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Black Church Electoral and Protest Politics from 2002 to 2012: a Social Media Analysis of the Resistance Versus Accommodation Dialectic

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Abstract

The continued debate about whether the Black Church has lost its activist voice is rooted in the historic resistance versus accommodation dialectic. The former stance positions the Black Church for involvement in electoral and protest politics; the latter stymies these processes. This project examines the contemporary Black Church's political presence on several social media sites. Findings document its continued political involvement thematically associated with calls for social justice and moral action, electoral and protest politics, redress for social problems, and a linked fate mentality and collective memory. Moreover, results illustrate how electoral and protest politics, based on a historic Black Church cultural toolkit, can reflect both a social issue to be championed and a strategic process used to promote other agendas. A resistance versus accommodation dialectical model provides a cogent explanation for the political pluralism and ambiguity such congregations can exhibit as well as for many Black Christians to prioritize issues of racial justice and economic empowerment above more conservative religious views they may espouse.

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Notes

  1. The term “the Black Church” is used to represent the institution as a collective and “Black church” when specific congregations are referenced. This decision is supported by existing literature that points to this overarching umbrella while also acknowledging the heterogeneity evident among Black churches.

  2. Described on the main webpage as, “The #1 Daily Black Christian Internet Newspaper—For Praying, Thinking, and Doing Christians”.

  3. Refer to Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) for details on the remaining five polarities: prophetic versus priestly; other-worldly versus this-worldly; universalism versus particularism; communal versus privatistic; and charismatic versus bureaucratic.

  4. The poll included 273 Blacks and 2,205 Whites.

  5. The survey included 1,894 Black clergy.

  6. The survey included 1,206 African Americans.

  7. Barnes (2012) suggests that Black megachurch that espouse a Social Gospel message and/or Afro-centric tend to be politically active in the community, have pastors who are politically active, and encourage members to follow suit.

  8. They provide one of the more comprehensive explanations on the indelible link between the Black Church and political activism in the Black community summarized in the following eight theoretical propositions: (1) the Church’s social and cultural embeddedness in Black culture makes it difficult to separate Black community political needs and responses from this collective; (2) The Black Church's historic role in survival and liberation dynamics is part of the Black community's political history; (3) The Church has been central to political mobilizing and communication networks for electoral and protest politics; (4) The Church's role requires us to define politics beyond electoral and protest politics; (5) The economic independence of churches and many of their clergy enables them to spearhead political action; (6) Deep religious faith can motivate people to participate in dangerous political activity; (7) Although diminished as compared to the past, Black churches and their leaders continue to be central to electoral and protest politics; and, (8) Writers have varied understanding about the Black Church's political influence because they rely on different assumptions, disciplinary perspectives, and theoretical lens.

  9. Google is one of the most popular worldwide websites. It is a web search engine that allows users to locate information based on keyword searches. It also houses news reports, blogs, videos, and catalogs. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, Inc. in 1998. BCNN1.com reports news from a Black Christian standpoint largely because most Christian media and Christian publications were operated and controlled by White Christians. BCNN1 reports that its audience cuts across all racial groups. BCNN1 provides news reports and blogs; it is owned and operated by Gospel Light Ministries Onmimedia Group LLC at 1169N Burleson Blvd, Burleson, TX 76028, USA.

  10. Results here refer to a search engine's process of identifying any reference to the search word(s). This means that the initial searches included a predominate number of articles, blogs, and anonymous comments that were not germane to our study topic at all. However, this initial search was important to begin to broadly assess the possible population of articles for analysis as compared to on-line items that did not meet our criteria.

  11. Thus, for the Google search term alone, we examined the following number of on-line articles: 2002–2003 (N = 100), 2003–2004 (N = 100), 2004–2005 (N = 100), 2005–2006 (N = 60), 2006–2007 (N = 60), 2007–2008 (N = 60), 2008–2009 (N = 60), 2009–2010 (N = 60), 2010–2011 (N = 60), and 2011–20012 (N = 60), for a total of about 720 web results. The process was repeated for the following search terms: Black Church protest; Black Church rally; Black Church and George W. Bush (restricted range 2002–2007, N = 360); Black Church and Barack Obama (restricted range 2006–2012, N = 360); Black Church and Mitt Romney (restricted range 2008–2012, N = 240); Black Church and Black politics; Black Church and Joe Biden (restricted range 2006–2012, N = 360); and Black Church and Paul Ryan (restricted range 2010–2012, N = 120). The same process was repeated on BCNN1. The categorical codes used were informed by, but not limited to existing conceptualizations about the Black Church in literature. Additional analysis information provided upon request.

