{"title":"“Skin Markings: Filtering COVID-19 Through Levitical and Black Lenses”","authors":"Mark C. Grafenreed","doi":"10.1177/00219347241245151","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Kemp proposes a “3Ds of Blackness” theory, arguing that White supremacists have racialized the Genesis 4:15 “mark of Cain” to label Black bodies as dangerous, deviant, and depraved. This article offers Levitical and Black perspectives, extending Kemp’s scholarship and societal markings to include “diseased.” Exploring ancient biblical binaries of pollution/cleanness, profaneness/sanctity, defilement/purity, and comparing COVID-19 and its treatment mechanisms to skin diseases in Mosaic law, this article claims that structural racist modalities in the United States today treat Black skin as leprous and use justificatory devices to further this end through mass incarceration, poverty, healthcare, and education to keep Blacks “outside the camp.” Despite the quotidian of the relentless ferocity of these active forces, Blacks can historically and existentially claim the continuum of God’s “deliverance” as a “D” marked upon the diverse melanin-kissed shades of their skin.","PeriodicalId":47356,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Black Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Black Studies","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347241245151","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ETHNIC STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Kemp proposes a “3Ds of Blackness” theory, arguing that White supremacists have racialized the Genesis 4:15 “mark of Cain” to label Black bodies as dangerous, deviant, and depraved. This article offers Levitical and Black perspectives, extending Kemp’s scholarship and societal markings to include “diseased.” Exploring ancient biblical binaries of pollution/cleanness, profaneness/sanctity, defilement/purity, and comparing COVID-19 and its treatment mechanisms to skin diseases in Mosaic law, this article claims that structural racist modalities in the United States today treat Black skin as leprous and use justificatory devices to further this end through mass incarceration, poverty, healthcare, and education to keep Blacks “outside the camp.” Despite the quotidian of the relentless ferocity of these active forces, Blacks can historically and existentially claim the continuum of God’s “deliverance” as a “D” marked upon the diverse melanin-kissed shades of their skin.
期刊介绍:
For the last quarter of a century, the Journal of Black Studies has been the leading source for dynamic, innovative, and creative approach on the Black experience. Poised to remain at the forefront of the recent explosive growth in quality scholarship in the field of Black studies, the Journal of Black Studies is now published six times per year. This means a greater number of important and intellectually provocative articles exploring key issues facing African Americans and Blacks can now be given voice. The scholarship inside JBS covers a wide range of subject areas, including: society, social issues, Afrocentricity, economics, culture, media, literature, language, heritage, and biology.