Revolution Now! : A Spiritual Advisor’s Cry After Witnessing the Execution of Arthur Brown Jr. on March 9, 2023

Revolution Now! : A Spiritual Advisor’s Cry After Witnessing the Execution of Arthur Brown Jr. on March 9, 2023

*Delivered outside of the Huntsville Unit

In the end, Arthur Brown was full of hope.  There is no doubt in my mind that this was a brother who lived his life full of hope.  Even in the execution chamber behind me…the most hopeless of hopeless places…Arthur brought the hope.  Within that dark place, Arthur cried out, “I’m not going to rest in peace…I’m going to rest in power.”  There is power in truth and Arthur knew that he was going to rest in truth.  So, instead of peace for Arthur…let’s pray like he did…for power for us all…power to push back against this evil that is the death penalty….this evil that is the broader state of injustice in our world.  Arthur knew what was up.  Power for all…not just peace for some.  Arthur knew that there is never true peace without the powerful truth that is justice.  There can be no peace this night…because there was no justice this night.  In fact, it is our job to make sure that there is no peace for the powerful until there is justice for the powerless.

Make no mistake, Arthur Brown was innocent.  The State of Texas executed an innocent man tonight…and they knew it.  Unfortunately, we live in a world that is willing to sacrifice the one in order to keep systems of injustice going.  I serve a God who loves all.  Anybody that keeps a system willing to sacrifice the one going…does not serve a God of love…they serve evil…they serve hate…oh how I wish they would turn back to love and stop all of this killing.

Tonight, let us turn our hearts to the project…not of peace…but of empowering the powerless…empowering those who society has disempowered.

I can’t conclude tonight without speaking to the obvious…a person of color was murdered here tonight…a person of color was lynched here tonight.  Let’s talk about all of this for what it is.  We have a person of color who has spent 30 years fighting against the State of Texas…30 years fighting against a system that was designed from the very beginning to kill him.  So often, people see a situation like this and they declare the system broken.  On the contrary, the system is doing exactly what it was designed to do…to break down and destroy the marginalized and oppressed.  The system was founded on racism, sexism, classism, injustice and oppression…the system did exactly what it was designed to do…it killed Arthur Brown…which is precisely why the system has to be overthrown…which is why we are in such desperate need of a revolution of hope.  That is what Arthur would encourage us all to aspire to…a revolution of hope…that destroys the system once and for all.  We must be about so much more than just peace…we must be about empowering the powerless…we must be about a revolution of the moral conscience of our society.

Revolution now!  I know that’s what Arthur Brown would want…and he will be with us until we get it.

So, let’s take a second to pray.  No more nice words.  Let’s learn to pray with our feet.  Let’s stand up.  Let’s speak out.  Let’s demand change.  Let’s pray with our feet.  Let’s pray so hard that we make Arthur Brown the last person executed in Texas.  Oh God…let us pray with our feet.  May we never have to gather in this space again.  Oh God…let us pray with our feet.

May the revolution begin with our feet!

Amen.