Hearing her son ask those questions and seeing Black Lives Matter protests erupt nationwide after George Floyd’s death led theologian Kelly Brown Douglas to write “Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter.”

On Dec. 9, she was named winner of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for the book’s ideas.

, dean of Union Theological Seminary’s Episcopal Divinity School in New York City and a canon theologian at Washington Cathedral, is one of the first Black female Episcopal priests in the United States and the first Black person to head an Episcopal Church-affiliated educational institution.

In “,” she shows how a “white way of knowing” came to dominate America through an anti-Black narrative tracing back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle. She also cites examples of how the bias persists today, from the refusal to dismantle Confederate monuments to attempts to discredit The 1619 Project, an effort to reframe U.S. history starting from the year the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia.

While recognizing the prolonged suffering of Black people raises deep questions about the credibility of Christianity, she argues that faith, not despair, is the best hope for assuring Black lives are valued in the future.

“Douglas takes us on a captivating, painful journey with personal and erudite reflections on America’s corrupted soul,” said Tyler Mayfield, religion award director. “Her insights are lucid and disturbing. Her remedies are bold and constructive. May we find the courage to walk into the future she envisions for us all.”

Douglas, who has doctor of philosophy and master of divinity degrees, has been a faculty member at Edward Waters College, Howard University and Goucher College. She has written five books, including “Sexuality and the Black Church” in which she addresses homophobia from a womanist perspective. Orbis Books published her Grawemeyer Award-winning book in 2021.

The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary jointly give the religion prize. Recipients of next year’s s were named Dec. 5-9 pending formal approval by trustees at both institutions.

The $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, world order, psychology and education. Winners will visit Louisville in the spring to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

Miles spoke about the university’s efforts to file mass unemployment claims on behalf of employees for the first time in UofL’s history.

“We’ve never done it before and we’ve learned very quickly the ins and outs, in very interesting times,” she said.��

She explained that the state’s unemployment office has been inundated with requests and has struggled with an internal change of leadership and outdated filing systems.

“Apparently the individual process has been even more challenging. More systems have been just completely shut down where people have no way to get in. And the wait times, although they are long all over the place, are even worse,” Miles said. “So I just want you all to know that despite the frustration we have with the mass e-filing process, it’s still in the best interest of our university community and we’re glad that we did it.”

The Human Resources office has been writing daily to the state’s unemployment office on behalf of employees. HR staff have taken measures to stay in close contact with employees, including university text messages and personal phone calls, to ensure time-sensitive actions are completed. They also created a dedicated to all the questions that employees have brought forward during the process.

HR staff ensure every unemployment question submitted to their office gets answered or addressed on the same day. They have worked closer than usual with Staff Senate Chair John Smith and the SHARE committee to ensure employees having a difficult time with the unemployment process receive help.

Senators asked several clarifying questions and inquired about the options for continuing to work remotely when campus operations resume in the fall.

“We are looking at it, we recognize there are lots of people out there who need to possibly have some sort of modifications or need to be able to do things a little bit differently than we did before. And we also need to understand that the university, there’s going to be some things that it needs and we are going to try to balance that.”

President Bendapudi reported on the outcomes of her meeting with the Black Student Union, which can be found here, and she discussed why the university strongly supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter’ what that means is not at all saying other people are unimportant,” she said. “When people say systemic racism, it doesn’t mean you are racist, or I am racist. It says there is something wrong with the system where over time this is happening, and we need to look at what are those barriers and how do we overcome that.”

Bendapudi emphasized that the university’s mission is part of the solution.

“There’s many ways I believe in higher education. I truly believe that higher education has the promise of transforming people’s lives. I would not be here if it weren’t for education. So we have to be true to our mission. I will always come back to ‘let’s educate, let’s do better education, better work, so that we make our local police better and the best practices make everybody better,’” she said.

Staff Senate Chair John Smith reported that the Senate body should put forth a statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but that it should have input. Smith hopes for it to be more than words of support.

