Our nation is engaged in a war of choice with Iran. The message coming from the Trump administration and echoed by some parts of the American Church is that the way to achieve peace is the preemptive destruction of the “enemy.” The cost in innocent lives is dismissed as inevitable “collateral damage.” This includes the recent horrific killing of over 150 school age girls who died when their school was bombed along with an adjacent government compound.
For those of us who call ourselves Christians, this way of pursuing “peace” through the violence of “epic fury” seems totally inconsistent with the Way of Jesus. What is the alternative? Fortunately there are always witnesses who embody the reality of Jesus’ faith based nonviolent love that has the power to change both individual hearts and social structures. One of those witnesses died last week at the age of 85. The Rev. Bernard Lafayette may not be a familiar name to many, but his consistent practice of faith based nonviolence throughout the Civil Rights Movement earned him the nickname “Little Gandhi.” He was John Lewis’ roomate at American Baptist College in Nashville where both of them were leaders in the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960. Both men also participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961. Rev. Lafayette went to Selma, AL as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1962, three years before the famous 1965 Selma campaign for voting rights. During his years in Selma, he and his wife faced constant threats and physical danger. On the same night (June 12, 1963) that Medgar Evers was murdered in Jackson, MS, Bernard Lafayette was savagely attacked and beaten in Selma. After the Selma campaign, he went to Chicago in 1966 to help Dr. King lead the Open Housing Movement. Following Dr. King’s murder in 1968, Rev. Lafayette dedicated the rest of his life to teaching nonviolence around this country and the world. A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting him at an event in Pittsburgh. I asked him to sign the picture of his “mug shot” in a book about the Freedom Rides. That night in Pittsburgh is a treasured memory and a reminder that real people have lived the way of Jesus’ nonviolent redemptive love in the face of state sponsored violence. It is also an ongoing call to live that way today so that we pursue peaceful ends by peaceful means as did Jesus, Dr. King, Rev. Lafayette and so many others.
The videos posted below are tributes to the life of Bernard Lafayette from local news stations in Nashville and Selma.
