Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Combats Erasure with Global Solidarity, Mounting a Movement of Ubuntu

The 21st Annual Clergy and Lay Leaders Conference, hosted by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC), was held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, from February 17 to 20. To combat erasure with global solidarity, SDPC is mounting a movement of ubuntu. 

Ubuntu is often expressed to mean “I am because we are.” The “African Journal of Social Work” provides a more elaborate definition: “A collection of values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings. While the nuances of these values and practices vary across different ethnic groups, they all point to one thing – an authentic individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world.” The Annual Clergy and Lay Leaders Conference offered a historical and religious epistemology that inspired participants to embody its meanings.

More than six hundred emerging and well-known faith leaders gathered for plenary sessions, workshops, praxis roundtables, special interest forums and affinity group fellowship inspired by the meeting’s theme: “There is No End to Our Rising: Restoring Our Glory in the Age of Erasure.” The Conference’s leaders pointed to Project 2025 as proof of educational, experiential, historical and cultural erasure, with the significance of such tactics not lost on people of African descent. In fact, Little Rock was chosen for the history represented by the Central High School Little Rock Nine and the 1919 Elaine Arkansas Race Massacre. 

“We are at a perilous time in which the presumption of democracy in America and indeed, the world is at stake,” the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference’s leaders said. “For many, the claim to ‘justice for all’ is not a given and efforts to foster greater equality and support the diversity of America are being thwarted or reversed.”

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk, the event’s moderator, set the tone of the gathering during a panel discussion titled “The Pivot at the Crossroads: Who We Are and Whose We Are.” She tapped into the spirit of the meeting.

“The powers against us are bold and it’s time for us to be bold. The powers against us are connected and we’ve got to be connected—globally,” Delk said. “Connected in our walk, in our talk and in our ability to rise up globally. This is movement time.” 

That brought one of the SDPC’s founders, Dr. Ira Carruthers, to her feet. She was joined by many more in applause and exclamations of exhortation. With the charge of Delk, we were ready to do the work of Deuteronomy 4:9, the undergirding scripture: “But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things your eyes saw and so they never forget your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren” (CEB). 

“We must speak with one voice as a people of African descent to address our current reality,” co-panelist Bishop Joseph Tolton, the founder and president of Interconnected Justice, said. He also invited the audience to “think of this next civil rights movement as a black internationalist civil rights movement.”

Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, a graduate student known for his pro-Palestine protest at the Harvard Business School, shared passionately with the attendees about the challenges we face in forming a global liberationist movement. “The struggle for our souls is the central struggle on the table today. And I believe the Spirit is asking us, ‘What are we willing to sacrifice in the attainment of a future that is secure, a future that is equal, a future that is healthy, a future that our children can enjoy!”

The conference also featured dozens of critical thinkers, scholars and practitioners who led conversations on Afrofuturism, prophetic preaching, the digital community, global human rights, and educational and economic empowerment. This included the Honorable Rev. Wendell Griffen and Allan Boesak, who led a discussion of their book, “Parables, Politics and Prophetic Faith: Hope and Perseverance in Times of Peril” and offered attendees hope, courage, and the tools for “prophetic discernment” amid the ongoing upheaval of the Trump administration. Nightly worship services were held at local churches and continued to inform participants’ understanding of radical kinship.

This year’s “Beautiful Are the Feet” honorees were the Honorable Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, Mrs. Elizabeth Eckford, Rev. Dr. Forest Harris, Dr. Obery Hicks, Rev. Dr. Tyrone Pitts and Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart, who were all celebrated with a banquet and special tributes. The voice of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. also rang clear through Rev. Dr. Freddie D. Haynes III, who delivered his message for him, ensuring that participants heard from all three founders. 

Wright suffered a stroke in 2016 that left him paralyzed on his left side and wheelchair-bound. But in the spirit of ubuntu, he moved and moved all who heard him. The message of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference was embodied by its leadership.