AUGUST 5-7, 2020
PUBLICTHEOLOGYRACIALJUSTICE.ORG/LEADERSHIPACADEMY PROGRAM DAY 1 // WEDNESDAY // AUG 5
10:30AM WELCOME/FRAMING
11:00-11:30AM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & MORNING CENTERING
12:00PM COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS PRESENTATIONS
2:30-3:00PM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & CLOSING CENTERING
6:00 PM KEYNOTE WITH HARRIET A. WASHINGTON FOLLOWED BY LIVE Q&A WITH CHRISTOPHE RINGER
7:30-8:00PM KEYNOTE PROCESSING SALON PROGRAM DAY 2 // THURSDAY // AUG 6
10:00AM SCHOLARS ROUNDTABLE | HUMANITARIAN IMPLICATIONS OF COVID-19
11:00-11:30AM PROCESSING SALON | SCHOLARS ROUNDTABLE
11:30-12:00PM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & OPENING CENTERING
12:00PM PANEL | INTERFAITH ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
1:00-1:30PM PROCESSING SALON | INTERFAITH PANEL
2:30PM PANEL | INTERGENERATIONAL/MULTIGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE
3:30-4:00PM PROCESSING SALON | INTERGENERATIONAL PANEL
4:00-4:30PM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & CLOSING CENTERING
6:00PM PINNING CEREMONY FOR COHORT II AND CHARGE PROGRAM DAY 3 // FRIDAY // AUG 7
10:00AM SCHOLARS ROUNDTABLE | COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND PROPHETIC RESPONSE
11:00-11:30AM PROCESSING SALON | SCHOLARS ROUNDTABLE II
11:30-12:00PM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & OPENING CENTERING
12:00PM PANEL | RACIAL JUSTICE, POLITICS AND PRIORITIES PANEL | "STOLEN BREATHS": RACISM IN MEDICAL FIELDS
1:00-1:30PM CONCURRENT PROCESSING SALONS RACIAL JUSTICE & MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS PANEL
2:00PM AFTER PANEL | ETHICS THAT MATTER
PARTY 3:00-3:30PM 6:00PM PROCESSING SALON | ETHICS PANEL
3:30-4:00PM CULTURAL EXPRESSION & CLOSING CENTERING
4:00PM CLOSING KEYNOTE WITH JUDGE WENDELL GRIFFEN PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND AUGUST 5-7, 2020 RACIAL JUSTICE // COLLABORATIVE WELCOME WELCOME
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Provost Susan Wente of Vanderbilt University, I am excited and pleased to welcome you to the Leadership Academy of the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative. Our theme, “Medical Apartheid Revisited: Pandemic, Politics, and Priorities” explores the ethical implications of the coronavirus pandemic for racialized minorities who are experiencing disproportionately higher rates of death from this pandemic. We want to tease through how scholars, clergy, organizers, activists, students, and concerned citizens can build ethical solutions that involve empathy, transparency, expertise, and commitment.
Here at Vanderbilt Divinity School, we see these issues as not only social issues, but also theological, moral, and spiritual issues that we must address through the lens of faith.
We invite you to join as we explore the importance of our theme in relation to your local community so that we can make our voices heard on the local and national levels. We will do so by combining spiritual, intellectual, and strategic growth with a sense of social justice and the formation of a new generation of justice-seekers. I welcome you in this spirit as we gather over these three days of themed panels, an infusion of the arts, time for spiritual reflection, and powerful keynotes to look to the past, examine the present, and build for the future. These are exciting and vexing times to take up our common work to fight for a vibrant democracy!
Emilie M. Townes Director, Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative Dean and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society Vanderbilt University Divinity School PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // FEATURED SPEAKERS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 0 6 FEATURED SPEAKER
HARRIET A. WASHINGTON
As a medical ethicist, Harriet Washington has a unique and courageous voice and deconstructs the politics around medical issues. In addition to giving an abundance of historically accurate information on ‘scientific racism’, she paints a powerful and disturbing portrait of medicine, race, sex, and the abuse of power by telling individual human stories. Washington also makes the case for broader political consciousness of science and technology, challenging audiences to see the world differently and challenge established paradigms in the history of medicine. Harriet Washington is an award-winning medical writer and editor, and the author of the best-selling book, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. In her work, she focuses mainly upon bioethics, history of medicine, African American health issues and the intersection of medicine, ethics and culture.
Medical Apartheid, the first social history of medical research with African Americans, was chosen as one of Publishers’ Weekly Best Books of 2006. The book also won the National Book Critics Circle Nonfiction Award, a PEN award, 2007 Gustavus Myers Award, and Nonfiction Award of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It has been praised in periodicals from the Washington Post and Newsweek to Psychiatric Services, the Economist, Social History of Medicine and the Times of London and it has been excerpted in the New York Academy of Sciences’ Update. Experts have praised its scholarship, accuracy and insights. Medical Apartheid was the #1 best-seller in medical ethics on Amazon.
In her latest book, Infectious Madness, Washington looks at the connection between germs and mental illness, revealing that schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Alzheimer's, and anorexia also may be caused by bacteria, parasites, or viruses. Weaving together cutting-edge research and case studies, Washington demonstrates how strep throat can trigger rapid-onset OCD in a formerly healthy teen and how contact with cat litter elevates the risk of schizophrenia. Infectious Madness was released in October 2015. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // FEATURED SPEAKERS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 0 7 FEATURED SPEAKER
HARRIET A. WASHINGTON
Washington wrote Medical Apartheid while she was a Research Fellow in Ethics at Harvard Medical School. She has worked as a Page One editor for USA Today, as a science editor for metropolitan dailies and several national magazines, and her award-winning medical writing. Her work has appeared in Health, Emerge and Psychology Today, as well as such academic publications as the Harvard Public Health Review, the Harvard AIDS Review, Nature, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The American Journal of Public Health and the New England Journal of Medicine. Her awards include the Congressional Black Caucus Beacon of Light Award, two awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Unity Award from Emerge. She is the founding Editor of The Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health and has presented her work at universities in the U.S. and abroad.
In her book, Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself, Washington takes an in depth, eye-opening look at the 40,000+ patents on human genes and their harmful, even lethal, consequences on public health. Her other books include, Parkinson’s Disease, a monograph published by Harvard Health Publications, Living Healthy with Hepatitis C and she is co-author of Health and Healing for African Americans.
Ms. Washington has taught at venues that include New School University, SUNY, the Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, Harvard School of Public Health and Tuskegee University. She has sat on the boards of many organizations, including The Young Women’s Christian Association, the School Health Advisory Board of the Monroe County Department of Health and the Journal of the National Medical Association, to name a few.
Ms. Washington has also worked as a laboratory technician, as a medical social worker, as the manager of a poison-control center/suicide hotline, and has performed as an oboist and as a classical-music announcer for WXXI-FM, a PBS affiliate in Rochester, N.Y. She lives in New York City with her husband Ron DeBose. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // FEATURED SPEAKERS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 0 8 FEATURED SPEAKER
JUDGE WENDELL GRIFFEN CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR THE 5TH DIVISION SIXTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
Wendell Griffen is Circuit Judge for the 5th Division in the Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas, Pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, and CEO of Griffen Strategic Consulting. He is a native of Delight (Pike County), Arkansas, and a graduate of the University of Arkansas (B.A., Political Science, ‘73) and the University of Arkansas School of Law (J.D. ‘79). Judge Griffen is a U.S. Army veteran, a 1975 graduate of the Defense Race Relations Institute (now the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute), and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in work concerning race relations and equal opportunity. His writings about faith, social justice, public policy, cultural competency and inclusion can be found on his blogs: ‘Wendell Griffen on Cultural Competency’ and ‘Justice Is a Verb!’ PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // CENTERING GUIDES RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 0 9 CENTERING GUIDES
MORNING + EVENING CENTERING TO BEGIN AND END OUR DAYS TOGETHER
MAUREEN GERALD Maureen Gerald is the Executive Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church; Spiritual Director at Princeton Theological Seminary; U.S. Congressional Interfaith Director representing New Jersey’s 12th district; and business owner of Momentum, Counseling, Coaching, & Consulting LLC. Her expertise in training, teaching, and preaching personal and organizational growth solutions to multicultural communities has led her across the world. Her life’s work in getting people to move forward meets at the intersections of theology, social science and justice work. Rev. Gerald’s work with third-world countries helps survivors of catastrophic events. In 2010, Dateline NBC featured her story as one of the few survivors of the historic Haiti earthquake. Maureen has received State Congressional commendations for her work nationally and abroad. Rev. Gerald’s academic background includes the College of St. Elizabeth, Columbia University, Princeton Theological Seminary and Oasis Ministries.
DONNA GREENE Donna Wills Greene lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, though “home” still includes various places in the South where she grew up. Donna transitioned to a second career in ministry after a first career of over thirty years working in a variety of settings as an Occupational Therapist. She graduated May 2020 with an M.Div. from Phillips Theological Seminary and serves as a Commissioned Minister at Heart of the Rockies Christian Church. Donna’s ministry passion is social justice and pastoral care. She serves on the Central Rocky Mountain Regional Racial Reconciliation team, with Just Hope based in Tulsa, OK and Nicaragua, and with the Public Theology and Racial Justice Cohort at Vanderbilt. Nature is Donna’s source of re-creation, where she spends time with her family biking, hiking, kayaking and camping. Donna is grateful to be part of any spiritual or advocacy work that centers bringing the Creator’s shalom and justice to bear for all human beings. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // CENTERING GUIDES RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 0
SOPHIA HAYES JACKSON Sophia Jackson is a graduate of Pacific School of Religion where she earned her Master of Divinity and Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change. She is a member of First Christian Church of Alameda and City of Refuge UCC. Sophia is currently the Moderator for the Bay Association in the Northern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ and clergy lead for Women of Spirit Action, a women’s ministry group in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ. Sophia is ordained in the Christian Church. She has served as a Chaplain Intern at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, interim pastor of New Community of Faith in San Jose California, and she preaches as pulpit supply in the Episcopal church, as well as the United Church of Christ. Sophia is founder of Phoenix Outreach, a Recovery and Re-entry program designed to assist those most impacted by incarceration who are seeking change and transformation. Sophia believes that because congregations are meaningful to the community, these spaces can be leveraged to reduce violence against marginalized populations to dismantle the systemic injustices that occur in these communities. In her work Sophia seeks to assist churches in widening the circle of their concern in order for them to build bridges across difference so that the practice of Restorative Justice can begin to create the change we wish to see manifested in this world. REV. YVETTE BLAIR-LAVALLAIS Reverend Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais serves as the Senior Pastor of First Christian Methodist Evangelistic Church in the Red Bird area of Dallas. A licensed pastor and elder in The Methodist Church, Yvette’s ministry is centered in the social justice narrative of the Gospel. As a womanist theologian, she uses her prophetic voice to dismantle the systems of patriarchy, institutionalized racism, and sexism. She is featured in the award-winning 2019 documentary Shatter the Silence produced by WOW Films. Yvette is a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary, with an expected graduation date of May 2021. Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project and a 2017 academic fellow of Princeton Theological Seminary’s Black Theology and Leadership Institute. She is also a 2013 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Rev. Blair-Lavallais, a native of Dallas, Texas, holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas, and has more than 25 years of experience in media, corporate communications, public relations and non-profit, including receiving a congressional appointment to serve as the Public Relations Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. She is also an award-winning accomplished writer. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // CENTERING GUIDES RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 1
REV. JOSHUA SMITH Rev. Joshua T. Smith is a native of Miami, Florida and an ordained Baptist clergyman, having accepted his calling at the tender age of 16. He graduated with academic honors from Wiley College with his bachelor’s degree in Religion, he went on to attain a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Southern Methodist University. Currently, Rev. Smith is finishing his Ph.D. in Heritage Studies at Arkansas State University where his research interests center around the historic cultural development and future of the “Negro Church”. Rev. Smith currently serves as the Teen Pastor at Saint Paul Baptist Church in Memphis, TN under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Christopher Davis. Rev. Smith also currently works at Arkansas State University in the office of Diversity and Community Engagement as the Assistant Director of Multicultural Affairs. Rev. Smith has received several awards and acknowledgments and is a sought-after orator and emerging scholar, benefiting greatly from travel extensively to places like China, France, Australia, and others for the purpose of theological study and cultural enrichment.
GERAN LORRAINE Geran Lorraine grew up on the lands of the Haudenosaunee and currently lives on historic Powhatan land. He has grown up in the Christian faith and is also guided by his Indigenous spirituality. He has been organizing around economic justice, racial justice, health equity, and worker’s rights issues since 2008. He is also an ardent advocate for environmental justice having grown up with a continual awareness of harmful environmental policies affecting his people. He holds a Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Penn State. Geran is actively involved in several local non-profits, most recently helping to establish an affordable preschool in Richmond, Virginia’s East End. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANEL MODERATORS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 2 PANEL MODERATORS
REV. ROCHELLE S. ANDREWS WESLEY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Rev. Rochelle S. Andrews serves as the Assistant Director of The Center for Public Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. Rochelle has a BS in Management from Rutgers University, an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary. She is the CEO/President of The Vizion Group, which works with businesses, churches and non-profits helping them to fulfill their mission. Rochelle is an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Currently, Rochelle serves as the Associate Pastor at Oak Chapel UMC in Silver Spring, MD and with the local United Methodist Church district on affordable housing. She is also the co-director of Amos Social Action Committee at her home church Real Power AME Church in Upper Marlboro, MD. She spends much of her time working on policy, advocacy, and social justice activities to create educational and economic opportunities for the underserved communities.
