Pentecost 2020. Thinking of James Cone, who found his voice as a black theologian following the Detroit riots of '67 and King's murder in '68. It was if his mouth was touched by burning coal; there was a fire in his bones that must be released: “Black Theology & Black Power.”
Conversation
50 yrs later, as he was dying he wrote the conclusion of his memoir, “Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody”: “As I come to the end of my theological journey, I can’t stop thinking about black blood.” Naming some of these victims, he related them to the story of Cain's murder of Abel.
God said to Cain: “Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.” Cain, he said, is “a metaphor for white people and Abel for black people. God is asking white Americans... ‘Where are your black brothers and sisters?” And whites respond: “We don’t know."
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Cone: “The blood of black people is crying out to God and to white people from the ground in the USA.” From the slave ships, to the streets today: “The cry of black blood that I heard in Detroit more than 50 years ago is still crying out all over America today.
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…Black Lives Matter! God hears that cry, and black liberation theology bears witness to it.” He ended on a note of hope: “Black people are resilient. We will never stop fighting for our humanity…We will wear down whites with our resistance and determination to be free....
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And we WILL be free. Once people resist, they never stop. Resistance births hope. Hope pushes people forward and makes them believe nothing is impossible. As King said, we must learn to live together as human beings, treating one another with dignity and respect...
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or we will perish together as fools. There is no other choice. I choose life.” Rest in power, my friend. And Come Holy Spirit! Pour forth the gift of prophecy on a new generation; allow us to dream and envision a land of freedom and justice for all.
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