![]() ![]() This is also when Hopkins became actively involved in social justice issues. “I went on a journey of my own, trying to understand who God was to me.” “Once I came of age, I realized that religion was not the relationship,” she says. Having grown in her understanding and at the rebellious age of 15, Hopkins decided to reject the religious teachings she had received until then from her Baptist church, which only wanted her to conform to rigid preconceived rules with no real consideration to race and inequality. “The lesson to me was clear, that our world was not equal and that there was a strong divide within our society, both racially and wealth-wise.” Attending an all white Indian Hill school, she also experienced discrimination, but this time not only for being biracial but also for being poor. It was an almost entirely white and very wealthy neighborhood, a complete opposite to the all black and impoverished one she had just left. “I did not feel accepted and started understanding how big an issue race played in our society.”Īt the age of 8 and benefiting from a section 8 approved housing, Hopkins moved with her family to Montgomery, near Indian Hill. When she questioned the pastor about it, Hopkins was met with resistance and treated as if she did not have faith. “As a child of color, this affected me a lot and prevented me from seeing myself as a child of God,” she says. She was struck by the constant portrayal of Jesus as a white man with blond hair and blue eyes. With her mother and grandmother she attended regularly a white southern Baptist small church, going to Sunday school and congregational services every Sunday and to Bible school and youth group every Wednesday.Īt the white Baptist church, Hopkins felt prejudice against her for being biracial. ![]() ![]() Until the age of 8, she grew up in Bond Hill, then, in the late 80’s, a low income predominantly black neighborhood. Hopkins was born and raised in Cincinnati to a single white mother and to an African American biological father. “It also represents the value of the oppressed and of those overlooked by society, and a holy rage against injustice and towards those who proclaim being faithful yet turn away when they see people suffering.” “Religion for me represents the true Gospel of Christ,” she adds. “For me, Religion represents hope, faith, love, and a belief that all beings are inherently good and worthy of love,” says Elizabeth Hopkins. ![]()
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