From left: Rev. James Victor, Rev. Craig Harcum, Alissa Tafti, Rev. DeLishia Davis, Rev. Adrian Nelson at town hall for Federal workers and contractors sponsored by the Arlington Coalition of Black Clergy
The Arlington Coalition of Black Clergy (ACBC) town hall attracted about 50 federal workers and contractors on March 25 at Macedonia Baptist Church. Rev. DeLishia Davis, pastor of Calloway Methodist Church and president of the Arlington Coalition of Black Clergy says, “We had so many of our congregants who had been fired or feel they may be soon that we wanted them to know their rights and get resources and be able to spend time in a safe space.”
At the end of the meeting Rev. James Victor, pastor of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church said it’s not just a political crisis but a spiritual crisis as well. He was charged with giving words of encouragement and offered individual prayers for those who would like.
The meeting opened with a passage from Colossians 23: “Work willingly at whatever you do,” and an admonition to “empower us to use our voice.”
Alissa Tafti, a federal employee speaking on behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees, emphasized over and over, “In this moment we need to be speaking up and putting a stop to what is going on. They are trying to dismantle the government.” She told attendees that she had a lot to say but wanted to hear their questions.
Most wanted to know what kind of help might be out there and specifics about the government unions available. Tafti said unfortunately right now there’s not enough help for federal workers but a lot of people are trying to work on it. She said there are several choices available for employees who want to join a union, “and if you don’t have one available, you can still organize. There has been a huge upsurge around the country. We need to come together.” She says collective bargaining is giving people some support during the transitions.
“A lot of federal workers are afraid to speak out and that’s why they are attacking unions, making them report the official time spent on union work, trying to frighten workers.
“We are committed to civil service because we want to do good. We show up and don’t attract a lot of attention. We’re not ‘look at me,’ but now the country needs to hear from us, what happens when you take people out of jobs, how it impacts us.” She says when things are working well, we are invisible but we will be breaking soon.
“I took my oath in a drab windowless room with some random person in HR but I remember so vividly and I keep coming back to it. I swore to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. I thought I would just write my research reports. But in this moment I am speaking up because we are facing a domestic enemy.
“Call your representatives. Show up to rallies and protests. We are not in the habit of protesting, but build that muscle up. We need to see more people, and it will snowball.”
Tafti urges, “I’m pretty sure you know a lot of people around the country. Contact five people in other states and tell them to call five other people. And keep it going. I have family members who say to me ‘They’re not coming for you—just bad employees.’ And I say ‘No, that’s me.’”
“Also efficiency. The government should be smaller but how much smaller? What is the ideal cost of government, of keeping kids healthy? Ask people what they mean by efficiency. If someone asked me, I could give them a long list but no one is asking this. They just have 20-year-olds walking in saying ‘You’re fired.—I don’t know what you do.’ This is not efficiency.”
Tafti continues, “So many bad things are happening at once we can’t wrap our hands around it. There’s so much. It’s a hard thing to take the story into action. People get so freaked out.”
Davis says the next step is for the ACBC to gather information to share with each of their 18 member congregations about housing, food and other available resources.