Justice through Creativity...
The Role of Churches in Social Justice
In 1958 I was two years old. WWII had ended just 13 years before. The average cost of a new house was $12,750. The Ford Mustang had not yet made its exciting entrance. The world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, successfully navigated under the North Pole. The peace symbol was created. The Microchip was invented. The Great Chinese Famine caused the death of nearly 30 million people. The Broadway musical “My Fair Lady” opened in London. The U.S. launched its first satellite, Explorer I, and NASA was established. Stereo records first became available for consumers. The “Barbie” doll was first introduced and became an instant success. Even though the Brown decision had been handed down four years before, efforts at school desegregation in the southern United States were met with fervent, and sometimes armed, resistance. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were still years in the future.
On January 26 of this year, John Fillmore, a Republican Arizona state representative, said, “We need to get back to 1958-style voting” and introduced a bill to do just that. This bill, part of a nationwide right-wing effort to overturn elections, would (among other things) end all voting by mail and allow the Arizona legislature to reject election results. According to the Guardian, “The measure would require the state legislature to convene after primary and general elections to review the ballot counting process and ‘shall accept or reject the election results'."[1] The proposal does not require lawmakers to find evidence of fraud or lay out any factors they would have to consider to overturn an election. The same measure would also require Arizona voters to explain why they want to vote by mail. This is even though most Arizona voters have used mail-in voting for many years. It would also restrict voting to election day and restricts voting to specific places in the county where a person lives. Additionally, the law would require that votes be counted by hand no later than 24 hours after precincts close on Election Day. It is important to remember that Arizona used racist literacy tests back in 1958 to stop people of color from voting. |
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It is also essential to understand that many other states have proposed or enacted such laws since the previous Republican President lost the 2020 election. In addition to Arizona, other states that restrict or disenfranchise voters the most are Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Texas, and Wyoming. Many other states have slightly less draconian restrictions, but they are also heading toward anti-democratic legislation.
If the list of the most restrictive states sounds familiar, it should be. Many are states on the list were targeted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. How can this be, you might ask? We need to go back to June 2013 for the answer. That is when the Supreme Court effectively gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act by freeing nine states, mainly in the South, to change their election laws without needing federal approval in advance. The majority of the court cynically concluded that racial minorities do not continue to face barriers to voting in states with a history of discrimination. At that time, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said, “Our country has changed. While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.” Long before the current wave of hatred and discrimination had been enabled in our nation since 2016 by the Republican President, the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for disenfranchising Americans of color once again. According to Wikipedia, |
A visitor wears a face mask with a picture of former President Donald Trump’s mouth on it during the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 26, 2021, in Orlando, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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“Disfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of the right to vote of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. Disfranchisement can also refer to the revocation of power or control of a particular individual or community; that is, to deprive them of a legal right, of some privilege or inherent immunity. Disfranchisement may be accomplished explicitly by law or implicitly through requirements applied in a discriminatory fashion, through intimidation, or by placing unreasonable requirements on voters for registration or voting.”
It is essential to understand that Arizona’s Fillmore gave voice to what many people in the United States believe... returning to the society that existed in 1958 will allow some people to preserve their power, influence, and privilege. But here’s the difference between now and then... these people believe that they are entitled to do so by force!
