{"id":5879,"date":"2017-09-26T19:34:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T00:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?p=5879"},"modified":"2017-09-26T19:34:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T00:34:57","slug":"takeaknee-takes-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2017\/09\/takeaknee-takes-streets.html","title":{"rendered":"When #TakeAKnee Takes the Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"flag<\/a>by Alphonso Saville<\/p>\n

America has a long and contentious history when it comes to black people praying in public.\u00a0 In the brush harbor churches<\/a> during the early days of the Black Church, black worshipers had to be wary of owners and overseers breaking up their meetings.\u00a0 When North America\u2019s first ordained black minister, the Rev. John Marrant<\/a>, led a group of enslaved black people from the Jenkins\u2019 Plantation in Combahee, South Carolina out to the woods to pray, Mrs. Jenkins, the plantation mistress, sent her husband to the woods with a group of armed men to break up the meeting.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want her slaves learning religion from a free black preacher.\u00a0 Those poor souls were bound, stripped naked, and beaten until their blood covered the soil\u2013all because they went to the woods to pray.<\/p>\n

Black people didn\u2019t fare much better praying indoors either.\u00a0 Richard Allen and Absalom Jones<\/a>, founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and several other African American parishioners knelt in the gallery of St. George\u2019s for prayer one Sunday in 1787.\u00a0 Church leaders promptly attempted to have them move to the balcony where there were seats designated for African Americans.\u00a0 When they insisted on finishing their prayers, they were pulled off their knees and forcibly removed from the gallery. In protest of their ill-treatment, Allen and Jones led the other black parishioners out of St. George\u2019s Methodist Church, never to return.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re like me, then your social media timelines have been filled with news of the NFL players protesting injustices<\/a> like the ones suffered by Jones and Allen, or worse inhumane brutality like the kind to which Marrant\u2019s followers were subject.\u00a0 While widespread support<\/a> for players\u2019 right to peacefully protest certainly exists, many object<\/a> to players assuming a posture of prayer while the nation\u2019s anthem plays.\u00a0 Following the many sides to the complex story can be draining, especially because it gives rise to so many unanswered questions. What happens next?\u00a0 What happens when #takeaknee<\/a> inevitably moves from the field to the stands and fans start to kneel during the anthem?\u00a0 Will they be assaulted and ushered from arenas like the founders of the AME Church?\u00a0 What happens when the #staywoke<\/a> religious organizations<\/a> capitalize on the religious implications of the #takeaknee<\/a> movement and decide to #boycottNFL<\/a> at the stadium and in the streets?\u00a0 Will their blood spill in the streets like Marrant\u2019s peacefully gathered parishioners in the South Carolina brush harbor?<\/p>\n

What happens when NFL owners empower police to disassemble lawfully gathered protesters?\u00a0 If history is any indicator, then violent paths may await us all.\u00a0 Perhaps America will witness (again) the brutalization of (mostly black, mostly nonviolent) political activists and demonstrators at the hands of the police.\u00a0 I hope this is not what the future has in store.\u00a0 But if not, may the words of the Spiritual<\/a> be a source of strength? \u201cFather remove this bitter cup\/If such thy sacred will\/But if not content to drink it up,\/Thy pleasure I\u2019ll fulfill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alphonso F. Saville, IV is a scholar, educator, and artist. His research explores American religious history,\u00a0African American religious literature, and religious freedom in contemporary American society. His poetic works are showcased via Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Dr. Saville\u00a0@drphonsarelli<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Donate to the Work of R3<\/b><\/p>\n

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Like the work, we do at Rhetoric Race and Religion? Please consider helping us continue to do this work. All donations are tax-deductible through Gifts of Life Ministries\/G\u2019Life Outreach, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and our fiscal sponsor. Any donation helps. Just click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to support our work.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Alphonso Saville America has a long and contentious history when it comes to black people praying in public.\u00a0 In the brush harbor churches during the early days of the Black Church, black worshipers had to be wary of owners and overseers breaking up their meetings.\u00a0 When North America\u2019s first ordained black minister, the Rev. 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