In aftermath, Memphis’ back is against the wall

The renowned Black American theologian, Howard Thurman, 75 years ago wrote in a classic book entitled Jesus and the Disinherited: “I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I have heard a sermon on the meaning of religion, of Christianity, to the person who stands with his back against the wall.” Sermons, Howard Thurman observed, are most often made for those who help the folks with their back against the wall.

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, where I serve, is located in the poorest zip code in the city, 38126, in South Downtown. For 26 years, every Good Friday, members of the church walk through our neighborhood, praying the “Stations of the Cross.” In song and prayer, we link Jesus’ suffering and death with the pain and anguish of many in our neighborhood over the decades. Our 7th Station is at the corner of B.B. King and Calhoun, where there is a marker for the “1866 Memphis Massacre.”

The 1866 Memphis Massacre and Civil War aftermath

During the first three days of May that year, there was what the local news called the “Negro Riot.” As our 7th Station puts it, “In truth, it was a massacre by white people angry and afraid of economic decline from the loss of slave labor.” The white mob killed an estimated 46 Black people and raped several Black women. Twelve schools, four churches, and 91 other dwellings were burned.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, in reality the Black community here in Memphis stood with their backs against the wall. In the decades which followed until now, systemic racism has kept economic security from large swathes of the Black community. Black people have been made to stand with their backs against the wall. They have been made to endure unjust educational opportunities, made to live in pockets of abject poverty; and they have too often felt the brunt of police brutality and threats, as happened with the police in the 1866 Memphis Massacre.

Let’s be candid: What happened to Tyre Nichols wouldn’t have happened had he been white. Black people have been forced to live in the lowest caste, as author Isabel Wilkerson has shown so powerfully. They stand with their backs against the wall.

Chasm between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is far too wide

With the horrific killing of Tyre Nichols by five Black police officers, we have to face that all of us in this city now stand with our backs against the wall. The gulf, the chasm, between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is far too wide, and it’s based primarily around race. We need each other, or our city will become “The Memphis Massacre.” Yes, all of us in our beloved city now stand with our backs against the wall, and the wall may well give way and crush us all.

In many congregations within our city, these Sundays we hear from Jesus’ most famous sermon, his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In the midst of the turmoil and suffering in our city, I need to hear Jesus’ words these Sundays as if I have never heard them before: “Blessed are the peacemakers”; “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice”; “You cannot serve God and wealth”; “Love your enemies”; “Do not resist the evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”

Whether we accept it or not: Now, here in Memphis, we all stand with our backs against the wall. We who identify ourselves as people of faith must hear anew our central teachings, truly live by them, and work to bring a just hope to this city.

Father Valentine Handwerker is the pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church.