August 15, 2017

by Stephen Ray We must remember history rightly for the sake of our children. I suspect that the events of Charlottesville, VA in these past few days will be remembered by history as the opening salvo in the long-simmering prelude to the conclusion of the Civil War. We have been taken by history to the precipice from which we plunge either into the night of the worst demons of our history and malice or alight to the bright horizons of... Read more

August 15, 2017

The concept of white fragility is why white church leaders are less likely than black church leaders to speak out against racial injustice. Read more

August 13, 2017

by Jayanni Webster As a labor organizer for a higher education union, I feel it’s important to draw attention to the fact that our college and university campuses have become notable spaces for contestation by white supremacists / white nationalists. Perhaps it’s always been this way, right? But we cannot ignore the university and college as an important site to defend in this moment. We cannot ignore that many campuses are experiencing for the first time public and vivid propaganda... Read more

August 13, 2017

On August 11 in Charlottesville, Virginia, White Supremacists marched through the city and on the campus of the University of Virginia shouting racist epithets and declaring that “Jews will not replace us.” On August 12, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. committed an act of domestic terrorism by driving his car into a crowd of people, killing one person (Heather Heyer) and injuring many more. Below some R3 readers offer reflections on these incidents.   White nationalism is racism. Opposing opportunities... Read more

August 10, 2017

I discovered Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) by accident. While starting a seminar class in rhetorical criticism and trying to hone in on a dissertation topic, I ran across a speech delivered by Turner. He delivered the speech on the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives as the House debated whether African Americans could hold office in the state of Georgia. I remember reading the speech and wondering if anyone had studied Turner’s rhetoric. However, there was a problem. Since Turner... Read more

August 6, 2017

by Kimberly P. Johnson The idea behind The Womanist Preacher: Proclaiming Womanist Rhetoric from the Pulpit evolved out of a conversation with Rev. Dr. Claudette A. Copeland on October 7, 2007. She had just finished preaching her sermon, “What Shall We Do For Our Sister?” at my home church, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, back when I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. I was one of the lay ministers at the church and my pastor, Dr. Frank Anthony Thomas, knew that I... Read more

August 3, 2017

Andrea Hanna is a graduate student studying Communication and Rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to grad school, she graduated from Durham University (U.K.) with a First Class Bachelors degree, with honors, in Theology. Following this she completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, London. This was to specialize as a High School teacher of Religious Education. She taught R.E. and Philosophy and Ethics for two years in London, before moving to Beijing, China... Read more

August 3, 2017

by Edie Love I took my baby to a party recently. Never mind where, it was a party full of white people. She and an adult were the only people of color I saw out of dozens, including myself. A three year old white boy came up and aimed a toy gun at my baby’s face. I had a visceral, nauseated reaction. Nobody else noticed. The child ran on, and my toddler kept playing, too. I walked home with her... Read more

August 3, 2017

A lifelong Memphian, Edie Love holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis and a master’s degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. She feels that her calling is to minister to those marginalized in the city of Memphis. She believes that all people are her people, the streets are her parish and everywhere we are is God’s holy ground. Read more

August 2, 2017

What Movies Teach about Race: Exceptionalism, Erasure, and Entitlement has been nominated for the Book of the Year award for the National Communication Association’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division. Authored by Dr. Roslyn Satchel and nominated by Dr. Douglass Kellner, the George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA, the book was the first in the Rhetoric Race and Religion book series. In his nomination letter, Kellner writes Satchel’s text demonstrates how Hollywood film is a form of cultural... Read more


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