents had been talking about this for decades and centuries. I think this was one of those instances where you were actually seeing video. This one was different even from Trayvon, and a few others that happened in New York even like early, you know 10 years prior, where phone video was seen. And I think you know, we attach to anything being a collective group. A lot of times you’re thinking about your brother, you’re thinking about your child, or your father. And I think the thing that kept gripping me during that time is, despite all the details in this—there was a child, that was 18 years old, a senior like any other 18-year-old that has ups and downs in his life or whatever…but laid on the ground for four hours. You know, like that right there. I think it unleashed just so many systemic issues within that town. When you know the history of East Missouri, you can’t detach from that. And so I think that right there was the thing for me, looking at how the response was in this group. And I like to tell people the story of the group in this sense: A lot of people who are doing Be the Bridge groups now…one of the things that they have to kind of conquer, and one of the rules they set up, one of the values they set up—is that of listening. And there was a lot of respect in that room, even if there wasn’t agreement or understanding. But what I like to tell people is that the white women in that room gave the people of color in that room the gift of listening. And what way has our friendship maybe challenged you? What ways have I challenged you? Have I challenged you?

Jennie Allen  13:21  

Oh girl, I can’t even imagine my life without you. I cannot imagine my life without you. And I mean that on so many different levels. I mean, we both started organizations around the same time. You are a dear friend, when it comes to a leader that was in the trenches with me building beside me. And we’ve been through a lot together just behind the scenes as friends and leaders! You know, regardless of what I’ve learned from racial reconciliation, having a co-laborer that’s building beside you—that we are just slugging it out in those early years of building something—has been irreplaceable. But when it comes to racial reconciliation, from the moment we met, Tasha, you have pushed for me to understand. And I mean that in the most gracious way because you’ve always had grace for me at the same time that you pushed. And you’ve been intentional about that pushing, and you haven’t let me fatigue or become apathetic. And it’s the greatest, greatest gift because I believe in the work so much. And if I didn’t have women of color beside me, educating me, helping me, pushing it along—I think I just don’t trust myself I would have rested on my privilege and checked out. Instead, I just feel like I’ve been blessed to get to see the world through your eyes again and again and again, and what that’s done for me is caused me to have greater empathy. And to care so deeply. I mean, I texted you last night! I forgot this was today, or I would have just talked to you about it [now], but I watched Just Mercy last night. And I mean, I could just weep again at it: that this is real and happening! And how do we help? I just think you’ve helped me carry that torch that I wanted to carry, but I didn’t know how to carry. So I thank you for sticking with me because I’ve carried it badly, and I still do at times and yet, your grace has helped me not put it down and to keep doing it better, and to not give up on it. And I am so grateful for you because you have that weird balance, and the reason you’re so gifted at this work (and I tell people this all the time) is I’ve been able to kick you in the gut, while holding you and hugging you and you telling me how much you love me! Like, how do you do both?! But you do both so effectively! I’m so moved because I’m convicted, but I also feel loved and safe, to grow and to stay and to keep going. I know everybody wishes they had a Tasha in their life, but it really is. You’re one of my greatest gifts.

Latasha Morrison  16:19  

Yeah, and I like the fact that you know, your circle of friendship especially with women of color has expanded a lot. And so I’m not the only one you know, giving you truth or kicking you in the behind. But I do like your response because we have a lot of difficult conversations and challenging conversations. And we take a lot of this in increments, but, you know, your response has always been like, “Okay, I know.” You’re always listening. So I think that’s really—you don’t run away from and hide from me in this. So I think that’s good. And we do know, like, one of the things I always tell you is that this is a lifestyle, and you’re going to miss it, you’re going to make mistakes. But you get back up, you learn from them, and you keep moving. What does restorative justice look like to you? What does it mean? What does this look like to you?

Jennie Allen  17:26  

I think it’s really grown for me. I’m someone who feels very called to preach the gospel, and that’s my calling and that’s my lane. I’ve been trained to do it DTS [Dallas Theological Seminary], this is my lane. That’s what IF:Gathering exists for. However, I’ve always felt like this was such an issue. I don’t pick a lot of issues, right? I’m not very issue based, I kind of stick to my lane. But this for me was always an issue that bumps so hard and tragically up against the gospel, that it had to be handled and dealt with from our stage…

Latasha Morrison  18:02  

That was powerful what you just said, say that again! You gotta repeat that. Okay, so you just said, “it bumps so hard against the gospel.” 

