Mass incarceration is an issue for the church. The status of racialized minorities in the criminal justice system is staggeringly disproportionate to that of non-minoritized subjects. Moreover, the root cause points to a debilitating stronghold over the faith community when it comes to its mission and purpose to champion the cause of the vulnerable, fight for the oppressed, and usher in the Justice of God.

Mass incarceration is an issue for the church. The status of racialized minorities in the criminal justice system is staggeringly disproportionate to that of non-minoritized subjects. Moreover, the root cause points to a debilitating stronghold over the faith community when it comes to its mission and purpose to champion the cause of the vulnerable, fight for the oppressed, and usher in the Justice of God.

Cyntoia Brown will give the Keynote address (February 25, 6pm) in the Chicago-based Mobile Institute focused upon Necropolitics: What is the Ecclesial Response? Cyntoia’s story is evidence of the ways in which ecclesial bodies have a duty and responsibility to engage the criminal justice system on behalf of the most vulnerable in our society many of whom are women and girls.

In his recently published manuscript, Necropolitics: The Religious Crisis of Mass Incarceration in America, Dr. Christophe D. Ringer will discuss (February 26, 10am) his compelling argument that “the persistence of mass incarceration is rooted in our social agreements that legitimate and rationalize its ongoing resistance,” and “necropolitics creates a powerful circuitry of representations that legitimate the mythology of ‘black-on-black crime,’ the racialization of drugs and broken windows policing that disproportionately subject blacks to juridical power.”

A panel of local leaders (see bios below) will discuss this phenomenon following Dr. Ringer’s book talk.

Professor Christophe Ringer’s research interests include theological and social ethics, African American religion, public theology, religion and social sciences, religion and politics, critical theory and African American religion, and cultural studies. He is particularly interested in African American religion as a site for understanding the relationship of self, society and the sacred as it concerns human flourishing. Ringer’s research currently focuses on the religious and cultural meanings that sustain and rationalize mass incarceration and other forms of social death in American public life.

“My teaching is guided by the conviction that theological ethics critically engage wide variety of disciplines in order to understand the ethical challenges and complexities our world faces today. Moreover, those preparing for ministry should be acquainted with the perennial problems of the human condition as well the conceptual tools to respond to specific challenges that we cannot yet imagine.”

Cyntoia Brown-Long is an author, speaker, and advocate for criminal justice reform and victims of trafficking.

Cyntoia had a difficult start in life. She was born to an alcoholic, teenage mother who was a victim of sex trafficking.  Cyntoia experienced a sense of isolation, low self-esteem, and alienation that drove her straight into the hands of a predator. Cyntoia was trafficked during her early teenage years and, at the age of 16, was arrested for killing a man who solicited her for sex. She was tried as an adult and was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for 51 years. Her trafficker was never arrested. In prison, Cyntoia’s life took a dramatic turn when the prison education principal took her under her wing and introduced her to a spiritual path. She encouraged her to build a positive life in prison and to resist the negative influences that lead to despair.  

Cyntoia’s journey was a roller coaster ride that included a documentary about her life, a profound encounter with God, an unlikely romance, and, eventually, a commuted sentence by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.  She received unprecedented national and international support from social media advocates, pastors, and celebrities and was released from prison in Nashville, TN, on August 7, 2019.

Her memoir, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System (Atria Books), written while in prison, documents her early years and the 15 years she was incarcerated and takes readers on a coming-of-age spiritual journey.  Set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars and the injustice of sentencing sex-trafficked juveniles as adults, Cyntoia struggled to overcome a legacy of birth-family addiction and a lifetime of being ostracized and abandoned by society. Of her time in prison, Cyntoia says, “I was just a teenager when I was sent to live behind a razor-wire fence. My entire coming of age was within the walls of the Tennessee Prison for Women.” She is a 2020 Nominee for the NCAAP Literary Image Award and has been featured as a guest columnist for the Washington Post.

Cyntoia hopes her story will not only inspire others but also shine a light on the injustice that people still face on a daily basis, especially the injustice to women and children in American prisons.  She, with her husband, Jaime, is the founder of the Foundation for Justice, Freedom, and Mercy. In January of 2020 the Vera Institute of Justice recognized Cyntoia as one of the Best of Justice Reform honorees. As a thought leader for legislative and societal reform, Cyntoia is available to speak to a wide variety of organizations.

Rev. Dr. Marilyn Pagán-Banks (she/her/ella) is a queer womanist minister, healer, writer, and life-long co-learner committed to the liberation of oppressed and colonized peoples, building power and creating community.  She currently serves as executive director of A Just Harvest, pastor at San Lucas UCC, and adjunct professor at McCormick Theological Seminary.

