With the death of Representative John Lewis and the Reverend Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, America has lost two wonderful civil rights names that have relied on its religion to boost the equality of black Americans.
That either man was other cloth people is no coincidence.
Since the most remote times in American history, devoted leaders have led the struggle for the liberation and racial justice of black Americans. As an ordained minister and historian, I see an unusual thread ranging from black resistance in the early periods of slavery in the south of the war, to the civil rights motion of the 1950s and 1960s, in which Lewis and Vivian played roles. and more to today’s Black Lives Matter movement.
Civil rights activists knew Vivian as the “resident theologian” in King’s inner circle because of “how deep he is in his political and biblical exegesis,” reverend Jesse Jackson recalled.
Religious traditions count the civil rights and social justice paintings of many black leaders. They interpret the teachings through the prism of injustice here and now.
Speaking of King’s influence, Lewis explained: “He didn’t get involved with the streets of the sky, the pearly gates and the streets paved with milk and honey. He became more involved with the streets and the way blacks were treated and deficient in Array.
This focus on real-world struggles in the role of non-secular leaders provides among the first black leaders of civil rights and anti-slavery. Nat Turner, a leader of the revolt opposed to slavery, for example, saw the uprising as paintings of God and was inspired by biblical texts to motivate his actions. Similarly, anti-slavery activists Sojourner Truth and Jarena Lee rejected the “other world” theology taught to enslaved Africans through their white captors, who sought to divert attention from their condition in “this world” with promises of a better life after death. .
The integration of faith into the black motion against slavery has sown the seeds so that faith is at the center of the struggle for racial justice. As Church historian James Washington observed in 1986, “the very disorientation of its slavery and persistence have an effect on systemic racism and another bureaucracy of oppression provided an opportunity, if not the need, for a new devout synthesis.
Synthesis continued in the twentieth century. Civil rights leaders like Lewis and Vivian obviously felt compelled to make the fight for justice a central component of a non-secular leader’s role.
In 1965, Vivian punched in the mouth through Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark in an incident filmed and broadcast by National News. Vivian later said, “Everything I am as a minister, as an African-American, as a civil rights activist, and a fight for justice for all came here in combination at the time.
Although their activism is based on Christianity, Lewis and Vivian have forged strategic and tough coalitions with those who were not part of their faith. Somehow, they have transcended theologically informed ideologies with a worldview closer to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s interpretation of “Ubuntu” – that his own humanity is inextricably connected to that of others.
Lewis and Vivian have personified this in their leadership styles.
Racial justice remains an integral part of black Christian leadership in the 21st century.
After the murder of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, it was the Reverend Al Sharpton whose words spread all over the world, asking white Americans to “raise our knees” at Floyd’s funeral.
In recent years, the Rev. William J. Barber II has been such a vocal and harsh presence in demonstrations that some Americans have made him the successor to former civil rights greats.
In an interview in early 2020, Barber said, “There is no separation between Jesus and justice; to be a Christian is to worry about what’s in the world.”
John Lewis and Reverend C.T. Vivian lived one’s words.
Some of this data contained in an earlier article published on June 17
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit news story committed to sharing concepts from education experts.
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Lawrence Burnley paints and owns shares in an organization. It’s affiliated with an organization. I paint for the University of Dayton and director of Inclusive Engagements, LLC.