Black social media was set ablaze after Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, founder of Atlanta’s 2819 Church, shared a sermon that has him going viral. And not in that good, inspiring viral to which most pastors aspire.
“Stop blaming white cops for the killing of black kids,” Mitchell told his congregation during his Sunday (April 13) sermon. “Instead, teach your black children to be obedient towards authority.”
A native of Queens, NY, Mitchell referenced his own youth experience: Walking through the Hollis neighborhood, he described his humbling moment with an Italian cop, which Mitchell said held the cop held a Glock to his head and dared him to “say something.”
“In that moment, I hear the voice of my mom and my father,” he said. “Son, obey authority.”
The backlash moved quickly through social media. Commenters lit up their timelines with criticism, accusing the pastor of his Christian conservative views of being out of touch with the realities that our Black youth endure in the eyes of the law.
“Using the disparate and systemic murders of black people at the hands of the police was not only a bad example but very harmful,” one commenter on X wrote. “Horrible example to prove his point. Very disappointing.”
For many commenters — who witnessed the brutal police killings of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile — the sermon sounded more like a political lecture than a call for spiritual growth.
Bishop Talbert Swan didn’t hold back. “Pastor Phillip(sic) Mitchell is engagiing in c**ntastic preaching,” he wrote. “It is the regurgitation of white supremacist ideology through Black mouths. He is not preaching Christ-he is preaching complicity.”
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