It took a few years of persistence and many phone calls on the part of 草莓社区鈥檚 Director of Multicultural Services Celeste Thomas to bring The Rev. Dr. Cornell William Brooks to campus. The former president and CEO of the NAACP from from 2014-17, he has been a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School for the last two years and serves this academic year as professor of the practice of public leadership and social justice, and director of The William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice at Harvard Kennedy School鈥檚 Center for Public Leadership.
And it was relationship that eventually made all the difference. Brooks, a fourth-generation ordained minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church, has preached locally several times.
鈥淚 had met Sister Celeste years ago on one of my visits to Bethel AME here in Harrisonburg and once you meet someone, it鈥檚 hard to say no,鈥� he said to Bethel parishioners, including senior pastor The Rev. Dr. Chinita Richardson, and EMU campus community members at a Sunday worship service in Mainstage Theater.
“It was quite a blessing to have the former CEO and president of the National NAACP, reverend and civil rights attorney here on campus,” Thomas said. “He is the epitome of what it looks like to live into Micah. So, if you are asking what can I do to promote a social justice way of life, he talks the talk and walks the walk. He is genuine in word and deed.”
Brooks spoke twice during his visit to commemorate Black History Month on the theme of Sankofa, a Ghanese metaphor about
鈥淚n his Sunday message, he emphasized that we can鈥檛 do social justice well without letting our God lead us,鈥� said Maya Dula, co-president of EMU鈥檚 Black Student Alliance. 鈥淗e reiterated over and over that without prayer, work for racial justice would not be where it is today. We won鈥檛 get where we want to get without God at the forefront, and I think he may be right.鈥�
Brooks took his Sunday text from 2 Kings 4 of the widow and the miraculous supply of oil. 鈥淲hat do you do when you鈥檙e doing without?鈥� he asked. 鈥淚 lift up three lessons for spiritual contemplation. Take your problem to the Lord. Take stock, assess what you have. Take to your closet.鈥�
In Brooks鈥� sermon, the Biblical story reflects the depth and richness of God鈥檚 presence in Black history, then and now, and becomes a spiritual guide to lift listeners who are 鈥渕orally depressed, empty of hope, aspiration, love, faith for the future.鈥�
In response to the prophet鈥檚 question, the widow says at first she has nothing.
鈥淭hen She considers what she has. Because she says in answer to the prophet鈥檚 question, nothing except a little oil. What鈥檚 our little oil? Our little oil looks like a little history, a little history. A little oil called Rosa Parks, MLK…Richard Allen, AME, our history of resistance.鈥�
Black History Month 鈥渂rings us to the Intersection of history and hope,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll of our history bears witness to God鈥檚 movement among us.鈥�
Monday鈥檚 convocation included readings by members of the Black Student Alliance and music by the Gospel Choir. Brooks鈥� theme was 鈥淗istory and Hope on the Slave (Auction) Block.鈥�
The history of Black people in this land, beginning with 16 Africans in 1619 and continuing through the horrors of oppression and suppression, is 鈥渢he kind of history that calls into our morality, our sense of civichood as a nation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t calls into question the consistency of the Constitution and the hypocracy of those who say they believe in the Bible 鈥� What do we do with this history?鈥�
Yet this history, whether read in books or heard in stories from relatives or even activism and narratives shared on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, is 鈥渢estimony 鈥� Black history, surviving and thriving in spite of what they came up against. Those are stories you cherish 鈥� Black history is about this moment. It is not only about what is being recorded but about what is made and done.鈥�
Through it all is God鈥檚 work, he said, and it is the story of all of us.
鈥�…if you believe in God, if you believe in Jesus, if you believe God the Father, if you believe in the Holy Spirit, if you believe in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then you gotta believe in the history of black people. You鈥檝e got to believe in God鈥檚 power and presence and movement in the history of Black people and if you believe in that, you鈥檝e got to claim it, you got to read it, you have to love it.鈥�
Brooks鈥� visit was sponsored by EMU鈥檚 Multicultural Student Services, the Black Student Alliance, the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, and the Bible, Religion and Theology Department.
Several other events, including the BSA鈥檚 annual Town Hall on Race, also commemorated the month.