DR. CHRISTINA BAILEY VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
Dr. Christina Bailey is the program director for the General Surgery Residency and the Assistant Professor of Surgery, Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Prior to joining VUMC, Dr. Bailey served as a Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellow, in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Her primary clinical interests are in GI malignancies including gastric cancer, small bowel cancer, colorectal cancer, gastro-intestinal stromal tumors (GIST), retroperitoneal sarcomas, and neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Bailey received the Lotzova Research Award and MD Anderson Trainee Excellence Award during her fellowship. Dr. Bailey’s research focuses on disparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and outcomes in regards to age, socioeconomic status, and race as well as quality of life after cancer treatment. Her research articles have recently been accepted and published in JAMA Surgery, Journal of Oncology Practice, and Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANEL MODERATORS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 3 PANEL MODERATORS
ELISABETH GESCHIERE VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Elisabeth Maaike Geschiere is a descendant of Dutch, Protestant, working class, immigrants who were mostly farmers. She is a passionate facilitator, activist, and community organizer focused on dismantling white supremacy through embodied healing, truth- telling, and economic justice. Elisabeth is trained and experienced in facilitation, anti-white supremacy education, peer counseling, and the restorative justice practices of Circle Keeping and Mediation. From 2012-2016, she worked in youth dropout prevention and promoted equity through student, family, and community engagement in Minneapolis Public Schools. In 2013, Elisabeth co-founded the Twin Cities Social Justice Education Fair. She is a former ministerial intern and active member at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville and plans to become an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. Elisabeth is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at Vanderbilt Divinity School with concentrations in Spirituality and Social Activism as well as Religion and Economic Justice.
DR. MARCIA RIGGS COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Dr. Marcia Y. Riggs has an undergraduate degree in Religion from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School and a PhD in religion/ethics from Vanderbilt University. In April 2006, Dr. Riggs was inaugurated as the first professor to hold the J. Erskine Love Chair in Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Dr. Riggs was awarded a 2017-2018 Henry Luce III Fellowship from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Association of Theological Schools. She received the “Distinction in Theological Education” Award from Yale Divinity School in 2012 and the Alumnae Achievement Award from Randolph- Macon Woman’s College in 2006. Dr. Riggs is currently writing a book on an ethical theory and practice called religious ethical mediation. She is the founder of an educational non-profit: Still Waters: A Center for Ethical Formation and Practices that offers training in REM. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANEL MODERATORS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 4 PANEL MODERATORS
REV. DR. CHRISTOPHE RINGER CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Christophe D. Ringer is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics and Society at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He received his Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics and Society from Vanderbilt University. His research interests include social ethics and public theology, African American religion and cultural studies, religion and politics. Ringer has published articles in Black Theology: An International Journal and the Journal of Africana Religions and presented his research nationally as well as internationally including the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Ringer has taught courses at American Baptist College, New Brunswick Theological Seminary and Christian Brothers University. He is the author of the forthcoming Necropolitics and the Religious Crisis of U.S. Mass Incarceration.
DR. PHILLIS I. SHEPPARD VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Phillis Isabella Sheppard is Associate Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at the Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion of Vanderbilt University. Her research in Religion, Psychology and Culture engages the intersection where the social and the intrapsychic meet. She has published Self, Culture and Others in Womanist Practical Theology, where she argued for the necessity of fostering a psychoanalytic dimension to womanist approaches to practical theology. Her current book in progress, Tilling Sacred Ground: Explorations in a Womanist Cultural Psychology of Religion, turns to the lived religious experiences, expressed in, but well beyond, the “official” religious sites, of black women. By employing an applied womanist psychoanalytic perspective, this work will contribute to existing approaches to the study of black religious experience. As a practical theologian she is recognized for her contributions to womanist perspectives in psychoanalysis and religion, methodology, cultural studies, and pastoral theology. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANEL MODERATORS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 5 PANEL MODERATORS
REV. DR. TERESA L. SMALLWOOD VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Smallwood, Esq. was born in Windsor, North Carolina. She graduated with a B.A. Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in Speech Communications and Afro-American Studies. She received the Juris Doctor Degree in 1985 from North Carolina Central University School of Law. Dr. Smallwood began her legal career with Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont in Charlotte, NC. She also worked as a staff attorney for the Children’s Law Center in the same city. In 1989, she served as an Assistant District Attorney until she commenced her private practice that spanned more than two decades. In 2010, Dr. Smallwood completed the Master of Divinity degree at Howard University. Dr. Smallwood currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee having graduated with the PhD degree May 2017 from Chicago Theological Seminary with concentrations in Theology, Ethics, and Human Sciences. She now serves as Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate Director of the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Dr. Smallwood was licensed and ordained to public ministry while serving Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Lewiston, NC. She is the Social Justice Minister at New Covenant Christian Church in Nashville under the pastoral leadership of Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANEL MODERATORS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 6 PANEL MODERATORS
REV. DR. JOANNE TERRELL CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Professor JoAnne Terrell is an ordained elder in the Michigan Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Professor Terrell’s current research interests are interreligious in scope, and focus on soteriological principles in Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity, the genre of spiritual autobiography, and the power of the visual and performing arts to effect personal, social, and cosmic transformation. According to Prof. Terrell, the world’s unfolding narrative reveals too many burdensome predicaments that wreak personal, familial, social, and cosmic destruction, strain belief, challenge religious communities and demand prophetic witness. As a black, womanist, spiritually eclectic theologian, her response has been to delve into the sustaining theological traditions, look to the arts, privilege creativity in the classroom and utilize drama as public pedagogy. Despite the wretched conditions humankind continuously faces, Prof. Terrell believes in the beauty that is, and believes that it is her scholarly and pastoral duty to pursue and find it. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 7 PANELISTS
DR. VICTOR ANDERSON VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Victor Anderson is the Oberlin Theological School Professor of Ethics and Society at the Divinity School. He is also the Professor in the Program in African American and Diaspora Studies and Religious Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds degrees from Calvin Theological Seminary including the Master of Divinity and Master of Theology in Philosophical and Moral Theology. He earned the M.A and Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University in Religion, Ethics, and Politics. Anderson has published three books: Beyond Ontological Blackness: An Essay in African American Religious and Cultural Criticism, Pragmatic Theology: Negotiating the Intersection of an American Philosophy of Religion and Public Theology, and Creative Exchange: A Constructive Theology of African American Religious Experience. He teaches courses in philosophy of religion, philosophical, theological and social ethics, African American religious studies, and American philosophy and religious thought.
REV. JACQUES BOYD MOUNT BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH
Jacques Boyd is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. Since August of 2019 he has served as the Senior Pastor of The Historic Mount Bethel Baptist Church of Nashville. Jacques Boyd, D. Min. enrolled at the American Baptist College, graduating Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Bible & Theology. He is also a graduate of Lipscomb University with a master’s degree. In December of 2018 he successfully defended his dissertation “Increasing the Knowledge of Making Christ Known in the Local Church Through Missions” to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree graduating May of 2019 as a Leonard N. Smith Fellow at Virginia University of Lynchburg. Reverend Boyd served as Youth Pastor of Greater Revelations Baptist Church May of 2014 until August of 2019; he also has served as President for the Youth and Young Adults of the West Nashville District Association, Dean of Christian Education of the West Nashville District Association, and Advisor for the Youth and Young Adults of the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Tennessee. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 8
DR. RHEA BOYD CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, SAN DIEGO 211
Rhea Boyd MD, MPH is a pediatrician, public health advocate, and scholar who writes and teaches on the relationship between structural racism, inequity and health. She focuses on the child and public health impacts of harmful policing practices and policies. She serves as the Chief Medical Officer of San Diego 211, working with navigators to address social needs of San Diegans impacted by chronic illness and poverty. And she is the Director of Equity and Justice for The California Children's Trust, an initiative to advance mental health access to children and youth across California. Dr. Boyd graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Africana Studies and Health from the University of Notre Dame. She earned a M.D. at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at University of California, San Francisco. In 2017, Dr. Boyd graduated from the Commonwealth Fund Mongan Minority Health Policy Fellowship at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, earning an M.P.H.
