Following are the remarks I intend to share at Union Bethel A.M.E. Church at their ecumenical worship service honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sisters and Brothers, thank you for this opportunity to share some thoughts with you regarding this year’s theme: “Is his dream still alive?” This is a topic which, I fear, is too large to consider on my own so I have sought help. My wife, Sandi, is attending classes for her doctorate of ministry degree so I asked her to pose our question to her classmates. I thought, “Wow, here is an opportunity to share in the wisdom of several esteemed theologians.” So, over breakfast, she shared my request with her classmates and asked: “As we think about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, can we say that Dr. King’s dream is still alive?” That’s the way you talk to doctoral students, after all. Sandi told me that they looked up from their oatmeal, scratched their chins, took a drink of coffee and said, “Sure, I guess so.” Thanks a lot, guys.
So I decided to use another resource and I posted the question to Facebook. I got a wild, hodgepodge of answers but one I’d particularly like to address. They wrote: “Yes. But since humankind is sinful, the dream can never be realized.”
I’m sorry; I’m not buying it. Not the sinful part, no doubt that we are sinful. But to say that racism is a part of original sin lets us off too easily. It’s saying humankind is hardwired to be racist. It’s genetic . . . unchangeable . . . therefore, there’s nothing we can do about it.
The fact is, we, as a society, choose to identify the things that divide us. “Isms” are social constructions. Using race, class, gender and all the other “isms” allows us to label and judge others more conveniently. “Isms” are the shorthand of our discrimination and sinfulness.
The funny thing is, those labels and choices of discrimination are fluid over time.
- Not so long ago, left-handedness was considered morally reprehensible.
- There was a time when Deaf persons were not believed to be able to receive Christ’s salvation because of a distorted interpretation of the scripture verse: “faith comes by hearing” (http://archives.gallaudet.edu/Timeline.htm retrieved January 15, 2011).
- The ethnic neighborhoods in our city reflect a time when those nationalities were not considered worthy of inclusion into the larger culture. Their neighborhoods were a response to discrimination.
- The colonization of the Americas was not about the best and the brightest of European society coming to a settle the continent. Often, the colonists were criminals who were sent to the colonies as punishment. And if a family had a crazy uncle Harry or Aunt Maude, they frequently found themselves on a ship coming to the new world.
Today, however, people with disabilities are a part of society and church. We proclaim that America is a melting pot. And even lefties are included. The focus of our “isms” change.
I remember watching Star Trek as a kid and there was an episode with a galactic bounty hunter chasing a fugitive. The interesting thing was both bounty hunter and fugitive looked alike: half of their face was white and the other half black. Toward the end, Kirk and Spock asked the Bounty Hunter why he hated the fugitive when, clearly, they looked the same. The bounty hunter said something like: “Are you insane; can’t you see difference? The right half of my face is black. The right half of his face is white.” I remember turning off the TV and saying “That was stupid. Half white and half black, so?” I got about half way to kitchen to refill bowl with potato chips when it hit me: “Oh. . . Racism isn’t real. It’s all about how we choose to see things.”
No, we can’t let ourselves off too easily by saying the enemy to Dr. King’s dream is racism that is unalterably linked to original sin.
I think the enemy of Dr. King’s dream of an America unblemished by racism, hate and violence is our ability to get used to things. If we have an uncomfortable spot in our shoes, our foot builds up a callous. A callous doesn’t change the fact our shoes don’t fit right. We just stop feeling the pain.
I have a pain that flares up in my left elbow and forearm so I take a couple Tylenol and the pain goes away. The Tylenol doesn’t change what’s causing the pain it just keeps me from having to go to the doctor to figure out the problem.
This isn’t just about feet and elbows, As a society we have a way of no longer noticing the things that should be bugging the daylights out of us.
This coming Thursday the county agency that is responsible for programs for the homeless is doing their annual count. Now a quick Internet search says there are 3,419 homeless people and 1000 live outside shelters. So next Thursday, I was told counters are going out to the encampments of homeless people to get a count.
