Rhetoric Race and Religion
Recently, in a sermon to his predominantly black congregation, pastor Jamal H. Bryant appropriated troubled singer Chris Brown’s song, Loyal. To be sure, using any of Brown’s music in a context that claims to empower mostly black female congregants through “the Word” is questionable. Bryant’s use of the popular in sacred space isn’t novel. The Black Church and black folk have long remixed black religion with black popular culture. Just visit the black religio-cultural archives and check out Thomas A. Dorsey, James Cleveland, C.L. Franklin, Kirk Franklin, and many others. Bryant stands within a long line of black preachers who deploy pop cultural products in religious space (and vice versa) in efforts to not only “make it plain” and “bring it home,” but to further mass mediate certain messaging that listeners may instantly connect to.
Simultaneously, Bryant stands in a long line of repeat offenders—those who use the sermonic moment in black churches to draw upon, reproduce, and maintain the cultural myth of black female hypersexuality. Among other things, in a 40 second sermon clip Bryant invokes the spirit of Chris Brown and exclaims, “these ho’s ain’t loyal!” Before going forward, I want to explicitly state that there is nothing redeemable or life giving about Bryant’s appropriation of Brown’s lyric. However, I do think it is important to think about 1) Bryant’s use of the lyric, 2) the audience response, and 3) Bryant’s privilege to deliver such a message in the first place within the Black Church context. Context does not excuse foolery, but it does matter. It matters in that it helps us to better understand both what’s happening and what’s at stake. Somebody tap your neighbor and say, “This is bigger than Jamal Bryant.”
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