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February 19
On standing up to corrupt power
David Barnhart
February 19, 2025
Mural in San Francisco. 2024. Own photo.
On this day in 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed executive order 9066, which forcibly displaced Japanese Americans to internment camps. Before this order, Japanese American farmers accounted for thirty percent of all California farms. Thousands of families were forced to sell businesses and homes, often at a steep loss, in a massive transfer of wealth from Japanese Americans to white Americans and bankers. This collective trauma endured by Americans of Japanese ancestry, simultaneous with concentration camps in Germany and Eastern Europe, is a reminder that “it can happen here” — and that it already has.
Today also marks the death, in 1265, of Saint Boniface of Brussels. As bishop of Lausanne, he stood up to the corruption of King Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, who sent thugs to assassinate him. Though Boniface escaped, he resigned his post as bishop. He is a reminder that when clergy stand up to political corruption, they often pay a price.
On this day in 1967, the first episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood aired. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister, saturated the children’s show on PBS with his own theology of neighbor-love without aggressive proselytizing. He was particularly intentional to be inclusive in matters of race, gender, and ability during a time when it was potentially inflammatory to do so.
Reflection:
Star Trek actor and activist George Takei was four years old when his family was relocated to an internment camp. He writes:
“We were American citizens. We were incarcerated by our American government in American internment camps here in the United States. The term ‘Japanese internment camp’ is both grammatically and factually incorrect.”
I believe it is imperative that clergy and laypeople who follow Jesus speak truth to power. This year, as our president signs more executive orders like 9066, we must raise our voices against corruption. Like Saint Boniface, we can expect our words will paint a target on our backs. But Boniface said:
Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ’s flock. Let us preach the whole of God’s plan to the powerful and to the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season.
We call clergy “shepherds” for a reason — they are supposed to defend the flock against predators, even when the predator is the President of the United States.
Some of the wisdom of Fred Rogers:
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”
“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
Prayer: God of Prophets and Seers, give our religious leaders the courage of their convictions. Jesus described his followers as a community of prophets. May we rise to the occasion. Amen.