Last night at dinner as the TV droned on in the Chinese take-out where we stopped on the way home, I had to explain to Isaiah, my eleven-year old son, that yet another racially motivated shooting had occurred in a town not so far away from us. Unfortunately, I have had to do this too many times in the last two years that my voice has won its strength. And he listens to me with big brown searching eyes waiting... Read more
Reverend Amy E. Steele, PhD, is an assistant dean and adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She has advanced degrees in religion and in ethics and society from Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt University. Her research interests are in the writings of Howard Thurman, black women’s literature, philosophical hermeneutics, spirituality, mass incarceration, and preaching. Her doctoral dissertation is entitled, “The Mystical Aesthetic: Howard Thurman and the Art of Meaning.” She is the mother/legal guardian of one son, Isaiah. A trusted... Read more
It is the great social critic, bell hooks, who uses the space of home as a site of resistance. Within that framework you can also place the church as a place of resistance. This homeplace, as she so aptly calls it, operates as a place where we can recover from all of the bruises of the world –racism, sexism, classism, ageism. Homeplace was that place of resistance. Church was homeplace for the black Christians. In the place of safety, the... Read more
Henry McNeal Turner was born on February 1, 1834 in Newberry Court House, South Carolina. He served as Bishop of the AME Church from 1880 to his death in 1915. From 1895 until his death, he served as senior Bishop and has the distinction of being one of the Four Horseman (along with Bishops Richard Allen, Paul Quinn, and Daniel Payne) of the AME Church. Many knew Turner for his prophetic discourse and his insightful rhetoric on race. He... Read more
On Wednesday evening, June 17, Dylan Roof attended a Bible Study service at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. After studying with members of the congregation for about an hour, he promptly got up and started shooting. Before he left, nine people, including the pastor, South Carolina State Senator, Clementa Pickney were dead. Here at R3, we thought we would collect some of the raw emotions from people who are grieving this act of terrorism. Read part 1 here... Read more
On Wednesday evening, June 17, Dylan Roof attended a Bible Study service at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. After studying with members of the congregation for about an hour, he promptly got up and started shooting. Before he left, nine people, including the pastor, South Carolina State Senator, Clementa Pickney were dead. Here at R3, we thought we would collect some of the opinions, reflections and essays about this act of American terrorism. If you see one that... Read more
First posted on Window of Religion I’m certain you’ve heard the news by now. Nine Black people were murdered last night at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman, a White man, reportedly attended Bible study and prayed with his victims before launching into tirade about how Black people are “taking over the country” and “raping white women.” He opened fire on the congregants, killing most of those in attendance, including the Rev. Senator Clementa... Read more
As a curious little brown girl growing up in the Northeast, I vividly remember the horror I felt when I learned about the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. I remain blessed that my mother saw fit to send my brother and I to the local African American Cultural Center, where we received the “Black history” information we were not receiving in our parochial school curriculum. At ten years old, I could not believe that someone would... Read more
First posted at ForHarriet.comThe domestic terrorism unleashed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Mother Emanuel) last night in Charleston, South Carolina, “the Holy City,” starkly displays the hypocrisy of U.S. Christianity. According to the Pew Research Center, 70.6% of U.S. citizens identify as Christian. If in fact, nearly two-thirds of the people of this country who purport to be disciples of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, stood for LOVE there is no way in hell that the murder and oppression of African Americans would... Read more
On last night at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, South Carolina, the faithful remnant gathered to share in fellowship, prayer, and community. This Wednesday evening was unlike any other Wednesday evening where church people come together and nothing out of the ordinary was to be expected. But an unfathomable atrocity took place in the sanctuary of this historic church. A 21 year old white man named Dylann S. Roof opened fire upon a group that was... Read more
Rhetoric Race and Religion
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