In a time of resistance, it is important to remember our ancestors and their courage to fight battles that we still need to fight.
In yesterday’s DM, I invoked the spirit of Fred Shuttlesworth, who invited me to dialogue with him on “Racism and Ecology” in 2004 in Birmingham, Alabama, because the most polluted county in the country was there, and it was 72% black and 98% poor. The poor bear the brunt of environmental injustice more than any other group, not only in America, but around the world.
When political parties get bought by the billionaire class, ecology readily disappears as a political issue. The current president promised during the 2025 campaign to gut environmental laws if the fossil fuel industry would put up $2 billion. And has kept that promise.
In 2019, on what would have been Fred Shuttleworth’s 93rd birthday, the Birmingham Real-Time News published an article on “9 memorable quotes from the civil rights legend.”* The following are his teachings:
You have to be prepared to die before you can be prepared to live.
Confrontation is not bad. Goodness is supposed to confront evil. Let me add that Goodness also needs to name evil in order to confront it. [This is one reason why I invoke the archetype for evil called “the antichrist” as employed by saints, artists, and reformers over the centuries to confront the evil of our time and country in my book, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Antichrist.]
I tried to get killed in Birmingham and go home to God because I knew it would be better for you in Birmingham.
The best thing we can do is be a servant of God. It does good to stand up and serve others.
We have come this far by faith—not by violence. Birmingham is a great city, and its future will be much brighter if all of its citizens will not allow themselves to be overcome by tides of frustration nor consumed by fires of hatred.
We wanted confrontation, nonviolent confrontation, to see if it would work…Not just for Birmingham—for the nation. We were trying to launch a systematic, wholehearted battle against segregation, which would set the pace for the nation.
We will no longer stand back while the future beckons us on! The eyes of the world have been focused on the spot; and somehow we are led to believe that because of the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, segregation will end in this country in a short time. [Only to be brought back by a perverse Supreme Court in 2026.]
Some men may little note or soon forget what we say here: but the Nation will never forget what we did here together. We were not satisfied with the few scattering cracks in the Segregation wall and decided to effect a major confrontation with evil.
After being struck with brass knuckles and bicycle chains in 1957, a doctor was amazed he wasn’t in worse shape. “I said, ‘Well, doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town, so he gave me a hard head.”*
Meanwhile, back to 2026: there is a movement to impeach Justice Samuel Alito because “new evidence shows” that he “lied in his ruling to gut the Voting Rights Act.” Research by The Guardian reveals that he copied “almost verbatim” a Trump administration claim that “the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists.” The Trump DOJ “study” actually “cooked the numbers to get what they wanted.”
Civil rights lawyer Scott Hechinger said that “lying in a legal briefing would get you disbarred as a regular lawyer.” But not a SCOTUS judge busy “undoing the Constitution. Outrageous!”**
*Jeremy Gray, “Fred Shuttlesworth’s 93rd birthday: Here are 9 memorable quotes from the civil rights legend,” Birmingham Real-Time News, March 18, 2015.
**Sam Levine, Will Craft and Andrew Witherspoon, “Samuel Alito’s Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ,” The Guardian, May 8, 2026. To take action, see Petition: Impeach Justice Samuel Alito!
Banner Image: Protestors rallied in front of the Supreme Court as justices were hearing cases on the Voting Rights Act, 2013. Photo by David Sachs / SEIU on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Which of the statements listed here by Fred Shuttlesworth speak most deeply to you now in your prophetic vocation? Are you surprised to hear that Justice Alito “lied” in his ruling to gut the Civil Rights Act—and that five other justices went along? You can sign a petition to impeach Justice Alito at the second note above.
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society
Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation
