On August 23rd, 1963, the March on Washington for jobs and freedom brought 250,000, mostly African-American citizens, to the nation’s capital. Near its climax Martin Luther King, Jr. came to the podium. At a critical moment during his speech, his good friend Mahalia Jackson who was sitting behind him said, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” At that moment, as anyone can see watching the tape, King set aside his notes and began, “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that [ALL people] are created equal.” King believed modern societies had solved the problem of producing wealth. Now we needed to invest that wealth in the solution of social problems, starting with the overwhelming problem of poverty. That was 55 years ago!
In his book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? King declared: justice “cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society.” The “black revolution,” he said, “is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws—racism, poverty, militarism and materialism. To those statements written in 1967 we must add classism, gender privilege, and misogyny. This last year has brought us face-to-face again with racial and gender tensions, and the growing social and economic inequalities at the heart of our current system. The newly passed tax code will surely exacerbate these tensions. King’s question remains for us to answer as a society: will we choose chaos or community? If community, then how do we reweave the ragged fabric of our nation? What part might God be asking us to play in the evolutionary drama playing out across the globe? (more…)
