During a multiday stretch to tackle despotism with directives, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) 54th Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) Day of Healing on Saturday, Sept. 27 united global faith leaders, policymakers, and citizens with a divine plan to drive change.
A longtime ALC tradition formerly known as the Prayer Breakfast, the Day of Healing, inspired by this year’s theme “Made for this Moment: Power, Policy and Progress,” served as a demonstration of spiritual strength and faith resistance.
With powerful speakers such as the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley and performances from Anthony Brown & group therAPy, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest, D.C., transformed into a place to worship God and organize at once.
“Each year, this breakfast is an opportunity for us…to come together and heal our nation’s deep wounds,” said CBCF Chair Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.). “Our people have been fighting to redeem the soul of America since its very inception, and it is our faith that has guided us every step of the way.”
With hundreds donning their Sunday best a day early, song, prayer, and spiritual rejoice set the tone for a celebration echoing the deep roots of faith in American liberation.
The day of reflection grounded the ALC with a parallel to faith activism of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement – when Black churches stood as a beacon for strategy, mobilization and organization amid civic unrest.
The Rev. Thomas Bowen, former White House senior advisor for faith engagement, told The Informer the annual tradition he still calls “the Prayer Breakfast” serves an uncanny foundation.
“When we look at the “traditional civil rights movement,” there wasn’t a national event like a prayer breakfast that they looked forward to, but there were other meetings at local churches and…mass meetings, and things like that took place that helped energize,” said Bowen, “and the prayer breakfast for CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) is one.”
Saturday, no one seemed worried about separation of church and state, as Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), chair of the CBC; Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D), who served as this year’s honorary co-chair with Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co.); and CBCF President Nicole Austin-Hillery sat on the dais affirming the purpose and power of spiritual resilience.
District faith leaders Dr. Talib Shareef, president and Imam of the historic Masjid Muhammad— also known as the Nation’s Mosque— Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Rev. Moyer McCoy also took the stage with an interfaith call for solidarity.
Energized after the Day of Healing and calling this year’s ALC “very well done,” Dr. Elsie L. Scott, former CBCF president and CEO shared her insights on the importance of keeping the church and community connected, particularly with events like the beloved prayer breakfast.
“I think a lot of us go to church on Sundays to sort of get that [community] reinforcement, and to connect with…the church family – and they keep you prayed up,” Scott told The Informer, adding her key takeaways from the event. “We’re not alone, we’re all in this together, and we’re going to have to stay prayed up in order to live through these trying times.”
Keynote Sermon Denounces The Resampled ‘Song of Supremacy‘
Drawing on the hip-hop-perfected act of music sampling, Wesley, senior pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, took guests through the sociocultural blends of music and racial injustice.
In both cases, he identified a segment of society “ignorant to the fact that what they’re hearing today was recorded yesterday.”
“They cannot recognize the sad sound of the song of supremacy. They don’t recognize the contaminated chorus of colonization,” the keynote speaker preached. “And if you are not here, if you never hear truth, and if you’re ignorant of history, you may find yourself singing the song, not knowing it’s a sample of supremacy.”
As he recounts, the song was recorded at the shores with the capture and enslavement of Africans, wiped out with the genocide of Indigenous tribes, and resampled in the background of the Civil War, Jim Crow era, and other historic records of racial violence.
Today, Wesley said, the song of supremacy sounds like a new hit featuring bans on books, threats to historically Black institutions and education, attacks on constitutional liberties and federal health protections, and “a distorted theology that masquerades itself as Christianity,” among others.
“In the bridge of the song…under the pretense of “lowering crime,” you send the National Guard into blue cities with Black mayors ignoring that mass shooters come from red states. In the hook of the song, you dismantle DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) by enforcing a false narrative of supremacy that suggests your white average is better than my Black excellence,” said Wesley, as the room erupted with cheers and applause.
The guest preacher drove what Bowen called “a masterful sermon” home by likening biblical references in the book of Jeremiah to the looming despair felt among today’s marginalized communities.
At the root of the delivery was the importance of “another soundtrack:” knowing and trusting in God, inspired by Jeremiah 29:11.
“In exile, God has a plan. In Babylon, God has a plan,” Wesley declared. “Underneath Nebuchadnezzar, God has a plan.”
That’s why, to make sense of modern catastrophes, Bowen’s advice is to read the word of God, “and you have to read with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.”
“That was one of the masterful things in the sermon…it drew parallels to what we see today,” said Bowen, a minister of social justice at Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest, D.C. “Our churches are vehicles for organizing [and] for educating, and we have to utilize it better. We cannot afford to not be politically active these days. ”
Event Attendees On the Future of Church and Community
Following a morning of spiritual guidance, and days of informing Black power, policy and progress, Austin-Hillery cast her sights on ALC attendees leaving with “the energy and strength” to do transformative work, “in Washington and all across the country.”
As the CBCF president reiterated the ALC’s mission, Congressional Reps. Clarke and Alsobrooks emphasized how the CBC forges policy with an ancestral foundation of spiritual guidance and a trusted belief system.
“Who in all of America has learned more about fighting oppression and dignity and every day mistreatment, and have been more successful at overcoming obstacles than we, Black people?” Clarke said in her remarks. “With our faith, we can amplify our voices, we will continue to stand against injustice, and…this Day of Healing…reminds us of why we are made for this moment.”
With eyes on the next generation, Bowen and 23-year-old Irvin “Pax” Fordham, a communications specialist and former CBCF intern, agree Black people and faith leaders have the tools to drive the modern movement, but it’ll take some changes within multiple institutions.
One point Bowen raised is readapting measurements of a person’s faith, such as how often one goes to church or how many people resonate with religious identities. Another solution Fordham posed involves the Black Church establishing better connections with young people, whom he admits are less likely to trust institutions.
“I don’t think it’s really just a religion thing, I think it’s that we don’t like labels,” Fordham continued. “A lot of times, what gets us feeling like we can trust something, after all these scandals and corporations that have made us walk away, is seeing…these people, these institutions, are giving back to the community.”
Still buzzing from his on-stage testimonial during the prayer breakfast, Fordham noted he sees a drive in American youth looking for churches to “display more consistency and service to the world” outside the pulpit. Additionally, he recommended people of seniority improving on passing the baton to young innovators.
Meanwhile, Bowen encouraged political groups to reach into the church now, “and not just use them as a Get Out the Vote mechanism…two weeks before election.” He further implored faith communities to gain a renewed focus on social justice while continuing to “preach the gospel” against supremacist ideals like white Christian nationalism.
In his final remarks, the keynote speaker charged Saturday’s attendees with a cultural reference to the card game Spades that doubled as a call to worship, for a people facing challenges and “a nation that has strayed away from the Lord.”
“When you’ve been dealt a bad hand, you don’t quit if you know you got a good partner,” Wesley said. “We’ve been dealt a bad hand, but I thank God that we’ve got a good partner who is able to bring us through.”