Let me paint a picture for you of the ups and downs and backs and forths black people experienced during the 1800s.

The biggest threat to racism is the good news of Jesus Christ. Consider Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once a young Baptist pastor designated by the FBI "the most dangerous Negro in America." How did this gospel preacher become an enemy of the State?

For many, 2020 was an awakening. For the first time in history, protests were held in all 50 states in response to the horrific, brutal, and senseless murder of Mr. George Flyod. Even in “alabaster-white cities with negligible black populations”, as Gene Demby of NPR’s Code Switch noted, Black Lives Matter marches and protests were held. Evangelical leaders, who in the past have opted to be congenial in instances of police brutality felt the need to utter the words, “black lives matter.”

“These tragedies have reminded us that words matter, and that the power of life and death is in the tongue.” – Barry Black, Chaplain of the Senate, January 6, 2021

The chaotic coup attempt at The Capitol on January 6th witnessed by the U.S. and throughout the world was simultaneously inevitable and shocking. Not since the War of 1812, when the British attacked the nation’s capital, had the hallowed halls of American Democracy been under attack from those seeking to overthrow the will of the American people. As we reflect on these events, it’s critical to lament.