A few days ago, at the end of January, Republican party member Mike Detmer, a candidate for the Michigan state Senate, told prospective constituents they should “show up armed” to voting places. He said that they should unplug the voting machines if they suspect voting irregularities or fraud. He said, “The ideal thing is to do this peacefully... That’s ideal. But the American people, at some point in time, if we can’t change the tide, which I believe we can, we need to be prepared to lock and load.”[2]
There are many such threats to polling places; election officials and workers at polling places are being intimidated and abused in many places in our nation. Following a failed reelection of the former Republican President, the Republican party spent much of the past year undermining the authority of state and local election officials in the democracy we enjoy here in the United States. They continue to lie about the 2020 presidential election and are angry at election officials who refuse to go along with attempts to overthrow the results. Since then, those officials have been subjected to a constant stream of abuse and threats. A recent report by Reuters contains more than 850 threatening messages over 30 jurisdictions in 16 states. Ominously, about 110 of them appear to warrant federal prosecution.[3]
How did we go from disagreeing with each other to shooting people? Sadly, more and more people feel justified in doing violence against other citizens and against our government if they don’t like what is said or done. For them, the ballot box is not a tool for democracy. It is the symbol of an institution and a Constitution under attack by people who wish to destroy their power, influence, and privilege. On January 1, 2022, the Washington Post reported that 1 in 3 say violence against the government can be justified, citing fears of political schism and pandemics. Let’s stop and think about this for a second. Let me repeat this... just five days before we all witnessed the attack on our nation’s capital... 1 in 3 people said violence against the government could be justified!
The Washington Post also reported, “While a 2015 survey found no significant partisan divide when it comes to the question of justified violence against the government, the new poll identified a sharper rise on the right - with 40 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Independents saying it can be acceptable. The view was held by 23 percent of Democrats, the survey finds.” The Post went on the say, “Acceptance of violence against the government was higher among men, younger adults and those with college degrees. There was also a racial gap, with 40 percent of White Americans saying such violence can be justified, compared with 18 percent of Black Americans.” The Post article quoted a man named Ward, a 32-year-old Republican, who said, "The world we live in now is scary. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but sometimes it feels like a movie. It’s no longer a war against Democrats and Republicans. It’s a war between good and evil.”[4]
One conclusion we can come to from these statistics is that the Republicans, a major party in the United States, is no longer committed to democracy as we understand it. As Zack Beauchamp puts it in a Vox article from March 1, 2021, that party “... is a radical, obstructionist faction that has become hostile to the most basic democratic norm: that the other side should get to wield power when it wins elections.” Other conclusions from statistics analyzed were starkly headlined in Beauchamp’s article. In it, he listed and explained in detail the following:
Crucial to understanding where we now are is what the young Republican Ward said. Remember, he said, “The world we live in now is scary. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but sometimes it feels like a movie. It’s no longer a war against Democrats and Republicans. It’s a war between good and evil.” He said... what? The world is scary, and it feels like a war between good and evil.
What are he and others afraid of? Are they afraid of the truth? My friends, we are witnessing the corrosive power of lies. Of course, the fancy word for lies these days is “misinformation.” Don’t be misinformed about lies. A lie is a lie. There is no good in a lie. And when the lie becomes so big, so overwhelming, and so audacious, it takes on a life and a meaning - a purpose - of its own that places it outside the realm of accountability. That lack of accountability is what we should be afraid of. We should know from history that big lies are accepted as justification for doing a whole lot of evil.
Now, this lie about the former Republican President not losing the previous election is so big, and the people repeating it... good people, well-meaning people, Godly people, righteous people, urgent people, earnest people, believing people... are lead by people who really, truly know better. They have been told to turn reality upside down. “Never mind about what you witnessed on January 6, 2021.”, they were told. “You did not see what you saw. There was no insurrection. It was only legitimate political discourse.”
You and I, good people, well-meaning people, Godly people, righteous people, urgent people, earnest people, and believing people... know the difference between legitimate political discourse and illegitimate political violence. In the United States, our free speech rights were designed to allow us to inform others about our views and persuade them to change their minds. That kind of expression is good for democracy. The people on the receiving end of this speech have the freedom to accept or reject the message.
In our democracy, we invite others to participate in the free market of ideas and ideals. We can be pretty vigorous as we attempt to persuade others of our viewpoints or values. Sometimes firm persuasion can seem offensive to some, but we always have a choice to agree or disagree, and there are no negative consequences to this choice.
