The Future of Freedom
“Liberation learning begins in the home.” Dr. James Cone
On February 22nd, Faith for Justice will partner with Deaconess Foundation to host a symposium on investing in Black futures, for Black children. We’ll be joined by activist Zellie Imani, genealogist Hílda Davis, artist Nabil Ince aka SeauxChill, youth organizers from the “We are Not a Risk” campaign, local educators, organizers and more. I hope you will join us. Register here for this free event that centers intergenerational electoral justice, organizing training, and freedom dreaming through futurism. We are proudly providing conscious childcare and meals from local Black businesses we trust.
These are my reflections as I prepare to facilitate conversation and admonish faith communities to join or continue the work of building Black futures: that “not yet” reality that has already begun.
Black Children Keep Your Spirits Free, Illustration from AfroPunk
During Black History Month (a month of Black love, joy, resilience, heritage and more), we remember and learn about the accomplishments that make our culture. But while we focus on their notable works, I often wonder about the babies who became the greats. I think about the childhoods that shaped them.
Bayard Rustin’s grandparents raised him. His Grandmother was an early NAACP member often said to be visited by W.E.B. DuBois and other NAACP leadership. Bayard’s framework of Blackness and humanity were formed by the memories of these meetings.
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross. Little Minty was a nursemaid to the white plantation owner’s son. She was forced to stay awake all night so that adults could sleep without worrying about their baby. If Minty fell asleep while the child was asleep, the child’s mother would wake, whip her, and go back to bed.
I think of Ruby Bridges, who is presently only 65 years old. I ponder over her parents moving from sharecropping in Mississippi to big city life in New Orleans hoping for better opportunities. Ruby Nell was born in 1954. In 1960 she walked five blocks from her home to school, through a crowd of people shrieking of her inhumanity, and spent her first day at a new school alone in the principal’s office.
I think of Langston Hughes, whose parents moved him from Missouri to Kansas to Illinois to Ohio. For a number of years they left him to work in Mexico and other places he never knew, all before he was 12 years old.
I think of James Baldwin, who was only 14 when he served the youth ministry leadership of the same faith communities where he would soon no longer be welcomed.
I think of Ella Fitzgerald, who was nine years old working as a runner for local gambling fronts, picking up and dropping off money wherever she was directed.
I think of Rosa Parks, who used to stay up late with her Grandpa Sylvester when she was little. He told her stories of Black history’s heroes as he sat holding a shotgun, doing the work of a watchman over their family since the KKK were likely to attack their household.
I think of Claudette Colvin, who was 15 years old when she felt Sojourner Truth’s spirit telling her “sit down, girl” and became the first person to be arrested for refusing a white person a front row seat on a Montgomery bus.
I think of Billie Holiday, whose autobiography Lady Sings the Blues begins “Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.”
And how are our children? What will their witness be? When Jesus saw people bringing children to him, he was filled with compassion and desired to bless them. This is the witness I want to bring to our children, all God’s children.
NAACP Voter Registration drive poster, CRM era
Political power is a tool we must employ for our children, and education is a critical preparation for using our power. Still, we cannot lead them without some accountability for ourselves, without receiving guidance from their stories and experiences as much as we hope they will do so from ours. And above all, we must learn and model the principles and practices we want them to know.
The number of homeless students in the United States has risen to its highest in over a decade. 1,508,265 public school students do not have a home. If there was one homeless student, it would be too much. This number does not account for the children who are not enrolled in a public school, not reporting homelessness, or are younger than school age.
Child hunger only exists because we allow it. In the United States alone, over 11 million children suffer hunger each day, as do their families and caretakers. 22 million children rely on the food they receive at school Mondays through Fridays. For children with disabilities, lack of nutrition is even more perilous.
In St. Louis, Delmar Blvd. still marks a racial divide in access to education, equitable income and health services. Children born north of Delmar are survivors if they celebrate their 68th birthday. South of Delmar, life expectancy is 85 years. 98% of residents north of Delmar are Black households. The future of our freedom is prophesied in our actions today.
By August 2019, 5500 Native women and girls had been reported missing in the United States. The number of children held in “migrant shelters” reached 15,000, many of them reporting neglect and abuse. In a country where only white children have a history of not being targeted, born at risk to grow up and be labeled a risk, justice for the sunkissed children of God starts with telling the truth about injustice.
Trista Harris, a philanthropic futurist who founded Future Good and wrote a must-read book of the same title, visited St. Louis in January. She gave a clarion call to start loving the solution more than the problem. If the answer to white misogynist supremacy is Black womanism, then we must lean into the work of Black womxn and femmes organizing for change.
If the answer to juvenile injustice is youth and children’s well-being, then that is where we concentrate our dreaming, where we build partnerships and demand protective policies that invest in our communities for the sake of abundant life.
If the problem is our ignorance, we must love education. If the problem is our indifference, we must yearn for empathy. James Cone’s teachings imply that a lack of empathy can easily be traced to a lack of home training. And in communities of faith, our apathy is on display in the “pro life” movement. A shallow dive into the demographics of pro life frameworks among Black maternal health and social service advocates reveals that by and large, the people who work to secure Black and brown futures are the same people who believe that criminalizing abortion is unjust.