QUENTIN COX VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Quentin Cox began preaching in the fall of 1996 while attending the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. He was initially licensed and ordained in the AME Church and today is an ordained Elder in the Churches of God in Christ. Quentin is interested in helping God’s people understand personal finance and stewardship, not as a mission focused on ‘personal responsibility,’ but instead as a matter of economic justice. Much of his academic inquiry centers on issues of economic justice, the Black community, and the Black church. Quentin is also an astute businessman and a transformational leader. In the Air Force and corporate America, he led large and small, local and geographically separated teams in fulfilling their missions. As a serial entrepreneur, Quentin has developed and stewarded the vision of several successful businesses. He is now a full-time student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, where he expects to graduate with a Master of Divinity degree in 2021. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 1 9
SUSANNE WATSON EPTING BELOVED COMMUNITY INITIATIVE
Ordained for 30 years in the Episcopal Church, Susanne Watson Epting began work in the church in 1981 as a campus ministry assistant and lay coordinator. After completing graduate work, studying the Social Gospel era in America, along with causes and understandings of social inequality, she was ordained in 1989. S he then became both coordinator of an HIV counseling and testing program at a free clinic and the director for the Diocesan Institute of Christian Studies. Active over many years in ministry development, Susanne Watson Epting eventually became Canon to the Ordinary. She served on the Primates’ Task Force on Theological Education in the Anglican Communion (2003-2007), and a similar task force on theological education in The Episcopal Church. In retirement, she has co-founded the Beloved Community Initiative for racial justice, healing and reconciliation. She has published in Women’s Uncommon Prayers, the Anglican Theological Review, and Currents in Theology and Mission. Her book, Unexpected Consequences – The Diaconate Renewed was released by Morehouse Publishing in the spring of 2015. She is also a contributor to The Diaconate in Ecumenical Perspective.
REV. DR. JERROLYN EULINBERG INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR
Rev. Dr. Jerrolyn Eulinberg is a graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary with a Doctor of Philosophy in theology and ethics. Her dissertation is entitled – A Lynched Black Wall Street: A Womanist Perspective on Terrorism, Religion, and Black Resilience of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. She earned her Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. Rev. Eulinberg is an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She served Greater Institutional A.M.E. Church in Chicago as associate minister for nine years. As a ministerial professional she served as project director at Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference for two national Lilly Endowment initiatives. Dr. Eulinberg focuses, through a womanist lens, on social injustice and the discrimination that continues to pervade this so-called “post racial” America. As a scholar, theologian, and community activist she is concerned with the structural racism which pervades the oppressive social structures in society. Rev. Dr. Eulinberg is an independent scholar working on her first book. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 0
RASHED FAKHRUDDIN ISLAMIC CENTER OF NASHVILLE
Rashed Fakhruddin is an engineering supervisor with Nashville Electric Service (NES), where he has been employed the last 25 years. Rashed is also one of the leading proponents for service, inclusion and cultural diversity within Nashville’s ever-changing and growing community through his many roles in the city, including director of community partnerships at the Islamic Center of Nashville. Over the past two decades, Rashed has made an important impact on the Nashville community by serving in various leadership roles at the Islamic Center of Nashville, including past president. Rashed has been coordinating and providing presentations on Islam to universities, schools, leadership groups and other organizations upon request in order to help develop a better understanding of Muslims, while building bridges and fostering stronger relationships within the community. Rashed has helped put a caravan faith tour together for Nashvillians to allow the opportunity to visit the different places of worship in Nashville. Rashed has helped build partnerships with organizations and non-profits throughout the city to help work for social justice. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 1
DR.DR. JUAN JUAN FLOYD FLOYD-THOMAS THOMAS VANDERBILTVANDERBILT DIVINITY DIVINITY SCHOOL SCHOOL
Juan M. Floyd-Thomas Ph.D. is Associate Professor of African American Religious History at Vanderbilt University's Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion. In addition to having written numerous journal articles and book chapters, he is author of The Origins of Black Humanism: Reverend Ethelred Brown and the Unitarian Church (2008) and Liberating Black Church History: Making It Plain (2014) as well as co-author of Black Church Studies: An Introduction (2007) and The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture in the United States (2016). Most recently, Floyd-Thomas co-edited Religion in the Age of Obama with Anthony B. Pinn (2018). His research has been funded by fellowships and grants from the Louisville Institute, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, and most recently the Robert Penn Warren Center for Humanities at Vanderbilt University. Currently, he serves as the Executive Director of the Society for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion (SRER), a co-founder and Executive Committee member of the Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG), and an Associate Editor for the American Academy of Religion's Reading Religion website. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 2
DR. STACEY FLOYD THOMAS VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Associate Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences and past Executive Director of the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE), co-founder and Past President of the Society for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (SRER), founding executive director of the Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG) and American Academy of Religion (AAR) Board Director-at-large. Floyd-Thomas’ research trajectory envisions the challenge for constructive ethics in making liberationist discourse and theologies more viable. Drawing upon socio-historical methods and liberation ethics, her work in Christian social ethics has a threefold focus—race, gender, and class—and she is equally interested in the challenges of religious pluralism, social justice and the political world. She is concerned with what she calls "the why crisis" of faith. This is exemplified in her numerous publications including numerous articles, book chapters, and seven books, most recently including, The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 3
REV. LISA HAMMONDS ST. JOHN AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH
Rev. Hammonds, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, answered her call to the preaching ministry in 1996. She served on the ministerial staff of St. John African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Nashville, until September of 1999, when she was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in the Tennessee Annual Conference of the 13th Episcopal District of the AME Church. In September of 2000, she was ordained an Itinerant Elder. Rev. Hammonds earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, with a minor in Marketing, from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In 2000, Rev. Hammonds received her Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Rev. Hammonds serves on the staff of the AMEC Finance Department as an assistant to Treasurer/CFO Richard A. Lewis. Rev. Hammonds is a graduate of John A. Gupton College and is a licensed Funeral Director in Tennessee. She serves on the staff at Lewis & Wright Funeral Directors. In 2016, she became the Assistant Editor for The Christian Recorder, the oldest existing periodical published by African Americans in the United States.