  12. For example, we identified that two of the initial 11 categories focused on “poverty” and “unemployment”. In our final analysis, we determined that the nature and scope of the articles in these two categories could be coherently combined into a single theme focused on “responses to social problems in the Black community”. We acknowledge the differences between poverty and unemployment. However, they reflect social problems, have clear social and economic connections, and were discussed in articles in similar ways. This warranted combining the articles identified in the two categories into a broad theme. This same process was used to determine the remaining three themes.

  13. Similar constraints have not precluded other singular studies based on news print, field notes, archival data, and/or observations (Einwohner 2003; Pattillo-McCoy 1998).

  14. McDaniel (2003) attributes Black clergy alignment with Democrats to be central to Al Gore's overwhelming support by Blacks in the 2000 presidential election. We also note that exit polls and news media show that about 140 million Americans, 65 % of registered voters, took part in the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the USA. About 66 % of Hispanics, 56 % of females, 49 % of males, 41 % of White males, 63 % of Asians, 78 % of Jews, 66 % of single persons, 47 % of married persons, 53 % of persons who earned $200,000 or more in 2007, 43 % of Whites, 54 % of young Whites, and 46 % of White women voted for Obama in 2008 (Cohen 2008; Kuhn and David 2008).

  15. In 2012, of the about 122 million persons who voted, about 50.4 % (or about 61 million people and 27 states) voted for President Obama and about 48.1 % (about 58 million people and 24 states) supported Senator Romney. With only about a 2.5 % margin of victory in the popular vote, President Obama secured 332 electoral votes (62 %) to 206 for Romney. Obama carried all of the states he secured in the 2008 election except for North Carolina and Indiana. He won 55 % of female, 45 % of male, 73 % of Asian-American, and 71 % of the Latino vote. He also won at least 55 % of voters under the age of 40 years old; as voters aged, support for Romney increased. Voters without high school diplomas (64 %), those with diplomas (51 %), and those with post-graduate degrees (55 %) voted mainly for Obama. Moreover, Obama won 60 % of the votes of people who earn less than $50,000 a year (they comprise about 41 % of the electorate and the median annual US income is about $45,000) (Sherman 2012).

  16. About 50 % of Catholics and 74 % of voters of other religions such as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews voted for President Obama. Overall, about 70 % of non-religious voters supported Obama; only 26 % voted for Romney (Sherman 2012). Brooks and Manza's (2004) findings predicted both White Evangelical and Catholic voting responses.

  17. The 2–3 % decline in Black support may reflect conservative Black voters who oppose the President's stance on same-sex unions (McDaniel 2003; Mock 2007).

  18. The case also received heightened media attention based on the profile of the couple as examples of morality and the debate that ensued on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

  19. When killed, Martin was wearing a hoodie and had a bag of Skittles.

  20. “Spike Lee Pays up for Wrong-Address Tweet in Trayvon Martin Case” in March 30, 2012 LA Times provides an example when social media was incorrectly used to protest (Los Angeles Times 2010).

  21. Compare this poverty rate to 9.9, 12.1, and 26.6 % rates for Whites, Asians, and Hispanics, respectively, as well as median household incomes of $54,620, $64,308, and $37,759 for these same groups, respectively.

  22. Also translated, “in politics, where a community of hatred is almost always the foundation of friendships”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Organizational Development and the School of Divinity, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    Sandra L. Barnes

  2. Department of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

    Oluchi Nwosu

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  1. Sandra L. Barnes
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  2. Oluchi Nwosu
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Correspondence to Sandra L. Barnes.

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Barnes, S.L., Nwosu, O. Black Church Electoral and Protest Politics from 2002 to 2012: a Social Media Analysis of the Resistance Versus Accommodation Dialectic. J Afr Am St 18, 209–235 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-013-9263-4

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