Not that one.
White progressives, wondering why the big resistance protests are mostly blue-eyed, are asking Black people, “could you run over that race stuff again?” Like 18th century missionaries mumbling about their position on the Middle Passage.
This goes down poorly with the Black women who voted 92% for the Vice President as well as the vast majority of the Black men (who also had empathy for their brothers and sisters who could not vote for a prosecuting attorney of any hue). Black people have seen MAGA for centuries and know that serious violence waits just out of sight. And the dogs rarely bite missionaries. As a faculty friend said, “we have white colleagues; not comrades.”
A lot has happened since King and Malcom (who would have turned 100 this past month). And a lot has not happened, even between Black and White, hardly even begun with Brown.
This was all in the middle of the room during last week’s gathering in Winston Salem organized by Action4Equity, Love Out Loud and We In the World. We were trying to move toward “equity and liberation.” But what “we?” “We” can’t build mercy and justice out the trust we don’t have.
There has been strikingly little violence in these early MAGA days with the exception of the show bullying of defenseless Spanish-speaking dads and moms. Black people have seen this all before and know that once the resistance movement staggers to our feet—as it most certainly is—it will trigger white rage. They believe that white fragility justifies white violence.
The immediate issue is with the white moderates who may or may not be trusted once things actually get going. Who even begins to build the tools and tactics for doing good when we don’t trust?” Are we a we?
We were meeting in historic St. Stephen’s Missionary Baptist Church with the modern blend of religious folks and those of raw Spirit. Rev Dr. Paul Ford called us back to what Dr. King saw from his Birmingham jail 62 years and 15 days ago:
“If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
“Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world.” (read full text here).
But…. could you run over that race stuff one more time?
Paul also called my attention to these words form Rev. Dr. William Lamar IV in my Dean Corey Walker’s book on African Americans and Religious Freedom given to everyone at the meeting (I think Paul was the only one that read it):
“American notions of liberty, prosperity and the divine are ideas that can mean everything and nothing at the same time. Who defines these terms? The National Rifle Association supports liberty. The Black 43 African Americans and Religious Freedom: New Perspectives for Congregations and Communities Lives Matter movement supports liberty. The Koch brothers are all for prosperity. So are Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky. Jerry Falwell Jr. believes the divine hand is upon America; so does Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. But this divine hand is not engaged in the same activities. These terms — liberty, prosperity, God — are blank screens upon which we project dreams and nightmares. For me, the concept of religious freedom is of the same dubious pedigree. It means nothing. It means everything.”
“Black people offer many unwanted gifts to the American empire — our hermeneutic of suspicion concerning all things American, our refusal to believe everything that the American empire says about itself and our creation of theology, art and culture that does not shrink in the face of perpetual assault.”
Every syllable of King and Lamar is true for the Spanish-speaking churches who are the main ones now within punching range of Miller, Bannon, Bondi and Noem. Few of us can even speak the language of their prayers. But God does.
We need no missionaries, no matter what policy position they take on this or that part of the MAGA assault on law, freedom and justice. Those of us low on pigment and high on privilege need to listen carefully to those who have been here before, seen the raw edge of power afraid of history, terrified of the radical diversity of the world God has created.
As we find our feet to stand for law and functional government and modern science, we may find we need the full “we,” to build a future quite sharply different from the past. How? It is amazing to me the kindness with which an honest question is received.
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AFRICAN AMERICANS AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR CONGREGATIONS AND COMMUNITIES, Sabrina E. Dent and Corey D. B. Walker. Available here for free.
