Martin Luther King Day 2012
16/01/12 05:51
I am not sure how I will recognize Martin Luther King Day today. It seems to be a bit of a struggle for me each year. I know that the late Coretta Scott King challenged us to make this observance a national day of service. Rather than take the day off as is the case with so many public holidays, she envisioned a day that we all set aside to work for justice and to serve one another. It is an appropriate vision and it makes sense.
Our community observance will be a one-hour event at noon. There will be some good music and U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken will be the keynote speaker. The community observances, while meaningful, have lost some of their flavor in recent years. When I moved to Rapid City, the services were held at Faith Temple, a multi-racial, multi-cultural congregation that carries on many of the traditions of African-American congregations. I’m not sure why the location was moved, but it may have been that the crowds outgrew the location. Another factor may have been the normal aging of some of the key players. A few years ago Bishop Lorenzo Kelley had a very serious illness and was disabled for some time. When he came back after facing death squarely in the eye, some of his priorities and passions had shifted.
Whatever the history or reasons, it isn’t the same to gather at a ballroom in a hotel. I don’t fault the organizers of the observance, however. At least they are doing something and planning a meaningful program.
The issue, however, is bigger than what is the content or perspective of a public service or ceremony. The issue is how we continue to confront racism and work for justice in our world.
For much of my growing up years, the struggle for racial equality was something that seemed far away. The attention of the nation was focused on events in Southern states. Dr. King’s speeches were something that we watched on television. My parents were involved in a variety of programs and projects through our church and through their pioneering membership in the NAACP and other organizations, but often we were talking about things in other places. During the summer for a couple of years we participated in “Friendly Town,” a program where children from inner city Chicago came to host homes in other parts of the country for a couple of weeks in the summer. We had some interesting and eye-opening experiences hosting African-American children in our home. One year we were able to arrange for a visit of the mother of some of the children as well.
I grew up thinking that racism was something that other people had and was about how people with black and brown skin were treated in the places where they lived. There simply weren’t many people of African descent in small town rural Montana. It sounds absurd to me now, but I think I was a teenager or a young adult before I thought of Native American people in our community and state as a different race. I still am a bit mystified about the concept of race, but I do understand that there are huge differences in culture.
Whether you call it race or culture, there are some significant injustices in the community where I live. Most visible is the way poverty divides along those lines. There are people of other heritages who live in poverty in our town, but the vast majority of those folk are Native. The high school drop out rate is radically different between native and non-native youth in our town. It is clear that we have enough problems in need of addressing right here to free us from any sense we may have that issues of race and culture are for people who live in big cities or those who live in parts of the country with larger African American populations.
About four years ago now, the United Church of Christ invited all of its members to engage in “Sacred Conversations on Race.” The challenge was to use the power of face-to-face conversation to discuss difficult and challenging issues. Preachers were invited to deliver sermons on race and a resource guide was developed to continue a process of reflection and introspection about who we are and how we treat those with whom we are called to live. The initiative has sparked many opportunities for me to participate. I have been privileged to be a part of conversations as a part of meetings at Church House in Cleveland, at General Synod, at meetings of the South Dakota Conference and at Placerville Camp. Our own congregation placed increasing conversations and connections with Native American congregations in its goals during our most recent planning process. We have redoubled our efforts to increase relationships with people and congregations on the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations as well as with others in our community.
Progress has been made, but progress is slow. It takes years for trust to emerge. It takes lots of repetition to nurture relationships. We still find ourselves, at times, studying issues rather than engaging in conversation. Five years after one group in which I participated used Joseph Marshall’s books as a springboard for interracial dialogue, another book club in which I participate is reading Marshall’s biography of Crazy Horse. This group, however, is composed of participants of European descent. In fact, one member suggested that we bring in as an “expert” another person of European descent who has spent a lot of time at Pine Ridge and speaks Lakota. I bit my tongue, but I wanted to say, “Are you suggesting that we should avoid inviting a real Native American to our conversation?”
