Activist urges clergy to be ‘prophets in our time’

A longtime civil rights activist urged fellow clergy on Friday not to grow weary of advocating for social justice, citing both past and present examples of social reforms that came about through a combination ofpiety and pavement pounding.

“When people of faith come together, I believe we are fully capable of bringing about reform in this country,redemption in this country and literally saving the soul of this country,” said the Rev. Cornell Brooks, a former NAACP president and a visiting professor of social ethics, law and justice movements at BostonUniversity.

Rev. Brooks spoke to clergy and other faith leaders at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in a workshop titled, “Getting Woke: From Imagination to Collective Action.” Organizers for the event included Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Networkand Temple Sinai.

The talk was part of a series of events sponsored by the temple to mark Rabbi James Gibson’s 30 yearsof service there.

Rabbi Gibson said he wanted to have this gathering as part of longterm efforts to “break down barriers, to talk about what we can do in the city for more justice and more peace, because all of our faith traditionsdemand it.”

Rev.Brooks cited a multi-faith coalition in New Jersey that has successfully pushed for pragmatic criminal-justice reforms, such as reducing burdensome bail conditions on poor defendants and barriers to employmentfor those with criminal records.

Veteran activists, he said, need to enable their younger counterparts “tolead this movement.”

“Young people have a certain impatience,” Rev. Brooks said. “We talk about the need for commonsense gun reform on a reasonable timeline. They talk about gun control by spring break.”

He added: “Here is an opportunity for us to show ourselves to be prophets in our time. It’s not about the bygone and nostalgic then. It’s about the present and prophetic now.”