Jamin Bradley

With all of the riots in L.A. right now, people are having lots of conversations around the concept of what a protest is and how it should and shouldn’t work. As a social justice theologian, I thought I’d offer my two cents, should it be helpful to anyone.

Prophetic Rage Does Not Include Violence

My friends love to make loving jabs at me for being a pacifist. Nonviolence is a core theological belief of mine, grounded in the self-sacrificial love of Jesus that cares for both friend and enemy. When a protest turns to violence and hate, it has lost the potential to be grounded in Christ. I used to walk to local marches so I could walk out of them if they went south.

Peaceful Protests Can Be Hacked by Mob Mentality

The time of MLK had something that we currently do not: a famous social justice leader trying to cultivate a like-minded crowd with a specific strategy of protest. At this point in time, we mostly have crowds coming together with like-minded pain. Many riots are peaceful protests that were hijacked by a handful of people until mob mentality took over. Other variables add to the escalation of such protests, like Donald Trump sending the national guard to L.A. against the governor’s will, effectively saying, “shut up or else.”

Civil Disobedience Is a Christian Tradition

People want clean protests where all the rules are followed and no one is heard. Protestors are allowed to hold a sign on the sidewalk that says something opinionated while people honk angrily at them, but that’s it. As you can imagine, this does very little. In order to change the world, MLK had to march through Selma’s restraining order against him. Many famous Christians, past and present, have been to jail for civil disobedience and acts of protest. Key Biblical characters were arrested for making a holy ruckus—including Jesus. There are both evil and holy reasons for ending up in jail. Discern the holy ones.

Peacemaking Isn’t Passive

If you are going to be a peacemaker, then you have to engage in places where there is no peace and figure out how to bring it about. That being said, the peacemaking process is not a peaceful process. You do not heal a situation by telling hurting people to shut up—or worse, threatening them to shut up. If Jesus is the poor among us, then we Christians have not found peace until we have ensured that our poor Jesus is cared for. That will require a sacred form of disruption, which remember, looks like nonviolence and love.

Don’t Look Away—Do Something

If these particular protests annoy us instead of breaking our hearts, we are too far removed from the pain. Set aside your politics for a moment and gaze into the eyes of Jesus in the poor migrants who are rightly terrified of our nation, as we’ve demonized them and ripped their families and livelihoods apart. Remember: what you do (or don’t do) for the poor (good or bad), you do (or don’t do) for Jesus (good or bad). Enter into the state of “the blessed,” and become their Jesus-minded peacemakers.