By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
kmcneir@afro.com
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a historic Black congregation in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1838 as part of a growing anti-segregation protest that emerged from Philadelphia, Pa., in 1787. So, it was fitting that on Aug. 28, the church hosted a service commemorating the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
Church leaders invited the community to participate in what might be best described as an old-fashioned tent revival. However, while the noonday service embodied traditional elements, including a litany of prayers given by ministers and the laity, soul stirring singing, and a powerful sermon, this “revival” was held within the confines of the main sanctuary.
During his remarks of welcome, the church’s pastor, the Rev. William H. Lamar said he hoped the worship experience would inspire more members of the Black Church to join in a new civil rights movement and view it as “mission possible.”
“We are facing a surge in injustice, discrimination, exploitation and White supremacy, all expressed in various ways, but the good news is we’ve been here before,” he said. “We are people of the book [the Bible] and we know that in times like these, we must turn to God in prayer. We welcome you to join us today in prayer.”
Lamar explained why prayer served as the foundation and focus of the service and opined that even many who represent the “beloved community” of which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke have forgotten the purpose of prayer.
“Prayer is sitting and waiting for God to speak to us,” he said. “Then, it’s about moving in faith with God.”
Nearly a dozen ministers and lay members, most from the Greater Washington Area, offered prayers that addressed many of the concerns within the Black community.
But when the Rt. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, prelate of the AME Church’s Second District, which encompasses Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina and Western North Carolina, offered his prayer, the congregation rose to its feet with love and gratitude for his many years of service.
“We have too many people in D.C. with positions of power but who lack character,” he said, after which he recited a list of those who he considers to be among the worst violators, including the 47th president.
“And while the president says he wants to crack down on violent crime in D.C., what he needs to address is the rise in white-collar crime which has ramped up across the nation, even in the White House. We need to ask God to help us to cry, to cry out until America can’t help but hear us. And as we cry out and make our demands known, we need to rely on God and be faithful and unafraid.”
Bryant delivers the word
The Rev. Jamal Bryant, a renowned minister and senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a charismatic and progressive megachurch located in DeKalb County, Ga., delivered the sermon.
Bryant has repeatedly been the topic of headline news since announcing a 40-day initiative to boycott retail giant Target, after it yielded to the president’s directive and eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion commitments.
The original boycott was scheduled from March 3 to April 19. But on April 20, Easter Sunday, Bryant announced that the initiative would continue indefinitely after Target failed to make any concessions, including acceding to a request for the company to reinvest in Black communities and businesses.
Still, Bryant is at his core a preacher – born, raised, encouraged and educated within the proud Black Church tradition. And based on the congregation’s responses – replete with shouts of “amen,” thunderous applause, and words of encouragement and agreement in the call and response tradition – he did not disappoint.
“We are gathered here today to deliver the message that something is wrong with the ethical barometer and sentiments of this country,” he said. “When people begin to believe that the country belongs to them, something is wrong. What America is facing today is not a political struggle. The Bible has 57 translations while both the Torah and the Koran only have one. Why? Because Christians have become intoxicated with our own interpretations.
“Maybe what we need is a moral revival – the church needs to go back to the revivals of old and seek an authentic recipe, a word that America does not know how to pronounce – repent.”
Bryant cited several examples to support his perspective, including the 300,000 Black women who have lost their jobs since March 2025 – an injustice that only a handful of elected officials and business leaders have addressed. He also criticized the cutting of programs benefitting children, mothers and senior citizens.
August 28th – a date of historical significance for African Americans
Like many Black preachers, Bryant was mindful to include a Black history moment during his sermon.
“We remember the sacrifices made by Dr. King and his colleagues as leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, who stunned the world when nearly a quarter million people showed up in D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and demanded that this nation make good on its promise of racial and economic equality for all. That was Aug. 28, 1963.
“Emmett Till was murdered by White supremacists on Aug. 28, 1955, in Mississippi. And while the storm raged for eight days, Hurricane Katrina reached its peak, devastating the city of New Orleans, on Aug. 28, 2005.”
Bryant could have added that on Aug. 28, 2008, Barack Obama delivered his historic acceptance speech as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, and on Aug. 28, 1833, the United Kingdom abolished slavery.
The truth will set you free
“James Baldwin once said ‘whatever you don’t face, you will never fix, and if you don’t face it, you cannot fix it.’ That’s why we’re here, standing in prayer,” Bryant said. “The Black Church does not have the right or option to be silent. We’ve got to clear our throats and say aloud together why we’re dissatisfied with what’s happening in America.”
While referencing the initiative that he continues to lead against Target, Bryant was clear to refer to it not as a boycott but as a protest.
“Does America believe that 56 years of inclusion wipes out 400 years of oppression?” he asked. “We started our actions against Target out of a spirit of self-respect and self-determination. We’ve done it peacefully, keeping our Black dollars in our Black pockets. Now, Target wants to play games – they want to play us. So, we are not going to shop there until they treat us fairly and with respect.”
As he reached the end of his sermon, Bryant reiterated his reasons for coming to Washington.
“White supremacists, MAGA supporters, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and J.D. Vance are mad, real mad,” he said. “Not because we’re Black, but because we’re reviving a Black-led movement. And the enemy is always aggravated and annoyed when people take a stand and oppose him. Unfortunately, a lot of Negroes want to be friends with pharaoh. But we’re here today to tell pharaoh to let our people go.
“I didn’t come here to make you shout or clap or jump up and down. I came here with one assignment from God and one message for those who live and work in the nation’s capital: to repent. We haven’t come here just to pray and then go back home. We have assembled to warn the leaders of this country to get their act together because the God of history and justice will not stand idly by forever. It doesn’t matter how big they think they are or how long they’ve been in power because when history is on your side, nothing else matters. God will have the final say.”
A few amens from the pews
Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the Newark, N.J.-based grassroots organization The People’s Organization for Progress, drove more than 200 miles by himself during the early hours of Aug. 28 to attend the service. He said while he would do it again, the next time he plans to bring a busload of supporters with him.
“Blacks must remember that we have enormous economic power as a community,” he said. “While the boycott against Target has been successful, we need more leaders who have courage and integrity to join the struggle.
“Our faith has been an integral part of our success against oppression and the Black Church has a particularly important role to play, standing with the oppressed in our quest for justice. Rev. Bryant was on point – we need the Black Church, and young folks too, especially those who may not be involved in the church, to join hands so the fight for Black liberation will continue and remain dynamic in the future.”
LaRuby May, an attorney in D.C. who formerly represented Ward 8 on the Council of the District of Columbia, succeeding Marion Barry who died in office in 2014, said she recognizes the significance of the moment.
“As a community of faith, we have to get back to praying and go beyond worship,” she said.
“The preacher was correct – our ancestors were praying on those slave ships and my great grandparents were praying in the fields on the plantations. Our prayers are connected to our faith in God, and our faith in God leads us to stop sitting on the sidelines in comfort and move to fight for and to serve God’s people.
“I support the boycott of Target and have shopped there since it began,” May added. “My pastor, Dr. Howard John Wesley at Alfred Street, has encouraged us to refrain from spending our dollars with those who do not value our people, and I will always be intentional on how and with whom I spend my money.”
