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October 2
Thurgood Marshall, Nat Turner, Mohandas Gandhi, and Hazel Scott
David Barnhart
October 02, 2025
Thatched roof, Bolivia, 2008.
On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Today is also the birthday of Nat Turner, in 1800. Turner would become a preacher and later lead an uprising of enslaved persons in 1830. He saw his rebellion as divinely-inspired, and although I believe in strategic nonviolence, it seems important to name him today. In part, this is because strategic nonviolence depends upon the possibility of choosing violence.
Fittingly, it is also the International Day of Nonviolence, celebrated on the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, Indian independence activist and philosopher of nonviolent resistance. He is often known as “Mahatma” Gandhi, which is an honorific like “revered” or “reverend.”
Today marks the death, in 1981, of Hazel Soctt, jazz musician and civil rights activist who stood up to Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. She warned the country about “security-profiteers in patriotism who seek easy money and notoriety at the expense of the nation’s security and peace of mind.”
Reflection:
Nat Turner said:
“My grand mother, who was very religious, and to whom I was much attached — my master, who belonged to the church, and other religious persons who visited the house, and whom I often saw at prayers, noticing the singularity of my manners, I suppose, and my uncommon intelligence for a child, remarked I had too much sense to be raised – and if I was, I would never be of any service to any one – as a slave.”
Mahatma Gandhi wrote:
“There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good. I swear by non-violence because I know that it alone conduces to the highest good of mankind, not merely in the next world, but in this also. I object to violence because, when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.”
and
“I came to the conclusion long ago ... that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu ... But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian.”
and
“I have a great respect for Christianity. I often read the Sermon on the Mount and have gained much from it. I know of no one who has done more for humanity than Jesus. In fact, there is nothing wrong with Christianity, but the trouble is with you Christians. You do not begin to live up to your own teachings.”
Prayer: God, enable Christians to hear and learn from the valid critiques of the way they represent their faith. Amen