The Prophetic Lens and the Racial Solidarity Project (Encore)

Dr. Phil Allen, Jr. returns to Resiliency Within to discuss his journey since the release of his documentary and his first book, Open Wounds: A Story of Racial Tragedy, Trauma and Redemption.

 

In this encore episode, he will explore the themes of his second book, The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency, from Martin Luther King to Darnella Frazier, which examines the role of the camera in the fight for racial justice.

 

Allen highlights both the prophetic potential of the camera and the context of Blackness as a liminal existence amid a context dominated by whiteness.

 

He states, “Martin Luther King used news cameras to expose anti-Black violence by white mobs in the 1950s and 60s. Darnella Frazier used her phone to record and post the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin in May 2020. These are just two of many people who have captured images of injustice for the world to see. The Prophetic Lens delves into the camera's role as an indispensable prophetic tool for the security of Black lives and the pursuit of racial justice.”

 

Using Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination as a framework, Allen demonstrates how the camera can be a catalyst for cultural change.

 

He chronicles the use of the camera in film, from J.D. Griffiths' Birth of a Nation to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, revealing how this technology has effectively achieved the goals of its respective storytellers.

 

Dr. Phil Allen, Jr. will also share the work of the nonprofit organization he found