Seeing the Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow:
“There is a cure for what ails us as a people and that is for us to talk to each other. We have got to start talking about the ways in which we hurt each other and the ways in which we hurt each other is also through silence. Because nobody can unload the pain or the shame or the guilt by not speaking.”
Marlon Riggs
John 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (NRSV)
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (NRSV)
“…to be cut off from the Black church is really being cut off from the Black community, the Black family, because “ain’t no place else” can you just by virtue of being Black be somebody. You’re a child of God, you’re someone with dignity, you’re someone who holds promise of a new world, of God’s kingdom will be done. To be cut off from the Black church is to be cut off from your lifeline.” P.69
Rev. Ralph Basui Watkins, MFA, DMin, PhD
Lead Storyteller / Director of Project
Email: seeingthefuture@ctsnet.edu
Seeing the Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow:
A Transmedia Storytelling Project
Artist Statement
At the very core of the Gospel is the liberation of all who are oppressed. The work is founded on a commitment to freeing the African American Church from heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia. It calls for the African American church to affirm and celebrate that all of God’s people are created in the image of God. That all people have the God-given right to be included in the life of the church as their authentic selves. This work challenges the mainline, traditional African American church to look, hear, and engage in an active conversation that leads to liberation and radical inclusion. The African American Church is challenged to live up to its claim of being a liberative church that fights on the side of the oppressed.
