Late Monday night, on August 25, 2014, I arrived in Ferguson, MO with a small group of fellow Union Theological Seminary Students, Aimme Rogers, Khadijah Abdul-Mateen, and Kendrick Kemp. We were tasked with bearing prophetic witness to the events on the ground surrounding the murder of Michael Brown. Of particular interest to the Poverty Initiative and Kairos: The Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice, is coming to understand how a moment of brutality and civil unrest can be transformed into a sustained movement of change.
Our first stop Tuesday morning was at Wellspring Church where Rev. William Barber II led a training session in nonviolent direct action. He asked the small group of clergy and representatives from Sojourners and PICO (a national network of faith-based community organizations) to focus on the tragic history of violence and cooperation across color lines in St. Louis and Ferguson, MO; specifically on Missouri’s groundbreaking reconstruction era state constitution and the repercussions of the Dred Scott Decision. Dred Scott is buried at Calvary Cemetery–a few miles away from the street where Michael Brown was shot.
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We next joined a protest march and action from the St. Louis City Hall to the local Department of Justice organized by Hands Up United. A group of clergy, led by Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou and Rev. Michael Mcbride, pushed passed the police line to allow a group of young protestors to enter the DOJ and submit their demands to the Governor. These demands can be found at https://www.handsupunited.org/.
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We then journeyed to South City Church for a community discussion, featuring Rev. Barber, and a panel, organized by Lisa Sharon Harper from Sojourners, focusing on the religious response to Michael Brown’s death and organizing across racial and class barriers.
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Wednesday began with a strategic dialogue and conversation with Rev. Sekou; he has been on the ground in Ferguson during the height of the violent reprisals from county and state authorities. He offered pastoral care and wisdom gained through years of activism to young demonstrators on the front lines.
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We then went to the Canfield Apartment complex; this small community witnessed the shooting of Michael Brown and suffered as they watched his body lie in the street for over four hours. We toured “ground zero” and the memorial erected at the spot of the murder. We went to the local Quick Trip (QT), the staging area of much of the resistance movement over the last few weeks, and the site of the heaviest protests which took place on W. Florissant Ave. The day ended with a visit to the Shalom Church City of Peace where Rev. Barber (yet again!) delivered an impromptu sermon on “Mike Mike” and the hope for racial harmony in Ferguson.
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On Thursday we met with Eden Theological Seminary professor Dr. Leah Gunning Francis for a theological reflection on the events of the last few weeks in Ferguson, MO and the future of Black life lived under the constant threat of death at the hands of authority. Dr. Francis has been in St. Louis for six years and gave us a unique insight into the rage and pain at the heart of the civil unrest.
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The final event of our brief visit was to a large public meeting convened by the organization Metropolitan Congregations United at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. They hope to use the local church infrastructures to advocate for Medicaid expansion, public education in depressed suburbs like Ferguson, and unity in the face of systemic violence and inequality. Of particular note was the testimony of Ms. Sierra Smith, a Canfield Apartments resident and mother of two young children.
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Over the summer, I have been deeply immersed in a study of Black social ethics and the evolving moral structure of nonviolent direct action in a modern context. The continuing rebellion in Ferguson, for better or worse, will act as a laboratory for modern organizing strategies. It is my hope that the presence of Rev. Barber and Rev. Sekou will add a much needed historical perspective to the urgency on display by Hands Up United and other emergent organizations led by the young people of Ferguson. My fear is that direct nonviolent action will fail to end the litany of people of color executed without regard to the protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States.