‘Where is the leadership?’ Black Waterloo church pastor discusses community needs

I saw the critique that Black churches in Waterloo aren’t doing enough to protect or galvanize the community, and I’m taking the concern seriously — but I’m also noticing what counts as “evidence” in the critic’s mind. The post argues that Black churches should have issued a public letter condemning President 47’s racist caricature of the Obamas as monkeys — an incident that, yes, deserved clear moral repudiation because it trades in a long, ugly tradition of dehumanizing Black people.

But here’s the deeper problem: if the measuring stick for “church faithfulness” only shows up when a racial insult hits the timeline, then the critique is too narrow to be credible — and too shallow to serve the whole community. Because where was that same public urgency when families were already being crushed by policies that harm every block in Waterloo — threats to affordable health care, Medicare and Medicaid stability, Social Security and food assistance? Those are not abstract debates. Those are insulin choices, eldercare choices, grocery choices, rent choices. 

I also saw the February 8 post from “Unapologetic Waterloo” saying the Black Church “was the base in Waterloo, but where is the leadership? More churches than community unity.” 

I hear the frustration underneath that. When people are hurting, they don’t just want sermons; they want direction, protection and coordinated action.

Still, that line can oversimplify what’s already happening. In many Black congregations, leadership is being exercised every week: naming anti-Black racism from the pulpit, burying our dead, counseling traumatized families, mentoring youth, feeding neighbors, raising emergency funds, advocating in schools, and showing up at city meetings — often with limited staff and strained resources. The issue isn’t that leadership is absent; it’s that leadership is too often fragmented and unconnected.

So let’s be honest about the diagnosis: Waterloo has many good actors working in parallel, but not enough shared strategy. Unity requires infrastructure — common priorities, shared language, agreed-upon goals, and a public table where differences are negotiated rather than weaponized.

If the Black Church has historically been “the base,” then the next faithful step is coalition-building: a multiracial, multiethnic, multigendered coalition that takes on the full agenda — educational disparities, housing, public safety, health access, workers’ rights and dignified public policy. Leadership is here. Now let’s connect it, align it, and hold it accountable to outcomes.