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The nation
itself was critically wounded last week following the
successive officer-involved fatal shootings of Alton
Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castille in Minnesota. As
a result of the week’s collective trauma, the relationship
between the black community and law enforcement has never
been worse and the racial divide in America has not been
wider.
The
following are words of wisdom from “Wounded Warriors and
Wounded Healers,” a group of elder clergy, who have “lived
through racial turbulence, all the while trying to keep the
people close to God.” Their wisdom comes to The Truth’s
readers via the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, in order
to provide spirituality and strength for the journey ahead.
Rev.
Yvonne Delk, Retired UCC Minister:
As an elder
in the movement, my heart continues to break as I realize
that the blood of my grandsons and granddaughters continue
to flow in the streets as a result of what I have come to
define as our modern day form of lynching. However with each
death, I am reminded that the struggle for freedom is
on-going. What we struggled for, sat in for, went to jail
for in the days of my youth must be secured today. Freedom
and justice cannot be turned back by white supremacy, police
brutality or color blindness.
So with a
heart that breaks and a faith that believes that out of
every tragedy, every death, new life and new commitment must
rise, I am committed to the struggle for the long haul.
Receiving hope and courage from all the ancestors who
preceded me on the battlefield for justice and with my
resolve to stay the course I am determined as an elder to
tell the story of our spiritual based resistance movement
and at the same time to join the modern day Black Lives
Matter Movement demanding accountability for every life that
has been lynched in the past or present.
Sr.
Jaime Phelps, O.P., Ph.D., Adrian Dominican Sisters, Former
Director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies:
The big white police officers are killing little kids; they
are trying to kill something in themselves. What is wrong
with these folks that they think they can kill black folks
with impunity? What is the fear? What is it that a 14-year
old can do to you? We are trying to make reason out of
unreasonable behavior ...We do need to speak to it ....
J.
Alfred Smith, Pastor Emeritus, Allen Temple Baptist Church:
I am an 85 year-old black retired pastor,
very afraid of the future for my sons, grandsons, great
grandsons, nephews, and sons- in -law who could be killed at
any time by a police officer afraid of black men! A black
man with a gun and a permit to carry a gun is not safer than
a black man without a gun. At my age I do not deserve to
live if I do not speak out now. I can live with the
accusation that I am “playing the race card” because when
Mr. Roof was arrested for killing unarmed blacks in a
church, the officers were kind enough to take him to get
something to eat. Put yourself in my place. Are we black
males sub-human because we are black? Is the God of America
anti -black? How do I explain all of this to the fruit of my
loins? How do white fathers explain to their sons what is
not happening to their sons and what is happening to the
sons of black men?
Is the
American Christ the same Christ of the gospels who lived in
the Rome that was great according to the standards of power,
domination, and oppression? Why are people afraid of my
black skin? Four decades of black theology have not thawed
the ice of racism!
Jeremiah Wright. Pastor Emeritus, Trinity United Church of
Christ:
Over a year ago, Dr. Yolanda Pierce wrote a
Litany For Those Who Aren’t Ready For Healing. Her
words say it all for me. 49 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther
King said in his April 4, 1967 sermon “A Time To Break
Silence” preached at the Riverside Church that we are
fighting a three headed demon: racism, militarism and casino
capitalism (consumerism).
Very few
listened 50 years ago. Fewer still are listening to
prophetic voices like Dr. Pierce and Dr. Traci Blackmon now.
Prayer
vigils are not enough. Protests and street demonstrations
are not enough. Worship services and powerful sermons are
not enough. Words are not enough. Actions
speak louder than words, but our government is stuck on
non-action, “business-as-usual” stupid.
Corporate
dollars, neoliberalism, Trumpism, Racism and the NRA still
have a stranglehold on this sick society. Like Eric Garner,
“WE CAN’T BREATHE!” When will the suffering masses wake up,
turn off “Scandal,” “Empire,” “Law and Order SVU,” “NCIS,”
“The Voice,” “American Idol,” housewives, preachers and
pimps of L.A., Detroit, Atlanta and wherever, reality TV
shows, FACE OUR EVERY DAY UGLY REALITY and stop what Donald
Macedo calls “the stupidifcation of America?”
Rev
Gaylord Thomas, retired, Evangelical Lutheran Church:
The use of "I" versus "we" changes how you think and how you
respond in every situation. In this season of assault
against African Americans, a "we" concept is required for us
to be whole, self-determinant and healed. We must bridge
every divide and find our defense in understanding that all
the children are "us." We must preach a sense of
connectedness as foundational to our survival. We cannot let
our youth live into a mindset of hate and fear that robs
them of hope and vision. We must continue to confront the
injustices and also teach our youth the spiritual principles
that build an understanding and commitment to building
family and the circle of community.
Rev.
Gilbert “Gil” Caldwell, retired
clergyman of the United Methodist Church, a founder of Black
Methodists for Church Renewal (The Black Caucus in the UMC)
and NCBC. Asbury Park, NJ:
I first went to Africa/Tanzania, in 1971 for
a Consultation of African and African American Church
leaders and Governmental leaders sponsored by the National
Committee of Black Churchmen/NCBC (A name later changed to
become gender inclusive). I too with Dean Howard Thurman,
wondered what "tools of the human spirit" did my African
fore parents possess that enabled them to withstand capture,
The Middle Passage and slavery in the Americas?
But today I/We, must ask after the recent
killings by the police of Black men, what are the "tools of
the human spirit" that we who are African Americans, and our
allies should possess to counter and confront what has
become "The same old same old" of the police killings of
black men, and the deaths of black women and men while held
in police custody?
I suggest the following; A growing and
deepening affirmation of the significance of
our creation as described in Psalm 139...An embrace of the
totality of all of those who represent the rich diversity of
Black persons and community...Black Lives Matter means ALL
Black Lives....and a belief in the truth of the African
American Spiritual; "I Know the Lord has Laid Hands on Me
(and us)".
I call out my Senior sisters and brothers who
have "retired" from the struggle against anti-black bigotry
that is still rooted deeply in the soil of the nation and in
the DNA of many who claim allegiance to the principles of
the USA. "The Struggle Continues"; join it!
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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