If you have been awake in America for the past few days, then you know that cancer had claimed the life of one of America’s most important crusaders for human rights — Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. He was among the first Freedom Riders and in 1986 won a seat in the U.S. House of Representative.
This was also a case in which it pretty easy, in the mainstream media obits, to learn something about the role that Christian faith played in this man’s career, since he was studying to become a pastor when he became active — in the late 1950s — in the Civil Rights Movement.
In this case, the religious element of the Lewis story made it into many mainstream obits — since it’s hard to discuss the Civil Rights Movement without mentioning black-church leaders. This New York Times passage was a good example of this:
John was responsible for taking care of the chickens. He fed them and read to them from the Bible. He baptized them when they were born and staged elaborate funerals when they died. …
His family called him “Preacher,” and becoming one seemed to be his destiny. He drew inspiration by listening to a young minister named Martin Luther King on the radio and reading about the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott. He finally wrote a letter to Dr. King, who sent him a round-trip bus ticket to visit him in Montgomery, in 1958. By then, Mr. Lewis had begun his studies at American Baptist Theological Seminary (now American Baptist College) in Nashville, where he worked as a dishwasher and janitor to pay for his education.
In Nashville, Mr. Lewis met many of the civil rights activists who would stage the lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides and voter registration campaigns. They included the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., who was one of the nation’s most prominent scholars of civil disobedience and who led workshops on Gandhi and nonviolence. He mentored a generation of civil rights organizers, including Mr. Lewis.
Like I said, coverage of the death of Lewis was everywhere — with good cause. In this post, my goal is to point readers to the Religion News Service feature (by veteran Adelle Banks) about the death of another towering figure in the Civil Rights Movement, the Rev. C.T. Vivian.
Because the 95-year-old Vivian died on the same day as Lewis, a well-known political leader, stories about the minister’s life and work may have made it into more newspapers and one would expect. In many ways, Vivian was a mentor to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as a crucial bridge to church leaders in other parts of the country. This passage, right at the top of the Banks piece, is crucial:
Vivian’s social justice work preceded King’s, as the Missouri native nonviolently and successfully protested segregated lunch counters in Peoria, Illinois, in 1947. He later became part of King’s executive staff at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. … Vivian was honored in 2013 at age 89 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. …
“The Rev. C.T. Vivian was a stalwart activist on the march toward racial equality,’’ says the White House citation read before President Barack Obama bestowed the medal on Vivian. “Whether at a lunch counter, on a Freedom Ride, or behind the bars of a prison cell, he was unafraid to take bold action in the face of fierce resistance.”
In a 2013 interview with Religion News Service, Vivian said he had collected “stacks” of awards over the years, but he hoped the medal would help draw attention to the causes to which he devoted his life.
“People will listen that wouldn’t otherwise listen and that’s what’s important,” he said. “If it doesn’t help you help somebody, then it might as well not be there.”
I especially appreciated this quote, high up in the piece:
“Whenever I spent time with C.T. Vivian, I sensed that I was walking with a man who walked with God,” tweeted the Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King once served as a co-pastor. “He was not anxious or afraid. This morning he winked at death while his smiling face touched the face of God. Well done, servant, well done.”
In recent weeks, mainstream national news coverage of demonstrations — peaceful and in some cases violent — have contained few, if any, voices from the black church.
Why is this the case? If they have been locked out of leadership roles, in part because of their dedication to peaceful demonstrations, then that is a major story. Is there a philosophical, or even theological, divide between #blacklivesmatter — the organization — and the black-church leaders who have for decades been at the heart of civil rights projects in this nation?
What is the story here? Truth be told, I cannot think of any explanation for this missing element of recent coverage that isn’t important.
But let me end with this unforgettable image from the Banks story for RNS:
… (Vivian) gained global attention with news coverage in 1965, when he confronted Sheriff Jim Clark on the steps of a Selma, Alabama, courthouse as civil rights activists attempted to register to vote. As Vivian stood almost nose to nose with the sheriff, Clark turned his back on him.
“You can turn your back on me but you cannot turn your back upon the idea of justice,” Vivian told Clark. “You can turn your back now and you can keep the club in your hand but you cannot beat down justice. And we will register to vote because as citizens of these United States we have the right to do it.”
Within minutes, Clark punched the minister in the face, knocking him down the steps and leaving his face bloody.
“Many people did not have that kind of courage,” the Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Vivian worshipped, told RNS in 2013. “There were many with courage, but not the kind of courage that C.T Vivian demonstrated.”
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