Some Thoughts

“If God loves Black people why then do we suffer so much?”- Dr. Cone

This question haunted James Cone from his youngest years to his eldest. His goal in trying to answer this question seems to have led him to demand less of God and more of his white Christian brothers and sisters. His pivot from holding the Divine accountable is unsurprising. Let me be so bold as to say that I empathize with this burning question. It haunted me for decades until I let go of the idea that there was a God responsible for allowing so much pain on earth. Frankly, I had no other logical choice but to accept that most suffering on earth is not due to a mystical being’s indifference. Instead, it is due to the indifference of human beings towards each other.

In his book The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Dr. Cone rails against the failure of the American white church to stand against an era of lynching. He laments how some of the most influential theologians that he admires greatly betrayed the call to action against lynching. In Cone’s estimation, they were incapable of standing against lynching because they could not see clearly what he and so many other black theologians could. What they could see was the undeniable correlation between the crucifixion of Christ and the crucifixion of lynched black people. 

Cone explores the possibility that maybe they were too afraid. As he puts it:

“It is one thing to teach theology like Neibhur, Barth, Tillich, and most theologians in the safe environs of a classroom and quite another to live one’s theology in a situation that entails the risk to one’s life.”

Despite his clarity that these theologians were likely practicing self-preservation, by not speaking on the lynching atrocities, Cone seems oddly astounded that he could not find a single paper, essay, or book that made a connection between the lynching of black people and the crucifixion of Christ authored by one of his favorite white theologians. For Cone, their inability to even utter the slightest correlation in their sermons, speeches, or books was evidence that they were willfully indifferent to black suffering. Although Cone writes like a Black Panther converted to Christ his anger is not misplaced. Arguably, his anger is not anger at all. It is a pain! A deep pain rooted in the fact that even as a Christian his humanity and the humanity of his people could be so trivialized. I understand this pain.

The book does share graphic retellings of various lynchings that happened throughout the United States. Be prepared for difficult violent passages. With every detail, it is clear that Cone wants us to understand the brutality. To understand the brutality of lynching is to understand just how deep the betrayal was as the American church, for the most part, remained silent. Not all is dark and destitute. Cone also shares the brilliance of black artists, singers, and writers who did the work of connecting the suffering of lynching to the suffering of Christ’s crucifixion. He recounts beautiful poems and difficult ones. It is a great collection - from W.E.B DuBois to Billie Holiday and lesser-known poets.

Cone was a man shaped by the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement. His rhetoric is unrepentant and sharp. Like Audre Lorde, his critique of American society and race is hard-hitting. His devotion to Christ is deep yet his devotion to fighting for justice is even deeper. For Cone, there is no Christ without justice!