Sermon: Power To The People
On Pentecost Sunday 2020, Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III, pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptists Church, preached a sermon entitled, "Power To The People." With demonstrations and fires from protests still burning in cities around the country in response to the recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless others by police and white racists, this sermon attempts to show how this moment is connected to the Bible and Black History. It points an important way forward for those concerned about a spiritual and socio-political pathway to Black liberation.
Below you will find links that relate to what Pastor Brown references in this sermon along with supplemental material.
References to public policy & political history in this sermon
1994 Crime Bill and check here and here too
Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (Pleasant Hope cited in the article)
Books referenced in this sermon (or related to the subject matter)
The Politics Of Jesus: Rediscovering The True Revolutionary Nature Of The Teachings Of Jesus And How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery Hendricks
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Music Playlist (Notice: coarse language in some selections...but less profane than White Supremacy!)
Give The People What They Want by The O'Jays (and check out this remake of the song by EPMD)
Ella's Song by Sweet Honey In The Rock
U.N.I.T.Y. by Queen Latifah
Fight The Power by Public Enemy
I Get Out by Ms. Lauryn Hill
Alright by Kendrick Lamar
The Hate That Hate Produced and The Final Solution; Slavery's Back in Effect by Sista Souljah
Historic Organizations
Black-led, Baltimore-based Organizations