by Paul Roberts
BLACK LIVES MATTER IS AN AFFIRMATION OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND IT IS A TRIBUTE TO THE RESILIENCE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. IN A RECENT OP-ED PIECE titled “The Millions of Marginalized Americans,” New York Times columnist Frank Bruni makes the case that there are a handful of states that are disproportionately powerful and influential in every United States presidential campaign. He writes, “In the coming phase of caucuses and primaries, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina matter disproportionately because they grant or deny momentum and its attendant donations and media coverage.” He goes on to say “almost three-quarters of the $896 million of television advertising for the Obama-Romney race was spent in five states (Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina) with just 17 percent of the population. If you look at places in 2012 where candidates staged their campaign rallies, there were 38 states in which no rallies took place.”
Presumably, those 38 states have a track record that identifies each of them as a red state or blue state. Since there seems to be no secret about how those states will vote, there is no strategic advantage to campaigning in those states. Consequently, five battleground states enjoy an 896 million dollar influx into their local economies. According to Bruni, this inequity is the nature of marginalization.
The Bible tells many stories of marginalized people. Recently, the Revised Common Lectionary drew our attention to David and Bathsheba. In the story, David, sees a lovely woman bathing. Though she is married, he sends his emissaries to fetch her. She arrives at the king’s residence, they have sex and she becomes pregnant.
Reading the story, one wonders about Bathsheba’s reaction to the visit from the king’s emissaries. Was she confused? Frightened? Flattered? Was she cooperative? Resistant? The reader has no idea about Bathsheba’s thoughts or feelings. She is voiceless. Quite the opposite is true of the males in the text.
On July 24-26, 2015, activists from all over the United States converged in Cleveland for a Black Lives Matter conference. This Black Lives Matter movement is a call-to-action among African-Americans who statistically are undereducated, underemployed, undernourished, undervalued and overly incarcerated. More than a social media hashtag, Black Lives Matter is a network that activists can engage to further their work. The movement does not mean to suggest that all lives aren’t important. Rather, it is an affirmation of the contributions of African-Americans and it is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. Perhaps most importantly, it is a movement started by women (Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi) — women who perhaps at times in their lives recognized that their voices were muffled or silenced; women who, perhaps like Bathsheba, lived more as pawns in a male-dominated culture than as selfdetermining human beings.
There is lots of evidence in the Bible that Jesus Christ had a special place in his heart and ministry for marginalized people: the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7); his interaction with children (Matthew 19:14); his acknowledgements of the gifts of women (Luke 7:36-48); his work with the infirmed. Hence, I believe theological seminaries today — which do a great job teaching students to think critically, preach and teach and provide pastoral care — would also do well to engage with and train activists who, in the example of Jesus Christ, work to create a world in which all life is valued and cared for, and where especially the “least of these” have a place at the table.
PAUL ROBERTS is the president of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He has been married to Nina for 23 years and has three teenage children.
