The Final Fight
A few weeks ago, Dr. John M. Perkins passed away at 94.
Many of you knew him, or at least of him. For those who didn't: he was a man convinced that “love is the final fight.” Dr. Perkins was a minister, author, and civil rights activist. After facing significant persecution, he remained committed to reconciliation, believing that the only way through was to outlove the people and systems that hurt him.
Dr. John Perkins
Dr. Perkins was the same everywhere, in all the different circles that he walked in. He was a truth-teller who lived his faith on his sleeve, in love, in whatever room he found himself in. We live in a moment when division can often feel less like a problem to be solved and more like the water we swim in; Dr. Perkins’ life is a reminder of the power of countercultural love, grace, and forgiveness.
As a part of our graphic novel series, we published a mini-comic, Outloved, last year on the life of Dr. Perkins. We're sharing it again now, because his story continues to ask something of whoever encounters it.
The life of Dr. Perkins is exactly the kind of story we seek to share on our Substack, Salt and Light Stories.
The Greek philosopher Damon of Athens once said, "Give me the songs of a nation and you can have his laws." Songs shape souls. They lodge in our memories, shape our moral appetites, and move culture in ways that policy papers rarely can. Long after arguments fade, melodies remain.
Over the past 16 months, we have been publishing Salt and Light Stories, mini-comics telling the lives of people who embodied faithful presence in their communities: Larry Norman, William Wilberforce, John Perkins, Fred Rogers, Arthur Guinness, and others. Those stories are now complete, and we are working toward a graphic novel and Kickstarter campaign to put them into print.
As we do, we're launching something new alongside them.
Salt and Light Songs is a monthly series in which we invite a musician to reflect on one of our chapters, through conversation and song. The format is relaxed and conversational, something like a “Tiny Desk” session: we sit down together, talk about their story and craft and what it means to them to create with conviction, and then they’ll play something inspired by a mini-comic from Salt and Light Stories. Subscribe to follow along as we release new conversations and performances.
In our last newsletter, we reflected on “virtue modeling,” asserting that “culture isn't preserved through arguments, important as arguments are. It is preserved through the small, visible, repeated acts of care that tell those around us what we believe is worth maintaining… Virtue is not taught, it is caught. And virtue signaling, it turns out, is how we and the world are made.”
This is why we celebrated the celebration of marriage during the Super Bowl Halftime show. We hope Salt and Light Songs motivates and personifies ways that we can work toward the common good and flourishing of our society. John Perkins spent his life singing a version of that song by the way that he loved. Inspired by him, we hope to do the same.