A Call to Moral Clarity
What do we do when we are being told that protesting violence is the same as the violence itself? Or that blowing whistles is a threat? Or that there are only certain spaces that are free speech zones? When equivocating and both sides-ism abounds, we in the Church must have the ability to get clear about what matters and speak boldly about moral and ethical matters.
At the end of last week, I noticed that the Colorado Springs City Council (my hometown) and Mayor’s Office were going to be making their annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day declaration. This declaration is typically a performative bit of rhetoric that uses the name and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to say a lot of things, but not do much of anything. I had also been reminded that week that our city’s Mayor had stated in April 2025 that he hoped there would be more federal raids in Colorado Springs, after a large ICE and DEA raid that month.
I could not help but make connections between King’s legacy of fighting for the civil rights of Black people and the current racist violence that we are seeing by federal agents in cities across the country and around the world as they arbitrarily violate the constitutional rights of people of color. Specifically, the ways in which ICE itself, its actions in Minneapolis, and its racist propaganda, are reflections of the three evils that Dr. King spoke about: racism, materialism (capitalism), and militarism.
There was a moment in the late 1960s when Dr. King took a huge political and organizing risk by calling for the end of the Vietnam War, recognizing that the violence the US military was using in Vietnam was connected to the violence that Black folks were experiencing from cops in America. This interconnected/complex moral clarity is part of King's legacy, and is why I took the opportunity to stand up for that legacy by linking the violation of human rights by ICE in Minnesota to the racist foundations of America’s slave trading and land-stealing past.
And so, on Friday evening, I sent a quick email to a few clergy colleagues, inviting them to join me in speaking truth to power at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Nine of us gathered: clergy and ministers from the United Church of Christ (UCC), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), United Methodist Church (UMC), and Mennonite traditions, including friends of Juniper Formation UCC, Rev. Logan Bennett and Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler.
We shared a few testimonies in support of the City’s declaration in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, all of us clustered in solidarity together around the podium, reflecting on the legacy of Dr. King and what his work of fighting for the dignity of all might mean for our world today.
We asked the Mayor and City Council to take action to protect the constitutional rights of all of our City’s residents from federal overreach. We spoke with clarity and respect. (Video of the meeting: agenda item starts at 18 minutes, our witness at 25:30)
(Pictured L-R: Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler, Rev. Logan Bennett, Rev. Josh Rumple, Rev. Carrie West, Rev. Mike Martin, Rev. Kenneth Linfield, Rev. Candace Woods)
What’s not surprising at all is that the action of simply naming the connections between King’s life and work and our present moment was met with disdain and offense. One council member stormed off from the dais after declaring his enthusiastic support of ICE, refusing to take part in the proclamation. I have since received emails and comments on social media from council members and some local leaders saying that it was the wrong “time and place” in which to share our remarks.
The declaration itself states: “Let us recommit ourselves, in word and deed, to building a beloved community where peace is practiced, justice is pursued, and dignity is afforded to all.”
We are in a moment that requires us as the Church to have strong moral clarity. The truth is, there is never a “right” time and place to speak truth to the powerful. They will never want to hear it, regardless of the setting and context. But we are called to speak anyway. We are called to use our voices and whistles and words to make a ruckus–in the streets, in the halls of power, on the internet–wherever injustice is happening. Because the powerful listen to disruption. They listen to lost revenue. They listen to the upsetting of the status quo. And we are called to speak words that inspire action towards building a world that is just and peaceful for all. If that doesn’t honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Jesus he followed, I don’t know what does.
I share this story of simple organizing (literally just sending an email out and folks showing up) as an encouragement for each of us to get out and use our voices and our bodies where we can. We don’t know what the impact or effects will be, but we can act. And we can act with moral clarity. In this case, the one council member’s temper tantrum has actually catapulted this story, with most news outlets in Colorado Springs and some statewide outlets picking it up. It has pressured the Mayor to make a statement about where he stands on the issue of federal raids, which allows space for more conversation and more pressure about the city respecting the rights of citizens and residents in the face of federal violations of the Constitution.
Each of our actions has the potential to create other actions and possibility. We must act. We must be brave. We must work in community. We must have moral clarity.
