The logistics of social change: BJC staff Q&A with Jaziah Masters
As BJC’s advocacy and outreach manager, Jaziah Masters helps BJC supporters further engage with our work and become religious liberty advocates. Originally from Dallas, Texas, he earned degrees from Baylor University and George Washington University.
What does faith freedom mean to you?
Faith freedom for ALL means bringing the fullness of ourselves to the pursuit of a religiously pluralistic society.
What’s one thing you’ve accomplished at BJC that makes you proud?
An often overlooked part of advocacy is the logistics that go into making it happen! Every year, BJC hosts an in-person Board Meeting. Our Board members are some of the most dedicated and insightful people I have ever met. In fall 2019, I helped arrange more than 40 meetings where our board members got to meet their congressional representatives. Several had never met with a member of Congress, and it was such an honor to facilitate that experience.
Who inspires you?
Jo Ann Robinson is a name that comes to mind. In 1950, Robinson became president of the Women’s Political Council of Montgomery (WPC), and segregated bus seating was a top priority. WPC’s regular complaints about seating practices and driver misconduct to the city’s officials went unheard. When Rosa Parks was arrested, Robinson took the opportunity to put a long-considered boycott into action.
What most resonates with me is that, on the night of Parks’ arrest, Robinson – with only the help of two students and a colleague – used the mimeograph machines at Alabama State College to print more than 50,000 leaflet flyers calling for a one-day boycott of city buses. The following day, those flyers were distributed across the city. That one-day protest became the world-famous Montgomery bus boycott.
It is easy to forget that history and social change movements happen because of logistics. This world-changing event started with four people printing flyers. Jo Ann Robinson is absolutely a hero of mine and an unsung American hero.
What has been your favorite BJC event during your tenure?
My favorite BJC event is 2021’s Religious Liberty Has Been White Too Long: Voices of Black Scholars. It was amazing to hear four Black scholars discuss the topic of how to dismantle narratives that center white experiences and narratives that uphold white supremacy. It came at a time when BJC is reexamining its past to live up to our organization’s mission, and it was an online event. Although we are very happy for a return to in-person activities, knowing the amount of work on the back end it takes to pull off that kind of event was very meaningful to me.
What are you watching right now?
I have just started watching “Downton Abbey,” per the request of several people around our office. Historical dramas are my escapism, and I love palace intrigue. I have never taken such a fast liking to a character as I did to Violet Crawley, and I am excited to see how this story unfolds!
What’s your favorite BJC quote or saying?
James Dunn is a former executive director of BJC. Though I never met him, his character and legacy are something that I have come to know and greatly appreciate. I resonate with a story Dunn used to tell when talking about his faith at D.C. cocktail parties:
“I tell them I’m a ‘Bill Moyers / Barbara Jordan / Jimmy Carter kind of Baptist.’ You can see it dawn in their faces. Those are three Baptists – and all Southern Baptists – whose faith and religious involvement is not only not an embarrassment but is central in their lives to who they are, and what they have contributed.”