Jennifer Mercieca and Timothy J. Shaffer, writing for “The Conversation” on February 8, 2022, explained how the opposite of persuasion we now face from the Republicans is coercion. They wrote,
“Coercion, on the other hand, is a kind of force... a command, not an invitation. Coercion denies others the freedom to choose for themselves whether to agree or disagree. Coercion and violence are anti-democratic because they deny others their ability to consent. Violence and coercion are the very opposite of legitimate political discourse. Politics is not war, and legitimate political discourse is not violence.”[6]
“Why should we become involved with such earthly, political issues?” you might ask. As religious people, the temptation is to be uninvolved in anything other than feeding and clothing the poor and winning souls for Christ. Amen to that. Amen to that. But I will remind you what the Bible says about everyone having a responsibility to right the wrongs of social injustice. In Luke 12:48, it is written, “But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
In Hosea 10:13, it is written, “You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people.” So, yes, I can quote many scriptures from the Bible and many similar admonitions from other faith traditions about the need for religious organizations to intervene in matters of social injustice. But since it is Black History Month, let me talk a little about someone who knew so well what it was like to struggle against the injustices faced by people of color that existed in the United States in 1958.
These days I find myself reading the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and sadly marveling at his prescience. In 1957, in an address at the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations in Nashville called “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” he said,
“There are several specific things that the Church can do in making brotherhood a reality. First, the Church should try to get to the ideational roots of race hate. All race prejudice is based upon suspicion, fears, and misunderstandings, most of which are groundless. The popular mind urgently needs direction here. Not only is the mind left confused by certain frictions that arise out of the ordinary contact of diverse human groups, but we are afflicted by the activities of the professional hate groups, that is, through the activities of leaders of racist movements, who gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind. These two forces—ordinary antagonisms and abnormally aroused fears—keep the popular mind in such a state of confusion and excitement that they are unconsciously lead to acts of meanness and oppression.”
King nailed it! The fact is that we now being forcefully invited to relive the 1950s. King also said in this same address, the following words that are haunting and savagely true,
“Psychologists have a word which is probably used more frequently than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word ‘maladjusted.’ This word is the ringing cry of the new child psychology. Now in a sense, all of us must live the well adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things in our social system to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I suggest that you too ought to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to the viciousness of mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the evils of segregation and the crippling effects of discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic inequalities of an economic system which take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to become adjusted to the madness of militarism and the self-defeating method of physical violence. I call upon you to be maladjusted. The challenge to you is to be maladjusted.”
Today I ask you to be “maladjusted” with me! I ask you to look, clear-eyed into the abyss of hatred that is threatening to devour our country whole. I want you to see, as I do, and as King did, that “we are afflicted by the activities of the professional hate groups, that is, through the activities of leaders of racist movements, who gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind.”
We are living in a time when we have plowed iniquity; we have reaped injustice; we have eaten the fruit of lies. The Republicans insist on this. Yet they proclaim to be God-fearing, just, moral, loving people. Are they? As people of faith, can we passively accept the lies that are degrading our way of life as we speak?
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.” My sisters and brothers, we have collected many more facts than we need to understand the injustices occurring in our nation at this moment. We have tried to negotiate with the party of Republicans, who clearly do not wish to compromise or negotiate. We went through self-purification about these very issues of disenfranchisement over 50 years ago. What is left? I would argue that direct action is now imperative. In fact, it is long overdue.
In our nation, some of us have lulled ourselves to sleep. Some Democrats have been content to believe we are racing towards that day when we will all be judged, not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. While Democrats have been blithely going along singing “Cum Bi Ya” to each other, the Republicans have been busy blowing up the racetrack. Now they propose to meet Democrats at a much-elongated finish line with machine guns.
Why are we here? Well, because when you want something badly enough, you will often go into a state of denial when it does not materialize. We’ve all been there in our personal lives. Our partner or spouse will lie and cheat and steal, but we don’t want to believe the evidence of our own eyes and our hearts. The kind of corrosive lie I am talking about strips you of power. It robs you of agency, and it turns you into a partner of your own oppression!
