Taking Up Space in the Age of Ice
NOVEMBER 21, 2025
Back Talk: Episode 3 — “Taking Up Space in the Age of Ice”
Premieres November 26 at 4PM CST on McCormick’s Facebook Page & website
In a cultural moment where presence is politicized, protest is punished, and sanctuary is under siege, what does it mean to show up — with your body, your voice, and your faith — in public? What does it mean to take up space when systems are built to disappear the vulnerable?
Episode 3 of Back Talk with Dr. Maisha Handy confronts this question head-on with two prophetic guests whose lives and ministries offer a bold witness to justice, courage, and collective healing.
MEET THE GUESTS
In this powerful episode of Back Talk, two prophetic voices step into a conversation that couldn’t be more urgent.
Pastor David Black, a Presbyterian teaching elder and pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, has found himself quite literally at the frontlines of resistance — his faith and physical presence met with violence when he was shot in the head with a pepper ball by federal agents while praying at a peaceful protest outside a Chicago ICE detention facility. A Princeton Theological Seminary graduate rooted in global Protestant traditions and Black church studies, Pastor Black brings a ministry that refuses to hide behind institutional comfort, standing instead where faith demands embodied solidarity.
He is joined by Rev. Dr. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, a queer, womanist pastor, healer, and justice-driven visionary who leads San Lucas United Church of Christ and A Just Harvest in Chicago. Her leadership weaves together a fierce theology of liberation, community-rooted mutual aid, police accountability, and radical hospitality. A proud McCormick Theological Seminary alumna and the seminary’s 2025 Distinguished Alumna, Dr. Pagán-Banks models what it means to serve with imagination, audacity, and deep care.
A TIMELY CONVERSATION
This conversation will unpack what it truly means to “take up space” in communities under surveillance and threat—where presence alone is often criminalized. We’ll examine how faith leaders are being targeted for their advocacy and how they continue to respond with courage, creativity, and conviction. As spiritual and public safe spaces shrink for LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and immigrant communities, we’ll explore how theological institutions must evolve to equip leaders for this urgent moment. And we’ll ask what it means to embody sanctuary as a countercultural act of resistance—not just a word, but a movement grounded in radical hospitality, prophetic imagination, and fearless faith.
This will be more than a conversation. It’s a provocation. A summons. A spiritual call to action for all of us.
Streaming on McCormick’s Facebook page and on our website — Wednesday, November 26 at 4pm CST.