By Jeff Brumley
Frustrating to social activists, both inside and outside of churches, is how many protest campaigns last about as long as the average American attention span.
“I think about Rodney King and moments in our history when we were outraged when something terrible happened, and we haven’t been able to sustain a movement to change our society,” said Amy Butler, the senior pastor at Riverside Church in New York City.
The ongoing “We Can’t Breathe,” “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” “Black Lives Matter” and “Die-In” campaigns have Butler and other religious leaders wondering — and hoping — these won’t be yet more flash-in-the-pan moments in recent American history.
Instead of a moment, they’re hoping for a movement capable of sewing the seeds of systemic changes in the American justice system and in society as a whole.
‘Too early to tell’
Some of those involved with social justice work say they’re keeping their fingers crossed that the protests — inspired by the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City — will transcend those events.
But they’re also taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“It’s too early to tell” if the ongoing unrest represents the beginnings of a sustainable movement, said Kasey Jones, the senior pastor at National Baptist Memorial Church in Washington.
Yet there are signs that recent protests are fueled by more than anger around specific events. The most important may be the multi-ethnic and multi-generational participation in demonstrations and other gatherings.
Also promising is that important work has been ongoing for years, largely unreported, to build interracial networks, said Jones, who is also moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
One example, she said, is that the CBF has been working with other Baptist bodies through the New Baptist Covenant around issues of justice and racial reconciliation.
Those “covenants of action” have paired predominately black and predominately white congregations in mission projects addressing systemic issues impacting poor communities.
“I think it’s a good thing that conversations are happening because that allows for some hope and transformation,” she said.
‘Not scattershot and random’
Participating in demonstrations in Atlanta has convinced CBF field personnel Trey Lyon that the effort has already moved from moment to movement.
“All of those things happening in all these cities are not scattershot and are not random,” said Lyon, who works as a community minister through Park Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta.
In addition to protests, there have been forums and other discussion events which point to the existence of a movement, Lyon said.
The widespread nature of the events also demonstrates cohesive planning and coordination that wouldn’t be possible if the demonstrations were the mere angry protests of individuals.
“There is power when more folks are stepping up and saying this matters and this is a conversation and a fight we all have to be involved in,” Lyon said.
‘Take the cover off’
To achieve movement status, the church is going to have to step up and lead by example, said Darryl Aaron, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Winston Salem, N.C.
Its responsibility at this moment of swelling social unrest is not only to facilitate discussions about police brutality, but to take the culture into deeper theological discussions.
“The church has a wonderful opportunity here to show that God is not a God of capitalism but a God of justice,” Aaron said.
This is also a chance to show Americans that church isn’t about ritual and structure.
“We can take the cover off and remove the veneer to show it’s where we really do get to grow as disciples and do the things Jesus is calling us to do,” he said.
Aaron said he’s also confident a movement is in the making.
“This swelling up, I don’t think it’s just a moment where people are excited,” he said. “When the cameras are gone the excitement might die down, but I think it’s going to continue as a movement.”
‘Time to start talking’
But it will take much more for that movement to continue, Butler said.
“I think we need a serious ideological shift in our country,” she said. “I think this goes deeper than police brutality against black men in our streets.”
What it comes down to, Butler said, is the historic wounds of American racism that will require deep, systemic solutions to heal. It will take national religious leaders to engage the nation in that topic and even a truth and reconciliation commission like South Africa used to heal after apartheid.
“And it has to be done now because our society is shifting and minorities aren’t going to be minorities much longer,” Butler said. “It’s time to start talking.”