Colors of Influence Reviews

The experience of uprooting from one's homeland is both transformative and cathartic. Finding a sense of belonging can be elusive, yet embracing such change requires remarkable courage and wisdom. The Home Within by Nina Aziz Justin is a soulful memoir that explores themes of identity, belonging, resilience, and self-discovery across cultures and life transitions. Divided into three parts—The Departure, The Becoming, and The Return—the book chronicles the author's journey from childhood in Malaysia to life across continents, including England, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. It delves into her experiences as a migrant, mother, entrepreneur, and advocate, examining her multifaceted identity shaped by Malaysian roots, Muslim faith, and life as a global citizen. Through personal stories, cultural insights, and philosophical musings, Justin navigates the complexities of migration, motherhood, and self-reinvention with grace. She emphasizes resilience, self-compassion, ...

Understanding the nature of conflict and the roots of resistance is critical to developing the resolve for change. Looking at the vibrant legacy of the Haitian people – with strong Indigenous and African foundations – Woody R. Clermont’s From Taino Suns to Phoenix Flames: A Story of Haiti offers a comprehensive exploration of Haiti’s history, culture, and resilience. The book begins with the Taíno people, the island’s Indigenous inhabitants, highlighting their rich cosmology, agricultural innovations, and spiritual traditions before European colonization. ​ It delves into the brutal impact of the arrival of Columbus and colonialism, including genocide, slavery, and exploitation, while exposing the hypocrisy of ideals that excluded non-Europeans. The narrative then transitions to the Haitian Revolution. The book examines Haiti’s post-independence struggles, including internal divisions, foreign interference, and the crippling indemnity debt imposed by France. It also highlights Hai...

The Rev. Dr. Sequola Dawson delivers a bold and necessary intervention in her critique of Black Church funeral practices. Identifying as an “earth theologian” and “bereavement minister,” Dawson advocates for environmentally conscious “green funerals” that honor both God’s covenant with the faithful and our collective responsibility to steward the land. Her arguments are firmly anchored in ecclesial training, environmental research, intimate knowledge of the Black community, and practical experience with parishioners. (Pictured above is the author) I am a non-Black person of color interested in nature-based burial practices. I approach The Green Funeral: Honoring the Environment While Beautifying Funeral Practices  with awareness of my social location and the limitations of my perspective on Black traditions and experiences. What makes it particularly compelling is Dawson’s unvarnished perspective on the Black Church. She doesn’t shy away from challenging long-held beliefs and a...

Through different Buddhist traditions, the dharma spread through storytelling, with teachers sharing their experiences and observations of awakening to truth, reality, and greater wisdom. In Emergent Dharma , this vital tradition is brilliantly rekindled through the voices of Asian American women artists, scholars, activists, educators, and healers. Edited by Sharon A. Suh, PhD, this volume compiles poignant narratives of deepening and transforming their relationship to Buddhist traditions, offering a contemporary lens on the experiences of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States. Each essay powerfully articulates the evolving, liberatory nature of personal practices through acts of reframing, inviting readers to consider how cultural nuances can reshape and enrich spiritual practice. Mihiri Tillakaratne offers the liberatory path of embodying a “Bad Buddhist Auntie” – a figure who fearlessly reflects and bridges the sometimes-paradoxical demands of diaspora...

Gabrielle Felder’s The Five Blessings of Ifa is a profound exploration of Ifa, a 10,000-year-old spiritual tradition practiced in modern-day Nigeria and Benin. Felder chronicles her lifelong exploration of various spiritual traditions, including her departure from her family’s traditional Christian heritage. Leveraging her natural science background, Felder embarks on a deeply personal quest into spirituality as an apprentice to an Ifa elder. She offers her evolving understanding of the complex divination system and wisdom tradition. Approaching the book as a non-Black reader, I was drawn to its exploration of nature-centric spiritual paths. As a Filipino American on a decolonial journey, I’ve been particularly curious about how other people of color from different diasporic generations engage with their lineages, especially when living away from their ancestral lands. I am grateful for Felder’s earnest sharing of her journey through various African traditional and diasporic religi...

Martheaus Perkins’ The Grace of Black Mothers is a powerful collection of verse that illuminates the resilience, sacrifice, and fierce love of Black mothers, aunties, and grandmothers. Through intimate portraits rendered in poetry, Perkins captures the weight of systemic racism, misogyny, and poverty. However, he also reveals the transformative strength of maternal devotion that sustains families and communities across generations. Perkins demonstrates a remarkable range through an inventive voice, style, and form that weaves together multiple cultural layers—locality, generation, and gender. From Houston to Center, the poet depicts the labor of Black motherhood in a Southern state. Perkins traverses devastating terrain, from lamentations for grieving children lost to racist violence, to celebrations of everyday generosity and selflessness. These poems capture both unimaginable sorrow and unbending grace, evoking a strong sense of respect and reverence for Black women. Perkins dem...

Eddie had never been away from his mom and dad, so he was understandably anxious about spending several weeks living with his grandparents at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota during the summer. Away from the comforts of the city, Eddie began to learn how his grandparents managed the farm and the surrounding land. After his grandpa gifted him a set of “bone horses,” he started to appreciate the rhythm of rural life with his Indigenous elders. He began to understand the stories his grandparents shared. Although they primarily spoke English, they also knew the Dakota language. Each task on the farm felt like a ceremony: from caring for Grandpa’s beloved horse, Buck, to gathering worms for fishing bait. In the chapter book The Summer of the Bone Horses , Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve tells the story of her brother’s summer away from home in 1944, when he lived with their maternal grandparents on a reservation. Through a collaboration with Indigenous artist Steph Littlebird, the bo...