{"id":547832,"date":"2023-01-23T15:07:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T20:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=547832"},"modified":"2023-01-24T13:17:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T18:17:32","slug":"mlk-2023-race-religion-politics-in-america-547832","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/mlk-2023-race-religion-politics-in-america-547832\/","title":{"rendered":"On the entanglement of race, religion, and politics in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a> professors Valeria Sinclair-Chapman (left) and Anthea Butler (right) were the featured speakers at the University\u2019s 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address<\/a>. Held on January 20 in the Feldman Ballroom, the address was billed as \u201cA Conversation Highlighting the Intersection of Social Justice and Religion,\u201d with Jeffrey McCune Jr., the director of Rochester\u2019s Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies<\/a>, moderating the discussion.<\/p>\n

Butler, a professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, noted how the injection of religion into politics has created division in the United States\u2014a historical legacy that continues to this day. \u201cWhat I want people to understand is that while people are talking about moral issues, they\u2019re also talking about race, and you can\u2019t escape that in America,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to start realizing it\u2019s not about good or bad religion, it\u2019s what people are doing with religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinclair-Chapman, a professor of political science at Purdue University, added that institutions like universities play crucial roles in the movement against racism and oppression. \u201cWhat kinds of questions do we need to ask? Where should we put our money that can bring these brilliant minds into leveraging against the questions that we\u2019re actually facing in our local communities and frankly in the world?\u201d she asked. \u201cThis is the work that we can do, and I think that it can begin\u2014 that it ought to begin\u2014at a place like Rochester. This is exactly the place where it should begin. It should be like a beacon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 MLK Commemorative Address<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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