Elaine O'Neal becomes Durham's first Black woman to be elected mayor: rekindling the power of Black faith

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COMMENTARY - The Election Watch party transformed into a worship service with family members on stage praising God for the victory.

Elaine O’Neal is Durham’s first Black woman elected to serve as mayor. She conjured a thought from a popular question about Jesus – can anything good come from West End. It was a statement rooted in memories of growing up on streets in the shadow of Duke University and white privilege. It was a statement about days long before Chester Jenkins became Durham’s first Black mayor in 1989.

It was a statement about not knowing the day would come.

Durham’s future mayor held a tambourine in one hand while belting out her praise. Being surrounded by a family choir was another statement. It is about being grounded in something deeper than an impressive resume. The praise is about knowing what guides the work she plans to achieve. It is about a culture entrenched in the pride of the witness of mama’s and daddy’s who encouraged O’Neal to walk with her head held high when trouble dipped into her soul.

The people in the crowd understood what was happening. It was a return to something missing. O’Neal’s win is about more than an election. It reclaims the culture, legacy, pride, and witness of a community cast aside under the illusion of inclusion.

It’s become unpopular to talk about Black faith. The politics of inclusion forces a separation between the world of faith and what happens in the public square. It’s damaging when faith is used as a weapon to exclude people from other traditions. Loving and being community becomes complicated when a political celebration becomes a moment of praise.

There is a more fundamental question. What happens when the faith of Black people is taken away? What happens if we separate the faith of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr from the Civil Rights Movement? What happens if the songs of that movement are removed from the historical canon?  

I’m reminded of the teachings of my former mentor, Dr. C. Eric Lincoln. Lincoln argued, in the world of black sacred cosmos, there is no separation of the sacred and profane. Faith is lived in every dimension of life, meaning the activity of politics is an expression of the life of Black communal faith. It’s part of the history and culture of Black people.

Assimilating into places reflective of the goals of an inclusive culture comes with painful implications. It often requires the abandonment of the heart and soul of a people defined by their common faith. That faith transcends the measures of religion. It’s the core of Black culture. It’s the naming and claiming of more than a Black woman being elected Durham’s mayor. It’s more than her victory. It’s a reminder of what we can achieve together.

That’s what has been missing in Durham. A faith that we are being carried, together. A common dream rooted in a thought – the Lord will make a way, somehow. It’s the search for what Howard Thurman calls the “beloved community” yearning for an irreducible essence rooted in the search for connectedness.  It’s an affirmation that our differences can be overcome by a thirst transcendent of the things that make us different.

O’Neal’s faith is not a tool of separation. It’s the type of faith that Black people have historically used to move mountain. Her faith is a celebration of what we can become, together.

“This is what God wanted. This is God’s will,” a tall Black man announced with a few teardrops to baptize the moment.

I thought of the joy of Black men supporting Black women. The sway of the family choir took us back to former days when gathering on Sunday’s eased the burden of the week. Another reminder of what we can achieve when two or three gather to evoke the gift of a dream.

It’s the day after the election. O’Neal, DeDreana Freeman and Rev. Mark-Anthony Middleton won their elections by landslides. Leonardo Williams narrowly defeated A.J. Williams to join the others on the city council. The exhale of the crowd, when the final tally was announced, felt like a great commissioning after the prophet’s declaration of peace.

It’s time to move some mountains. Come. Black people. Come. White people. Come Latina’s. Join the family of LGBTQIA+1, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Bahai, Hindu, atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters. We may sing different praise songs, but we bring our unique cultures to this mountain.

Eyes closed one last time to absorb the truth of the moment.

Economic disparity, crime, gentrification, unemployment – a few of the mountains in the way of shared prosperity.

Move mountain. Get out of our way.

We the Bull City.