Following the murders of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, Kelly Brown Douglas released her book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. In this critical work, she details the embedding of structural violence within the doctrine of American Exceptionalism and the deep rooted racial injustice that our nation was founded upon.
George Floyd. It has been a week. But, not really just a week. Months. Years. Decades. Centuries. 1,253 black human beings have died at the hands of law enforcement in the United States since 2015. And we just keep watching…. Read More ›
In a recent post I wrote about finding God in music. I confess, I cannot remember the last time I set foot in a church. As a woman, I continually grapple with the foundational messages of Jesus and Catholic Social… Read More ›
It is in our hearts –one’s sense of superiority exists within. We are all and each capable of hate and bigotry. It is considered the appropriate and necessary response to say that there is no room for it “here” –… Read More ›
I have been struck in this new year by the reactions to the recently released movie Selma. There has been a palpable recognition by those of who have seen it, that “the more things change, the more they stay the… Read More ›
In my church tradition, we have just entered the 3rd week of Advent. In today’s blog I share just a brief excerpt from the sermon which I preached on Sunday. I hope it at least inspires reflection on where we… Read More ›
Just as crises can reveal the strengths of our infrastructure, so too can they reveal the weaknesses. At the same time, a crisis can disclose the enormity as well as the limitations of our humanity. Even as the current Ebola… Read More ›
In these last several weeks, the horror that one out of four women will encounter domestic violence- sometimes referred to as “intimate partner” violence- in their life time has come to the national forefront. Indeed, women are more likely than… Read More ›
I was asked recently what frustrates me most about theology. I am a theologian, and love doing theology. Nevertheless, I do have my moments of frustration with the theological enterprise. I am most frustrated when theology loses its dynamic edge… Read More ›
Within the Christian tradition, this week – l known as Holy Week – is perhaps the most significant week on the Christian calendar. During this week Christians are called to contemplate and to remember the core events of Christian identity—the… Read More ›
As a “Christian womanist theologian” I was very engaged by the recent dialogue concerning “Gendered Imagery of God” (March 13). In response to that very thoughtful post, it was asserted that Christian womanist have not addressed this issue, especially as… Read More ›
Theology is faith seeking understanding. Faith is that ineffable, intangible spiritual apparatus that keeps us in relationship to a transcendent, infinite god. It is, for Christians, the core of their relationship with the god of Jesus Christ. Yet, as Karen… Read More ›
A few weeks ago, after delivering a sermon, a young woman approached me and said she had a question about my sermon. I of course braced myself for the question as I ran my sermon back over in my head… Read More ›
It matters that he consistently affirmed, empowered, and befriended those who were the outcast, marginalized, oppressed, and rejected of his day—such as Samaritans and women. A firestorm has been set off recently concerning the self-assured observations by Fox News anchor… Read More ›
The time for false solidarity is over…Let’s us stop talking about it, let us just dig deep inside of ourselves and find a way to do it. Fifty years ago in response to President Kennedy’s assassination Martin Luther King Jr…. Read More ›
As I contemplate the state of our world from the rhetoric of shut-downs to stand your ground, from the self-righteousness of political discourse to the dogma of ecclesiastic pronouncements, and from the justifications for political inequality to the explanations for… Read More ›
When I was little my mother use to always tell me to “stand up straight.” It is probably because of my mother’s plea that one particular bible story became one of my favorites. It is a story that comes from… Read More ›
According to a recent online CNN report (15 September 2013) an 8 year old girl in Yemani died from internal injuries after her wedding night. Apparently this was not the first time a young Yemeni girl died under these circumstances. … Read More ›
July 2008 the United States House of Representatives passes a resolution apologizing for the more than two hundred years of slavery and the decades of Jim Crow that followed. June 2009 the United States Senate passes a resolution apologizing for… Read More ›
Kelly Brown Douglas wrote recently on Feminism and Religion about the celebrations in black communities on Juneteeth when the emancipation of slaves became a reality in the formerly Confederate states. Sadly, on June 25th 2013 the Supreme Court announced its… Read More ›
Tomorrow is a special day for me. It is Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, news finally reached Galveston, Texas that slavery had been abolished. This was of course two and a half years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. While… Read More ›
Her name was Tricia Meili. Their names were Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson. On April 19, 1989 all of their lives were irrevocably changed. They would never meet, but their lives would become forever… Read More ›
Son: My friends and I were stopped for going 61 mph in a 55 mph zone, frisked and had our car searched. We thought the police were going after the car of white boys in front of us going at… Read More ›
If knowledge is power, not knowing is privilege. It has long since been understood that knowledge is power. Women and other subjugated voices have recognized that those who control the world are those who define the world— and define not simply what… Read More ›
The more I reflect upon the complex and multiple ways in which various bodies are put upon and disregarded, the more I am persuaded that we have a body problem. Our bodies communicate to us in many ways. They are… Read More ›
The notion of the bad body allows for bad things to be done to any body and anything human or non-human that has become body identified. Where did it all begin? How has it happened that we have nurtured such… Read More ›
When we were growing up, my dad would often exclaim to my sisters, brother and me, “You got the world in a jug with the stopper in your hand.” He most often said this when he noticed us indulging in… Read More ›
Freedom is about the elimination of systems and structures that privilege some and penalize others. Not too long ago, my son asked me how people who knew what it felt like to be denied justice, could deny others justice. It… Read More ›
“Ooh, Ohh there’s something going all wrong”, Ma Rainey sang. There is indeed something going all wrong in the black church. This church, which is born out of the commitment to safeguard the life and freedom of all black… Read More ›
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