When Sen.  Raphael Warnock of Georgia took the mic during night one of the Democratic National Convention inside Chicago’s United Center, it soon became clear his remarks weren’t just another boilerplate political speech.

Yes, the senator was there to fire up support for Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, Minnesota’s governor and Harris’ presidential running mate. But Warnock also used his moment on the national stage to speak of something deeper, more spiritual, even transcendent.

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“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together,” said Warnock, a Morehouse College graduate, an ordained minister, and senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta — the former pulpit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

Despite our political, geographic, and racial differences, we are one human family.

Warnock’s impassioned speech was an invocation of King’s vision of Beloved Community, a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the Earth. Warnock echoed those themes, speaking of our shared humanity as something that transcends borders, divisions, and politics. We must vote, he said, like our collective future depends on it.

Through the prism of the COVID-19 global pandemic — a deadly health crisis our nation and the world still deals with — Warnock made it clear that, despite our political, geographic, and racial differences, we are one human family.

“A contagious, airborne disease means that I have a personal stake in the health of my neighbors,” he said. “If she is sick, I may get sick also. Her health care is good for my health. I’m just trying to tell you that we are as close in our humanity as a cough.”

In other words, whether we admit it or not, we breathe the same air, drink the same water, and deal with the consequences of climate change and war. Whether they are sheltering in conflict zones or going hungry in the world’s wealthiest country, all children deserve to be safe, healthy, and free.

“I need my neighbor’s children to be OK so that my children will be OK,” Warnock said, his voice rising, his cadence echoing a Sunday sermon. “I need all of my neighbors’ children to be OK. Poor inner-city children in Atlanta, poor children of Appalachia, the poor children of Israel, and the poor children of Gaza, the Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the tracks to be OK because we are all God’s children.”

The crowd erupted in a standing ovation.  As one commenter on X, formerly known as Twitter, aptly put it, “We needed the organ strikes behind this!”

That Warnock drew a direct line from domestic issues to global crises that continue to scar a generation of children underscored his message: the welfare of one is the welfare of all.

Data underscores the point. The latest U.S. Census Bureau survey shows that in 2022, 16.3% of American children were living in poverty. Nine states in the South, however, had child poverty rates of 18% or more.

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In Gaza, a cease-fire appeal on UNICEF’s website reports that more than 14,000 children have been killed so far in the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Thousands more have been grievously wounded, displaced, and emotionally traumatized by the 10-month conflict — injuries that will disable and haunt them for a lifetime. 

In Haiti, a nation crippled by decades of natural disasters, violent internal conflicts, and international neglect, UNICEF’s website notes that “[m]ore than 3 million children — the highest number on record in Haiti — require humanitarian support.”   

And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UNICEF data shows the 2.8 million children already in desperate need of humanitarian aid face even more dire consequences from an intractable civil war. “Children are being killed, maimed, abducted and recruited into armed groups,” it reports. 

Kathryn Freeman, co-host of the Melanated Faith podcast, wrote on X that “Speaking about all God’s children in Gaza, Israel, Congo, and Sudan is MLK’s vision of beloved community.”

Warnock’s plea is simple: Don’t look away from the suffering of others. Organize together, pray together, heal together, and vote.