From slavery
to the freedom marches
to the Detroit riots
to white flight
to Tupac being a voice for change
to Ferguson and Michael Brown
to New York and Eric Gardner
to every day in my neighborhood
and to every moment in between--
how much has really changed about the way we think? the way we speak? the way we act?
Sure, everyone in our country has the right to vote. Sure, there are laws protecting us all from discrimination in the workplace. Sure, we have a black president. But how many of us can actually stand up and say, "Yes, I believe everyone is treated fairly and equally in this country"?
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Tonight, I saw 'Selma,' and it rocked me.
I've cried in a movie theater before, but tonight, I sobbed to the point of having to take deep breaths to calm down.
As I watched the film, I thought about all that Martin Luther King Jr. and his crew did to try to peacefully bring equality and reconciliation to our country, but I also thought of all that has still not changed.
Why, after hundreds of years of thousands of people battling injustice, do we still see so much inequality in our own neighborhoods-- on our own streets-- today?
Let's take a look back to one of our Founding Fathers, one of our first presidents, Mr. Thomas Jefferson. He had some thoughts on the matter in his "Notes on the State of Virginia":
to the freedom marches
to the Detroit riots
to white flight
to Tupac being a voice for change
to Ferguson and Michael Brown
to New York and Eric Gardner
to every day in my neighborhood
and to every moment in between--
how much has really changed about the way we think? the way we speak? the way we act?
Sure, everyone in our country has the right to vote. Sure, there are laws protecting us all from discrimination in the workplace. Sure, we have a black president. But how many of us can actually stand up and say, "Yes, I believe everyone is treated fairly and equally in this country"?
--------------------------------------------
Tonight, I saw 'Selma,' and it rocked me.
I've cried in a movie theater before, but tonight, I sobbed to the point of having to take deep breaths to calm down.
As I watched the film, I thought about all that Martin Luther King Jr. and his crew did to try to peacefully bring equality and reconciliation to our country, but I also thought of all that has still not changed.
Why, after hundreds of years of thousands of people battling injustice, do we still see so much inequality in our own neighborhoods-- on our own streets-- today?
Let's take a look back to one of our Founding Fathers, one of our first presidents, Mr. Thomas Jefferson. He had some thoughts on the matter in his "Notes on the State of Virginia":
"To justify a general conclusion, requires many observations, even where
the subject may be submitted to the Anatomical knife, to Optical
glasses, to analysis by fire, or by solvents ... let me add too, as a circumstance of great tenderness, where our
conclusion would degrade a whole race of men from the rank in the scale
of beings which their Creator may perhaps have given them ... advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether
originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances,
are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind ... Will not a lover of natural history then, one who views the gradations
in all the races of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse an effort
to keep those in the department of man as distinct as nature has formed
them."
Thomas Jefferson (remember-- one of our Founding Fathers) called forward scientists to run scientific tests to try to prove that blacks are actually a different species than whites-- a species inferior to that of whites. And guess what? Scientists, renowned scientists from across the Americas and Europe, DID come forward and came up with results that they used to make the American people believe this was all true. WHAT.
This belief that science proved that blacks (and all people of color) were inferior (and a separate species) to whites became buried deep in the minds of Americans.
This belief led to segregation in society even after blacks were granted freedom from slavery.
This belief led to blacks, and others of color, ending up in impoverished neighborhoods.
This belief led to people of color struggling to find jobs suitable to support a family.
This belief, still today, has many believing that people of color are "stealing" our jobs; are the reason for crime; are inferior to white people.
Something, still, has got to change.
This something is a mindset-- an entire societal belief system.
--------------------------------------------
As I watched 'Selma'; as I watched footage from Ferguson; I kept seeing the faces of each of my students, of their older brothers and sisters and cousins, of their moms and dads and uncles and aunts. Still, I worry for them. I worry that one of them, one of these people whom I love so deeply and dearly, might end up the boy or girl/ the man or woman of color on the wrong end of a misunderstanding with a white police officer.
But I also have hope. I have hope that each of my students will grow to be adults; adults who show mercy and grace and compassion towards others; adults with voices to be heard; adults with opinions who use logic and reason to make positive changes in this world.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (in his "Drum Major Instinct" sermon on February 4, 1968) said, "My life will not be in vain."
Let
us not live our lives in vain either. We cannot let the lives of those
who died standing up for what is right be given in vain.
Do you believe all are created equal? Do you believe God's plan is for us to try to bring Heaven to earth, even NOW?
Then let's start living like it! Let's start making positive changes in our own neighborhoods--
changes that ensure businesses run by people of color are successful
changes that ensure schools in low income neighborhoods offer students the same education that affluent schools offer
changes that ensure students of color and low income status grow up with the same hope and belief that they can be successful and make a difference.
An old hymn rings, "My eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord."
I believe that this change can come, and I believe we can bring this change to earth now.
Sure, true reconciliation of all people and of all nature will only come when our Good Lord returns, but we sure can do our best to bring the best change we can here and now.