“We’d like to have a two-week window for [senators] to send us ideas for … changes that we can advocate for from our platform as the Senate as a whole. We would really like the Senate to be an action group in this arena,” he said.��

Smith briefly shared budget updates from the June Board of Trustees meeting. Based on three different scenarios—all in-person classes, hybrid classes, or all online classes— the university is planning for three various levels of impact to the FY 2021 budget.

“The enrollment and state revenue are the two wild cards that we just don’t know, that are going to drive a lot of which one of these three scenarios we fall in,” he said.

Senators expressed concern about furloughs potentially getting extended. Senators requested that data be made available on how many furloughs have been issued thus far and a campus breakdown of where those furloughs took place. Smith confirmed that he will present those concerns in his next meeting with the president. A formal update on the university’s financial situation is also forthcoming.

Chief Operating Officer Mark Watkins confirmed that $27,995.57 thus far has been reimbursed to remote-working employees who requested refunds. Additionally, $36,293.98 worth of parking fee deductions have stopped for all furloughed employees for the duration of their furlough.

Senator Angela Lewis-Klein reported that the Executive Committee of the Staff Senate recommends the 2020 Senate year be considered a “grace year” due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the operations of the Staff Senate. They also recommended the tabling of Senate seat elections, including the officers, until the 2021 Senate year. All recommendations passed.

Committee reports and a full video recording of the virtual meeting can be found on the .

The next Staff Senate meeting will be held July 14 via Microsoft Teams.

The Breonna Taylor Memorial Scholarship Fund in Nursing will be a four-year renewable award. In choosing the recipient, preference would be granted to Kentucky residents. It will cover full tuition and fees. The fund is created with 100% participation by the UofL Health board members. It was announced today by members of the University of Louisville Black Student Union.

Taylor, who would have turned 27 today, was an emergency room technician at UofL Health-Medical Center East. She was killed in March by police officers serving a “no-knock” warrant at her home.

“Breonna was a member of our UofL Health family,” said UofL Health CEO Tom Miller. “We grieve her loss, but we are hopeful her legacy can inspire meaningful change. This scholarship is part of an overall commitment to ensure diversity in our workforce and develop ongoing plans to eliminate racial inequality in health care.”

UofL Health is a nonprofit health provider affiliated with University of Louisville. It is governed by an .

UofL President Neeli Bendapudi said having unanimous participation from the board members in establishing the fund shows that Taylor’s life, while cut tragically short, continues to make a community impact.

“While I didn’t know Breonna, I have learned that she was a wonderful person and a health care hero,” Dr. Bendapudi said. “Our hope is that this scholarship will provide the opportunity for another phenomenal young Black woman to follow in Breonna’s footsteps.”

“I am so appreciative that the University of Louisville, in partnership with the Black Student Union, will honor Breonna’s life through the creation of the Breonna Taylor Memorial Scholarship,” said Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer. “Breonna is smiling down knowing that there will be a path for students to pursue nursing degrees without accumulating student loan debt. Thank you to the university and its students for ensuring that Bre’s legacy will continue for generations to come.”

Anyone interested in supporting the Breonna Taylor Memorial Scholarship Fund can visit .

In addition to Bendapudi, other signatories include Susan Donovan, Bellarmine University; Travis Haire, Ivy Tech, Sellersburg; Ty Handy, Jefferson Community and Technical College; Jay Marr, Sullivan University, Louisville; Tori Murden McClure, Spalding University; Alton B. Pollard, III, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary; and Ray Wallace, IU Southeast.��

In a joint statement, the presidents announced five ways they plan to address racism in Louisville. The letter, including those proposed actions, is below: 

“James Baldwin said, ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’ The harsh truth that must be faced is that Black Americans still face obstacles that leave them, in far too many cases, lagging behind their White counterparts on important indicators of education, income, health, and wealth. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd are just the latest names on our collective dishonor roll of Black lives that were taken casually and, all too often, without consequence. The very real racial inequities of today are the result of a legacy of systemic racism.�� 

“We, as leaders of higher education institutions in greater Louisville and Kentuckiana, are aware both of the promise of higher education as a transformative force in society, and of the problematic history of these very institutions in perpetuating racial inequity.

“As leaders of these institutions, we, too, are complicit in maintaining the status quo and it is therefore incumbent upon us to take real and meaningful action to achieve the ideals of equity that our institutions espouse.��

“We believe that by working together we can do more and do better as agents of positive change.

