Constitutionally, faith institutions in the U.S. are supposed to operate under the “Separation of church and state” doctrine. But apparently, no one told the “Religious Right” (people who believe in the racist, white nationalist version of Christianity) about this law. And no judicial or governmental entities stopped them from or held them legally liable for creating one of the biggest white nationalist, religious-based political movements of the modern era (yet, they want to outlaw “Souls to the Polls”… smh).
So, yet again, Black people are forced to play by hard-and-fast rules; laws that others are free to view as mere “suggestions” that they can choose to follow or ignore.
That said, we have for generations been inspired by our faith (be it Islam, Ifa, Bahia, Christianity, etc.) to get politically active by standing for justice and finding words of charge and challenge in various sacred texts.
Denmark Vesey preached the story of Moses telling Pharaoh, “Let my people go” to inspire the revolt he led in 1822. Gabriel Prosser was nicknamed the “Black Sampson” (which is like people calling Michael Jordan the “Black Dr. J”… they’re both Black) because Prosser’s favorite scripture for rallying enslaved Blacks to his call in 1800 for a revolt was that verse of Sampson bringing down the house on the Philistines in the Book of Judges.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was fond of quoting Psalm 68:31, as confirmation that God wanted Black people to be free and self-determining via the words, “Princes shall come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto thee.”
Let us never forget Cécile Fatiman, the vodou priestess who, along with Dutty Boukman, helped start the Haitian revolution at the Bois Caïman gathering. Her divine words elicited chanting and prayer, inspiring those sisters and brothers to fight for and successfully win their freedom—an act that the Western world (France, the U.S., etc.) is still punishing Haiti for roughly 220 years later.
Here are a few of those scriptures that call for us to stand for and work for justice, fairness, equality, and all things that are at the heart of collective political involvement and action.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
“When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”
(Proverbs 21:15 )
“God commands justice and fair dealing…” (Quran, 16:90 )
“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” (Proverbs 29:7 )
“Tolerating injustice is as much a crime as committing injustice. It is your duty to fight injustice.” (The Bhagavad Gita )
“He who sells sand as brown sugar will receive stones as payment.” (African Proverb )
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.” (Zechariah 7:9 )
“In the court of fowls, the cockroach never wins a case.” (African Proverb )