Feb. 2, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: We are at a crossroads. People of goodwill who stand with our neighbors and against oppression in all its forms are increasingly becoming targets. When we live into the baptismal promise to “accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves,” we become resisters of the cruelty and brutality inflicted on our neighbors.
There is no distinction between ourselves and our neighbors based on skin color, ethnicity, place of birth, or immigration status. All people are made in the image of God, as testified in the sacred scriptures of our faith. When tactics long used by the state against people of color are now deployed against anyone who stands for justice, we are witnessing what Dr. Cornel West describes as a critical “fork in the road.” Drawing from the Black freedom movement, he names how those who resist injustice are demonized, traumatized, and stripped of their God-given dignity in the calculations of police and politicians. What was once experienced primarily by Black Americans is now spilling over to all people of conscience who bear witness to truth and justice in the face of arbitrary state power.
While Dr. West’s language may offend some, events in Minnesota, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and now Maine reveal unmistakable parallels to slave patrols, the state-sanctioned terror of the KKK, and the violent repression faced by Civil Rights freedom fighters.
The question before us is clear: What will “We the People” do? What will “We the People of Faith” do? Now is the time to choose the right side of history and join the resistance.
REV. SUSAN L. WORRELL Rockbridge County
