With Black History Month fast approaching, it is fitting to investigate the latest call to get rid of it. This investigation may seem futile to some feminists/womanists since we know denials of racism are part of life in white supremacy… Read More ›
Racism
Wisdom Fiction (Part 2) by Elise M. Edwards
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston In my previous two posts, I’ve discussed the wisdom that can be found in black women’s literature. Continuing this series,… Read More ›
Truth in Storytelling by Elise M. Edwards
“[Shakespeare] was an alright writer. I did not always understand him, but some things he said were beautiful and he made some things so clear the way he explained people. But one thing he was wrong about. That ‘To be… Read More ›
Thoughts on Race and Being Jewish by Ivy Helman
When studying the Shoah, it is extremely important for teachers to introduce students to the 1800s concept of race “science,” which is what I have been doing in my classes over the past few weeks. An American and European development,… Read More ›
You Deserve It: Punishment and Reward in a Patriarchal Society by Ivy Helman
A friend recently told me that I deserve a vacation. I brushed it off and replied that I haven’t been working that hard. Ever since, I’ve been troubled by that comment and have been reflecting on why it bothers me… Read More ›
Does the Term “Women of Color” Bother You? By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I recently came back from a weeklong camping retreat for Christian faculty and their families in beautiful Catalina (an island an hour’s boat ride away from the Southern Californian mainland). This year’s conference theme was “Power Revealed: Gifts, Dangers, and Possibilities.”… Read More ›
The Whence of the Isms of (the) U(nited)S(tates)… by Marcia Mount Shoop
Thus, when enemies or friends Are seen to act improperly, Be calm and call to mind That everything arises from conditions. -Shantideva, Bodhicharyāvatāra The early Indian teacher, Shantideva, calls humanity to a deeper exploration of the people and situations we… Read More ›
Changing the American Story? by Carol P. Christ
In a moving part of Goddess and God in the World, the book Judith Plaskow and I are writing together, Judith describes how the Sabra and Shatila massacre forced her to confront the fact that “her people” are just as… Read More ›
A Christian Response to Racism, Sexism, & the Rise of American Terrorism by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
As our country reels in horror at the brutal massacre of nine worshipers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one particularly important detail has emerged: the young man who killed those nine people entered the world of white supremacism after… Read More ›
Feminism, Race, and Religion: An Interview with Sikivu Hutchinson by Kile Jones
While black Churches are burning, and black children are being gunned down by police, I felt it important to speak with someone who is involved in raising awareness on the role of racism and cultural imperialism in American society. I… Read More ›
In Praise of Darkness by Adam F. Braun
This reflection was initially a part of an attempt to create radical liturgies that might connect the frequent theological bias towards ‘light’ and the implicit White Supremacy that such theologies perpetuate. In addition, this particular reflection was inspired by a… Read More ›
University of Oklahoma and Female Complicity in Patriarchy by Cynthia Garrity-Bond
By now most, if not all, readers of FAR have read or watched the disturbing YouTube video of University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) Fraternity sing their racist chant. The two male SAE members who led the “song” were… Read More ›
Role Play: In Search of the Authenticity of My Being by Elise Edwards
“I stood in the authenticity of my being: Black, preacher, Baptist, woman. For the same God who made me a preacher made me a woman, and I am convinced that God was not confused on either account.” – Reverend Dr…. Read More ›
Education, Anti-Semitism, a Counter Narrative and a Different World by Ivy Helman
It’s pretty common knowledge that education changes lives. It opens doors, improves health, promotes gender equality, decreases poverty, promotes civic involvement and has many other benefits. This is true for basic literacy campaigns as well as sex education, access to… Read More ›
The Work of Justice-Making by Xochitl Alvizo
Written two weeks ago on December 5, 2014, but offered still as some food for thought: I’m supposed to be writing my dissertation. Hand on the plow, no looking back. I have even left town for the whole month of… Read More ›
“Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue:” Finding Hope in Justice-Seeking Movements. by Ivy Helman
For the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about racism in the United States and rightly so. It is clear from the lack of charges and the repetition of similar crimes across the United States by… Read More ›
Awake! Awake! A Reflection on the Awakening of Conscience and Advent by Elise M. Edwards
‘Tis the season to be…? For me, this has not been a season to be jolly. I teach at a university, and again, I’m in the midst of the most hectic time of year of grading and exams and wrapping… Read More ›
The Cop on the Beat is Not Ice-T, the Prosecutor Is Not Sam Waterston, and Mariska Hargitay and S. Epatha Merkerson Are Not in Charge, by Carol P. Christ
I have watched every episode of Law and Order and Law and Order SVU, and most of them more than once. Though there is police violence on these programs, it is usually investigated, and viewers are given the sense that… Read More ›
On Believability, Oppression and Ferguson by Sara Frykenberg
Last week, Amina Wadud wrote an important post, “Justice for Mike Brown,” discussing Mike Brown’s death in light of Brown vs. The Board of Education, Plessy vs. Ferguson and the injustice faced by African American Communities, particularly in the US… Read More ›
Justice for Mike Brown? by amina wadud
I was born the year the Supreme Court of the United States of America began to hear Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; a case that ought to be known to all as a matter of US history. Here… Read More ›
Fannie Lou Hamer’s Commitment to Life by Elise M. Edwards
A few weeks ago, I came across a postcard that I was given at a conference last year. I got the postcard (advertisement?) because it has a picture of Fannie Lou Hamer on it, and in my home and office,… Read More ›
“The White Privilege Media Bucket Challenge” @blackgirldang
Recently Michele Stopera Freyhauf posted an important blog about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and parallel challenges that are making use of this medium; including Orlando Jones’ reimagining of this challenge, in which he dumped a bucket of bullet shell… Read More ›
What Feminists of Color Taught Me In the Wake of the Michael Brown Shooting by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Like many others, I’ve been following the aftermath of the recent shooting death of an 18-year old black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri with a mixture of shock and horror. Mainstream news coverage and my Facebook newsfeed… Read More ›
Systemic Violence and the Killing of Michael Brown by Xochitl Alvizo
Oppression is systemic. Injustice is systemic. It pervades the whole – it seeps into everyday actions and becomes habits and patterns that function as default. As a result, the actions that fall within these patterns hardly need justifying. If… Read More ›
Donald Sterling, Racism, the Social Construction of REALITY, and the Power of WORDS by Paula L. McGee
My dissertation: The Wal-Martization of African American Religion and much of my work talks about the social construction of identity, racism, sexism and the power of brand®ed identities and celebrity. I keep seeing images and hearing those WORDS or sound… Read More ›
I Believe Anita! by Marie Cartier
During the past week I attended a Los Angeles premiere of a new documentary Anita: Speaking Truth to Power (Dir: Freida Lee Mock USA, 2013). The screening was sold out and I had great seats saved for me– sitting with… Read More ›
Musings on Reification by Sara Frykenberg
The following is a bit of a messy and meandering blog: a kind of a ‘brain train,’ that starts with a question of reification and eating disorders, and moves into a sense of the literal ‘consuming’ nature of oppression. So… Read More ›
Segregation by Carol P. Christ
As I think about the incarceration of young black men for relatively minor drug crimes, and the murders of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, I cannot help but compare the astonishing progress that Americans have made in overcoming prejudice against… Read More ›
“Never Again…” by Ivy Helman
Every year, the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance, GLILA, sponsors an interfaith service on genocide. During these services, the community gathers together to remember, to mourn, to heal, to honor and to work towards a world in which Elie Wiesel’s… Read More ›
Yes, You’re a Homophobe by John Erickson
Jesus loved sinners and Jesus would rather be dancing with me in West Hollywood on a Friday night than lugging through a swamp luring ducks into a trap with a duck caller made by a clan who think that my sexual actions are similar to that of an individual having sex with an animal.
