A Milwaukee church helps marginalized people thrive during the 2024 RNC

Jonah Overton is the lead pastor at Zao MKE church . In a video posted on the east side Milwaukee church's website, Jonah and their spouse, Cameron Overton, the church's executive pastor, explain that Zao is "Jesus-rooted, justice-centered and radically inclusive," which means they "follow a brown-skinned revolutionary Jesus who went to the margins, to the people who were most usually excluded or oppressed, gathered them together and said, 'We are going to have a different kind of world. Follow me.'"

In a recent interview with the Journal Sentinel, Jonah described a three-pronged approach to making society safer for marginalized people, all of which are supported at Zao — organizing to protest against oppression, providing support to those who are harmed by mainstream society and creating spaces for people to find joy in their identities.

"Sometimes it looks like direct opposition to a system, sometimes it's creating alternatives to a system and sometimes it looks like protected communities thriving in the midst of the dumpster fire," Jonah said.

One way Zao is working to help communities thrive this summer has been to provide space for the organization of the Great Milwaukee Block Party ― a series of events including porch parties, bike rides and fashion shows during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that serve as "safe spaces for joyful rebellion … for people who might feel unsafe or uncomfortable at mainstream protest events," according to a Journal Sentinel interview with one of the block party's organizers, Rae Chappelle.

'Let us live here and now'

Another block party organizer, Stephanie Roades, held one of the first block party events on Saturday, a porch party at her house. In the days before the party, Roades passed out fliers to her neighbors' houses, inviting them to hang out for a few hours, meet each other, listen to music and enjoy breakfast together.

"I was afraid no one would come, but I've met 16 people this morning who I didn't know before, and they're all pretty great," Roades said halfway through the party. "This type of thing is important because I feel like every time we need to organize in the community, we're doing it in reaction to something and we need to start from scratch.

"But if people get to know each other more, maybe we can make this an annual thing. This summer, maybe it's just about having fun together and that's great. Next summer, maybe it's having fun with some political education, and that's even better."

These types of community-building get-togethers are the type of thing Zao supports throughout the year.

"We're gonna fight for the world we want to live in, but we're also just gonna live," Jonah said. "Let us live here and now, let us make music about it, make art about it, barbecue about it, let's live together and keep each other safe as if we have the world we want to live in now."

'It has saved people's lives. It has saved my life.'

This past year, Zao has become a meeting place for organizations as they plan their resistance to the RNC. The church also supported pro-Palestinian protestors during the May encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee . Through The Depot at Zao , protest organizers can receive donated supplies, such as food, drinks, tables and generators; Zao started The Depot in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter marches.

In an interview for House of History , a website that shares the stories of Black LGBTQ Milwaukeeans, Cameron talks about Zao's work in supplying protestors throughout Wisconsin: "It's not always my job to be the loudest, but it's always my job to have a place in the revolution, in the movement work," Cameron said. "So I'm always looking for more ways to get what we're doing at Zao out there because I know that it has saved people's lives. It has saved my life."

'Jesus-rooted, justice-centered and radically inclusive'

Cameron and Jonah are inspired in their advocacy by their Christianity.

"The teachings of Jesus give us a framework and explanation for what it means to care for one another, and fundamentally, that's what we're here to do," Jonah said. "Our main project is not to push back on systems but to love each other well, and we only push back on systems when they're preventing us from loving each other well."

The church builds loving communities through Jonah's emphasis of Jesus' messages of love and inclusion in their weekly sermon, groups where parents can talk about raising their children in an atmosphere, which Cameron said, "is more empowering and caring than what they probably experienced themselves as a child."

There's also a gender-affirming clothing boutique , a mutual aid program and a welcoming environment for groups like the Milwaukee Trans and Queer Depot and Sun-Seeker MKE Collective .

"More people are starting to see our building as a place to come and form this coalition of like-minded people all working together," Cameron said. "We're not always the spot people choose to organize at, but we certainly say yes when they need that spot to dream about how to push back on a system."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A Milwaukee church helps marginalized people thrive during the 2024 RNC