Today we meet to praise God, who is described in Isaiah 61:8 as a God who loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. Again, I ask you to be “maladjusted” to the new normal of political lying and deceit. I urge this congregation, along with the wonderful social outreach it is so well known for in our community, to also speak out against attempts to disenfranchise people of color. Be vocal about not wanting to go back to 1958. Help to facilitate, in a non-partisan way, meaningful community discussions about the pressing social justice issues that threaten our democracy. Help to build multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalitions to combat the racism that has always lived at the core of our nation.
In closing, I will quote another King. Coretta Scott King said, “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” Join me in our work to earn freedom in this generation. Thank you for allowing me to be with you this evening. God bless us all.
It is essential to understand that Arizona’s Fillmore gave voice to what many people in the United States believe... returning to the society that existed in 1958 will allow some people to preserve their power, influence, and privilege. But here’s the difference between now and then... these people believe that they are entitled to do so by force!
A few days ago, at the end of January, Republican party member Mike Detmer, a candidate for the Michigan state Senate, told prospective constituents they should “show up armed” to voting places. He said that they should unplug the voting machines if they suspect voting irregularities or fraud. He said, “The ideal thing is to do this peacefully... That’s ideal. But the American people, at some point in time, if we can’t change the tide, which I believe we can, we need to be prepared to lock and load.”[2]
There are many such threats to polling places; election officials and workers at polling places are being intimidated and abused in many places in our nation. Following a failed reelection of the former Republican President, the Republican party spent much of the past year undermining the authority of state and local election officials in the democracy we enjoy here in the United States. They continue to lie about the 2020 presidential election and are angry at election officials who refuse to go along with attempts to overthrow the results. Since then, those officials have been subjected to a constant stream of abuse and threats. A recent report by Reuters contains more than 850 threatening messages over 30 jurisdictions in 16 states. Ominously, about 110 of them appear to warrant federal prosecution.[3]
How did we go from disagreeing with each other to shooting people? Sadly, more and more people feel justified in doing violence against other citizens and against our government if they don’t like what is said or done. For them, the ballot box is not a tool for democracy. It is the symbol of an institution and a Constitution under attack by people who wish to destroy their power, influence, and privilege. On January 1, 2022, the Washington Post reported that 1 in 3 say violence against the government can be justified, citing fears of political schism and pandemics. Let’s stop and think about this for a second. Let me repeat this... just five days before we all witnessed the attack on our nation’s capital... 1 in 3 people said violence against the government could be justified!
The Washington Post also reported, “While a 2015 survey found no significant partisan divide when it comes to the question of justified violence against the government, the new poll identified a sharper rise on the right - with 40 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Independents saying it can be acceptable. The view was held by 23 percent of Democrats, the survey finds.” The Post went on the say, “Acceptance of violence against the government was higher among men, younger adults and those with college degrees. There was also a racial gap, with 40 percent of White Americans saying such violence can be justified, compared with 18 percent of Black Americans.” The Post article quoted a man named Ward, a 32-year-old Republican, who said, "The world we live in now is scary. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but sometimes it feels like a movie. It’s no longer a war against Democrats and Republicans. It’s a war between good and evil.”[4]
One conclusion we can come to from these statistics is that the Republicans, a major party in the United States, is no longer committed to democracy as we understand it. As Zack Beauchamp puts it in a Vox article from March 1, 2021, that party “... is a radical, obstructionist faction that has become hostile to the most basic democratic norm: that the other side should get to wield power when it wins elections.” Other conclusions from statistics analyzed were starkly headlined in Beauchamp’s article. In it, he listed and explained in detail the following:
- Today’s Republicans genuinely hate members of the opposite party - and democracy.
- The Republicans are embracing violence. They overwhelmingly agree with the statement, “If elected leaders won’t protect America, the people must act - even if that means violence.”
- Republicans see Democrats as worse than mere rivals.
- The Republican party dislikes compromise
- The Republicans are global outliers in their distain for democracy.
