This weekend we commemorate and celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With so much happening with the pandemic and politics I want to be sure it is not overlooked. I am doing the invocation at the local service Sunday afternoon. As I was contemplating what I wanted to say, it became clear in a sad and heavy way that the message hasn’t changed very much.
There is still racism. There is still war. There is still poverty. There is still white supremacy. There is still violence against Black people because they are black. I can only imagine Dr. King looking down on us and shaking his head with dismay.
I hear people say, we need to go back to four years ago, or 12 years ago, or some time in the past when everything was “OK” or “normal” or “nice.” The problem is I don’t really know when that was. I am reading “Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram Kendi. Maybe some of you read his book, How to Be an Anti-Racist? You cannot find a more complete and well researched history of racism dating back to the 1600s. And here is the bottom line, not much has changed. This isn’t as much as spoiler alert as a depressing reality check.
I am glad every time I hear someone is appalled by the current level of vitriol and hate, sickened by the violence both verbal and physical. I am heartened by every expression of desire for something better. But let’s not be naïve. I am from Chicago, where in 1976, my neighbors burnt down a new home being built by a Black couple twice to try to get them to go elsewhere. I might not have seen an actual lynching, but they were happening. Going back isn’t helpful.
I hope the way we go is forward. That we articulate a vision of acceptance, fairness, safety, education, housing, jobs, etc. etc. that is for everyone, and especially designed to level a playing field that has always been a minefield. I hope we can point a finger right back at ourselves and examine all the ways we hinder justice and benefit from inequity. I hope we commit to learning and accepting hard truths, listening to important stories that are heartbreaking but real. I hope we really mean it when we say we want change.
And then, of course, I hope we live it.