1. We pledge to educate ourselves and our own college and university communities to recognize and work against structural racism.
2. We pledge to work together to improve access to higher education for our African-American and other students of color.
3. We pledge to create pathways for African-American and other students of color to meaningful and high-demand jobs and careers and acknowledge the need for more Black professionals in healthcare and education and engineering and law as in many other spheres.��
4. We pledge to engage fully and meaningfully in the life of West Louisville.
5. With our institutional privileges of knowledge, reach, resources, legacy, and more, we pledge to consistently demonstrate our commitment to the objective fact that Black Lives Matter.”

Photo provided by Brendan J. Sullivan, Bellarmine University.

“Cardinal Family,

This pandemic has surfaced many truths about our society. In many cases, it has highlighted the goodwill and caring community found across this country as individuals have banded together to help address the growing need created by the global public health crisis. In many other cases, however, it has shown us the glaring disparate impacts of Covid-19 on communities of color due to longstanding health and structural inequities, legacies of slavery and racism we grapple with still today.

In the last four months, we have come to know the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and most recently George Floyd. Ms. Taylor is from our very own Louisville community. Whatever your perspective on the specifics of each case, I hope we can agree that these three lives being taken from us so soon is devastating.

At the University of Louisville, Diversity and Inclusion is one of our core Cardinal Principles. This university strives to be a home and safe haven for our students, faculty and staff of color just as we strive to do this for all of the many rich and diverse identities held throughout our campus community. I believe that in many cases we succeed in helping people survive and thrive, but I am also certain that in numerous cases the same expressions of hate and exclusion that daily impact people of color and vulnerable communities outside the campus affect our Cardinal Family right here in our own backyard.

To our students, staff and faculty of color – I see you. I hear you.

Given these tragic incidents and mounting tension building in our own city and across the country, I know many of you are in deep pain having to confront these inequities, sometimes on a daily basis. Please know that I am here to support you, this university is here to support you and we will continue our endeavor to provide an environment where everyone can thrive.��

I want to highlight some of the actions taken recently and others we will soon take to ensure we fully live out our commitment to being a Community of Care that values Diversity and Inclusion:

1. The Campus Environment Team is in the process of revamping the Bias Incident Response Team to better equip the university to support our constituents, track its occurrence, and implement strategies to counteract incidences of bias, microaggression and racism.
2. The University of Louisville Police Department’s primary mission is to focus on providing a safe campus community, which includes supporting diversity and equity within the department and on campus. The Department continues to be actively involved in open forums discussing critical racial issues that impact our campus and local community.
3. The Office of Diversity and Equity, the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and all affiliated offices are enhancing programming related to structural racism, and reaching out to support those experiencing pain and isolation as well as those who want to learn more and work to change inequitable structures.
4. The Department of ����ֱ�� Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development in the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Equity, are developing an educational series for faculty and staff on topics related to diversity and inclusion.
5. We have made available a curated list of resources on the Diversity and Equity site for the campus community to engage with to learn more about the historical legacy of slavery and racism in America.

These actions represent some progress, but they are not the solution. The thing that will ultimately change these unfair systems that continue to disproportionately harm people of color, particularly black people, is for each of us to learn more, to understand how we contribute, both knowingly and unknowingly, to these systems and to actively work to change them. I too am committing to learn more, to take real actions to make a difference, to be better and to do more.

The frustration and anger that has led to protests here and across the country is understandable. Each of us must choose how to take meaningful action to improve the society we live in. Take care of yourself and take care of each other. This is what our Cardinal Principle of Community of Care requires of each of us.

It will take all of us acting collectively with informed intention and empowering care to start to see the change we need. I ask each of us to please take an intentional step today to be better and to do more. I need your help. Our Cardinal Family of color needs your help. Our society needs your help.

Sincerely,

Neeli”

Story began the talk by naming numerous black, female civil rights activists that aren’t necessarily well known, such as Daisy Bates and Diane Nash. Bates, for example, played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis, while Nash is a leader of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement.��Story highlighted the contributions these women made to the movement and to the development of organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Story then asked why there isn’t as much awareness of their contributions from a historical perspective as compared to their civil rights movement counterparts. This question launched a Q&A in which topics such as the presidential election, gender, misogyny, and economics were discussed.

