Honest Reflections on MLK Day

"Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." - Amos 5:24

Sitting in a jail cell for protesting racial injustice he wrote his now famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to southern clergymen to encourage them to live up to their calling as Christians and support him in his fight against the injustices experienced by the African-American community. (I encourage anyone who has 25-30 minutes to spare to read it. It one of the greatest documents on justice ever penned.) Ever the theologian, Dr. King deftly uses the Christian tradition to set the stage:

"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid."  

In his narrative for social justice he weaves in the likes of Sts. Augustine and Aquinas, Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr and shows quite convincingly with a theologian's aptitude that the business of the church must include justice for all. He echoes Pope Leo XIII's words in Rerum Novarum: "It must not be supposed that the Church so concentrates her energies on caring for souls as to overlook things which pertain to mortal and earthly life."  With this standard of justice in the church articulated, he laments that the white moderate clergy has sat back and not recognized the dire conditions of the black population in their midst and that they described the desegregationalist activity in Birmingham as "extreme," and that they've been labelled "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators." MLK was hoping to make an ally out of the reasonable white moderates but came up against eerily similar roadblocks to our present crisis:

"You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative."

And later:

"In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber."  

His prose serves as a very prescient reminder to the callousness with which many in the white community perceived the BLM protests this summer. Considering the tenor of too many white reactions to the BLM protests—calling them "Marxist," "anti-Christian," "violent," "riotous," a "poison," where they are allowed to "loot," "steal," and "burn"—I think it would be of no surprise that Dr. King would find himself unheard, ignored or attacked by many for organizing protests against racial injustice today. What would Donald Trump have said about him on Twitter this past summer? Probably something similar to: "Dr. King hates law and order! A nasty guy!"  

Now as easy as it is, especially after January 6th, to pile on Trump as a neo-fascist racist sympathizer and feel good about it—we all need that hit of dopamine—that leaves very little room for reflection on how I am—and I'll speak for myself here—if not directly contributing to the problem, prolonging it with indifference. Dr. King is clear who he thinks the real problem is:

"I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

If I admit it, and admit it I must, I would have to say that for too long I have found a home in that polite white moderate class that preserves the status quo. Granted I've desired justice for African-Americans in my mind and in cigar-and-scotch-soaked forums for quite some time, but a list of my direct actions taken would be shamefully short. This makes me honestly ask: "So did I even really desire it?" I clearly had other concerns that overruled standing in solidarity with the black community. I've been "more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows." I've read this letter by Dr. King every year for five or six years counting and each time it hits harder. This letter wasn't just written to white clergymen in the 1960s. It was written to me now almost 60 years later and lovingly but firmly invites me to take action to fight injustice and face the consequences with non-violence and dignity.

And as Christians, we are commanded to do so. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus holds back no punches when he shows us what the righteous life should look like:

'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

A tall order at first glance, but one we can achieve through the daily act self-denial in our taking up of our cross. We are called to act, to be "doers of the word and not hearers only," and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This love is the reflection of God working through us. "You know them by their fruits." I can't love someone by saying so, I must show that I love through my direct actions. 

To honor the legacy of Dr. King is, even in a small way, to continue to work against these forms of injustice in our own spheres by trying to understand the legitimate grievances that the black community has with our justice system and stand in solidarity with them, speaking out to our families, workplaces, churches and communities about racial injustice, and by voting in a way that seeks to broaden the river of justice to all peoples and recognizes that every human being has dignity. To look upon every human face, Jesus tells us, is to look in His face, a face that is the icon of God who loved us into being.

In the words of Dr. King:

"Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty. "

Rest in Peace, Dr. King.