APT NEWS & RESOURCES

NYC Rally/March for Racial Justice and Practical Theology, Part 2 of 2

Part 1 is here.
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This way of thinking intersectionality was initiated by, and remains vital in, scholars developing critical liberative analytical frameworks out of the multiple oppressions encountered by women of color (early on, Kimberle Crenshaw, and more directly influential for many in theological studies, Patricia Hill Collins). Recently in practical theology, it has gotten a significant boost from — to mention only two examples — Evelyn Parker as exemplified in the form and content of her edited book The Sacred Selves of Adolescent Girls: Hard Stories of Race, Class, and Gender (Wipf and Stock, 2010), with attention to the mutually impinging aspects of identity that girls feel and relate to their sense of what is sacred, and in the work of Nancy Ramsay in her (grounded) survey article “Intersectionality: A Model for Addressing the Complexity of Oppression and Privilege” (Pastoral Psychology 63 (2014), pp. 453-469).
And so it was that I saw this sign lifted up at the rally/march: “The Revolution Will Be Intersectional Or It Won’t Be My Revolution.” (Unfortunately, I can only upload this lower-resolution version.)
NYC4
Who made this sign, and what did it mean? In the crowd-shuffling transition from the rally to the march, I couldn’t find this sign and its owner/holder, though I made a note to see if this was a reference to something about which I should know.
Later, scanning the Internet, the earliest reference I could find to the sign and its possible author/presenter was a few weeks ago at TheCultureForHarriettdotCom from a rally on 22 April intended to bring attention to women victims-survivors of law enforcement abuse in the face of a public narrative focused thus far largely on the plight of African-American men. Her poster, “The Revolution Will be Intersectional”, has gone viral, with tens of thousands of comments, forwards and reposts. (Still, so far I can’t find much else about the woman holding the sign.)
The idea of “the revolution” being “intersectional” is an evocative way of interpreting images of worldly completion as the home-stretch for religious/secular life.
In Christianity, “intersectional revolution” could be a way of cashing out “reign of God.” The “catch” here is that “intersectional revolution” is a practice- and experience-rich imaginary: one goes through/into intersections along a healing and reparative intention in order to confect revolution.
More can and should be said about how an intersectional revolution is a potential meeting space for religions and secularities today.
Tom Beaudoin, Washington, DC
 
 
 

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