Making civility a national movement at this moment in time

The Democratic National Convention is underway in Chicago, Illinois, and the Rev. Anthony Williams is hoping to get the attention of Vice President Kamala Harris and other party members by asking them to declare civilian violence as a national healthcare crisis.

Williams lives in Chicago and has the support of DNC Delegate La Shawn Ford of Illinois’ 8th District, who plans to champion the issue on the convention floor. They are working together on this initiative and held a news conference on Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Standing before the gathered media and crowd, Williams said, “We call upon all DNC delegates to support Illinois State Representative and DNC Delegate La Shawn Ford as he represents citizens requesting to make civilian violence a public health crisis and institute a National Plan Of Civility as a major plank issue.”

He continued, “Free Americans from the disease of violence!”

“The citizens of Illinois have called upon me to pick up the mantle of responsibility, to represent their longing for an end to the public health crisis of American civilian violence,” Ford said. “I shall present this action for the nation at the DNC Convention. We will work to control civilian violence for all of our citizens and institute a National Plan of Civility. Civility is the cure and the solution to violence.”

National Civility Month

August is National Civility Month, and Williams has long been working to make civility a way of life in the United States. Having lost his oldest son Nehemiah to violence back in 2018, the cause is especially close to Williams’ heart.

“Violence is the number one problem of the 21st Century,” said Williams, the former pastor of the First Congregational Church of Berwyn just outside of Chicago. “The United Church of Christ was the first church to take a position on violence as a healthcare crisis — unanimously passing a resolution called ‘Nehemiah’s Life: A Call for Congressional Hearings on Violence in America’ in Milwaukee back in 2019.”

UCC lay leader Bill McCarthy was instrumental in writing the “Nehemiah’s Life” resolution, and has been a long time collaborator with Williams.

“I am part of this small but committed group of UCC folks who want to see this work get the attention it deserves,” said McCarthy. “I often think of the metaphor of the story The Little Engine That Could — we think we can, and we will!”

Study the science

“If you study the science, violence is a disease, it’s a pandemic, and epidemiologists have said it’s infectious,” said Williams. “The way to stop it is through civility. America is still evolving. We are like kids — spoiled, vain children. We are letting violence destroy our nation. And I’m not just talking about gun violence. I mean structural violence. Stopping it is a four-step process.”

Taking steps to have the Democratic nominee for U.S. President recognize this issue is important in this moment, said Williams. “We need public policy to make this change,” he said.

Williams also quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. about the importance of creating laws that support civility. King said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”

Williams went on to say that violence needs to be demonized. “It’s Satan’s greatest weapon,” he said.

Taking steps to end violence

Williams outlined the steps to ending violence as a pandemic.

“The first is to educate people,” he explained. “Tell them what this is! Run public service announcements, change the narrative.”

Next, he said, is collaboration. “All institutions must refocus. We have behavior that needs to be unlearned. We need to reexamine attitudes.”

This is followed by institutionalizing civility, he went on: “We need to teach it. This will stagnate violence.”

Lastly, and importantly, Williams said money needs to be redirected. “Direct funding to change public policy,” he said.

Williams has pushed this agenda in Washington, D.C. and other cities.

Back in 2021, he walked from Chicago to D.C. calling attention to this crisis, with hopes of getting President Biden to address it. He made a stop in Cleveland where he held a news conference in front of the Anthony J. Celebreeze Federal Building, just blocks from the UCC National offices.

Williams has made progress on this front in the wake of the 2019 UCC resolution. He and the UCC Illinois Conference worked to persuade the State of Illinois to declare violence a public health crisis.

In late April of 2021, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new law that does that. Among other things, the measure targeted high-violence areas, providing more state funding for health care, education, and economic development to eliminate the causes of violence.

The Health and Human Services Reform Act, Williams said, can also provide the way to civility in our neighborhoods.

---

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.