“We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not revered at our house when I was young. Even though I knew my father to be kind and respectful to those he called "respectable Negroes" like my nanny, Daddy thought Dr. King and his cohorts were pushing racial integration too fast.
"He ought to be for integrating schools starting at first grade, so the children can grow up together," I remember my father saying frequently. "You can't throw black and white together as grown-ups."
I was too young to participate in any of the Civil Rights Era events. I do remember my parents fearing all-out race war from the riots after Dr. King's assassination. My father died in 1971, and I often wonder what he'd make of today's world. On this 2018 observance of Dr. King's birthday, I wonder what Daddy would think of a new black leader, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, who hails from our family's hometown of Goldsboro, N.C.
Photo Courtesy of Temple Emanu-El
Interfaith Shabbat
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (center) was the keynote speaker at a Jan. 12, 2018 interfaith Shabbat service held at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. With him are other leaders of the event, (top to bottom from left to right), the Rev Doug Haney and the Rev. George Mason of Wilshire Baptist Church, co-sponsor of the event; the Rev. Dr. Michael W. Waters and Imam Omar Suleiman of Faith Forward Dallas; Rabbi Kimberly Herzog-Cohen, Rabbi Debra Robbins, and Cantor Vicky Glikin of Temple Emanu-El; the Rev. Heather Mustain of Wilshire Baptist, and Dr. Lydia Bean, executive director of Faith in Texas.
I heard Dr. Barber speak in person Jan. 12 at an interfaith Shabbat service at Dallas' Temple Emanu-El as an MLK weekend observance. I came away from that two-hour worship convinced that Dr. Barber is the spiritual descendant of Dr. King, that he is the kind of national spiritual leader Americans of many faiths have been seeking in these troublesome times.
Let's face it, we need someone to energize our spirits. We became complacent during the era of President Barack Obama. We thought that electing our first black president meant that we'd broken the wall of racism at last. Even when it became known that certain congressional leaders planned to resist every iota of President Obama's agenda, supposedly for political reasons, we thought we were finally overcoming racial injustice.
We were so foolish, Dr. Barber said. And we're still foolish if we think we're simply in the Era of Trump, because the inherent racism on which America is built remains deeply embedded in our society. Congress' most recent actions (and failures to act) prove that racism lives today. And in the tradition of Dr. King, our faith compels us resist because faith is always personal, but never private, as the Rev. Dr. Michael Waters of Faith Forward Dallas said when he introduced Dr. Barber.
Dr. King spoke out against racism with such vigor and clarity that he was deemed an enemy of the state, Dr. Barber recalled. Late in his career, Dr. King realized that an "unholy trinity" actually keeps Americans from the freedom, justice and community that our founding ideals promise, Dr. Barber said. Three evils comprise this trinity: racism, poverty, and militarism. And greedy, unscrupulous people continue to employ these three evils to keep the majority of citizens in powerless segregation and vulnerable to exploitation.
Not long before he was assassinated in 1968, Dr. King began what he termed a "poor people's campaign" aimed at the revolution of moral values cited in the opening quote. If any good can be said to have come from the 2016 presidential campaign and the first year of President Donald Trump's administration, it's the realization among millions of Americans that the turn our nation has taken is both immoral and unjust.
Across the country, people of faith now are aroused. Local and regional groups have either begun or renewed efforts to shape our society through shared values. As one example, St. Stephen United Methodist Church in Mesquite, Texas, which sponsors United Methodist Insight, has become a covenant partner with an interfaith organization, Faith in Texas, focused on community organizing around issues such as education, criminal justice, moral economy and voting. Many other congregations like St. Stephen are mobilizing as well.
After 12 years as president of the North Carolina NAACP and a leader in the "Moral Mondays" movement at the North Carolina legislature, Dr. Barber leads a new organization, Repairers of the Breach. Countering the "religious right" agenda that insists our national issues are abortion, homosexuality, property rights and so on, Repairers of the Breach has declared "that the moral public concerns of our faith traditions are how our society treats the poor, women, LGBTQ people, children, workers, immigrants, communities of color, and the sick. Our deepest moral traditions point to equal protection under the law, the desire for peace within and among nations, the dignity of all people, and the responsibility to care for our common home" (The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival).
Lest we think this agenda is too political, Dr. Barber told the packed sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El that the prophet Jeremiah knew almost identical circumstances in his time. As he began his sermon, Dr. Barber read from Jeremiah 22:
"Here are God's orders for God's people, I need you to go down to the palace, the royal palace, and say to the king and all the people who go in and out of this place ... If you're going to hold these offices, attend to the matters of justice. Set things right between people, rescue the victims from their exploiters. Don't take advantage of the stranger and the immigrant, and the homeless and the widows. And stop using your policies to kill people..." (The Message, paraphrased).
Dr. Barber then turned to one of Jeremiah's first sermons, found Chapters 6 and 7: "My people are infiltrated by wicked men, unscrupulous men who are like wolves on the hunt. They hold political power and they set traps for the unsuspecting. The victims of their policies are innocent people. Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gains, like a hunter's bag filled with birds. Pretentious and powerful and rich, they are hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat; worse, they have no conscience. Right and wrong doesn't mean anything to them; they stand for nothing, they stand up for no one. They throw orphans to the wolves, they exploit the poor, they disregard the stranger. Do you think I'm going to stand by and do nothing about this, God says? Do you think I'll take serious measures against people like this, unspeakable, sickening, it is sickening what is happening in this country" (The Message, paraphrased).
As the audience began to snicker and laugh aloud at Dr. Barber's reading, he replied with a smile, "Y'all sound like you think this has some contemporary application. This was written 26-hundred years ago!"
Then Dr. Barber read the conclusion of Jeremiah's sermon: "The prophets preach lies and cover up for the politicians, the priests hire on as their assistants to tell the lies, and my people love it! The nation eats it up!"
Like Jeremiah, I find myself inclined to weep at these words that describe such a corrupt nation. Yet scripture reminds us that though we may weep for a night, joy comes in the morning. For all the ridicule and scorn we may face, joy accompanies the knowledge that when we stand up to the true moral issues of our time – the unholy trinity of racism, poverty and militarism – we fulfill God's call for love and justice.
By the time many read this column, Martin Luther King Day 2018 will have passed, but the challenges that Dr. King laid out, that Dr. Barber has lifted up, are waiting for a new generation of Jeremiahs to speak out and stand up as God requires. I wonder who among us will be among them.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.