We have a long way to go in our conversations. We lack basic understanding of our neighbors and the dynamics of their culture and their participation in the wider community.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an important leader and a prophetic voice in our nation. A day to remember and rededicate is appropriate. I pray that it can be for us not just a time of looking back, but also an invitation to continue the conversations, continue the journey and continue the struggle for justice for all in our community and in our land.
Our community observance will be a one-hour event at noon. There will be some good music and U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken will be the keynote speaker. The community observances, while meaningful, have lost some of their flavor in recent years. When I moved to Rapid City, the services were held at Faith Temple, a multi-racial, multi-cultural congregation that carries on many of the traditions of African-American congregations. I’m not sure why the location was moved, but it may have been that the crowds outgrew the location. Another factor may have been the normal aging of some of the key players. A few years ago Bishop Lorenzo Kelley had a very serious illness and was disabled for some time. When he came back after facing death squarely in the eye, some of his priorities and passions had shifted.
Whatever the history or reasons, it isn’t the same to gather at a ballroom in a hotel. I don’t fault the organizers of the observance, however. At least they are doing something and planning a meaningful program.
The issue, however, is bigger than what is the content or perspective of a public service or ceremony. The issue is how we continue to confront racism and work for justice in our world.
For much of my growing up years, the struggle for racial equality was something that seemed far away. The attention of the nation was focused on events in Southern states. Dr. King’s speeches were something that we watched on television. My parents were involved in a variety of programs and projects through our church and through their pioneering membership in the NAACP and other organizations, but often we were talking about things in other places. During the summer for a couple of years we participated in “Friendly Town,” a program where children from inner city Chicago came to host homes in other parts of the country for a couple of weeks in the summer. We had some interesting and eye-opening experiences hosting African-American children in our home. One year we were able to arrange for a visit of the mother of some of the children as well.
I grew up thinking that racism was something that other people had and was about how people with black and brown skin were treated in the places where they lived. There simply weren’t many people of African descent in small town rural Montana. It sounds absurd to me now, but I think I was a teenager or a young adult before I thought of Native American people in our community and state as a different race. I still am a bit mystified about the concept of race, but I do understand that there are huge differences in culture.
Whether you call it race or culture, there are some significant injustices in the community where I live. Most visible is the way poverty divides along those lines. There are people of other heritages who live in poverty in our town, but the vast majority of those folk are Native. The high school drop out rate is radically different between native and non-native youth in our town. It is clear that we have enough problems in need of addressing right here to free us from any sense we may have that issues of race and culture are for people who live in big cities or those who live in parts of the country with larger African American populations.
About four years ago now, the United Church of Christ invited all of its members to engage in “Sacred Conversations on Race.” The challenge was to use the power of face-to-face conversation to discuss difficult and challenging issues. Preachers were invited to deliver sermons on race and a resource guide was developed to continue a process of reflection and introspection about who we are and how we treat those with whom we are called to live. The initiative has sparked many opportunities for me to participate. I have been privileged to be a part of conversations as a part of meetings at Church House in Cleveland, at General Synod, at meetings of the South Dakota Conference and at Placerville Camp. Our own congregation placed increasing conversations and connections with Native American congregations in its goals during our most recent planning process. We have redoubled our efforts to increase relationships with people and congregations on the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations as well as with others in our community.
Progress has been made, but progress is slow. It takes years for trust to emerge. It takes lots of repetition to nurture relationships. We still find ourselves, at times, studying issues rather than engaging in conversation. Five years after one group in which I participated used Joseph Marshall’s books as a springboard for interracial dialogue, another book club in which I participate is reading Marshall’s biography of Crazy Horse. This group, however, is composed of participants of European descent. In fact, one member suggested that we bring in as an “expert” another person of European descent who has spent a lot of time at Pine Ridge and speaks Lakota. I bit my tongue, but I wanted to say, “Are you suggesting that we should avoid inviting a real Native American to our conversation?”
We have a long way to go in our conversations. We lack basic understanding of our neighbors and the dynamics of their culture and their participation in the wider community.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an important leader and a prophetic voice in our nation. A day to remember and rededicate is appropriate. I pray that it can be for us not just a time of looking back, but also an invitation to continue the conversations, continue the journey and continue the struggle for justice for all in our community and in our land.