Viewpoint: Let Pastor Scobey's act of civil disobedience spur us to fight racial injustice
On Nov. 17, 2021, the Rev. Derrick Scobey, of Oklahoma City’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, knelt in the middle of the street to pray outside the Governor’s Mansion. Pastor Scobey is a praying man, but this prayer was unusual in several ways. He knelt between a crowd of frustrated protesters and a cluster of Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers in tactical gear. The protesters were calling the governor to heed the recommendation of his Pardon and Parole Board by commuting the sentence of Julius Jones, a Black man who was scheduled to be executed the next day. Pastor Scobey was arrested during his act of public moral witness, and he currently faces criminal charges.
As the aftermath of his provocative prayer plays out in the courts, I hope the legal drama will spur my fellow Oklahomans to wrestle with the moral meaning of Pastor Scobey’s witness. To do this, we need to understand his actions last November within the context of the ancient tradition from which they emerged.
The spiritual practice of nonviolent civil disobedience has deep roots in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. When Pharaoh commanded enslaved Hebrew midwives to commit infanticide, they “feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live” (Exodus 1:17). When Haman plotted to commit genocide against the Jews, Esther risked her life by violating court protocols to advocate for her people. When Darius made it illegal to pray to the God of Israel, the prophet Daniel opened his window so that everyone could see him defying the decree by kneeling to pray three times a day. When the apostles of Jesus were commanded to stop proclaiming his resurrection, they replied, “We must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29).
Throughout the 20th century, Christian civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. drew upon this scriptural tradition to make nonviolent civil disobedience a cornerstone of their peaceful fight for justice. Their conviction was that all civil authority is subject to the higher moral authority of God. When human laws are out of sync with this higher moral order, then peaceably breaking such laws is a sacred witness to God’s truth. Such acts do not aim at chaos or anarchy; they aim to disrupt an immoral status quo in pursuit of law and order that is rooted in righteousness.
King did not rush into acts of civil disobedience. In fact, he wrote that in the face of injustice, we must first attempt to negotiate through normal legal means. But if this attempt fails, civil disobedience is an appropriate next step. This leads us back to Pastor Scobey praying in the middle of the street last year.
In the days leading up to this incident, I was among many pastors and concerned residents who gathered in the state Capitol to pray outside the governor’s office. A few of those present, including Pastor Scobey, requested a meeting with the governor. To be more specific, Pastor Scobey joined the Rev. J.A. Reed — another deeply respected local pastor and a veteran of the civil rights struggle that raged in Oklahoma City during the 1960s — to request a meeting with the governor. In the midst of a heated racial situation that was making national headlines, two African American pastors who are well-known community servants asked to have a quiet conversation with the governor. Their request was denied.
In such a situation, residents have limited options. The Pardon and Parole Board had already made its recommendation. Local residents had tried to make their voices heard for months through peaceful assemblies and direct civil engagement. Hundreds of high school students had walked out of their classes to join protesters who were praying and singing in the state Capitol. It is understandable that frustration levels were high outside the Governor's Mansion on Nov. 17.
Several people who were present that night have stated privately that they think the protest may have become violent or destructive if Pastor Scobey had not intervened. But he did intervene. He prayed in the middle of the street until he was arrested. While he was being escorted away by Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers (whom he says treated him with the utmost courtesy), Pastor Scobey yelled to the crowd, “No violence! No violence!” This is what moral leadership looks like. He was reminding those assembled that the most powerful way to stand up for justice is through creative self-sacrifice. Love is stronger than anger. Truth is proclaimed most credibly by those who are willing to suffer for it.
In the short term, Pastor Scobey’s witness, in conjunction with the persevering efforts of many advocates, had its intended effect, at least in part. The protest outside the Governor’s Mansion on Nov. 17 ended peacefully, and the next day the governor commuted Julius Jones’ sentence, though many remain dissatisfied that Jones was denied the possibility of parole.
But at present, I’m more concerned about the long-term ramifications of Pastor Scobey’s witness. His prayer was not just about Julius Jones; it was about all of us. In Oklahoma, we have a history that includes compassion, service, creativity and resilience, but we also have a history marred by segregation, violence and racial injustice. Giving our children the future we want for them will require us to reckon with both aspects of our complicated past. And we cannot do this unless we are willing to listen to the voices of those who have been pursuing peace, reconciliation and justice for many years.
More important than Pastor Scobey’s courageous act of civil disobedience last November is his ongoing work to reverse the racial inequities that still mar our education system, our criminal justice system and other important sectors of our society. (Ironically, as his own court case continues to unfold, Pastor Scobey is working for criminal justice reform as an appointed member of the Criminal Justice Authority Citizens Advisory Board and the Fix the Jail Committee.) If we really want to heed his witness — and the witness of countless others in our midst who sacrifice for the common good every day — we will honor the sacred dignity of every human life among us. We will fight for a day in which skin color is no longer a statistically significant predictor of income, lifespan, educational attainment and incarceration rate in our state. We will roll up our sleeves to work toward building a community in which every Oklahoman has the opportunity to reach their full, God-given potential.
John-Mark Hart (Ph.D.) is the pastor of Christ Community Church at Rancho Village.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Viewpoint: Scobey's act of civil disobedience can spur us to action
