Responding in Love
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us to respond in love to the worst in others. His plea for non-violent activism stands out like true north on the compass of consciousness.
Today we celebrate his life and legacy but more importantly, let’s continue the quest for racial healing, equality, justice, and equity. Should there be reparations? The answer is yes, even though I’m not sure how.
Who can forget MLK’s coaching Rosa Parks to sit silently in the face of threats? Remember the peaceful demonstration in Selma at the risk of death. And the Letters from a Birmingham Jail still speak today, calling us to advocate for injustice and prejudice wherever it rears its ugly head.
The I have a dream speech still inspires us all. But it means even more when you learn the back story. Do you know it?
I grew up in Alaska during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, so I missed a lot of the news. When I moved to the “lower forty-eight” to go to college, I had a lot of catching up to do. I remember watching a show on the History Channel that was a four-part documentary on the slow, painful progress of equality and justice for African Americans from the Emancipation Proclamation forward. I was appalled and shocked. I lay on the floor in my room and cried.
The question that started my quest to understand better was, what else do I not know?
I decided I would regularly read books my black friends recommend. Here are a few, Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson; White Awake by Daniel Hill; I’ve Been to the Mountaintop by Clayborn Carson; Same Kind of Different from Me by Ron Hall; I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown, The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby; White Lies by Daniel Hill; The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper; and the latest, White Too Long by Robert P. Jones.
Why do I tell you this? Pick one or more and start reading or let this be a list for you. Ask yourself and ask God, what else do I not know?
My response early in the quest to my black friends was, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I don’t know it all, but I know more. Naivety isn’t an excuse in today’s world.
If you are not a reader, start watching movies: Selma, Just Mercy, Fruitvale Station, Hidden Figures, The Butler, The Jackie Robertson Story, and Black Wall Street are good places to start, and then you can go deeper if you dare.
Even today, the challenges continue with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbury’s untimely deaths, primarily because they were black.
What do we do?
The divide is broad and goes beyond color and heritage. The debate around Critical Race Theory, being Woke, and Black Lives Matter is intense. I have more questions than answers.
I don’t have a roadmap for you, but I know for me I must keep a soft heart and an open mind.
I must champion every race because we are all God’s children. If you cut us, we all bleed red—we are humanity with the sanctity of life on display every day.
We must pull for each other and work to see that young or old, male or female, black and white, are made in the image of God. As such, we love because He first loved us.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. MLK
So yes, let’s set aside a day to celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but more importantly, let’s point to the same model that transformed his life—Jesus Christ.
I need God’s help every day to live like Jesus. So did MLK. I don’t do it perfectly, and neither did he. You won’t get it all right, either, but that’s why God gives us grace.
And if we’ve received grace—let’s pass it on lavishly.
Grace to you,
Gary