 Jennie Allen  18:17  

I mean, it’s atrocious. And I mean, I felt it last night in the movie too. There’s so many things that are atrocious that bump up against the gospel. But one value I have had in all this, is I’m not going to pick every issue because I can’t be educated and I can’t actually live behind the scenes every issue. So I’m going to pick the ones that I can live out. And those are the things I’m going to use my platform for. And because of you and because of so many friends in my life that would speak truth to me, I was able to walk this out in private to where I felt confidence to speak about it more publicly. And so when it came to reparations and the politics of everything, I think I’ve always just—I haven’t understood. Now I was a Poli Sci [political science] minor and a broadcast journalism major. I saw my life as someone who thought problems could be solved politically, right? Like that was up until the point of being about 25. I wanted to go into political storytelling. I’ve never even talked about this bit! Because I really believed that was where the hope was. Now, as I grew up, and in the faith, I realized no—the hope is through the church, and how can we reform there? Now, it’s not to say that there’s not a place for political reparations and all that! That is where my…I guess it’s in balance it’s come back into my life where I really am watching and hopeful…I look at Just Mercy and what Bryan Stevenson is doing, and I’m like, how do I help? You know, how do I give? How do I help? I believe there’s things we can do with reparations in a way politically that matter, but the way I really feel called is through the church because we’ve got to be leading this! And you and I have seen the power the church has. So that’s not to negate the other, it’s just to say for me personally, my calling really shifted from politics to local church into discipleship. And where I think we can help the churches to be engaged in the work 1) Relationally: to not ignore the work, to see the problem, and to name the problem as racism and to do the work of repairing. And that begins—I’ve seen it best happen—through relationships. That’s how it’s happened in my life, and that’s how I think the church is best poised for it to happen in theirs. That’s why I believe in Be the Bridge so deeply: because it’s not just, “Kumbaya, let’s get together and let’s talk about our problems.” It’s contagious—hope. Let’s spread this possibility that maybe we have been naive here, you know, especially white women and white men. We have not participated in what Jesus cares about in the way that he cares about it. How do we realign our lives? You’ve taught me it’s using my voice, it’s leveraging my relationships and my platform, it is learning and reading and growing and not staying stagnant. And then the 1-on-1 conversation, you push me to the deeper, harder conversations. So I think that lifestyle for me has led to more advocacy, has led to hopefully more growth at the same time. I just want to say over and over and over and over again, because I know you know this…Because you know my life, and you know our office, and you know we’ve had issues behind the scenes here. We are not doing this near as well as I want to be! And it grieves me, but yet the only way forward is to keep walking, to not give up. I mean, even in my text last night, it was like, “Tasha I’m still in this with you—I’m still believing for greater things.” And I want to do the work and I don’t want to get complacent here because it matters. And I believe it is an absolute reflection of the gospel to the world in how we handle this and care about this.

Latasha Morrison  22:15  

That’s good. These conversations are ongoing and we know this is not work that happens overnight. And so it’s that lifestyle of change. What I would like to hear from you is, what do you see? You were really good—you saw this for me before I saw it for myself! Yeah, I have some audio.

Jennie Allen  22:41  

I was really confident if I told you to record it!

Latasha Morrison  22:44  

You were! I was like, wait a minute, like this not the same girl that I met in that restaurant! You were like, “Listen.” But I remember that conversation so well—it was in your living room, and we hadn’t known each other that long. But you were like, “This is it Tasha!” And not knowing all the questions I had in my head, not knowing all the things that God had done. Or the threads that were there even before 2012, the threads that have always been in my life when [I] look back, but sometimes it’s hard to see. There’s several people that are not surprised at the work that I’m doing now. Most of my friends who know me, they’re not surprised at all. I’m the one that is still surprised!

Jennie Allen  23:38  

Right. Oh, girl. I mean, let me just tell everybody a little bit what it was like. Because you weren’t leading the group—but you were, just kind of naturally you were. And you were alive! Like there was something about the energy in the room, and you making sure—bringing layers to what was happening in the room, that you made sure that everybody felt heard. And there was a conviction in you that was deep, and that conviction was able to pull everyone up to the table and have them see each other. And I have no doubt that group went so well because of your leadership. We listened because you taught us to listen, we cared because you taught us to care. We were not the, you know…I always think about the part in [your] book where you teach us (and you’ve had me read other books) just about the white women crying all the time.

 Latasha Morrison  24:44  

Yes, right.

