Our Ancestors Fought With Love. Now It’s Our Turn.

At the National Prayer Breakfast this week, President Trump stood before faith leaders and said this: “Now if you do say something bad about Trump, I will change my mind, and I will have your tax-exempt status immediately revoked.”

Let that sink in. The President of the United States just told pastors and priests that if we speak against him, he will punish our churches. He will use the government to silence the pulpit.

And then he shared a video on his social media showing Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed on the bodies of apes. During Black History Month. He depicted the first Black President and First Lady of the United States as monkeys.

This is not leadership. This is authoritarianism wrapped in racism. And we are done being polite about it.

Let us be clear: We are angry. Holy angry. The kind of anger that drove Jesus to flip tables in the temple. The kind of anger that sent prophets into the streets to cry out against injustice. The kind of righteous rage that refuses to be silent when God’s children are being dehumanized by people claiming to speak for God.

But here’s what our ancestors taught us: anger without love is destruction. Love without anger is compliance. We need both. During Black History Month, we remember that our ancestors didn’t just survive oppression—they fought it with love sharpened by holy rage. Not weak love. Not quiet love. The kind of love that marched into danger. The kind of love that sat at lunch counters knowing violence was coming. That’s the love we need right now.

Trump’s threat to churches and his racist attack on the Obamas aren’t isolated incidents. He’s threatened to prosecute journalists. He’s ordered federal agencies to ignore court rulings. He’s fired thousands of civil servants and replaced them with loyalists. He deployed troops to American streets. The message is clear: scrutinize Trump, and he’ll come after you. This is the systematic dismantling of the checks and balances that protect all of us.

But here’s what cuts deepest: watching people do this in Jesus’s name. Christian authoritarianism is when people use the Bible and the name of Christ to justify controlling others, silencing dissent, and concentrating power. It’s when the church becomes a tool of the state instead of a conscience that holds the state accountable.

Jesus fed the hungry. Christian authoritarians cut food assistance. Jesus welcomed the stranger. Christian authoritarians build walls and cages. Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Christian authoritarians deploy troops against protestors. Jesus spoke truth to power. Christian authoritarians threaten churches that speak truth about them. Jesus loved people across every divide. Christian authoritarians share videos depicting Black people as apes.

This isn’t Christianity. This is blasphemy wrapped in a flag.

Our ancestors knew the difference. They knew that any gospel that doesn’t lead to freedom isn’t the gospel at all. They knew that when powerful people use God’s name to justify oppression, that’s the oldest trick in the book—and it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.

None of this happens in a vacuum. It takes media conglomerates that spread lies for profit. It takes social media platforms that amplify hate. It takes mega-churches that stay silent when Trump threatens other churches. It takes corporations that fund authoritarian politicians and then post Black squares during Black History Month. And it takes our silence.

Our ancestors didn’t have that option. Neither do we.

Holy rage demands action. Our ancestors faced slavery and said “we will love each other to freedom.” They faced Jim Crow and said “we will love our children too much to let this continue.” They faced dogs and fire hoses and said “we will love this nation enough to force it to be better.” They faced people who called them monkeys and worse, and they responded with a love so powerful it changed the world. Now it’s our turn.

This is why we’re building LOVE FREE—a campaign to organize 300,000 people in the Black church tradition. We’re organizing congregations in every state. We’re training leaders to recognize authoritarianism and fight it. We’re building the power to hold every politician, every corporation, and every institution accountable. And we’re doing it the way our ancestors taught us: together, in love, with our eyes on freedom and fire in our hearts.

Black History Month isn’t just about remembering. It’s about continuing. Our ancestors showed us that love isn’t passive—it’s the most powerful force for change the world has ever seen. But it’s love that refuses to be silent. Love that flips tables. Love that marches. Love that organizes. Love that fights.

Join LOVE FREE. Bring your congregation. Bring your family. Bring your moral outrage and your hope and your refusal to let this moment break us. Because our ancestors didn’t survive everything they survived so we could watch a president silence the pulpit and dehumanize Black people on our watch.

They fought with love. Now it’s our turn. And we will not be silent.