DR. RACHEL R. HARDEMAN UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Dr. Rachel R. Hardeman is a tenured Associate Professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. She is a reproductive health equity researcher whose program of research applies the tools of population health science and health services research to elucidate a critical and complex determinant of health inequity—racism. Dr. Hardeman leverages the frameworks of critical race theory and reproductive justice to inform her equity- centered work which aims to build the empirical evidence of racism’s impact on health particularly for Black birthing people and their babies. Her research includes a partnership with Roots Community Birth Center, in North Minneapolis; it also examines the potential mental health impacts for Black birthing people when living in a community that has experienced the killing of an unarmed Black person by police. Published in numerous journals, Dr. Hardeman’s research has elicited important conversations on the topics of culturally centered care, police brutality and structural racism as a fundamental cause of health inequities. Her overarching goal is to contribute to a body of knowledge that links structural racism to health in a tangible way, identifies opportunities for intervention, and dismantles the systems, structures, and institutions that allow inequities to persist. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 4
TIMOTHY HUGHES ACTIVIST/ORGANIZER
Timothy Hughes is a native of Baton Rouge, LA, and an honors graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, TN. In addition to his roles as a branding & image consultant, guerilla marketing maven, burgeoning political strategist, & serial entrepreneur, he has a passion for public service as demonstrated by his involvement with several national & international organizations including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; the NAACP; & the National Urban League. An activist, advocate, blogger, commentator, columnist, community organizer, educator, innovator, & intellectual, he works at the intersection of public policy & social justice & is actively engaged w/ local, community-based, grassroots organizations & statewide coalitions including but not limited to Black Lives Matter Nashville; Black Voters Matter Fund; The Brother's Roundtable; Community Oversight Now! Nashville; Gideon's Army; The Equity Alliance; Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board; The Movement School; the Nashville Justice League; Nashville Unchained; New Leaders Council - Nashville; Nashville People's Budget Coalition; & the Urban League of Middle TN.
DR. PETER LI UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Dr. Li is an Associate Professor at University of Houston- Downtown. His research focuses on China’s animal law and policies a time of rapid social transformation. Dr. Li’s publications cover subjects related to wildlife trade, culture/politics of wildlife exploitation, the political and institutional obstacles to China’s animal protection legislation, human-animal relations in contemporary China, and animal agriculture and food security. His “Enforcing Wildlife Protection in China” is one of the most cited of his works. “Explaining China’s Wildlife Crisis” is a more recent overview of the political and institutional challenges of China’s wildlife protection and the obstacles to law enforcement against wildlife trafficking. “The Covid-19 pandemic and China’s wildlife business interest” sheds light on the oversized influence of China’s wildlife business interest in the country’s public discourse and public policy-making related to wildlife Dr. Li appears in a large number of media interviews on the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, China’s responsibility, racial discrimination targeting Chinese Americans, media misrepresentation of Chinese dietary culture and other related topics. Dr. Li has worked in the last ten years as consultant for Humane Society International (HSI) on issues and collaborative programs with China. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 5
NICOLE MALVEAUX VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Nicole Malveaux is the Associate Director of the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center. A native of Houston, Texas, Nicole attended Fisk University where she received a B.A. in English. Nicole graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School with a Master of Divinity in 2016, where she was a Cal Tuner Fellow. During her tenure at the Divinity School, Nicole spent two weeks in Brooklyn, NY conducting ethnographic research that focused on the Black aesthetic and Black women throughout the Diaspora where she explored intersection of sexual identity and spirituality. In addition to her interest in ethnography, Malveaux has spent years documenting Black women through portraiture. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In her spare time, Nicole enjoys traveling, collecting sneakers, and watching arthouse films. She is an avid photographer, enjoys writing short stories, and is a voracious reader. Most recently, Nicole was awarded the Intersectional Advocate of the Year Award from the LGBTQI Life Center at Vanderbilt.
REV. DR. HERBERT R. MARBURY VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Herbert R. Marbury is an Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East. Dr. Marbury researches the Bible’s textuality— that is how biblical texts come to meaning both in the ancient world and in the contemporary worlds of modern U.S. communities. Although he turns to cultural studies, he grounds his work in both historical-critical and hermeneutical methods. In his first book, Imperial Dominion and Priestly Genius he focuses on Ezra-Nehemiah and asks, “What meaning(s) might Ezra- Nehemiah have held for elites in Persian Jerusalem?” Since 2012 Marbury has served as co-chair of the African American Biblical Hermeneutics section of the Society of Biblical Literature. In Pillars of Cloud and Fire: The Politics of Exodus in African American Biblical Interpretation, he uses cultural studies as a mode of inquiry and recovers trajectories of counter-history in examples of African American biblical interpretation heretofore unexamined by biblical scholars. Prior to his tenure at VDS, Marbury served as pastor of Old National United Methodist Church in Atlanta, GA and as University Chaplain at Clark Atlanta University where, in 2004, he was named the Chaplain of the Year by the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 6
REV. TERRENCE MAYO CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Rev. Terence Mayo is a scholar-activist passionate about Racial justice, the liberation of the African Diaspora, and the Black Queer Radical Tradition. He is a Ph.D. student at Chicago Theological Seminary, where he focuses on Theology, Ethics, & Culture and serves as the President of the Bayard Rustin Society. He also serves as a Racial Justice fellow with Vanderbilt’s Racial Justice Collaborative and is on the Antiracism Transformation Team at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He has served as a Public Humanities fellow at Georgetown University and was the first Faith & Public Policy Intern in the District of Columbia's Mayor's Office. He has also served as a community leader on many social justice focused boards within the DC metropolitan area and nationally, including the DC Interfaith Leadership Summit, New Economy Maryland, the Poor People's Campaign, and the Pan-African Young Adult Network within Bread for the World. Terence has spoken locally and nationally on issues such as racism within Christianity, religion & public policy, and young adults' work in social movements.
DR. EDUARDO MEDINA PARK NICOLLECT CLINIC
Dr. Eduardo Medina is a board-certified family physician at the Park Nicollet Clinic Minneapolis and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Published in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr. Medina has worked throughout his career and education to advance health equity and high-quality healthcare for all communities. Dr. Medina’s previous work includes engaging with under-resourced communities to improve access to pain, palliative and hospice care in New York City. He has also examined obesogenic environments associated with food deserts and socioeconomic inequity. Dr. Medina completed his MPH at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and his MD and Family Medicine Residency at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Medina earned an undergraduate degree in Latin American Studies with a concentration in sociology from Wesleyan University. He is a proud Alumnus of Prep for Prep 9. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 7
DR. JONATHAN METZL VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and the director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He received his MD from the University of Missouri, MA in humanities/poetics and psychiatric internship/residency from Stanford University, and PhD in American culture from University of Michigan. Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book Award, the 2020 APA Benjamin Rush Award for Scholarship, and a 2008 Guggenheim fellowship, Dr. Metzl has written extensively for medical, psychiatric, and popular publications about some of the most urgent hot-button issues facing America and the world. His books include The Protest Psychosis, Prozac on the Couch, Against Health: How Health Became the New Morality, and Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland.