The event had a large turnout and brought out several UofL students, faculty, and staff.

Story is an associate professor of women’s and gender studies and she holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Story and Black Lives Matter activist, Jaison Gardner, host a weekly radio show of musings on politics, pop culture and black gay life called Strange Fruit. The radio show airs on Saturday nights on 89.3 WFPL.

“Empowerment” kicks off Feb. 17-26 with a focus on Black History Month and civil rights. University and community leaders will give post-screening discussions as an integral part of the series.

The free, public explores social justice through current events and how those events — and the people involved — are shaping history through action.

“The videos are adapted to the planetarium’s projection system to give viewers an incredible, immersive experience,” said Paula McGuffey, who manages planetarium operations. “The impact is truly astounding. We plan to follow each viewing with a discussion on how we can all make a difference in our world.”

McGuffey said the idea for the new show was born after the planetarium offered something similar last November during an LGBTQ conference and learned the videos were the most highly-rated session of the conference.�� 

Shows are 6 p.m. Feb. 17, 18 and 24, and 2 p.m. Feb. 18, 19, 25 and 26.��

McGuffey said show times were chosen to make it easy for people to also see the documentary “” at the nearby Speed Cinema at the Speed Art Museum. The documentary airs an hour after the planetarium’s shows and costs $7 to $9.

The clips that will be shown in the series are public but have been adapted for the planetarium screen. Below is an example: 

For years, Davis has been involved in movements for social justice around the world and is a leading advocate for prison reform and gender and racial equality. She is also featured in the 2016 Netflix documentary “13th” about mass incarceration in the United States. Davis has authored 10 books, the most recent of which was published in February 2016.

Her talk, titled “Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement,” brought out thousands of people from UofL and the Louisville community, far more attendees than expected. In fact, hundreds of people had to be turned away after the venue reached capacity.��

“We hoped for and believed we would get a full house,” said Cate Fosl, director of the Anne Braden Institute.�� “But when as many people have to be turned away from such an event as those who get in, it bespeaks an incredible outpouring of enthusiasm, a desire for supportive community whereby people are not marginalized.”

The program included various poems by spoken word artist, Hannah Drake, and an introduction from Antron Mahoney, a graduate student in UofL’s department of Pan African studies.

Davis touched on a variety of controversial topics in her lecture including the recent presidential election and how we can continue to move toward equity in the United States. Among her thoughts:

2016 Presidential Election

Davis said Hillary Clinton’s historic campaign was about more than just shattering the glass ceiling, “it’s about reaching down to the very bottom and lifting to the top.”

“I am sad to say that if Hillary Clinton had been elected President we may not recognize that we are in a state of emergency.”

Electoral College

Davis believes the electoral college is obsolete and that it was designed to “give slave states with smaller populations the power to emerge as the governing forces at a national level.”

“The electoral college is a reminder that we have not extricated ourselves from slavery,” she said.

Black Lives Matter

Davis had several thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement including:

• “Black Lives Matter is the most inclusive statement.”
• “If we ever reach a point in time when black lives actually matter, it would mean that all lives matter.”
• “We need a new political party. An independent party inspired by the black radical movement.”

Davis’ history with Louisville

Davis is very familiar with Louisville. She was a visiting professor at UofL in 2002, teaching women’s and gender studies.

Because of her work, and its controversial nature, she has also been given three keys to the city, the first of which was confiscated before being handed back. In the 1970s, Davis was denied to speak at Central High School, but was invited to speak at Reverend Gilbert Schroerlucke’s church (West Broadway UM)) instead.

Davis’ relationship with Braden

Davis also discussed her friendship with Anne Braden, the Louisvillian activist after which the social justice institution is named:

“I often ask myself what would Anne Braden do? I reflect on her theories,” Davis said.��“Anne Braden was always aware of the way history pulls us back into the past.”

A Q&A followed the lecture, and younger members of the audience were encouraged to participate.

.��