Wait a minute, does this bother anyone else? We know there are 1000 homeless folks in our county and we know where they are camping. Why hasn’t the faith community rose up in outrage and said “We will not allow this to be. Even one homeless person is one too many.” Tell me that the churches, mosques and synagogues in our county don’t have the resources and the wherewithal to end homelessness this afternoon.
No, we’ve just gotten used to the problem. Maybe we go to scripture and say, “Well, Jesus said the poor would always be with us.” Friends, that is Jesus talking descriptively not prescriptively. That’s Jesus observing that until the Kingdom of God comes on earth as it is in heaven, there will always be an unequal distribution of resources. Jesus isn’t letting us off easy; Jesus is assuring us that people of faith are always going to have a job. Jesus, saying the poor will always be with us, isn’t an excuse for apathy its job security.
That’s not all. I did another Internet search asking about joblessness in Maryland and got back a study that was very congratulatory saying Maryland’s jobless rate is about 8% and that’s great because the national rate of unemployment is over 9%.
Woo Hoo!
What a minute: 8 out of every 100 folks in our state that want to work can’t find a job? And we are slapping ourselves on the back? There are 8 folks out of every 100 that can’t feed their family, can’t pay for a place to live, and are slipping lower and lower in the despondency that comes when one can’t find decent, honest work?
Our county just opened work force center and community college in our neighborhood. Great. I’m serious, thank you! Why aren’t we, as the community of faith, lining up to offer our support and assistance? Well, one might say, the church is in the salvation business not the employment business. Well, as I read Genesis when Adam and Eve are thrown from the garden, God goes about preparing them to care for themselves: He makes them clothes and He gives Adam work. The tone of the scripture may sound like God is cursing Adam but the ability God has given us to work to support ourselves and our loved ones is a blessed gift. When we work to see that everyone who wants and needs to work can find decent, honorable labor we are doing God’s work of blessing the whole person.
I’m getting on a rant, here. Can I share one more?
In 2010, there were 223 murders in Baltimore County. That figure is down significantly from previous years and we can thank our law enforcement officials and all who are making our community safer.
This past week we have been shocked by the murders in Arizona and forced to reflect on the state of our nation. 9 people: wives and husbands, young men and girls from all walks of life – murdered. Shocking.
But just a second. If Baltimore County had 223 murders last year, even if that was less than previous years, that means that every 2 weeks in our community we have had the equivalent death count to the murders in Tucson. In eight months we lose more citizens than lost their lives in the Oklahoma City bombing. Over the past ten years, the carnage has equaled or exceeded that of 9/11.
And we are not shocked. Our flags are not at half-mast and we are not transfixed in front of our TV screens as our officials reflect on what our death toll means.
It has stopped fazing us. Part of the reason is because we can’t pin the blame on terrorists or crazies. We blame guns . . . domestic violence . . . alcohol and drugs . . . a thousand other components to the problem. But we’re no longer shocked. Shouldn’t we, as the faith community, partner with our elected officials and law enforcement people to stop the scourge of violence? Don’t we have a vested interest in assuring safety to every child, to every family, to every senior?
Is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream still alive? Dr. King was a dreamer -- a saint sharing a vision of God’s Kingdom -- but we are the keepers of the dream, the followers of the dream, and the upholders of the dream.
But the flame of that dream will flicker and die -- only an honored memory -- if we continue to grow emotional and spiritual calluses to numb us to those things that should rightfully outrage us. We’ve spoken of homelessness, unemployment and murder. Why are we not outraged by those who would restrict the forward movement of the access by everyone to adequate, affordable healthcare?
According to the Maryland Department of Education website, Maryland’s high school graduation rate continues to be the best in the nation. We can be proud. But the graduation rate is not 100% and statistically, not graduating from high school is a sentence to a life of poverty. As citizens, as communities of faith, what are we doing to say that we will not allow even one young person to be lost?
In 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Monument, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King preached: “I have a dream.” His dream still resonates with all God’s people. It is a dream of peace, justice, freedom, and equality. May we, O God, by your power be keepers of your dream. Keepers, attentive and resolute, determined to do your will that this dream will remain alive. And your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