DR. CARL “CHRIS” H. REYNOLDS ROCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL GROUP
Dr. Reynolds is the Medical Director of the Rochester General Hospitalist Group. the Chair of Ethics Committee for Consultations, and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine. He was inspired to go to medical school by the "brain candy" of clinical medical ethics; once there, Dr. Reynolds fell in love with the intensity of hospital-based internal medicine. The complex interconnected medical illnesses that require patients to be hospitalized and the rapid pace of inpatient care allows him to engage deeply with patients at critical points in their lives. Dr. Reynolds has numerous publications and awards as well as an impressive list of lectures and presentations. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 8
RABBI LAURIE RICE CONGREGATION MICAH
Rabbi Laurie hails from Los Angeles, California. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at Northwestern University, as a dual major in History and Slavic Languages and Literatures. She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2001, having received her Master’s in Hebrew Letters in 1999. Prior to coming to Congregation Micah in Nashville, she served congregations in Los Angeles and Visalia, California; Westchester, New York; and Woodinville, Washington. She also has experience working as a chaplain at the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles, California, and as a research assistant to Dr. Eugene Borowitz, the Reform Movement’s pre-eminent theologian. She believes in the doing of justice, the loving all people with compassion, and walking with humility as often as possible.
DR. DOROTHY ROBERTS UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dorothy Roberts is the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology at University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and Sociology and the Law School, where she is the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights. She is also Founding Director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society. An internationally recognized scholar, public intellectual, and social justice advocate, Roberts has written and lectured extensively on the interplay of race and gender in U.S. institutions and has been a leader in transforming thinking on reproductive justice, child welfare, and bioethics. She is author of Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty; Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare; and Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century and more than 100 articles and book chapters, as well as co-editor of six books. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 2 9
DR. CHARLENE SINCLAIR CENTER FOR RACE, RELIGION, AND ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY
Dr. Sinclair is a facilitator and organizational development specialist with over three decades of experience in strategic communications, organizational development and community organizing. Most recently, in addition to her work with grassroots organizations, Charlene worked with Groundswell Action Fund to mobilize new funding and capacity-building resources to grassroots electoral organizing led by low-income women, women of color, and transgender people. Dr. Sinclair is committed to fostering the lived wisdom of liberation where questions of democracy and its discontent are engaged and articulated within struggles for justice using advocacy, activism, organizing, and the legal system as tools for change. She is the Principal of InSinc Consulting, a firm that provides strategic and organizational development assistance to social justice organizations and progressive grantmakers and the founding director of the Center for Race, Religion, and Economic Democracy, a non-profit organization committed to the development of strategies for engaging a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality within struggles for justice.
VIISHA P. SOUZA PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE COHORT 1
Viisha P. Souza is Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) from Kailua, Hawai’i. She is a Master of Divinity 2020 graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. At commencement she received the Blue Lyles Award; an award that recognized the graduating senior who contributed the most to student life. Her organizing and activism reflects and combines her passion in areas related to mental health and how it interconnects with justice. Her recent research considered the mental health of Kanaka Maoli women and how cultural historical trauma is a vast part of Hawaiian history that isn’t told. Her ambition is to one day be a professor and a life-long researcher regarding the mental health of Kanaka Maoli. She is a member of the first cohort of the Vanderbilt Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative Summer Institute. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 0
REV. DR. LISA THOMPSON VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Lisa L. Thompson, a native of Cedar Grove, NC, is Associate Professor and the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chancellor Faculty Fellow of Black Homiletics and Liturgics at the Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion of Vanderbilt University. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Religion from Vanderbilt University, and prioritizes discussing the ways religion can be used for the destruction or uplift of our life together. Her most recent publication is entitled Ingenuity: Preaching as an Outsider (Fall 2018). She was awarded the Louisville Institute First Book Grant for Minority Scholars for her forthcoming book entitled Preaching the Headlines. As an ordained Baptist minister, she holds a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and has served in university and parish settings. Prior to pursuing the study of theology and religion full-time, she majored in both psychology and communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and worked in case management. She continues to consult, speak, and lead workshops on self- leadership and cultural change in the public and private sectors. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 1
DR. EMILIE TOWNES DEAN OF VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL
Dr. Emilie M. Townes, an American Baptist clergywoman, is a native of Durham, North Carolina. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University. Dr. Townes is the Dean and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, becoming the first African American to serve as Dean of the Divinity School in 2013. She is the former Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale University Divinity School and in the fall of 2005, she was the first African American woman elected to the presidential line of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and served as president in 2008. She was the first African American and first woman to serve as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Yale Divinity School. She is the former Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Social Ethics at Saint Paul School of Theology. Editor of two collection of essays, A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering and Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation; she has also authored Womanist Ethics, Womanist Hope, In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness, Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, and her groundbreaking book, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil. She is co-editor with Stephanie Y. Mitchem of the Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life. Her most recent co-editorship is Womanist Theological Ethics: A Reader done with the late Katie Geneva Cannon and Angela Sims was published in November 2011. Townes was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. She served a four-year term as president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012 to 2016. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 2
REV. DR. EBONI MARSHALL TURMAN YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL
Reverend Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. teaches theology, ethics, and African American religion at Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, CT. A first-career concert dancer and ordained National Baptist preacher, her research interests span the varieties of 20th century US theological liberalisms, most especially Black and womanist theological, social ethical, and theo-aesthetic traditions. She co-chairs the Black Theology unit of the American Academy of Religion, serves on the executive committee of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and is a founding member of the Black Church Collective for which she served as lead author of the recent “On Black Lives Matter: A Theological Statement from the Black Churches.” She is the only womanist theological ethicist on faculty at Yale Divinity School; the recipient of the 2018 Yale University Bouchet Faculty Excellence award for research and teaching; the 2018 Inspiring Yale award; a 2017-18 Yale Public Voices fellow; one of Ebony Magazine’s Young Faith Leaders in the Black Community; included on the Network Journal’s prestigious 40 Under 40 List; named as one of the “Top 5 Young Preachers in America” by ROHO; and Auburn Theological Seminary’s 2017 “Lives of Commitment” honoree.
