Solidarity: A Prophetic Antidote

The Reverend Dr. Cassandra Gould, Senior Strategist at Faith In Action, is a public theologian, pastor, and organizer with over 30 years of experience integrating biblical justice into activism. As an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a national advocate against financial predation, Dr. Gould has been instrumental in bridging the gap between the church and the streets. Her mentorship and coaching helped us birth BLK South, and we are honored to have her on our board.

The current political and religious environment in America is tethered to division, polarization, and radical partisanship, even beyond political institutions. Each of these systems, and the institutions connected to them, is guilty of perpetuating a fraudulent notion of a hierarchy of humanity. This deeply embedded belief is the root cause of injustice. Most of the injustices in the world disproportionately impact Black and other people of color. In so-called Movement spaces, where people work to correct the errors of injustice, there is an enormous focus on allyship. Regarding issues of race, “allies” are usually well-intentioned White people who make public claims that they stand with the Black community and other communities of color, usually during a time of crisis. As a community organizer and pastor, I have struggled with the notion of allies, mostly because I have seen it fail. The word “ally,” in my opinion, fosters division. In the words of Kendrick Lamar, it reinforces the notion “they not like us,” meaning those experiencing oppression aren’t like those who have decided to be allies. In some ways, it situates allies based on hegemonic narratives of superiority—like being Christian or being White—above the oppressed. Allies can opt in and out; they aren’t required to put anything at risk because, literally and figuratively, there is often “no skin in the game.” We need accomplices, those who are tethered to us. If one suffers, all suffer, and if one is free, all are free.

LEARN MORE ABOUT REV. DR. GOULD

In the legendary and historic “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This letter was a plea to White faith leaders to stand in solidarity with the Black community in Birmingham, who were being oppressed and subjected to vile political violence. In a modern-day context, we occasionally come together for vigil and public spectacle, normally after a crisis, but quickly retreat to our own corners once the tragedy is no longer in the headlines. If we are truly serious about the work of justice, we will work daily to lay aside our political and religious differences for the sake of humanity and foster deep relationships that force us to be accomplices, not allies, because we take Dr. King's words to heart and believe we are “tied in a single garment of [human] destiny.”

Over the last couple of years, while working on the Faith Leadership Team at Faith in Action International Network, my frustration has been diffused as I realized the antidote to division and polarization is solidarity. Solidarity is an intentional act of being together despite the forces that would separate us. It took me leaving the country and going to Ghana, where multi-faith solidarity is as common as division is in America. To quote an Imam in Ghana, when asked why multi-faith solidarity was important, he stated, “To be divided from anyone due to their religious beliefs or practices would be to be divided from my own body.” In Ghana, people of faith, despite different traditions, beliefs, and practices, have decided to stay together for the sake of the body. My learning from them was reinforced last week during a historic multi-faith convening of Ghanaian and Black women from the U.S., Sisters in Solidarity, 78 Black women who decided, despite our countries of origin and the stories narrated to us by enslavers and colonizers, that we were one body and to not be in solidarity, in the words of the Imam, “would be to be divided from our own body.”

*Photo Credit: Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould*

We have been disembodied from Black communities long enough, allowing voyeurs and capitalistic scavengers to extract wealth, plunder our communities and families, and profit from our trauma. The chaos, division, and anti-Blackness in America are not likely to cease anytime soon, but we have a responsibility and an opportunity to reconnect in solidarity with what injustice has disembodied and to embody what it means to be in solidarity regardless of race, class, gender, or sexual orientation.

It was my ninth trip to Ghana in six years. I had to go home to reclaim what it meant to be in a place where all the children, neighbors, and family members had a place, and if one ate, all were able to eat. This is similar to my own experiences growing up in the South, on RR 80 in the Black Belt of Alabama, Demopolis, located 49 miles west of Selma. BLK South’s commitment to solidarity and justice embodies what this means and will impact the community for years to come, as we “mend broken bonds and foster healing and accountability” one with another.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

What has been your experience with so-called allies?
Did the engagement with allies leave the community or people they were committed to transformed?
What experiences have you had with allies that left you frustrated?
If you have shown up as an ally, what was good about the experience, and what do you wish you could have done differently?
Think about a time when you experienced real solidarity. How did it make you feel? When you think of solidarity, what comes to mind?
How can you show up better for someone not like you and connect to them in ways that embody the connection you have to your own body?

Wholistic Well-Being