Race, Religion, and Social Change: A Campus Conversation
Abstract
In the wake of national debates on race following last year鈥檚 incidents in Ferguson and Staten Island, campuses all across America are struggling to respond appropriately. As part of md传媒国产剧 College鈥檚 ongoing efforts to shed light on the role of race in America, three speakers from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds will join us on March 25 to continue the campus conversation. More specifically, the panelists will examine the intersection of race, religion, and movements of social change, from both contemporary and historical perspectives.
Speaker Bios
Event Photos
Event Recap
The national debate over race has intensified in the last eight months as the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Freddie Gray (among many others) by police officers have sparked nationwide protests and exposed strong disagreements about the extent of racial injustice in modern America. To help us grapple with these crucial issues among our own community, the Boisi Center invited three theologians to discuss the inter- section of race, religion and movements for social change. Billed as a 鈥渃ampus conversation,鈥 the March 25 event drew several hundred students, faculty and staff to the large Devlin 008 auditorium, and connected them to a broader, semester-long effort across the university to engage the BC community in discussion of racial issues.
Boisi Center鈥檚 associate director Erik Owens opened the session by commending students for their activism and engagement last semester, and remarking that this event would not have occurred with- out the vigorous student-led protests that brought this issue to the forefront.
The first panelist to speak was professor Shawn Copeland, an African-American Catholic theologian in BC鈥檚 theology department. Copeland argued that racism is a combination of 鈥減rejudice plus power,鈥 built on fundamentally false assumptions that directly contradict the Judeo-Christian notion of 鈥渋mago dei,鈥 that humans are made in the image of God. Too often, Copeland continued, Christianity has colluded in the formation of racial bias, and it is an ongoing challenge to practice the values we preach. Copeland ended on a hopeful note, saying that the activism of BC students inspired faculty members like herself to be a better person and scholar.
Latina Catholic theologian Nichole Flores, a Ph.D. candidate in theology at BC and instructor at St. Anselm College (and former Boisi Center research assistant), focused on the idea of aesthetic solidarity. How can we use arts and performances to foster a solidaristic com- munity, Flores asked, especially when racial discourse comes to an impasse? Drawing on anecdotes from her own teaching experience, Flores suggested some productive answers, and noted that performative protests like the die-in can have a profound effect on bystanders.
Walter Fluker, an African-American Protestant theologian from md传媒国产剧 University, picked up on Flores鈥檚 theme, noting how civil rights songs galvanized the movement in the 1960s. Moving beyond aesthetics, Fluker discussed the theology of Howard Thurman, who insisted that one must not neglect interior spirituality while leading movements of social change. Fluker discussed these ideas in the light of Martin Luther King, Jr.,鈥檚 civil rights movement, which was heavily influenced by Thurman. Speaking of the relationship between religion and social change more broadly, Fluker memorably stated, 鈥淎ny religion that does not honor freedom is not good religion.鈥
In the discussion period that followed, one student bemoaned how popular apps like Yik Yak created new anonymous forums where racism can flourish. Copeland and Fluker noted that anonymity has always emboldened racism鈥攅ven the KKK wore hoods鈥攂ut that it is really a form of cowardice. Other audience members asked about the proper role for media depictions of race, and about the experience of black Christians who worship a God typically depicted as white. These questions provoked a fruitful discussion about political correctness, the potential pitfalls of idolatry and the current state of black churches, where attendance remains high despite a national trend toward secularism.
The frank discussion among audience members and panelists fulfilled the event鈥檚 charge to produce an honest campus conversation on race. 鈥淭here鈥檚鈥╪o real place in Christianity for political correctness,鈥 said Copeland. 鈥淭he burden of religion is to bridge us across lines that would usually divide us.鈥 Owens closed the event with a challenge for the audience to carry that conversation throughout md传媒国产剧 College, and beyond.
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Further Reading
Edward K. Braxton, 鈥,鈥澨The Messenger,听December 31, 2014.
M. Shawn Copeland, 鈥,鈥澨America,听July 7, 2014.
M. Shawn Copeland, editor, with LaReine-Marie Moseley and Albert J. Raboteau,听听(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009).
Nichole Flores, 鈥淭he Personal is Political: Toward a Vision of Justice in Latina Theology,鈥 in听,听ed. Linda Hogan and Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2014).
Lilly Fowler, 鈥,鈥澨St. Louis Post-Dispatch,听September 6, 2014.
Lilly Fowler, 鈥,鈥澨St. Louis Post-Dispatch,听October 15, 2014.
Lilly Fowler, 鈥,鈥澨St. Louis Post-Dispatch,听November 13, 2014.
Lilly Fowler, 鈥,鈥澨St. Louis Post-Dispatch,听November 21, 2014.
Walter Fluker, 鈥淟ooking For Martin: Black Leadership in an Era of Contested Post-Racism and Post-Blackness,鈥 in听听ed. Lewis V. Baldwin and Rufus Burrows (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013).
Walter Fluker,听听(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009).
Charles Marsh,听听(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008).
Judith Valente, 鈥,鈥澨America,听January 19, 2015.
Judith Valente, 鈥,鈥澨America,听January 27, 2015.
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux and DeNeen Brown, 鈥,鈥澨The Washington Post,听August 17, 2014.