I already know this is going to go over a lot of people’s heads and I’m going to get a plethora of eye rolls and criticism for what I’m about to say. But one of the biggest lies we’ve been told is that demonic energy is not at work unless someone’s head is spinning around like a scene from a horror movie. Demonic activity can look like that, but it can also look like taking humans from their homeland and shipping them to the Americas like cattle. It looks like raping women, men and children and forcing them to have orgies for entertainment on plantations (Yes, that actually happened, and more often than you think). It looks like strange fruit hanging from trees all over the south. It looks like those screaming nigger, and wetback, and Jap, and chink, and terrorist to justify despicably evil actions. It looks like the laws and structures of society that have allowed certain groups of people to be oppressed for centuries. It looks like the death of Alton Sterling.

Racism, at its very core, is demonic and it’s time to start addressing it as such. I am not denying that racism has complex legal and social implications nor am I saying that we don’t need to continue fighting in those areas, because we do. However, we can no longer ignore the spiritual elements at play. What’s going on is just as much a spiritual war, as it is a political, social and economic one.

With that being said, it’s time to start seriously consulting the spiritual realm as we go forward. I’m a Christian, so I can speak from that perspective. I’m praying without ceasing for the protection and strength of my people. I’m binding and casting the demonic forces at work back to the pits of hell in the name of Jesus. If you are a Christian, especially if you are a black Christian, I suggest you start doing the same. Interestingly enough, I’ve yet to go to a church vigil or service dealing with racism where this was actively done. We’re usually too busy praying lofty prayers about forgiving our enemies and having mercy on oppressor’s souls. Too busy trying to be cute, instead of asking for what we really need. We don’t need any more hope or forgiveness. God been heard those prayers because, considering what we’ve been through, we are already the most hopeful and forgiving people on this planet. What we need is protection from the demonic forces that have been trying to destroy our people for hundreds of years. What we need is the Almighty to act on our behalf, not someday, but today. We need to access the authority we’ve been given through Jesus Christ to bind up and cast out anything that seeks to steal, kill and destroy us. One of the biggest mistakes that Christians have made is putting the cart before the horse and praying for racist people, without praying against the spirits that use those people. People can be forgiven, but demons cannot. Let’s be clear, ain’t no mercy in heaven or hell for evil spirits. We cannot get so caught up on forgiving and loving on people that we forget to wage war on the demonic forces attacking us. Don’t get me wrong those things are necessary and essential for our healing, as a people, but one without the other gets us nowhere.

Now if you’re not a Christian, I’m not leaving you out. I suggest you do whatever you need to do to access and petition your higher power, ancestors, energy, etc. for the protection of our people and the destruction of any negative and evil force that comes against us. Burn your sage. Meditate. Pray. Vibrate higher. Do whatever you need to do. And do it without ceasing. Along with the protests. Along with the articles we write. Along with the lobbying. All I’m saying is, focus on the spiritual, just as much as we do on the physical and watch things start to shift.