Keeping in mind the 2026 American Academy of Religion presidential theme, “Future/s,” this paper argues that theological discourse on race must move beyond the traditional Du Bois–Cone paradigm in order to address the evolving realities of race, immigration, and human dignity in the United States. While W. E. B. Du Bois’s analysis of the color line and James H. Cone’s theological critique of white supremacy remain foundational for Black liberation theology, the racial politics of the present moment increasingly operate through what may be described as the “border line,” where immigration status, nationality, and state power shape experiences of marginalization.
Engaging Haitian Vodou as an Africana religious lens, the paper develops a pneumatocentric ethic of human dignity rooted in Vodou ritual practice, particularly spirit possession as a form of ontological affirmation. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of "heterotopia", Vodou ritual space is interpreted as a site where marginalized communities cultivate dignity and resilience in the face of racialized immigration regimes. Africana religious epistemologies and pneumatologies thus offer critical resources for reimagining the future of theological discourse on race.