TRACY TVEIT BAHÁ’I FAITH
Tracy Tveit is a lifelong member of the Bahá’i Faith, a religion emphasizing Unity, the Oneness of Humanity, and Equality as core principles of its theology. As the daughter of an Airforce officer, she moved throughout the country, gaining exposure to a variety of American subcultures. Working with her mother, Tracy spent her childhood learning and gaining a passion for social justice. She is passionate about taking diversity, equity & inclusion ideologies outside of the realms of theoretical and intellectual discussion, and translating them, instead, into action, personal daily practice, community building, and deep relationship building. Tracy received her Associate of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Maryland, Munich Germany Campus, in 1982 and her BSN degree from Northern Illinois University in 1986. Tracy served as an RN in the Chicago and Nashville areas from 1986-2007, specializing in Adult and Adolescent Psychiatric medicine. For the last 12 years, Tracy has worked as a Program Coordinator and Event Planner at Vanderbilt University. Recently she was a Logistical Coordinator for the Nashville Pupil of the Eye Conference, a conference with over 300 attendees focusing on the Spiritual Reality and Station of Black People in the Bahá’i Faith. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PANELISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 3
DR. LLOYDA BROOMES WILLAMSON MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE
Dr. Lloyda Broomes Williamson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Meharry Medical College. She obtained a B.S. in Natural Sciences from Oakwood College in Huntsville, AL, before obtaining her Doctor of Medicine degree from Meharry Medical College. Dr. Williamson completed a Psychiatry Residency and a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Emory University and is board certified in both specialties. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She also holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Association for Directors in Medical Student Education in Psychiatry, and the National Medical Association. For over 25 years Dr. Williamson has provided clinical services to children, adolescents, and adults in multiple settings. She worked as a consultant to psychiatrists for an adolescent unit at a state hospital and to a specialized education and treatment program for girls in juvenile detention. She has clinical teaching experience with medical students, family medicine residents, nurse practitioner students, undergraduate students in social work and graduate students in Marriage and Family Therapy. Dr. Williamson’sTRACY scholarly TVEIT activity includes publications regarding psychiatry training of Family MedicineBAHÁ’I residents,FAITH telepsychiatry and children with co-morbid ADHD and enuresis. Additional interests include spirituality in medicine and cultural psychiatry. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // FEATURED ARTISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 4 FEATURED ARTISTS
STACHELLE BUSSEY FEATURED ARTIST
Stachelle Bussey was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky; she began serving in the church when she was just 7 years old. A self- taught musician, she started as a drummer and then began playing keys before becoming a Minister of Music at the age of 22. While obtaining her bachelor’s in criminal justice from Kentucky State University, she was an active participant in the music department, and a member of the Thoroughbred Marching Band and Gospel Ensemble. Stachelle became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority in Nov. 2007. She returned to her alma mater, Central High School, as Assistant Band Director where she currently arranges music and assists in all aspects of the band. In 2015, Stachelle was named Worship Director for One Church Louisville where she currently serves. In 2017, Stachelle answered the call to minister from the pulpit. Stachelle earned her Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary as part of the "Agents of Change" cohort and received her chaplaincy certification through Norton Healthcare in May 2020. Stachelle was accepted to the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Ecumenical Studies program at the Ecumenical Institute at Chateau de Bossey in Geneva, Switzerland. She is tentatively expected to beginTRACY her studies TVEIT in September 2020. BAHÁ’I FAITH
LAUREN TILLMAN FEATURED ARTIST
Lauren C. Tillman is a Savannah, GA native who has also called DC, Harlem, Boston, and Oklahoma City her home at some point. Currently, she lives in Nashville after graduating from Vanderbilt Divinity School with a Master of Divinity, focusing on Spirituality and Social Activism and Black Religion and Culture Studies. Lauren completed the Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture certificate program while at VDS, concentrating on how the arts and culture determine how we see, define, and interact with the divine and ourselves. She believes that all art is political and that there is no religion without culture. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // FEATURED ARTISTS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 5 FEATURED ARTISTS
OLIVIA KAMIL SMARR FEATURED ARTIST
Olivia Kamil Smarr is a Black, queer, emerging public theologian and movement artist. She combines traditional West African dance movements with contemporary Black American dance styles, using music spanning the African diaspora to show how ancestral rhythms survive in our bodies and are embedded within our spirits. Olivia explores, challenges, and creates innovative ways of spiritual engagement in this unique societal moment, conjuring revolution, power, magic, and passion through movement. She engages with a theology that transcends faith and views the body itself as divine and holy, embracing the connection of sensuality and spirituality. Olivia centers those with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and survivors of trauma, including religious trauma, in her work. She has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and is currently enrolled in a Master’s program at Chicago Theological Seminary, exploring the arts as spiritual resistance to oppression.
KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM POET-IN-RESIDENCE
Kashif Andrew Graham is Outreach Librarian for Religion & Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity Library. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Spanish from CUNY Lehman College, a Master of Arts in Church Ministry from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and a Master of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Kashif has been featured on podcasts such as Queerology, Love City Arts, Queervotion, Misfits & Mystics, and OutLoud; on public radio (WPLN); and he appeared on C-SPAN’s Book TV in 2019. Kashif is a queer Jamaican- American who writes on everything from the queer to the quotidian. An avid typewriter collector, he regularly writes typewriter poetry on vintage library catalog cards. You can follow his work on Instagram @kagwrites. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 6 COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS
ARELIS BENITEZ LOVE AND OUTRAGE: THE VISION OF MOVEMENT CHAPLAINCY IN SOCIAL CHANGE
The secularization of society demands that we meet people where they are in order to explore, create, and nurture spirituality. In response to the emergence of this need, Movement Chaplaincy engages the work of spiritual accompaniment to justice movements and their leaders. In this presentation, you will hear the voices and experiences of Nashville-based Movement Chaplains who have stepped into a vision of justice and social change that walks the line between love and outrage.
DEBBIE BRUBAKER RACE AND RELIGION IN THE CITY: GENTRIFICATION AND THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IN NASHVILLE, TN
Nashville, TN is a city in the midst of change. One of its most pressing challenges is gentrification. Using qualitative research methods, this project examines how gentrification impacts relationships within and between religious communities. Given the links between gentrification and racism, this project asks how religious communities experience racism and/or racial justice in the context of a gentrifying city.
SHAMEKA CATHEY THE YOUNG ACHIEVERS MOVEMENT (Y.A.M.) PROJECT
The Y.A.M. Project was created to empower marginalized youth in grades 9-12 for success in school and life by supporting them in developing job skills, college and career readiness, cultural awareness, health/wellness, and leadership development. This presentation will highlight the current need for this program and the importance of awakening the leadership capacities of our youth. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 7
COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS
QUENTIN COX YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
With a focus on economic justice, the program provides minority high school students with hands-on experience starting a business. Students will learn from minority mentors and business leaders throughout the academic semester as they move from ideation to implementation. The program will also provide students with $500 to help launch their enterprise.
SARA M. ECCLESTON LITURGIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE: EPISCOPAL ORGANIZING FOR ANTIRACISM
My research explores how Christian groups envision and enact antiracism goals, and particularly how they employ faith and community building in their efforts. In this presentation, I will discuss my dissertation research about Episcopal efforts for antiracism. The Episcopal Church (one of the whitest and wealthiest denominations in the country) has put over $5 million toward racial healing, justice, and reconciliation in the past five years, but little is known about how this this agenda is picked up by local dioceses, what values, priorities, and theologies drive their efforts, and what obstacles they face. I will discuss my emerging finding from the “Beloved Community Commission” that I followed for two years, and discuss how they employ liturgy as a method of social change. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 8 COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS
ELISABETH GESCHIERE KNOWING WHENCE I CAME: DECONSTRUCTING WHITENESS IN MY SELF AND MY FAMILY HISTORY
In 1985, James Baldwin charged white-identified Americans, “To do your first works over…Go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it…and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself: but know whence you came.” Elisabeth’s project is a response to this call, voiced not only by Baldwin, but by many Black leaders in various ways throughout the past four centuries. Her project aims to deconstruct whiteness by illuminating how and why her Dutch, Christian Reformed ancestors precisely assimilated when they immigrated to North America, by acknowledging how white supremacy was taught, learned, and weaponized within her family over time, by knowing and sharing her true, lived family history and culture, and by exploring how her generation can intentionally dismantle white supremacy through actions, such as reparations, and by adapting new ways of being. To this end, Elisabeth conducted twenty-five interviews with family members from three generations in the Chicago area, Southern Ontario, Canada, and The Netherlands in the summer of 2019. In this presentation, Elisabeth will overview her methodology and learnings, and share some of her family's story through videos and photos.
