The MLK Triplet

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a broad understanding of systems of oppression and the many demands of justice.  He called the three systems of oppression in the US a triplet.  He named this triplet, Racism, Capitalism and Militarism.  He believed he should tackle all three at the same time, and that is one reason why he added the Vietnam War to his list, against the advice of even some of his closest disciples.  They thought he should stay focused on racism, period. 

I had a similar triplet, which I called the American Trinity.  I named this trinity, Individualism, Materialism and Racism/Ethnocentrism.    I would have added Militarism, but that ruined the idea of a ‘trinity’.  Someone else might have talked about racial injustice, economic injustice, military injustice, or another way of talking about multiple systems of oppression would be systems of racial oppression, systems of economic oppression, systems of military oppression. 

In the January 16, 2019 Christian Century there was a news item.  Here is a direct quote of this short news item:

“Southern Baptist Theological Seminary issued a seventy-two page report last month admitting its history of supporting slavery, the Confederacy, Jim Crow laws, segregation, and white supremacy.  Four of its founding faculty members were slaveholders.  Early faculty members and trustees spoke of the righteousness of owning slaves and believed in the inferiority of black people.” 

If you read the whole seventy-two-page report, you sense an honest repentance over past racial sins.   What is missing is there is neither a biblically based theology of oppression nor a biblically based theology of justice to prevent this from happening again.  And there was no acknowledgment of what Michelle Alexander calls The New Jim Crow or mass incarceration. 

In another news item we have this factual information.  They listed the amount of money the US spends on its military, which was $609 billion.  The US military spending is more than the next seven countries combined; more than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, France, United Kingdom and Japan.  There is no commentary by the Christian Century, just this statement of fact.

In my opinion, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary needs to issue a seventy-two-page apology about its silence regarding our massive and evil military spending and our unjust wars. 

King was right when he opposed the Vietnam War.  Not only did fifty thousand plus US soldiers die in an unjust war, but an untold number of Vietnamese, many more than fifty thousand, died unnecessarily. 

It is estimated that we have spent $1 trillion on the war in Afghanistan and maybe even another $1 trillion on the Iraqi War.  

In this same issue of the Christian Century, there is an article on what is called Financial Capitalism.  Financial Capitalism is a modern form of capitalism, which makes huge profits for a small number of millionaires and billionaires.  Financial capitalism is another massive social evil. 

Few Americans have this multi-pronged sense of social ethic, probably largely because they know little about the 555 references to oppression in the OT.  So they have little understanding of social systems of oppression.  And few Americans know that English NT’s have been “dejusticized”, according to Nicholas Wolterstorff.  So it is not only Southerners, it is also Northerners and a multitude of other denominations that tolerate or participate in racism, capitalism and militarism. 

International Justice Mission: Release the Oppressed

John Perkins who later trained the Haitian Jean Thomas how to do CCD in Haiti trained me in Christian Community Development.  CCD is a good and effective way to rebuild poor communities.

But it is not the only way to release the oppressed.  So in this blog I would like to tell the story of International Justice Mission.  Twenty years ago the founder of IJM, Gary Haugen, was sitting in his car crying because he was afraid he couldn’t make payroll for his young organization.  Two decades later IJM has a 74 million dollar organization.  Today it is the world’s largest international anti-slavery organization. 

IJM began in the Philippines wrestling with sex trafficking and violence.  Two decades later, “We have about one hundred staff in the Philippines and the country has been transformed.  When the government is working on anything having to do with violence against children, they turn to IJM.  Today we have more than five thousand churches involved in fifty-one countries raising awareness of the need to end every day violence.”

IJM is a non-governmental organization so in that sense it is not a church organization but they have kept their church ties as a priority so IJM is a creation of the church.  Five thousand churches, but dozens of corporations as well.  “We are involved with the World Economic Forum and an alliance of companies called the Global Battery Alliance, a group trying to deal with issues of violence and slavery.” 

IJM has tried hard to build a network of partners. 

“So in the next ten years of IJM, we are tackling the issue, Can we transform this broken justice system?  So we have found out what is broken in the system.  It was also a way to build bridges with the authorities.  And as we partnered with authorities the systems began to work immeasurably in more effective ways.  We found anywhere from 75-85 percent reduction in the level of violence, and these reductions are happening in three to five years.”

To summarize: IJM brings legal expertise, financial resources and partners together to tackle a specific problem such as child slavery in depth.  They have expertise and commitment.  They are producing results.  So there are different ways to release the oppressed.  Another way is pushing a living wage. For the head of a family of four working at minimum wage is essentially slave labor so cities and states are now pushing for living wages not just minimum wages. 

For a scriptural inspiration read Isaiah 58:6 and following in The Message. 

For the full story on IJM, read the article, Abolitionism at the Tipping Point in Christianity Today, January/February 2019 issue.

Isaiah on Oppression and Justice

The message of Isaiah is relevant not only for Isaiah’s time, but also to NT times, also to all of U.S. history and it is very relevant to America in January, 2019.

We begin looking at Isaiah 10:1-2 which describes an oppressive status quo during Isaiah’s time.  Here is how The Message translates these two verses:

“Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims---Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, exploit defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children.”

Isaiah is not only blunt in his analysis of the problem, but he is also specific on the solution to oppression.  He lists six messianic passages predicting Jesus coming as the Messiah, as the king of the NT kingdom of God.  Here are these six different passages:

Isaiah 9:7

Isaiah 11:2(a):

“The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him, the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding.”

Isaiah 11:4(a):

“He’ll judge the needy by what is right, render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.”

Isaiah 16:5

Isaiah 28:16-17

Isaiah 42:1-4:

“I bathed him [the Messiah] with my Spirit.  He’ll set everything right among the nations . . . . He won’t brush aside the bruised and hurt . . . . He’ll steadily and firmly set things right.”

The last of the Messianic Passages is 61:1-4

Now we fast-forward to the NT times.  This is Jesus’ description how oppressive the status quo was then.  Jesus said, “Woe to the rich.” 

Jesus described the Pharisees as greedy; as neglecting justice.  Jesus described the sacred Temple as a den of robbers.  And Jesus also described the kingdom of God as a Jubilee Justice that would release the oppressed.

Fast-forward to U.S. history.  The early British colonists and the Anglo-Saxon founding fathers engaged in Indian genocide and land theft.  They also engaged in African enslavement.  So Isaiah 10:1-2 perfectly describes the oppressive nature of U.S. history.  It also perfectly describes 400 years of U.S. history.  And describes American society in January 2019 where we have the mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males; where we have a massive income and wealth gap between rich and poor.

The white American church could have and should have been practicing the justice of the Messianic passages in Isaiah.  Instead the church  has participated in or tolerated the oppressive status quo.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that both American history and Haitian history have been plagued by an oppressive status quo.  The church in neither country preaches or practices the kingdom of God justice that releases the oppressed.