Last Wednesday, Mfon Edet and I participated in the “Moral Witness Wednesday” march to the White House organized by the Rev. Dr. William Barber and his team at Repairers of the Breach. The purpose of the march was to publicly indict the president and his administration on how immigrants and the poor are treated in the United States. Hundreds of clergy and laypersons from various faith traditions gathered in the morning at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. to organize, go over the rules and share fellowship before the march. After that, we lined up, five persons in row, and marched through the streets of Northwest D.C. to the White House.
This was the first time I participated in a march of this
size. Most of my organizing and political activism has taken place on a smaller
scale with community residents against police brutality and economic injustice.
Also, my denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), goes to
the State House in Annapolis annually for “A.M.E. Day” where we present our
priorities to legislators. I’ve also worked behind the scenes supporting
movements. This was the first time I actually marched as a public witness with
other persons of faith.
As an ordained minister, standing as a moral witness is not foreign to me. It’s part of the job. I am called to be a physical representation of God and to speak for God against that which doesn’t line up with truth, justice, love and equality. My presence as a clergyperson is supposed to invoke repentance in cases of evil and injustice. The presence of the clergy on Wednesday and our moral witness were aimed at calling President Trump to repentance. I guess he felt some kind of way about it, because he closed down Lafayette Parkbefore we reached it and didn’t allow us to come near the White House, so I don’t think he heeded the spiritual warning.
Despite his cowardice, it moved me to see Muslim, Jewish and other faith traditions standing in solidarity and unity as a moral witness to the atrocities that take place in our country when it comes to family separation, migrant detention and policies against the impoverished. The speeches I heard were powerful and moving. The refrain of the first speech I heard as we gathered on the sidewalk outside of Lafayette Park was, “America is not well” to which everyone responded in unison. This was a direct challenge to the president’s claim that America is on its way back to “greatness” under his leadership. I saw ministers there I knew, some I followed on Twitter and never met face-to-face until that day, and I even met new people. The spirit was very collegial and uplifting, and I felt hopeful in the midst of the group.
However, in the midst of the collegiality was also a reminder that we still have a ways to go. A non-Black woman in our row said to my coworker, Mfon, “See, Black people can drink Starbucks.” She said this as she pointed to an African-American man present holding a Starbucks cup. We don’t know what point she was trying to make; we think her statement was in reference to the recent incidences in Starbucks where the police were called on Black patrons. However, it is a reminder that despite our good intentions, we still need to address the prejudices, racial biases and just plain ignorance within ourselves and organizations because they are what lead to the inhumane policies we spoke out against and the apathy that many Americans suffer from even when seeing the conditions of detention centers and the effects separation has on migrant children. Sojourners magazine recently published an article from Itzbeth Menjívar about the racism she faced as an executive at a progressive social justice nonprofit.
The incident doesn’t take away from the success of the event. It’s just an opportunity for us to take a close examination of ourselves and address issues that are pervasive in our society even in social justice work. However, the event was a success despite the president’s cowardly move of closing down Lafayette Park. I look forward to supporting other events organized by Repairers of the Breach and the #takeaction-section">Poor People’s Campaign. I hope you do the same.