- The Republican’s turn against democracy begins with race. Support for authoritarianism is tied to racial conflicts.
- Partisanship causes the Republicans to justify anti-democratic behavior.
- Right-wing media is making a crucial impact on the opinions of members of the Republican party.
- Our political system creates space for the Republicans to undermine democracy.
- Some of the most consequential attacks on democracy happen at the state level.
- Leaders at the national level of the Republican party have intentionally broken government.
- The members of the Republican party don’t care if their former Republican President abused his power.
- Former President Trump may return to power in 2024.[5]
Crucial to understanding where we now are is what the young Republican Ward said. Remember, he said, “The world we live in now is scary. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but sometimes it feels like a movie. It’s no longer a war against Democrats and Republicans. It’s a war between good and evil.” He said... what? The world is scary, and it feels like a war between good and evil.
What are he and others afraid of? Are they afraid of the truth? My friends, we are witnessing the corrosive power of lies. Of course, the fancy word for lies these days is “misinformation.” Don’t be misinformed about lies. A lie is a lie. There is no good in a lie. And when the lie becomes so big, so overwhelming, and so audacious, it takes on a life and a meaning - a purpose - of its own that places it outside the realm of accountability. That lack of accountability is what we should be afraid of. We should know from history that big lies are accepted as justification for doing a whole lot of evil.
Now, this lie about the former Republican President not losing the previous election is so big, and the people repeating it... good people, well-meaning people, Godly people, righteous people, urgent people, earnest people, believing people... are lead by people who really, truly know better. They have been told to turn reality upside down. “Never mind about what you witnessed on January 6, 2021.”, they were told. “You did not see what you saw. There was no insurrection. It was only legitimate political discourse.”
You and I, good people, well-meaning people, Godly people, righteous people, urgent people, earnest people, and believing people... know the difference between legitimate political discourse and illegitimate political violence. In the United States, our free speech rights were designed to allow us to inform others about our views and persuade them to change their minds. That kind of expression is good for democracy. The people on the receiving end of this speech have the freedom to accept or reject the message.
In our democracy, we invite others to participate in the free market of ideas and ideals. We can be pretty vigorous as we attempt to persuade others of our viewpoints or values. Sometimes firm persuasion can seem offensive to some, but we always have a choice to agree or disagree, and there are no negative consequences to this choice.
Jennifer Mercieca and Timothy J. Shaffer, writing for “The Conversation” on February 8, 2022, explained how the opposite of persuasion we now face from the Republicans is coercion. They wrote,
“Coercion, on the other hand, is a kind of force... a command, not an invitation. Coercion denies others the freedom to choose for themselves whether to agree or disagree. Coercion and violence are anti-democratic because they deny others their ability to consent. Violence and coercion are the very opposite of legitimate political discourse. Politics is not war, and legitimate political discourse is not violence.”[6]
“Why should we become involved with such earthly, political issues?” you might ask. As religious people, the temptation is to be uninvolved in anything other than feeding and clothing the poor and winning souls for Christ. Amen to that. Amen to that. But I will remind you what the Bible says about everyone having a responsibility to right the wrongs of social injustice. In Luke 12:48, it is written, “But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
In Hosea 10:13, it is written, “You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people.” So, yes, I can quote many scriptures from the Bible and many similar admonitions from other faith traditions about the need for religious organizations to intervene in matters of social injustice. But since it is Black History Month, let me talk a little about someone who knew so well what it was like to struggle against the injustices faced by people of color that existed in the United States in 1958.
These days I find myself reading the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and sadly marveling at his prescience. In 1957, in an address at the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations in Nashville called “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” he said,
“There are several specific things that the Church can do in making brotherhood a reality. First, the Church should try to get to the ideational roots of race hate. All race prejudice is based upon suspicion, fears, and misunderstandings, most of which are groundless. The popular mind urgently needs direction here. Not only is the mind left confused by certain frictions that arise out of the ordinary contact of diverse human groups, but we are afflicted by the activities of the professional hate groups, that is, through the activities of leaders of racist movements, who gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind. These two forces—ordinary antagonisms and abnormally aroused fears—keep the popular mind in such a state of confusion and excitement that they are unconsciously lead to acts of meanness and oppression.”
King nailed it! The fact is that we now being forcefully invited to relive the 1950s. King also said in this same address, the following words that are haunting and savagely true,
“Psychologists have a word which is probably used more frequently than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word ‘maladjusted.’ This word is the ringing cry of the new child psychology. Now in a sense, all of us must live the well adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things in our social system to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I suggest that you too ought to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to the viciousness of mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the evils of segregation and the crippling effects of discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic inequalities of an economic system which take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to become adjusted to the madness of militarism and the self-defeating method of physical violence. I call upon you to be maladjusted. The challenge to you is to be maladjusted.”
Today I ask you to be “maladjusted” with me! I ask you to look, clear-eyed into the abyss of hatred that is threatening to devour our country whole. I want you to see, as I do, and as King did, that “we are afflicted by the activities of the professional hate groups, that is, through the activities of leaders of racist movements, who gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind.”
We are living in a time when we have plowed iniquity; we have reaped injustice; we have eaten the fruit of lies. The Republicans insist on this. Yet they proclaim to be God-fearing, just, moral, loving people. Are they? As people of faith, can we passively accept the lies that are degrading our way of life as we speak?
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.” My sisters and brothers, we have collected many more facts than we need to understand the injustices occurring in our nation at this moment. We have tried to negotiate with the party of Republicans, who clearly do not wish to compromise or negotiate. We went through self-purification about these very issues of disenfranchisement over 50 years ago. What is left? I would argue that direct action is now imperative. In fact, it is long overdue.
In our nation, some of us have lulled ourselves to sleep. Some Democrats have been content to believe we are racing towards that day when we will all be judged, not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. While Democrats have been blithely going along singing “Cum Bi Ya” to each other, the Republicans have been busy blowing up the racetrack. Now they propose to meet Democrats at a much-elongated finish line with machine guns.
Why are we here? Well, because when you want something badly enough, you will often go into a state of denial when it does not materialize. We’ve all been there in our personal lives. Our partner or spouse will lie and cheat and steal, but we don’t want to believe the evidence of our own eyes and our hearts. The kind of corrosive lie I am talking about strips you of power. It robs you of agency, and it turns you into a partner of your own oppression!
Today we meet to praise God, who is described in Isaiah 61:8 as a God who loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. Again, I ask you to be “maladjusted” to the new normal of political lying and deceit. I urge this congregation, along with the wonderful social outreach it is so well known for in our community, to also speak out against attempts to disenfranchise people of color. Be vocal about not wanting to go back to 1958. Help to facilitate, in a non-partisan way, meaningful community discussions about the pressing social justice issues that threaten our democracy. Help to build multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalitions to combat the racism that has always lived at the core of our nation.
In closing, I will quote another King. Coretta Scott King said, “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” Join me in our work to earn freedom in this generation. Thank you for allowing me to be with you this evening. God bless us all.
Clovice A. Lewis, Jr.
2/12/22
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/29/1958-style-voting-arizona-republicans-election-subversion-bill
[2] https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/31/show-up-armed-protect-election-observers-michigan-candidate-suggests/9284654002/
[3] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-supporters-threats-election-workers-1277276/
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/01/1-3-americans-say-violence-against-government-can-be-justified-citing-fears-political-schism-pandemic/
[5] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts
2/12/22
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/29/1958-style-voting-arizona-republicans-election-subversion-bill
[2] https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/31/show-up-armed-protect-election-observers-michigan-candidate-suggests/9284654002/
[3] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-supporters-threats-election-workers-1277276/
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/01/1-3-americans-say-violence-against-government-can-be-justified-citing-fears-political-schism-pandemic/
[5] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts
