A Biblical and Theological Approach to Racism: The Civil Rights Movement

One cannot discuss the issue of racism and other forms of oppression without including the history and role of the Civil Rights movement in these discussions.  Whether one thinks that the Civil Rights movement only managed to accomplish some minor reformist changes, or whether they were instrumental in dismantling structures of racism in this country. the point remains that in this movement, there was engagement relative to the issue of racism.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1950´s and 1960´s lie in the transformed conditions and experiences of Blacks during the Second World War.  Large numbers of jobs previously closed to Black workers were suddenly available.  Black migration to the North reached an unprecedented scale.  Until the eve of the first of the First World War, 90 percent of all Blacks lived in the South.  As late as 1940, 77 percent of all Blacks resided in the former slave states (Manning Marable, ¨The Crisis of the Black Working Class: An Economic and Historical Analysis,¨Science and Society XLVI, no. 2, Summer 1982: 130-161, 135).  By 1950, the figure had declined to 68 percent, a trend that would continue into the 1960´s (Philip Foner, Organized Labor, p. 272). In 1910,  57 percent of all Black male workers and 52 percent of all Black female workers were farmers. Eight percent of men and 42 percent of women were employed as domestics or personal servants.  Only one sixth of the Black population worked in manufacturing or industries. By 1940, 28 percent of Black workers were service workers and farm employment had dropped to 32 percent.  By 1960, 38 percent of Blacks were industrial workers, 32 percent service workers, and only 8 percent of all Blacks employed worked on farms (Marable, p. 136).

The urbanization of the Black population transformed its character and heightened the confidence of Blacks in both the North and the South to challenge racism.  By 1946, Black employment in manufacturing had increased 135 percent over its 1940 proportion, and under the auspices of the CIO, Black workers joined industrial unions by the tens of thousands.  One hundred thousand Black workers joined the aircraft industry organized by United Auto Workers (UAW).  5,000 Blacks joined the National Maritime Union, and in one Baltimore local of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Black employment went from 5 percent of the workforce in 1941 to 20 percent by 1943, and even elected a Black shop steward (Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, 129 Foner, Organized Labor, 259 and 264).

In spite of these apparent improvements, Blacks still had to contend with segregation in transportation, restaurants, public restrooms, the schools, and even in the churches. In this so-called ¨Post-Reconstruction Era," segregation reared its ugly head to keep Blacks and other people of color from enjoying equality in terms of opportunities for promotion in the work place, and also in terms of quality of housing conditions. The notion of ¨separate but equal,¨ was a myth in that Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and other ethnically and racially oppressed groups did not really participate in having access to the good of the land on an equal footing with Caucasians.   They were relegated to the jobs with the lowest salaries, the schools with inferior quality of education, and deteriorated housing conditions.

The emergence of certain movements and organizations was no panacea in that each one had a different focus.  Certain organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and Congress of Racial Equality initially sought to have Blacks and other racially oppressed groups get their ¨fair share of the pie,¨ by advocating for working within a capitalist framework, and in some cases appealing to the aspirations of the Black middle class.  But eventually, they began to take on a more militant and even radical character (Ahmed Shawki, Black Liberation and Socialism, p. 161.)

What was the role of religion during this time?  The Civil Rights movement was spearheaded by clergy such as Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, and Jesse Jackson.  And while not directly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, people such as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, also raised their voices in protest against the discriminatory and oppressive treatments that the African American and other communities of color were subjected to.

In view of the reality that the policies and structures of institutional, structural, and systemic racism have not been dismantled. what is the Gospel mandate?  Some within the community of faith will advocate for ¨gradual and peaceful¨ change.  They will settle for ¨bits and pieces¨ of change.  They will be satisfied with a few people of color ¨making it¨ in society, and see that as a sign of ¨progress.¨ There are others (including yours truly)  who take on a more prophetic role identifying, unmasking, and denouncing racism not only in the secular society, but within the community of faith itself.

The message of the Gospel calls for us to be both consistent and constant in this ongoing struggle. We cannot settle for platitudes, nor for a mere smile or handshake from the oppressing community.  The Gospel carries the element of both denunciation and at the same time a message of rejoicing that in Christ, God is moving in and through the historical process to bring to an end all the structures of ethnic and racial discrimination.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona