Will white, moderate KC Christians settle for status quo during Black History Month?

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that white moderates, after constantly disappointing the movement for racial equality, had become an even greater obstacle to Black liberation than the Ku Klux Klan. He was right then, and he is — to the shame of the church — still right today.

Today, white, moderate pastors in white, moderate churches around the Kansas City area are frantically looking for a quote from King for their sermons on the first Sunday of Black History Month. My guess is most of them will make a selection from the “I Have a Dream” speech, with a “Kansas nice” focus on civility and the promise of America.

But maybe knowing that King has no expectation that they will rise to the occasion offers them another way. They could just stay the course and do the same thing they’ve done for the last 51 Sundays: Remain silent about their white, moderate congregation’s part in perpetuating the white supremacy that King worked to eradicate.

Though his letter is almost 60 years old, the white, moderate Christian he describes in 1963 is virtually identical to the 2020 Kansas City version. Our metropolitan area saw nonviolent protests for months last year, but every time the masses of protesters found themselves staring down riot police on the Country Club Plaza, or the Missouri National Guard at City Hall, white moderates showed their commitment to order over justice, bemoaning even nonviolent action as extremism.

They said, “Not like this,” whether people of color took a knee, raised a fist, occupied public space or held a mirror up to America’s racial scars. “You have to slow down,” they demanded of a people shackled, defenseless, face down, gasping for air and running out of time. Then, shielding themselves with white privilege, they asked if those who suffered violence, torture and lynching did not bring it upon themselves with counterfeit bills, bad company — or simply existing in white spaces.

In King’s words, they have been “more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.” They never mention the names of Ryan Stokes, Terrance Bridges, Cameron Lamb or Donnie Sanders, or condemn the real threat of white supremacy as it stormed our nation’s Capitol last month.

The desire of these pastors is not for the “presence of justice” King called for, but for the “absence of tension,” which is antithetical to his vision. So maybe this year, I say to them: You should treat this like any other Sunday, in which you stay silent on their congregations’ complicity and privilege in our racist systems.

If you feel like you need to say something, make it words of admission and repentance. But know that Dr. King expects no real action from you, and neither do we.

The Rev. Dr. Brandon Frick of Olathe is Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Presbyterian Church (USA).

This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Will white, moderate KC Christians settle for status quo during Black History Month?."