The following is the text of a speech offered to a crowd of nearly 1000 diverse Philadelphians who came together to demand the release of legal resident and Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, from detention and possible deportation.
Good evening beloveds!
My name is Lisa Sharon Harper. I’m the president and founder of FreedomRoad.us—a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in the U.S. and in the church.
I joined today’s rally because dissent is sacred.
All humanity is made in the image of God. As such, all of us are created with the divine call and capacity to exercise agency, choice, stewardship and protection of the world.
Authoritarian governments limit, kill or corrupt this capacity in their subjects. They suppress the vote. They kill the vote. Or corrupt the vote.
Democracies guarantee and protect citizens’ right to vote. This right is the most basic form of agency in a system of governance: The vote is voice. Voice is agency. Agency is our divine call, according to the first page of the Bible. To be human is to be called and created with the capacity to shape and serve the world.
This is why democracy matters.
Voice matters!
Agency matters!
If they take away our ability to raise our voices then they are squashing the human spirit!
The founders and reformers of our nation knew this!
That is why they established the VERY FIRST AMENDMENT to the U.S. Constitution!
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.“
I think of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the U.S., locked behind bars in a jail in the deep south—under threat of deportation. Why? Because he used his voice to declare that: He and his people, are created in the image of God and therefore worthy of equal protection of international law. Because he said, “No!” to genocide!
Mahmoud has the right to dissent!
Mahmoud has the right to dissent! ((crowd echoed))
Mahmoud has the right to dissent! ((crowd echoed))
Mahmoud has the right to dissent! ((crowd echoed))
Because dissent is sacred!
Say it with me: Dissent is sacred! ((crowd echoed))
Dissent is sacred! ((crowd echoed))
Dissent is sacred! ((crowd echoed))
If this regime snatches Mahmoud’s right to dissent, then they will have taken a hatchet to the first amendment of our Constitution!
Freedom of Religion is at stake!
Freedom of the Press is at stake!
Freedom of conscience is at stake!
Freedom to assemble is at stake!
And ultimately the human spirit is at stake!
Now, how do we fight?
Authoritarianism aims to fragment society by making us so afraid we scatter and hide! Do not fear!
As the Psalmist says: What can they do to us?
Where can we go from the spirit of God?
They can take us to the depths and God is there.
They can lock us behind bars and God is there.
They can ship us to the farthest country and God is there.
They can unalive us and God is still there!
So, what can they do to us? No-thing! Nothing!
So, let us exercise sacred dissent by joining hands – and refusing to let go!
Let us exercise sacred dissent by showing up for each other!
We will exercise sacred dissent by sharing our burdens and our triumphs with each other!
We push back against authoritarianism by sharing our stories with each other—and becoming a part of each other’s stories.
It’s hard to fragment people who know each other, trust each other, and are committed to each other.
In that spirit, on Freedom Road, we are committed to freedom for the people of Palestine and true peace in the region. We have partnered with Prayers for Peace, Fridays at Fettermans, Red Letter Christians, and the Fellowship of Women Clergy to bring Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac to Philadelphia in TWO WEEKS! On Monday, March 31, 7-9pm, join us in conversation with Dr. Isaac and Professor Noura Erakat about his new book, Christ in the Rubble!
Hold firm, beloveds. Grab the hand of your neighbor and repeat after me—a chant I learned in Ferguson.
It comes from the great revolutionary, Assata Shakur:
”It is our duty to fight for our freedom! ((crowd echoed))
It is our duty to win! ((crowd echoed))
We must love and support one another! ((crowd echoed))
We have nothing to lose but our chains!” ((crowd echoed))
Amen.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
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