Walk the Walk: Day Eight - Manassas to Gainesville, Virginia

As some of you may know (if you’ve listened to enough Our Time with Children moments over the years), “Sawubona,” is the way that Zulu-speakers in South Africa greet one another.

Sawubona.

In English, it means, “We see you.” Not “Hello.” Not even, “I see you.” But “We see you.” We - me, my people here in my family and extended family, my community, and my ancestors - we see you, your people, your community, and your ancestors.”

We passed the 100-mile mark today. We are walking this hot stretch of road between Charlottesville, Virginia and Washington, DC because some of us who are white have begun to see in new ways. And others, like myself, are still learning. We see the damage we have done by perpetuating white supremacy in ways we were never even aware of. We are seeing and reckoning with the story of this nation, and with the story of the entanglement and complicity of Christianity in the genocide of one people and the enslavement of another. We are seeing - day after day after day - the destruction of holy life, of beloved community, and of sacred land in the name of profit and greed.

In the short seven days that I have been walking on this pilgrimage, Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by police in Kenosha. Trayford Pellerin was shot and killed by police in Lafayette, Louisiana. The same anti-blackness that led to Pellerin’s death led to the murder of Kee Sam, a Black transwoman in the same Lafayette, Louisiana town in this same week. A seventeen-year-old - not old enough to rent a car or buy a beer or fight for his country - was able to get a semi-automatic rifle, wield it in the presence of law enforcement in Kenosha, murder two protestors, and walk away toting the rifle as national guards looked on. Today at 6:00 pm, Lezmond Mitchell, a Navajo man, was executed by the federal government. This year, more people have been executed than in the previous fifty years combined. Another man is scheduled to be put to death on Friday, making Donald Trump the most executing president in history.

We see you. Your people are our people. Your ancestors are our ancestors. Rise in power, and rise in us.

*I am participating in a nine-day, 140 mile walk from Charlottesville, Virginia to Washington, DC as part of the national “Walk the Walk” pilgrimage of white faith leaders to RECKON with the anti-Blackness that permeates our past and present as a nation and as faith institutions, RESOLVE to advance racial justice in our faith traditions and nation, and REFRAME the faith narrative in this nation. This is co-organized by Faith in Action, the national network of POWER Interfaith, of which our congregation is a part. More here at https://walkthewalk2020.us/