HTOI SAN LU RACIAL JUSTICE CONVERSATION WITH THE FIRST GENERATION OF KACHIN MMIGRANTS/REFUGEES IN NASHVILLE, TENN
This project came about in response to the Tennessee Kachin Baptist community’s state of being unaware of the harmful immigration policies being perpetrated by the current U.S. administration. To address this, I embarked on a conversation with the first generation of Kachin people at the Tennessee Kachin Baptist Church (TNKBC) on the ways Kachin refugees and immigrants are racialized in the U.S. through immigration. Overall, my objective with this project is to promote awareness on the need for racial justice in our Kachin Christian community. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 3 9 COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS
KARLA MCKANDERS MAGO DIOS: IMAGINING THE FACE OF GOD IN TODOS LOS NINOS INMIGRANTES DE DIOS
This talk focuses on Karla McKanders’ project producing a fictional children’s book on a Garífuna child fleeing violence and seeking refugee status in the United States. The project presents a counternarrative to current media stories and rhetoric that have rendered immigrant children invisible. The talk explores how through art and storytelling the voices of lesser known migrant children can transform the narratives to which we are accustomed.
LATASHA N. MITCHELL BRIDGING THE GAP: FREE FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY
My presentation will explore various theological and racial justice implications relating to economic stability and investment in the Black community. This discussion will include the following: historical context for the economic issues affecting the Black community, relevant data and statistics, spiritual connections to the Christian faith and Black Church, reflections from the first financial literacy and estate planning event I hosted, impacts of the tornado and pandemic on my project, and my plan to move forward with this work.
R. SCOTT MITCHELL, JD, LLM PROTECTING THE CHURCH FROM ATTACK
The project looks at multiple attacks on Christian churches in the United States, including bombings and arsons of majority African American congregations, with an eye on how future clergy can better prepare for or respond to attacks on their facilities or parishioners. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 4 0 COLLABORATIVE FELLOWS
HUNTER S. RHODES BUILDING A NATION: UNCOVERING THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO BUILT AND BUILD AMERICA
Building A Nation seeks to take seriously the claim that Black folks quite literally built this country. The project does this by uncovering the enslaved and incarcerated woodworkers of the past and present to recognize their humanity, give them credit for their labor, and tell their stories.
TREMAINE SAILS-DUNBAR LIONHEART NASHVILLE: INCREASING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN TWELVE BLACK CHURCHES
According to social stress theory, a stratified class system introduces higher levels of stress to non-dominant groups, which in turn increases their risk for developing acute and chronic mental health disorders. Through auxiliary services, Black churches have mitigated stressful environments reducing stigmatization, positively influencing the psychological outcomes of African Americans with acute mental illness. Very little has been done, however, to attenuate social stressors associated with chronic mental health disorders. In my project, I sought to increase the presence of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) within Black churches, reducing the stress of stigmatization for those with chronic conditions through providing information about symptomologies associated with mental illness and community health resources. I found that although some pastors are accepting of the inclusion of mental health programming within their church, discussions surrounding serious mental health disorders remains an impediment in Black religious spaces. I concluded that if social stress theory is to be utilized as a conceptual framing for addressing more serious mental health conditions in Black religious spaces, then more attention should be given to its’ incorporation with the self- efficacy model, which encourages an internal locus of control and problem-oriented coping strategies. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 4 1
NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
The five-member National Advisory Committee is composed of thought leaders in media, activism, education and religion and provide insight on public theology and racial justice.
Macky Alston Documentary Filmmaker
Wendell Griffin Judge, Sixth Judicial Circuit, AK; New Millennium Church
Janet Jakobsen Barnard College
Stephen Lewis Forum for Theological Exploration
Tracey Meares Yale Law School PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // PLANNING COMMITTEE RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 4 2
PLANNING COMMITTEE
VANDERBILT DIVINITY SCHOOL FACULTY Paul Lim, History of Christianity Viki Matson, Field Education John McClure, Homiletics & Liturgics Herbert Marbury, Hebrew Bible Phillis Sheppard, Religion, Psychology, and Culture Melissa Snarr, Ethics and Society
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FACULTY Brooke Ackerly, Political Science Robert Grajewski, Wond’ry Lucius Outlaw, Philosophy Nicole Joseph, Peabody
SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS Jennifer Bailey, Faith Matters Network Eric Brown, Eric Brown Venture Darria “D.J.” Hudson, Community Activist Tara Lentz, Conexión Américas
BOARD OF VISITORS Thomas Conner, Sitemason, Inc. PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND // COHORT MEMBERS RACIAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE 4 3 COHORT MEMBERS COHORT I
Rochelle Andrews, Yvette Blair, Antona Brent Smith, Fenwick Broyard, Erika Burnett, Keith Caldwell, Cindy Cushman, Susanne Watson Epting, Jerrolyn Eulinberg, Maureen Gerald, Lorraine Geran, Donna Greene, Christi Griffin, Joan Harrell, Vahisha Hasan, Sophia Jackson, Jillian Lincoln, Greg O’Loughlin, Jennifer Reyes Lay, Viisha Souza, Dawn Stone Cornell Watson, Tina Watson, Janet Wolf
COHORT II
Stachelle Bussey Carole Collins, Quentin Cox, Anne Dunlap, Eric Dozier Elisabeth Geschiere, Kelly Gregory Alecia Higginbotham, O. Timothy Hughes Richard Hughes, Sara John, Kimberly Johnson Aaron Marble, Terrence Mayo, Mary Murphy Carol Ruthven, RuDee Sade, Carjie Scott Joshua Smith, Terry Spetalnick, Sherondia Sullivan, Terrell Thomas Darrell White, Charles Wynder THANK YOU
For more than 80 years, the Henry Luce Foundation has invested in knowledge makers and ensured that their work informs public discussion. This commitment to public knowledge derives from our founder: Henry R. Luce created Time magazine to disseminate the most important news, ideas, analysis, and criticism to a mass audience.
Today, the Luce Foundation carries on this work by supporting projects at universities, policy institutes, media organizations, and museums, among many others. What these organizations have in common is a commitment to putting knowledge in the hands of the individuals and communities that need access to it. Hundreds of organizations have received more than 5800 grants totaling more than $1 billion since the Foundation’s establishment in 1936.
The Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative is a 3-year program funded by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. The Leadership Academy is the culminating event for this grant. We are thankful to the Henry Luce Foundation for the opportunity to advance the connection between public theology and racial justice. Our work archives cutting edge research, dynamic teaching, community outreach, and multivalent collaborations with people across this nation. As the initial grant comes to an end, we are grateful that the Henry Luce Foundation has awarded us funding for an additional two-year period (2020- 2022) to mobilize our content, to meet our collaborative partners, within their social locations, and to promote the message of a public facing theology that demands racial justice.