Thursday, February 25
Rev. Julian “J.Kwest” DeShazier, “Strange Fruit: Music, Justice and Prophetic Speech”
McBride Gathering Space, Numen Lumen Pavilion, 7 p.m.
DeShazier is the senior minister of University Church in Chicago, a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Chicago Divinity School, and a hip-hop artist known as J.Kwest. His song “So Blessed” was featured on the Grammy-nominated compilation “Holy Hip Hop: Take the Gospel to the Streets,” and he is featured in the Emmy-winning short film “Strange Fruit” about jazz singer Billie Holiday’s 1939 protest song about the lynching of two African-American teenagers. DeShazier will present on the prophetic power of music with examples from his own work and others.
Check out the film “Strange Fruit” produced by the Salt Project, a not-for-profit production company dedicated to the craft of visual storytelling.
This public event is also part of the Ripple Conference, a regional gathering of college students for interfaith exploration and leadership development.
Sponsored by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, and the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education