Wichita Christians sing Kumbaya in the face of Nazi provocation | Opinion
Sunday evening’s ecumenical worship service protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies was a peaceful Christian response of song and prayer in the wake of the horrifying killing of a Minnesota mother by an angry ICE agent last Wednesday.
Then a masked Nazi showed up, shouting “Seig heil” and “Heil Hitler,” spewing race hatred and challenging the worshipers to fight him.
Video of the incident shows the Nazi shouting: “The n-----s and sp--s gotta go. F--- you! The white liberals go first. The race traitors get the rope first.”
The Christian worshipers didn’t rise to the bait. Their response was to start another chorus of “Kumbaya, My Lord,” which they had sung earlier during their candlelit service.
Here’s how one worshiper/witness described it on Facebook:
“Things were very intense for a while; that was one agitated Nazi! . . . I was glad to see that we all came off so cool and calm singing Kumbaya while he ranted and raged. Most of our group had dispersed, but there were still 15 people or so hanging around and visiting. We sang Kumbaya again, a few minutes after this guy began to spread his white nationalist hate.”
The impromptu sidewalk service in front of the Wichita office of the Department of Homeland Security was hastily organized by Woodland and College Hill United Methodist churches, after Wednesday’s confrontation in Minneapolis where ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed immigrant advocate Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet, mother of three and former resident of Kansas City.
The Nazi, wearing jeans, a black Columbia jacket and homemade ski mask, offered the quintessential example of what the Christians had gathered to protest at the sidewalk service — and what we all need to stand up to as totalitarianism, racism, and bigotry threaten America.
He was driven to and away from the site by a female companion. As one of the worshipers took video of the car, she briefly snapped on the dome light, flashed a peace sign and waved.
Their license plate number was recorded and a police report has been filed.
Aftewards, the Rev. Valecia Vogts-Scribner of Woodland United Methodist Church posted this epilogue on Facebook: “My new motto: live your life in ways that piss off neo-nazis.”
Amen, Pastor Valecia. Amen.
This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 10:42 AM.
