The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, P’19 is Interim President of the Episcopal Divinity School. Douglas has served as Professor of Religion at Goucher College and is now Professor Emerita. Douglas is the author of Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter, which won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. “How do we really know that God cares when Black people are still getting killed? How long do we have to wait for the justice of God? I get it, that Christ is Black, but that doesn’t seem to be helping us right now.” These questions from her son prompted Douglas to undertake this soul-searching reflection. The killing of George Floyd and the ongoing litany of Black victims raised questions about the persistence of white supremacy in this nation, leading her to reflect on how a “white way of knowing” has come to dominate American identity and even to shape the consciousness of Christians. In exploring the message of Confederate monuments and the “Make America Great Again” slogan, she examines the failures of even “good white Christians” and struggles with the hope that “Black Lives Matter,” before reaching deep into her own experience and the faith of Black folks to find her way back to Resurrection Hope. Our moderator is the Rev. Isaac Lawson ’04, Area Conference Minister for the South Central Region of The Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ.