Everything has changed. Or so it seems to many of us this week. But, in truth, Tuesday’s election was essentially an exclamation point on the narrative of fear, hate, and division that we’ve been stuck living inside for years in our country.
Nothing has changed. The mission of GCC remains the same: to be a powerful force for change, creating justice and opportunity in Greater Cleveland by uniting our faith communities and civic partners across lines of race, class, and religion. And our work is more important than ever.
Under the leadership of our Battle for Democracy team, we’ve been working hard over the past four years to mobilize low-propensity voters and calling on our neighbors to support Issue 1 in favor of citizen-led redistricting. This week, Issue 1 failed. The intentional effort to make the ballot language overly complicated is a clear example of voter suppression. So too is state policy that allows only a single early polling place in a county of over a million people. As a result, turnout in Cuyahoga County dropped to its lowest level since 2008. This voter depression and voter suppression is a symptom of a new pandemic– one that threatens the future of our democracy.
The pandemic we’re facing is rooted in racism, sexism, white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and many kinds of “othering.” Those in power who promote this hate and exclusion have a single aim: to divide us against one another. And so we must stand in solidarity.
Our greatest asset in GCC is our people and our relationships built on trust. Together, in all diversity, we have immense power to create the kind of community that we envision. A community where there is justice and opportunity for all people, because every person’s humanity is seen and valued.
Our country continues to struggle, but our democracy isn’t dead yet. That’s because democracy isn’t just an idea or a set of laws. It’s a live experiment. We are democracy. As long as we refuse to give up our power to shape the future of our own communities, democracy lives.
Today, what we need most is faith. Faith is a belief in something we cannot see. And today it feels harder to imagine the Beloved Community we are striving to create together. If we thought it was up to us to fix our broken world, we would rightly despair. But we are not alone in this work. As people of faith, we cling to our belief in a great power of Love that will never abandon us. This is what gives us hope. And, in the days ahead, that hope will provide our only true comfort.
Rev. Ryan Wallace, Senior Pastor, Fairmount Presbyterian Church and co-chair, GCC Strategy Team
Susan Reis, member, Mishkan Or, and co-chair, GCC Strategy Team
Pastor Dr. Jawanza Colvin, Senior Pastor, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and co-chair, GCC Strategy Team
Rev. Dr. Lisa Goods, Senior Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church; chair of GCC’s Battle for Democracy; and member, GCC Strategy Team
