This is a callout: Black Missouri churches, stand up and help Black MU students
When Pastor Howard-John Wesley of the Alfred Street Baptist Church told his congregation — with an estimated 10,000 members and 50,000 monthly online viewers — “When the government operates in evil, the kingdom operates in righteousness,” he was talking about how he and his church intended to respond to actions by the University of Missouri to defund a Black student-led group.
And I take it the evil Wesley referred to in this scenario is Mizzou.
It reminded me of stories my parents shared about how in their day, the Black church had always been the center and protector of the broader Black community.
The community looked to the church for a lot more than spiritual guidance. Politicians came out of the church and provided political guidance to congregants. The church took the lead in community activism, social justice and educational equity. The church bore responsibility for feeding and clothing its flock, if you will.
So, it makes sense to me that when a historic Black Baptist church sees what it believes to be an injustice, it would step up to right the wrong.
In April, the Legion of Black Collegians, the only Black student government at any American university, learned it was one of five student-led minority affinity groups — each a governing board speaking for its particular community of students, including Black, Hispanic, Asian and LGBTQ+ — that would no longer be classified as a university-backed student organization.
Forced by President Donald Trump’s ban on funding for so-called diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the university defunded these student groups. Although I argued in a Star column that given the University of Missouri’s long history of racial discrimination, unfairness, exclusion and tensions on campus, it only needed a slight nudge from the Trump administration to go after a Black student organization.
So big cheers to Pastor Wesley, who announced during a recent Sunday morning service that his church would financially support the Legion of Black Collegians at MU.
And here’s the coolest part: Wesley and his congregants aren’t even in Missouri but rather more than 900 miles away in Alexandria, Virginia.
Where are Black churches?
And so I ask, where are our Black Missouri and Kansas congregations? Why hasn’t a church here stepped up to lend big financial support to these students? To me, giving to this group is more than simply supporting Black students at our state’s flagship university. It also makes a statement of strength that Black Americans have not forgotten that our ancestors fought, bled and died so that Black students can not only be at these universities, but have a voice — and that we won’t let an out-of-touch university or national administration hush them.
“Blackness is under attack in the United States of America,” Wesley said during the service. “Our history, our heritage, our rights are all being pushed back under this administration.”
He said — and what I have always been taught, and what history has taught Black Americans — “Alfred Street Baptist Church is funding the Legion of Black Collegians on the campus of the University of Missouri, so that this government and this administration know when you won’t support us, we will support our own.”
But Alfred Street should not be out there standing alone. I’m sure there have been MU alums, church members and leaders here in Missouri and across the country for that matter who’ve already made donations to the LBC cause.
In a statement, Mizzou League of Black Collegians President Amaya Martin thanked “churches, Black alumni, allies and the broader community,” for supporting them. But a whole congregation commitment from a few Missouri churches would be, as Wesley said, “righteous.”
Defunded $57,000 a year
Before the university defunded the LBC, that group received $60,000 to help support all the Black student organizations on campus in the 2025-2026 school year. The most they can get now since MU defunded them is $3,000 for the year.
Come on, Missouri: We have strong churches with leaders and congregants who understand that standing by while the University of Missouri tries to silence the voices of our future Black leaders in this state is not an option you should be OK with.
Martin said the LBC’s “primary goal remains unchanged, and that is urging the University of Missouri’s leadership to restore LBC’s student government status and to reverse its unjust decision to defund us and the organizations we represent.”
Until that happens, I’m saying that our churches and religious leaders should follow the generosity of this historically woke — and yes, I am reclaiming the word — Virginia church.
This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 5:05 AM.
