Thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Thoughts this morning, beginning with an excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail:
“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, 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.”
Ours is the work of going beyond shallow understanding. The work of recognizing where it is tempting to choose convenience and comfort over tension and truth.
(Where do those sentences live in your body?)
This work that must start and continue within, then ripple out to the conversations we have with our kids, our partners, our parents, our siblings, our students, our faith communities, our colleagues, our neighbors, our elected officials.
(How does this show up in your days?)
The work of lovingly holding ourselves and each other accountable for actively dispelling the myths that are as omnipresent as they are corrosive. This means identifying them when they arise, which is every day, and making space to look at what is happening. Do we accommodate or interrupt them? It's not a theoretical question. It's a practice.
(Where does white supremacy live IN ME? Where does it show up in my expectations, my behaviors, beliefs, and assumptions?)
The reason I love the word "practice," and not just in relation to writing, is that mistakes are a given. Practice puts us in a mindset of humility, commitment, purpose, and sometimes frustration. It requires perseverance and remembering the bigger picture.
(Go deep and deeper, past wherever you feel comfortable. There is too much at stake not to.)