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In my lifetime, I have never seen more white people involved in the deep and growing movement to address systemic racism, structural injustice on many fronts, and, specifically, the violent policing and killing of black people. Never. What does that mean? What will it change — and how?
Yesterday in Washington, D.C., up against police lines protecting the White House, Sojourners partnered with the Episcopal Diocese and others for a “Solidarity Prayer Vigil,” just up the street from St. John’s, Lafayette Square, where on Monday, militarized police teargassed and removed peaceful protesters from all around Lafayette Park and the church. Donald Trump did that so he could stride over for a photo op in front of the church, lifting a Bible over his head while having nothing to say, using both the sacred space of a church and our holy scriptures as political props. The whole nation and the world have now seen that infamous picture, and many have noted that the Bible was held upside down — both literally, and indeed, all of its teachings.
There in front of the historic pale yellow sanctuary, known as “The Church of Presidents,” Trump was asked if the Bible he was holding was his own; he answered, “It’s a Bible.” Asked if he had any thoughts, Trump said, “We have a great country. That’s my thoughts. Greatest country in the world. We will make it greater. We will make it even greater. It won’t take long. It’s not going to take long. You see what’s going on. You see it coming back.”
Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr. has rightly named the violent White House walk to St. John’s as “dictatorial theatre.” The words that came to mind for many of us were sacrilege and blasphemy. Here's the dictionary's definition of blasphemy: "Impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things." Another word that came to mind was authoritarian. At the epicenter of political power in the United States stands a little church that Donald Trump has decided to violently use — and now St. John’s stands inside a police perimeter surrounding that seat of power.
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