Rev. Pagán-Banks received her Masters of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary and her Doctorate in Ministry from the Chicago Theological Seminary where she has twice been named Hispanic Scholar.  She is a joyful contributor in the newly released book “Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle.” Rev. Pagán-Banks lives in Chicago with her spouse and loves laughing and dancing with her beautiful grandchildren.

Rev. Bryson White is the last of six children to the union of Paul and Sheila White of Fresno, California and is the husband to the wonderful Jennifer White of Richmond, California, and the father of Kairos White. He is a PhD candidate in Theology and Ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and is currently writing his dissertation. Rev. White’s dissertation, titled Racial Rapture: Mass Incarceration as Distorted Realized Eschatology, explores the theological underpinnings of the mass incarceration of Black people in the United States.  

Bryson is a twice selected Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) dissertation fellow and has published work in Black Theology: An International Journal and has presented his research at the annual American Academy of Religion conference. White holds master’s degrees in Theology and InterCultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from California State University at Northridge.

Additionally, Rev. White is a kidney transplant recipient, receiving his transplant on February 13th, 2002 at UC Davis hospital in Sacramento, California, and now serves as a board member of California Donor Transplant Network West (CTDN), an organ procurement organization that serves Central and Northern California.

Currently, Rev. White is the Regional Faith Leadership Coordinator for Faith In the Valley (FIV). Faith In the Valley is a faith-based non-profit which organizes congregations for reimagining our public life together through building power to ameliorate structural inequalities such as; mass incarceration, housing inequality, urban gun violence, and the need for immigration reform.

Marlon J. Chamberlain is an advocate for people directly impacted by the justice system. He joined the Safer Foundation in March 2020 as the Project Manager for the Alliance for Reentry. In this role, he is responsible for developing a statewide alliance that advocates on behalf of people with arrest and conviction records. Marlon brings over 20 years of lived and professional experience to his work at Safer Foundation.

Marlon has an established track record of creating effective coalitions. Previously, he served as the Englewood Project Manager with the READI Chicago Program at Heartland Alliance. Prior to that, he was a Community Organizer with the FORCE (Fighting to Overcome Records and Create Equality) Initiative. Marlon developed FORCE to become one of the strongest organizations led by people with records to advance issues, policies, and legislation at the state level –  including passing the largest sealing expansion law in the United States and leading a voter registration campaign which registered over 1,000 people with records to vote.

Marlon is very active in the community. He is a founding member of the RROCI coalition (Restoring Rights & Opportunities Coalition of IL); He Chairs the Live Free Decarceration advisory committee; he is an Alumni of JustLeadership USA - a national organization with a mission to reduce the U.S. prison population in half by 2030. In 2013, he received the Purdy Award from the Community Renewal Society in recognition of his outstanding leadership in organizing and policy work.  And in 2017, he received the CARRE Visionary Award from Safer Foundation.  Marlon lives on the south side of Chicago with his wife and five children.

Julian DeShazier joined University Church as Senior Pastor in November 2010.

As a national speaker, advocate and emcee, Julian “J.Kwest” DeShazier has appeared on ABC, FOX, NPR and Dr. Maya Angelou’s “Oprah & Friends” radio program. J.Kwest is also an Emmy Award-winning musician, featured in the video “Strange Fruit,” a commemoration of the Billie Holiday song and a meditation on racial violence. The Chicago native and graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Chicago Divinity School is a 2020 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and was also recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of “40 Under 40” leaders in Chicago. Named by the Center for American Progress as one of “10 Faith Leaders to Watch” in 2018, he serves as the inaugural chair of the Community Advisory Council for University of Chicago Medicine; as associate director of the Office of Experiential Education at McCormick Theological Seminary; and is a former adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Julian is a regular contributor to On Scripture and Sojourners, where he is also a board member. He and his wife, Mallorie, have two fierce daughters, Dania and Genevieve. // all social media: @PureKwest

Jia Johnson currently serves as program director for McCormick Theological Seminary’s Solidarity Building Initiative for Liberative Carceral Education at Cook County Jail. Integrating her corporate experience, entrepreneurial ideation and project management skills with her commitment to public ministry and liberative education, as program director, she is the seminary liaison and convener in co-curating holistic learning communities that tend to the whole of incarcerated learners and their communities.  She currently services as board member for Community Renewal Society and chair of CRS's Restoring Rights committee. 

In recent years, Johnson served as a program manager for a reentry entrepreneurship program, where she now services as a consultant.  She served on the board of directors for Off the Pews: Faith in Action and later transitioned to become the summer program director. Jia holds a Master of Arts in Public Ministry with a concentration in Racial Justice from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.