From “The Wounds Are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory into Justice and Healing” by Yolanda Pierce
The question that haunts me these days is one posed by theologian and mystic Howard Thurman in his 1949 book Jesus and the Disinherited. He asks: “What, then, is the word of the religion of Jesus to those who stand with their backs against the wall?” That is: What do the words of sacred scripture mean for people who are in hurting places? What does Jesus have to say to the wounded and the outcast? For those who are among the “least of these,” what can this Christian faith provide? Does it provide anything of substance? Is it all talk and no action? Is religion sufficient as a remedy for those who have their backs against the wall, or is it meaningless?
Thurman’s searing question prompts deeper, more probing questions of ourselves, of our nation, and our faith.