Recently I was part of a conference call with church leaders across the country and the lead actor of the new film “Selma.” While discussing the debut of the film, we agreed our country is at a kairos moment. This observation of “a right, opportune time” (the meaning of the Greek word kairos) came, in part, from our realization of several things coming together, purely by coincidence. While the film was being produced, there was no awareness that the “Black Lives Matter” protests would be happening. At the same time, the United Nations was launching the first Decade of People of African Descent in 2015.
The wisdom of pre-screening the film in places where the “Black Lives Matter” protests have been held has affirmed this historic moment we are currently living in. Churches and their communities are experiencing and planning for renewed, meaningful dialogue and action on race relations and church-community strategies, while remembering the church-led Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
The spirit of the “Bloody Sunday” protest in March 1965 is still with us today. “Bloody Sunday” was about insisting “Black Lives Matter,” and today’s movements embody the past by aiming to change public policy and mobilize people to action. The public policy agenda of both movements deals implicitly and explicitly with the scourge of hunger and poverty that has burdened African-American people.
The Civil Rights period and today’s movements cry out for justice with a public policy platform of equitable voting rights, quality education, full and fair employment, and peaceful relations with law enforcement that supports dignified sustainable development. These cries are for challenged communities where African-Americans are disproportionately affected by these conditions.
This kairos moment we are witnessing in the United States is also global. This year, the United Nations Millennial Development Goals (MDGs) expire, and new proposals are being developed—Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will include the United States.
Further, the U.N. Decade of Peoples of African Descent seeks to promote respect, protection, and fulfillment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for people of African descent, as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This decade seeks to recognize the significant contributions made by people of African descent while strengthening national, regional, and international action and cooperation in relation to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights.
The movements seeking to end hunger and poverty are both domestic and global. Bread for the World invites you to join us in advancing a public policy agenda that supports this. Let us do all we can to advance structural change in this kairos moment.
Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is the national associate for African-American and African church engagement at Bread for the World in Washington, DC.
