Howard Thurman posed a foundational question: “What do we say to the people who stand with their backs against the wall?”
The question arose from a pivotal encounter with a Buddhist monk who challenged Thurman to justify his commitment to a Christianity that had historically sanctioned chattel slavery. Thurman’s response centered on a God of liberation and justice, affirming every person’s full humanity and inherent dignity.
Likewise, in The Cross and the Lynching Tree and Jesus and the Disinherited, James H. Cone and Howard Thurman connect the historical trauma of lynching with the salvific narrative of the Cross, grounding theology in the material realities of suffering. My ongoing scholarship focuses on ecclesial vision. I seek to bridge these legacies and address global concerns for humanity by ensuring the Beloved Community transcends individualistic piety and takes shape as a collective praxis of intersectional resistance.
TJ Williams Hauger
This vision demands the radical dismantling of white supremacy and the realization of a social justice framework that honors the sacred worth of all marginalized people. It moves beyond personal salvation toward global, communal flourishing that reflects the divine’s inclusive nature. It critiques Donald Trump’s impact on our world to reimagine how Thurman would talk about Trump and his administration’s threats not just to democracy but also to marginalized people.
For marginalized people, faith can foster resilience, giving them the strength to persevere after setbacks and to endure systemic oppression. Whatever one’s beliefs or ideology, faith offers the fortitude to face life’s most arduous trials. As Scripture states, faith is the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” sustaining hope even when resolution is not immediately apparent.
Trump’s administration is run by people who bully Black and brown people around the world. This is not a holy act; it is violent sin. The theology of white Christian nationalism is an ideology of ultimate gaslighting, sweetened with bicultural narcissism. It hides behind the humanity of queer people and a woman’s agency over her own body. Its historic agenda is to take away rights and implement systems that affect everyone’s lives, while ignoring the violence of taking someone’s child or arresting innocent people and then calling it immigration reform, when it is nothing more than kidnapping.
It has exchanged a white hat for a red hat.
“The theology of white Christian nationalism is an ideology of ultimate gaslighting, sweetened with bicultural narcissism.”
Current headlines about Trump reflect a political climate targeting thousands of Americans in metropolitan areas and blue cities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, operating as a paramilitary force, has been involved in the deaths of more than 100 people. These operations are intensifying in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and New York. His attempt to create an American October 7, echoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued actions against the Palestinian people, smells like a setup. It keeps him out of jail and shields him from accountability in Congress.
Recently, a father in Brooklyn was shot six times while picking up his son from school. Despite bullets still in his body, he refused to leave his child’s side — a child now facing a lifetime of navigating this violent trauma, which may manifest as intergenerational harm. This is the crux of the issue: Whiteness functions as a political construct of hate and control designed to coerce compliance.
These actions, carried out less than a month before elections, aim to suppress the vote through fear. This is precisely why resistance is necessary. Resistance manifests in voting, interrupting state-sanctioned violence, and engaging in critical discourse across platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube — maintaining a presence even in the face of platform policing.
Resistance is about our whole community pushing back against ICE agents who come to take away voted ballots. It’s about the 450 students in North Carolina whose polling place was moved, but who, through determination, walked for 45 minutes to cast their votes. Resistance is queer couples standing together, loving each other and committing to each other regardless of religious dogma. Resistance is Kyiv, Ukraine, destroying Russian propaganda bots that have attacked democracies all over the world — not just here in the U.S., and not just in efforts to help Trump, but in efforts to help others whose sole evil purpose is to destroy democracies.
“In our human experience, we often see evil trying to have the last word.”
In our human experience, we often see evil trying to have the last word.
In just a few short days, America will finish voting. We cannot let fear or this administration’s bullying discourage us. Instead, we must be guided by our commitment to one another and recognize we are the change the world needs.
We must understand that ICE will not be held accountable for the harm this administration, the current Congress or even the current Senate is causing to individual families and our collective society.
We must replace those in office with people strongly committed to freedom and to the liberating power of faith for all God’s people.
Donald Trump will respond somehow, and his followers will respond with some kind of violence. We can’t let them take our ballots. We must use spiritual, physical and political discernment to recognize when they start playing tricks and respond with facts and knowledge.
That is how we win, save democracy and stop the ongoing assault on our democracy, marginalized people, our global community and the environment. Nature needs us, and so do tomorrow’s children. We must be courageous, get to the polls and vote.
TJ Williams Hauger is a Baptist pastor in Chicago, an activist and content creator. He earned a master of divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary and is a doctoral student.