First Posted at TenSpeaks I had a white male mentor once early in my career. For reasons unknown to me then, but which are much clearer to me 20 plus years later, he took a liking to me and voluntarily took me “under his wings”. He helped me a lot and I appreciated it. But I also helped him a lot, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I guess his mentoring was his way of showing me that... Read more
On July 17, 2015, Officer Conner Schilling shot and killed Darrius Stewart after a routine traffic stop for a busted tail light. We here at R3 are following the story in an attempt to keep our readers informed and to report how the media is framing the story. The reporting here is from July 27-August 1. At a recent Darrius Stewart rally, Ronald Herd of WeAllBeTV , interviewed Tami Sawyer, Paul Garner, R3 Contributor Earle Fisher and R3 Founder and Managing Editor... Read more
At a recent Darrius Stewart rally, Ronald Herd of WeAllBeTV , interviewed Tami Sawyer, Paul Garner, R3 Contributor Earle Fisher and R3 Founder and Managing Editor Andre E. Johnson. The interviews focused on the movement building in Memphis around police misconduct. See the videos below Read more
As an attorney and workplace diversity expert, Attorney Ellis’ career has been an exciting mix of law firm, in-house, government, self-employment and currently, academia. But regardless of the professional title, her passion…both professionally and personally…has always been the pursuit of a world free from discrimination and harassment based on race, sex, national origin, color and all the other ways in which we diminish each other. As a professional speaker and “agitator”, she engages and provokes audiences to think more deeply... Read more
Facing Ourselves in Silence discusses an array of topics from everyday life. The collection talks about love, regret, frustration, but also understanding and forgiveness. As human beings, we all face the anxiety of life. It is the human experience to cry, laugh, and wonder why we are here. It is also normal to feel alone during this process called life. This book shows the reader that they are not alone. Throughout the reading of this book, one will experience many... Read more
University of Cincinnati Police officer Ray Tensing shot and killed an unarmed black man Samuel DuBose. At the time of this writing, prosecutor Joe Deters indicted him on murder charges and his bail has been set at one million dollars. I believe it is safe to say that Ray Tensing would not have been indicted with a million dollar bail had it not been camera footage of the incident—camera footage that by the way, came from Officer Tensing’s own... Read more
Here’s the truth. Whether Sister Sandra Bland’s death came by way of self asphyxiation, or was murdered by racist cop(s), is irrelevant to the overarching theme of her mysterious death. Media and white supremacy has done a marvelous job, yet again, at distracting us from the main focus in that being police brutality. If one has any sort of social lucidity, then you know all to well how this saga plays out. They portray the Black victim as the antagonist,... Read more
Editors’ Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on the Future of Progressive Christianity in America. Read other perspectives beginning this evening here. In May of 2015, the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life surprised both conservatives and progressives with its findings in their “America’s Changing Landscape” report. In it, many discovered that “the Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized... Read more
In the first clip, during a recent interview, R3 Founder and Managing Editor Andre E. Johnson talked about how police officers frame blackness. In the second clip, BuzzFeed examines why it is hard for grand juries (or juries in general) to indict officers, even with video evidence. WMC Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee Read more
Here are the top posts for the week of July 20-26, 2015 on the Rhetoric Race and Religion Blog. We ask that you share this with others. 1. Memphis Has a Hashtag: #DarriusStewart; #JusticeForDarrius by Andre E. Johnson But something else happened out there that night. Through the pain and sorrow; through the heartbreak and turmoil of yet another black youth dead at the hands of state sponsored terrorism, there was a spirit of commitment. Led by family members who vowed... Read more
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