White Evangelical Terrorism by Cherisse Scott

Over the last several weeks, Black people have taken to the street in protest over the murder of George Floyd, Dominique Rem-Mie Fells, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black people who, for Black folks, is one more name too many. These are among the newest names in the long list of senseless murders committed by police violence, with no recourse. These lives, lost and undervalued, some more than others, have driven us to the streets. We are protesting at our state capitols, through local primary races along with our allies, to raise our collective voices, leveraging our economic, cultural and social power to push back in rage and righteous resistance, until change happens.

Some of the elder activists, like Angela Davis and Andrew Young, note that the energy of this global moment of protest feels different. I agree. In the 15 years since I started my work in the reproductive justice movement, and eight years since the death of Trayvon Martin, the strategy and power of protest and various frontlines of resistance, led by and for Black people, hits different. Our human rights issues seem to finally be interwoven and intersectional. Many marginalized Black voices are lifted collectively, and our intersectional injustices have formed a groundswell. We are putting our hands to the plow at our various entry points to faceoff and address the impact of structural racism, white supremacy, annihilation, and abandonment.

However, among the most egregious actions of the four-headed monster of racism, white supremacy, annihilation, and abandonment, is the role white evangelicals play in all of it. Living and advocating in the Bible Belt south has been nothing short of traumatic. Our elected officials have placed personal piety over their roles of being objective for their constituents who comprise different races, classes, socioeconomic statuses and religions. Their pious politics impact Black lives at various intersections of our oppression. When I teach reproductive justice theory, I always connect my trainings to the eight declarations of human rights as understood by the United Nations. I always say if any element of a person’s humanity is impeded, they are not experiencing the breadth reproductive justice. They cannot access their human and sacred rights. White evangelicals have been at the helm of white supremacy in this country since they landed on Plymouth Rock. Protestants fled Europe to experience and express their faith without danger from theocracy. However, they did not divorce themselves from the structural violence they experienced. Instead, they inflicted and perpetuated that same violence on native and indigenous people. They used their faith to capture, enslave, oppress and harm vulnerable African peoples and brought our ancestors to this land to become their slaves and build a replica of the very structured violence they escaped.

Fast forward to this moment, where Making America Great Again means making it a white, Christian extremist nation where only the one percent thrive and white Jesus is the slave master. White evangelicals have positions of power in every part of the American experience. We drink their drinks and eat their food. We work in their factories and they deliver our babies. They inform how we worship and control our housing. White supremacy is part of the culture we know as the American Dream. We benefit from it as much as we die because of it. The insidious nature of white supremacy continues to drive the culture of the American experience.

But all things must come to an end, including white supremacy. Its culture has run its course and we cannot allow their terror to continue without calling out their hypocrisy. They have hijacked the loving, inclusive, woman-centering, affirming Jesus I know and worship. And instead, have replaced him with what James Baldwin called out – “their need for a nigger.”

It is this need for a lower class that makes their actions antithetical to their posture of righteousness. They speak of being pro-life out of one side of their mouths, while supporting police sanctioned violence against black bodies. They use policy to control Black wombs, while building bigger jails to house those same children as COMMUNITY NEWS | incarcerated slaves. They are not righteous. They do not hold any moral high ground above any human being. They are imposters and their minds are reprobate. Those of us who do identify as Christians must push back with righteous fervor and indignation. We must call out their hypocrisy and racism. We must divest from the framework of respectability, judgment, and shame that has been etched in our hearts through errant theology.

We must not allow them to frame Jesus as homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, racist or classist. As queer-identified people, we have a responsibility and mandate to live our various faiths boldly, authentically, and truthfully. We must vote in the upcoming primaries and presidential election. Our lives depend on it. drinks and eat their food. We work in their factories and they deliver our babies. They inform how we worship and control our housing. White supremacy is part of the culture we know as the American Dream. We benefit from it as much as we die because of it. The insidious nature of white supremacy continues to drive the culture of the American experience.

But all things must come to an end, including white supremacy. Its culture has run its course and we cannot allow their terror to continue without calling out their hypocrisy. They have hijacked the loving, inclusive, woman-centering, affirming Jesus I know and worship. And instead, have replaced him with what James Baldwin called out – “their need for a nigger.”

It is this need for a lower class that makes their actions antithetical to their posture of righteousness. They speak of being pro-life out of one side of their mouths, while supporting police sanctioned violence against black bodies. They use policy to control Black wombs, while they build bigger jails to house those same children as incarcerated slaves. They are not righteous. They do not hold any moral high ground above any human being. They are imposters and their minds are reprobate. Those of us who do identify as Christians must push back with righteous fervor and indignation. We must call out their hypocrisy and racism. We must divest from the framework of respectability, judgment, and shame that has been etched in our hearts through errant theology.

We must not allow them to frame Jesus as homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, racist or classist. As queer-identified people, we have a responsibility and mandate to live our various faiths boldly, authentically, and truthfully. We must vote in the upcoming primaries and presidential election. Our lives depend on it.

Cherisse Scott is the founder and CEO of SisterReach, a Memphis, TN based grassroots 501c3 non-profit supporting the reproductive autonomy of women and teens of color, poor and rural women, LGBT+ and GNC folx, and their families through the framework of Reproductive Justice. Their mission is to empower their base to lead healthy lives, raise healthy families and live in healthy and sustainable communities. They work from a 4-pronged strategy of education, policy & advocacy, culture shift and harm reduction. Learn more about them at www.sisterreach. org and www.cherissescott.com

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