Stacey Brown, “Our Colorful People”
In the early days of the Ferguson Uprisings, young people expressed their anguish over the murder of Michael Brown Jr. One of these youths was Josh Williams, a protester of vibrant personality whose youthfulness displayed as goofy and friendly, as well as fierce and fearless in the face of threat from local police. Josh is currently in prison on charges of arson and burglary, after turning himself in for occurrences of looting at a North County gas station one Christmas Eve. He has been separated from the communities that could bring him true healing for years now. This child of God sits in a place of anguish because he “did the right thing” despite knowing he would face abuse, neglect and criminalization.
White teenagers (and adults) who start car fires, throw fists at random and loot local businesses for St. Patrick’s Day are not sentenced to years in prison. Yet Black rage in the face of racial terror is punishable by invisibility and slow death.
Recently, Joshua released an open letter reminding us that he will not give up fighting for Black people, so neither should we. He has been harassed and hated by the people sworn to protect and serve, and he’s made it plain that it remains up to us to keep him safe. He knows all about the problem, he needs no news about how bad he has it, we do. While church folks are often unmoved unless we are made to rub our noses in the problems of our day, Josh is determined to forge a future where the solution wins.
I believe that Josh’s determination is the solution. I believe that his future is freedom. That future of his freedom is beginning now, because more people are convinced that his abundant life is worth fighting for. He will fight on with or without us, I feel challenged and humbled by the fact that he shouldn’t have to.
Black children are more likely to experience acts of terror by law enforcement, and the community is responsible for preparing them to react with resilience when those evils occur.
Strategizing in empathy, community mobilizing and policy making are the ready-made full blooded answer to anemic applications of “pro-life” ideas. Our younger generations demand good and faithful ancestors. The future for our forebears is us, right now. It’s time to get to work at building a better Black History for our children.
Alisha Wormsley’s installation, “There are Black People in the Future”
The children I’ve been thinking of grew into beloved solutions to anti-Blackness in many ways. Yet they were all God’s children, for all of their lives. As I prepare to pursue intergenerational investment in Black futures, I am remembering and re-learning the lessons taught by God’s children in their own words.
“The only way to reduce ugliness in the world is to reduce it in yourself. The truth that one truly believes, is in action.” Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest prophets of non-violent resistance. He remains an inspiration for queer activists and people of faith.
“I was the conductor on the underground Railroad for eight years and I can say what most conductors can’t: I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” Harriet Tubman was a liberator and a lover of freedom. She was a Black Moses who had no time for fear of the empire’s threats.
“We must absolutely take care of one another. We have to take care of each other’s children.” Ruby Bridges currently works in education advocacy and support for young people around the country.
“When people care for you and cry for you, that can straighten out your soul.” Langston Hughes remains one of the most accomplished and adored artists of the Harlem Renaissance. He began writing poetry in high school and his greatness was recognized after he gave his poetry to a well known critic while working as a busboy at a Washington, DC hotel.
“The paradox of education is precisely this; that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” James Baldwin was praised for developing his literary genius at an early age. He put his plans for college on hold to work and support his seven younger siblings. He went on to become a playwright, poet, philosopher and diagnostician of American life. He is one of the most important movement witnesses to have ever lived.
“What everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved.” Ella Fitzgerald was one of the most famous vocalists for more than half a century. She is an example of a working-class woman who refused to diminish her natural talents and received them as a gift from God. She only trusted people who supported desegregation and broke racial barriers through the brilliance of herself, her artistry, and her song.
“Each person must live their life as a model for others” Rosa Parks was harassed and threatened so harshly after the Montgomery Bus Boycotts that she relocated. She continued her fight for civil rights, and went on to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. She was the first woman in the nation’s history to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.
“I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can't sugarcoat it, You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.’ “ Claudette Colvin was a member of her local NAACP Youth Council, where she grew close to one of the leadership, Rosa Parks. She was put on trial for disturbing the peace, assaulting an officer, and disobeying segregation laws. When her minister bailed her out of jail he told her that she brought the revolution to Montgomery.
“You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.” Bille Holiday started working when she was six years old. She became one of the greatest vocalists of all time. She refused to stop performing a musical setting of the striking poem “Strange Fruit”, under threat of losing acclaim in her burgeoning career. She battled addiction for much of her adult life, and her addiction related arrest record created employment difficulties. She stopped hiding her difficulties and spoke openly about arrests and addiction. She performed wherever she could as long as she could, resulting in one of the most stirring, haunting vocal projects ever recorded: her 1958 album Lady in Satin. Billie taught us.
All God’s children for all of their lives.
These people are a challenge to us - to uplift God’s children today. Black children are not only a witness of Black heritage, they are the living brilliance of Black futures in the making. With or without our help, they will tell our story. Will we earn their respect? Will we draw them near like Jesus did? Our history demands it, their future has already begun. Let us be filled with determined compassion; a holy desire to bless.
Rev. Michelle Higgins is Executive Director of Faith for Justice