Thread by @jackmjenkins

Sup Twitter fam: I’ll be covering the faith-based response/counter-protests to the white supremacist Unite the Right 2 in DC rally today.

Starting with the United To Love rally on the National Mall, primarily organized by United Methodists.

Lots of hymns at the moment.

Attendees have an active sign game.

Some more...

Faith leaders reading scripture from the stage now, including Micah 6:8 (NIV):

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Bishop LaTrelle Easterling preaching now.

“There is not one mainstream religion founded on the notion of racial superiority ... and hate.”

Notes that whenever anyone thinks they are superior to others because of their skin, “they betray God.”

Further: “There is no race except the race God created and breathed light into.”

Aaaaand a random white dude just walked up to this faith-based counter-protest and started yelling racist slurs, arguing (I think) that the Unite the Right rally will “rule the night.”

Security casually walked toward him and he ran away within 30 seconds.

She continues: “Hate kills. Hate destroys. Hate controls. Hate dominates. Hate imprisons. Hate legislates inequality. Hate hides behind religion and politics to promote oppression and inequality.

Hate is not of God!”

:: raucous applause ::

Ran down to the Freedom Plaza counter-protest for a bit.

Anti-fascist flags waving. Slightly different tenor overall in terms of language, but still lots of talk of love over hate.

Woman on stage declares “I am a black, queer, Jewish, Hebrew priestess.”

She says she is everything white supremacists hate.

Note: this rally, unlike United to Love, is not a faith-based rally.

But there is a faith presence.

Different woman on stage (didn’t catch her name) listing off all the different protests she has participated in this year, including the Poor People’s Campaign organized chiefly by Rev. William Barber.

Then leads a chant: “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”

Side note: this crowd is a reminder of how faith-based advocates make up a not-unsubstantial part of the progressive “Resistance” movement ALONGSIDE more secular groups.

e.g., There are also signs of “Humanists for justice.”

Woman on stage now talking about BDS movement against Israel, discusses protesting occupation.

Some in a Jewish group applaud. One man wearing a kippah turns his back, then turns back when she changes subjects.

(Note: I have no idea if this was intentional or not)

The next speaker identifies as Jewish, then asks Jews in the crowd to raise their hands to show their diversity. One group raises a sign reading “Jews are welcome here,” and the speaker notes the role many Jews played in early anti-racist movements in the U.S.

Spotted: Humanist signs alongside “Love thy neighbor.”

Again, the coalition is broad here (and, historically, has been so for a while).

Unitarian Universalists are out in force.

Note: Several protestors who identify as Jewish have drawn Stars of David on their faces.

When asked if they consider that a bold and defiant act today, they are humble and dismissive, saying it was far more dangerous in other periods of history.

At the Martin Luther King Memorial now, where Baptists are gathering for their own faith-led “United by Love” counter-protest — not to be confused with the Methodist’s “United to Love” event, which should be wrapping up.

Organizers discussing how they will sing and process into the memorial for a time of prayer.

Now singing “This Little Light of Mine.”

Side note: The baptists are just casually singing in 5-part harmony like it’s no big deal.

Prayer walk has begun.

This event is apparently set up by the New Baptist Covenant, a group founded by President Jimmy Carter to “advance racial justice through the baptist church,” per Hannah, one of the organizers.

Rev. Dr. Darryl Roberts: “We remember on this day, when almost 20 people were injured and one woman lost her life (in Charlottesville)…

More: “The cancer of racism that has infected our nation ...we as people of faith ... can no longer stand by.”

Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell: In conversations about racial oppression, “white people need to listen more than we speak.”

More: says white Christians should acknowledge faith has been used to justify racism and “that the sin of white supremacy was embedded in the founding documents of this nation…(and) has done irreparable harm to generations of African Americans and Native Americans.”

Says the communion they’re about to have is “an act of rebellion.”

Group transitions into hymn singing — Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Side note: this event is interesting because the premise is bringing together a historically black congregation and a predominantly white congregation in fellowship to combat racism at the ground level — through relationships.

This work rarely garners major headlines.

As they hold communion, people clasp hands and sing “We Shall Overcome.”

Caught up with main protest.

There are, uh, a lot of people.

*counter-protest.

I haven’t seen any white supremacists. It’s unclear if they’re not here yet or if there are so few it’s hard to make them out 50 or so yards from the barricades.

But signs indicate they may have lost the numbers game. By a lot.

Near as I can tell, this is the extent of the white supremacists camp at the moment.

Panorama for scale of counter-protest (which includes many faith signs).

Police are making a show of force now, doubling their lines of human barricades and parading mounted officers and bicycle officers in front of both camps.

Crowd now shouting “show your face!” to a masked white supremacist in the distance.

Chants of “Cowards! Cowards!”

Alright, running back to file.

Story soonish.

My dispatch from today: Faith-based protesters flock to Washington to counter white supremacists

religionnews.com/2018/08/12/fai…