Jennie Allen  24:45  

And I’m like, yeah you got that from us! That white guilt, you taught us, “Hey, that’s not okay.” You lead the group in such a way that we could all learn and we could all be there and be present. And people didn’t quit! I look back at that and I’m like, wow, everybody really leaned in and stayed. And I know that couldn’t have been easy for more than half the room that were women of color, especially during that season where Ferguson [took] off, and there’s so much hurt. I just saw a supernatural grace and gift over your life, to be able to take different people coming from different situations and bring them together. And I’ve seen you do that again and again, in the most loaded of times, with the most divided people. Truly I believe, Tasha, I felt that then and I see it still today: it is a supernatural gift from God, that you are uniquely built for this with your personality and your gifts. And you are uniquely appointed and anointed for it. It’s supernatural. Because everybody can listen to it! I watched it in a room! A lot of times when you’re speaking, I’ll stand in the back to feel the room out, you know, right? And I’ve watched in rooms where it’s primarily white (I’m thinking of smaller rooms that I’ve watched you do this), and I’m thinking, “Oh, she’s doing what she does to me!” Which is like, saying the hard thing, and the room is laughing and leaning forward, and they’re all in. And I just think, “Wow.” This is so perfect for you, and you are able to strategically—that’s the other thing I saw in you quickly—you were able to strategically think of how to multiply it. I mean, I called you weeks before IF:Gathering and said “Hey, let’s do this conversation on our stage.” It was to take what we’ve been doing privately and do it on the stage. Well, people hadn’t been doing that, at that point, publicly in the church and in Christendom. A huge risk! And yet you were like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” And we said…

Latasha Morrison  24:55  

Wait a minute! Wait a bit!

Jennie Allen  26:56  

Was it your idea?! 

Latasha Morrison  26:57  

No, it was your idea. It was definitely your idea. But let’s get…

Jennie Allen  27:05  

I was gonna skip over that part!

Latasha Morrison  27:07  

You always skip over that part! First you said, “Create a guide.” And I had already, like you said, been thinking of this process we had been going through and I had written these words down: Awareness, Acknowledgement, Shame and Guilt; probably just a few months before this conversation. So you were like, “Can you do a guide?” You had just had IF:Pray and you said, “Something short, we need something simple and I know it’s so complex, but just to get people started?” You know, I remember you saying that. Right. And that’s when I was like, okay, to the guide. So that was around October, and then it wasn’t until December, basically January, when you said, “We want to model this, we need to model it. It’s not just about having a guide…Let’s model it!”

Jennie Allen  28:03  

I was like, I feel it might have been a few weeks before IF, which is the first of February. So that was, you know, more than… 

Latasha Morrison  28:09  

It was very close. It was very close! 

Jennie Allen  28:12  

And then we just threw it all up on the stage! This is the part I don’t like. Because you wanted me to introduce you. And I’m like, “Ah, Tasha has got it.” And I’m sitting up in the top in the balcony, like so far away from the stage. 

Latasha Morrison  28:29  

Oh, my god, that was so funny! Just that. 

Narrator  28:34  

[musical break]

Latasha Morrison  28:45  

Before we close up, you know, I know you have so many voices that are inspiring you and impacting your life. And we just talked about some of the things that you’re doing in your life personally. But for the people who are listening, if a person is white like you, what encouragement do you have to give white women? And then I would want to hear some encouragement you have for women of color.

Jennie Allen  29:23  

Hmmm.

Latasha Morrison  29:24  

Sorry, I know I got you there. That wasn’t on the sheet!

Jennie Allen  29:31  

That’s good, I love that question. I think for white women, I would just say don’t fatigue. I think when life gets harder in our private worlds—and we’re recording this in the midst of quarantine and COVID-19—it’s easy to want to comfort ourselves with things that are easier. And I’ve really prayed, Tasha, for you and for this work, because I don’t want this to slow down. I think as hard as your job is and [as hard as] the work is (and I watched Bryan Stevenson’s [work] last night), I’m like, “Lord persevere in this work because it will change over generations.” As it has, right? It’s gotten better. Martin Luther King couldn’t have imagined where we would be today. And yet, he would still dream of a better world. And so we have to do this. I remember one time telling you, I guess maybe it’s the same advice I’d give to women of color who are listening, and people of color. It’s just don’t fatigue. I know building a bridge is hard. And it’s got to happen from both sides. That’s what’s been so beautiful about our friendship—you’ve kept building on your side, and I’ve kept building on mine, and so we’ve gotten to see great fruit from that. And we’ve gotten to see a bridge that works, where we bring many friends over onto that bridge and they’ve enjoyed the fruit of that work. But that work was done in such a way that we could have both walked away at different points, especially you. And I want to say that this work is way…We fatigue. You guys get hurt. And that’s the perspective I would say, is just recognize how costly—I look at that movie last night, Just Mercy, and I watched the faces and the cost to the people of color that had to stand up and say the hard thing. It was just so high, the risks that they took. [We] have got to recognize, as white people, that fatigue is nothing compared to the hurt and the fear. And so let’s just stay building. To women of color, this is what I’ll pray for you, and what I pray for Tasha all the time: that there would be vision of your kids’ kids, and that you could see that this work is building into their generation and their lives. Because I don’t know that the fruit comes fast enough to feel rewarding here. You [Tasha] would have to answer that question, but I’m sure you wish daily like it all went faster. And yet I know it matters. And I know, for generations, it will matter more than we can even imagine.

