By Rev. Matthew L. Watley, 2nd Episcopal District
I was honored to be invited to speak at the 57th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Here are my reflections on this moment and our movement toward social and economic justice.
Protests are political theater designed to demonstrate the level of sacrificial commitment of a given people to achieving large-scale change through direct action. When people take to the streets, they do not do so believing that their actions will result directly in achieving their aims but they plan to affect public sentiment and ultimately policy aligned with their values and beliefs. When I arrived at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I knew that this would not be a historic moment like what had been achieved 57 years earlier, not just because you can’t step into a river in the same place, but because the dynamics of 2020 are so wildly different.
While it is heartening to see the sophistication of today’s liberation movement leverage social media and camera phones to allow people to amass quickly, self-document, and broadcast repressive government tactics to the world in real-time, I reiterate that the goal of protest is not mere protest but policy change. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Washington seven years after being elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to negotiate with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson around a policy agenda of social, economic, and political justice. Simultaneously, King laid theological waste to the racist hermeneutics of white Christendom which formed the basis of the racial caste system of his day. My point is not to deify the past or attempt to recreate it but to point out that King stood at the head of a well-organized movement that could appeal broadly to the whole society.
Be Wise as Serpents, But Harmless as Doves
Before the change that protest demands can become policy, it must run the gauntlet of politics. To march without recognizing the political effects and ramifications of what we say and do is not merely naïve but irresponsible. Elijah Muhammad censored Malcolm X after his insensitive remarks regarding Kennedy’s assassination because of the potential political impact of his words. Similarly, Rosa Parks was selected as a more acceptable image of the Montgomery bus boycott rather than Claudette Colvin for political reasons. While today those tactics would be labeled too accommodating and an example of respectability politics, the truth is that to change a nation, one must reach the hearts and minds of those who currently stand at odds with the transformative message. In Matthew 10:16, we are reminded of Jesus’ guidance to his believers within the context of dealing with an oppressive regime, “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Just as King emphasized the need for discipline in protest so that their efforts would not be reframed and used against them, I think more of this counsel is needed today. Trump, like Nixon before him, is making a clear play toward a racialized election. His message of “vote for me or be overrun by the blacks and their sympathizers” could not be more clear or repugnant. Yet, his goal is not to simply to appeal to his most extreme followers at his base but also to recruit less radical constituencies in the same rising tide of whitelash that delivered him to victory after eight years of an African American president. Tightening polls—especially in swing states—demonstrate that it is working, which leads us to wonder aloud the same question that King raised with the title of his last book, “where do we go from here?”
Moral Leadership
The speeches during the 2020 March on Washington largely focused on giving voice to pain and anger, demands for justice and freedom, and adjudication of specific black victims of police violence by both leaders and, powerfully, their families. Interestingly, there were not many appeals to change specific federal laws and even less articulation of a defining vision for all Americans. The epilogue of King’s speech 57 years ago, which we now call the “I Have a Dream” speech inspired the nation to change because it placed his demand for justice within American idealism and the Judeo-Christian worldview while providing space for other Americans to see themselves positively.
This is what moral leadership looks like and what is missing to a large degree in our movement today. Moral leaders must critique the existing system while constructing an aspirational alternative to take its place. Pulling apart the components of an alarm clock is easy, putting them back together or building a better one is much more difficult. Moral leadership requires not simply a counter to the oppression but the articulation of a vision in a manner that allows all stakeholders to see a better future for themselves, incentivizing work toward a more perfect union.
The compelling truth of the gospel of social justice is hindered by the structural challenges presented by a celebrity-driven, post-rational, post-factual, and post-literate society. King’s letter to the Birmingham jail, one of the most powerful pieces of literature of the past century, would have no chance of being read widely or contemplated deeply today unless made into a splashy video and shared by an array of social media influencers.
Crying in the Wilderness
There is no wonder then that the COVID-19 lockdown of the country came not from a White House directive but by a cultural inflection point when the NBA suspended play. One can argue that the clearest and most effective leader of this movement is Lebron James who has one of the largest cultural pulpits to amplify his message. That does not mean the gospel has nothing to offer, it is just that they are not in places or spaces to be heard.
We must recognize that we are not Paul speaking before the most powerful governmental leader of his day—the Emperor of Rome and his officials—we are more like John crying out in the wilderness. Yet, we should be encouraged to keep preaching and leading because God always ensures the voice of John the Baptist is heard as well. Consider a leader like the Rev. Dr. Robert Turner who serves a historic AME church in a small city but who has had a national and international impact because of his message, courage, and sheer force of will. Another AME example is the vision of the Rev. Dr. Elaine Flake who hired the Rev. Stephen Green as Greater Allen’s Minister of Social Justice so that he would have the support and freedom to lead protests across the nation.
Technical Leadership
Maybe our challenge is to recognize that we may not be Dr. King in this moment of the movement. We may play more localized roles with a national impact like Fannie Lou Hamer, provide strategic and logistical support for the movement like Wyatt Tee Walker, or offer real-time technical and systemic remedies like Sherrilyn Ifill as the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Like Moses, we are to use what is already in our hands to demand that Pharaoh let God’s people go and then work to lead them out of oppression, through the wilderness, and to the promised land. My small part is to provide an opportunity for us to get at the economic roots of oppression in our nation. Here’s some of what I said at the March:
Follow the Money
Our fight for justice cannot merely focus on the legal system, it must deal with the economic system it protects. Marches and movements only have meaning when they lead to structural change in the economic system. Dr. King went from marching for civil rights to marching for living wages because he understood that in America, racial segregation and economic segregation were one-in-the-same. America’s color problem has never just been about black and white—follow the money—because America is all about the green.
America has a green problem which is why we have founded The Black IDEA Coalition. IDEA stands for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Action. We are committed to achieving black parity in business since it has been reported that there has been a 41 percent decline in black business from February to April 2020. Forty-one percent! We are holding businesses accountable and empowering them to invest in black communities, make deals with black businesses, and hire and promote black people.
I am excited to announce our Inaugural Summit on September 23, 2020. For more information, text the words “Black Idea” to 313131 or go to www.theblackidea.com.
The Rev. Matthew Watley is the senior pastor of Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Silver Spring, Maryland and the chair of The Black IDEA Coalition.
