Easter Sunday: Reflect on the hoodie that Christ wore
OPINION - The hoodie Christ wore can be observed in the literal sense, and the one He wears in the metaphorical sense, in that He identified and identifies with those who are oppressed, stopped and frisked...
In The Cross And The Lynching Tree, Cone argues that not only are Jesus and African-Americans “both ‘strange fruit,’” but that Jesus was “the first lynchee.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Unearned suffering is redemptive.” The suffering and death of Jesus Christ mobilizes true Christians to seek and redeem love, justice and an end to oppression. The suffering and death of Emmett Till redeemed a power within the African-American community and its allies not seen since the end of Reconstruction and advent of Jim Crow, and mobilized the modern civil rights movement.
Trayvon, Jordan and Renisha McBride are our latest lambs. And how their names have gone unforgotten. If you kill a lamb, we will do nothing less than utter that lamb’s name forever. Their suffering and their deaths redeem our will to stand up as an entire nation against injustice, and against the 1 percent that not only supports “Stand Your Ground”-type laws, but also supports today’s post-Reconstruction-like voter suppression in order to prevent us from changing those laws.
Trayvon was profiled as his head was covered, Jordan for listening to loud music and Renisha for knocking on a door seeking help. Christ was profiled as his head was covered, as he preached a loud gospel, and as he stood at the door and knocked (Revelations 3:20).
As Christians observe the Passion of Christ, all should observe the plight of our youth, and the daily threats to their lives. A movement to end profiling people of color, to end violence against African Americans, not only at the hands of civilians, but also at the hands of law enforcement, should be organized. A resurrection of a spirit of resolve and resistance like the anti-lynching movement in the early 20th century is necessary.
Indeed Jesus lives. The hoodie he wore is the same one our young people wear today as innocent victims. Let us take up His cross, take up the crosses of our young people, don our own hoodies, and, in doing so, save ourselves.
The Rev. Matsimela Mapfumo (Mark A. Thompson), M.Div is the host of Make It Plain on SiriusXM Progress 127, M-F, 6-9p ET