Latasha Morrison  32:19  

Yeah, that’s good. I think that is one of the reasons why a lot of people of color are going to see, [people of color] that are doing this work: they’re doing this not just for themselves. They’re not really doing it for themselves, they’re doing it for the generation after. When I talk to my grandmother and I say, you know, “Why did you march for voting rights?” In North Carolina, seeing the danger of being arrested or being beaten or murdered or dogs or a water hose, just so that you can have the right to vote—she saw the power of that, and that’s why I’m so adamant as it relates to voter suppression stuff like that. People gave their lives. So I asked her that question and she said, “I did it for my children…I wish I didn’t have to do it, because it was hard. It was scary, but I did it for my children.” And therefore, that sacrifice, the blood sacrifice that one generation makes for another, is also so that next generation can breathe a little bit more, they can walk further on that bridge, you know. So I think that’s what we’re headed for. We’re going to get fatigued, we’re going to get tired. Now, if you had money, and money wasn’t a limit, and there were no obstacles or barriers—what would you do to move us closer toward racial healing and racial reconciliation? If there were no obstacles, there was no limit, no barriers. sIf you were just dreaming, what would you do?

Jennie Allen  34:04  

I think exposure and education are so primary in this, and so the more you can get…I just am so in awe of the visions God gives you, Tasha, because of the whole youth and adoption world. Basically, you’re fighting for the next generation. And the more we can fight for them to understand the issues at a younger age, I’m like, where do you cut off the head? You know, after watching that movie last night I’m just so mad. Where do you go where you’re going to get the most change quickly? And it’s young. If you can hit young before the hate has built and built over time—and they see the hate when they’re more pure hearted—and they’re more open to change, growing and learning, I just think the results are faster and you’re cutting it off younger. I want to speak to those that are listening that are in their sixties, seventies, older fifties, that I’ve seen change! I mean, I’ve seen some of the greatest reformers and advocates here. So I’m not dismissing the responsibility we all have. But if I had all the money in the world that I could do anything to like, blow wind in the sail of what God is doing through you, I would say give it to every school. To every youth group. To everybody under the age of 21 that you can, every college campus. And let’s see that next generation do this differently. Because I think that’s where we’re going to see a generational shift, when a generation rises up and says, “Not on our watch.” I think our generation, a lot of us did rise up and say that. But I think the next generation could do it in math form, and from an early age, and that would be really powerful. 

Latasha Morrison  36:03  

I agree, and that is exactly why we started Be the Bridge Youth. And we just had an incredible, incredible training with youth. Just as we were talking about some of the racial disparities, and you start connecting the dots for them and giving them context, they are left with their mouths open. Just like you’re learning so much about history in our systems now, a lot of this stuff is hidden from us. It’s stuff that we don’t talk about, if it’s not a part of our circle, we don’t hear about [it]. I agree that if this next generation, if they are taught…Just imagine if we were like Germany in the sense, teaching all history, even unfavorable history, telling the full story of people in our history from the age of five on. Ideologies and all that stuff would begin to shift. So I agree, and I’m so grateful for you, friend! I want you to tell people, how can they follow you? We’ll have this in the show notes. But where do they follow you on all the socials?

Jennie Allen  37:18  

Yeah, so just go to JennieAllen.com and everything is there. J-E-N-N-I-E A-L-L-E-N dot com.

Latasha Morrison  37:24  

Okay, and so we’ll put that information up there for you guys to follow. Jennie, thank you for being on our anniversary edition! For really talking and using your voice in this, and sharing a little bit of your heart today.

Jennie Allen  37:43  

Well, let me say one thing since it’s your anniversary, you know what I do for birthdays and things? You know… 

Latasha Morrison  37:50  

You sing?

Jennie Allen  37:49  

I make sure that…well I give everybody, you know…I make ’em get on the hot seat of receiving some love and praise because girl, it’s your day! So let me just say this: that you have run this race so well. And it is not an easy race and you are running it with such grace and with the love of Jesus all over you. And it is beautiful to watch, and I’m so honored to get to watch it as close as I get to watch it. So I love you friend! Happy anniversary! I’m excited for the 20th and 30th anniversary. It’s gonna keep going! 

Latasha Morrison  38:29  

Okay, so I did say, “What do you see for Be the Bridge in the next four years?” And you just say that you see another 30 years?! Okay!

 Jennie Allen  38:37  

Sorry. I know. On some days it’s like, “Oh darn!” But I know in heaven we will say we’re glad we did the work. 

Latasha Morrison  38:50  

Yes. Well I’m so grateful for you. Thank you so much. 

Jennie Allen  38:54  

Love you, friend.

Latasha Morrison  38:54  

Okay, talk to you later.

 

Narrator  38:57  

Thank you for listening to this Be the Bridge production. For more bridge building resources, visit our website at bethebridge.com. [music outro]

 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai