*** SPECIAL EDITION ***
January 15, 2009
*** SPECIAL EDITION ***
Before us this weekend are three very special days that remind us of the importance of justice and peace for our world. This e-mail provides information regarding each day’s significance, opportunities for participation, and a reflection from Derrick Williams.
We are living in historical moments of significance. What will we make of these days?
Consider the following quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. … Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. ... Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
On the special observances of Racial Justice Day, Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday and the inauguration of Barak Obama
From Apologies to Promises
by Derrick J. Williams, African American Ministries, Community of Christ
This is 2009 and in looking back, I can say I have lived long enough to remember growing up and surviving some very difficult situations where I knew others made my race an issue and how they treated me differently because of it. While trying to figure out how to be buffer myself against the games of “prejudice” and the dynamics of racism (whether subtle or not) that would shape the rest of my life, I got “no breaks” as I struggled through my own frustration and asking myself …why me? As I was forced to deal with the daily reality that living my life as a black man was not going to be easy.
In her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Hurston – an African American writer – wrote, “White folk that know me, like me. It’s only the white folk that don’t know me that don’t like me.” In my adult life, it has been hard trying to “just get along” or “fit in” when meeting new white people or when going to “uncharted” places where no one really knew what “color” I was until I walked in the door. And then depending on their response, I would be wondering if I was going to be safe or even welcomed there or in the area.
Due to experiences like that, for many years I was operating under the impression that I was in a country where I might never actually feel free or equal to others because I would always be pre-judged or stereotyped by the color of my skin. But now as an African American, a son, brother, father, neighbor and a minister, I can honestly say over the last several years that I have finally “felt” and have “seen a change a comin!”
In 1964, Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize and left a legacy for the world through the African American Civil Rights movement to end racial segregation and discrimination, and the peace movement known for its non-violent strategies involving civil disobedience. But even before that, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1955 to a white person, just because she was black.
It’s because of their sacrifices (and others) by going through some very, very difficult situations in their lives in order to confront our country’s racial injustices, that future generations could experience freedoms and equality with others and no longer be limited by the color of their skin.
I realize that I have benefitted from the inheritances left for me by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. Despite the rough times the two things that kept me going were my faith in God and my belief in eventually receiving “the promises” of freedom, equality, peace and justice in my lifetime.
If we want to look at the bigger picture…we can all view ourselves as “products” or “seeds” from the unselfish acts of others that may have inspired or motivated us by their dedication or commitment to something greater then themselves. Sharing that thought, I have felt “sparked” by many, both past and most recently by the history-making election of the first African American to serve as President of the United States. This renewed my feeling that we can do anything we set our minds to without being held back due to racism and by our contributions, make positive changes in the lives of many.
Typically, because of race issues and tensions still remaining strained from many years of discrimination, one of several traps people can fall into is that of waiting around for someone or “a group of people at large” to say they are sorry (whether it’s sincere or not). In Barak Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, he writes, “a tradition that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of the proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.”
In reading his book, the challenge at the end spoke to me…the “take action …and get something meaningful done” part. It has been with that sense of purpose for my life and work in the church that I feel I can make a difference. In the December 20, 2008 issue of “In The Forefront,” the peace and justice e-newsletter by Rod Downing, our faith community is encouraged to address and support peace and justice and human rights initiatives in various places of the world experiencing conflicts. (Contact Rod Downing to subscribe to the newsletter.) The new Community of Christ Peace Support Network encourages its members to create, model and share their stories of advocacy and action as peacemakers all over the world.
As a global church, we should be taking advantage of the new opportunities to embrace diversity by going into those “uncharted” places, in hopes of making life better not only for those of this time, but for future generations by sharing “the promises” of freedom, equality, peace and justice of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lending our actions to support dismantling the human injustices, poverty, violence and the many other forms of discrimination against the marginalized throughout the world and here at home.
Significance
The 1988 World Conference adopted a resolution titled Racism, encouraging members and congregations to broaden their understanding of racism and prejudice and to take more effective action in addressing these problems.
The resolution asked the First Presidency to declare an annual day of fasting and prayer. Racial Justice Day has been part of our church calendar since 1988 and in 1995 was designated on a specific Sunday each year.
Participation
Significance
A United States holiday marking the birth date of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year. It is one of four United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person.
Dr. King was the chief spokesman of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.
The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began in 1968 soon after his assassination. Congress passed and Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays.
In 1973, Illinois was the first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday. In 2000, Utah becomes the last state to recognize MLK Day by name, renaming its Human Rights Day state holiday and South Carolina becomes the last state to make MLK Day a paid holiday for all state employees.
The Community of Christ has provided Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday for its employees, according to available records, since 1999.
Participation
Significance
Barack
Obama was elected President of the United States of America on November 4, 2008.
He will become the 44th president of the United States and the first
African-American to hold this high office.
Inauguration Day - Order of Events
Participation
“From
Reaction to Proaction?: African-Americans in the History of the Reorganized
Church”
by Mark A. Scherer, Community of Christ Historian,
The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 20 (2000):
111-32.
Scriptures to
Ponder
“Our Diverse Community” developed by the Community of Christ Diversity Action
Team, 2003.
www.PeaceSupportNetwork.org
We encourage everyone to join the Community of Christ Peace Support Network.
www.AmericanRhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream
Audio and video of Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech.
www.USConstitution.net/dream
The verbatim text from the recording of Dr. Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream
speech.
www.tolerance.org
Teaching Tolerance: A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Provides
hundreds of ways to promote tolerance.
www.UnderstandingPrejudice.org
Provides more than 2,000 links and searchable databases for students, teachers,
and others interested in prejudice.
www.kcharmony.org
Building Inclusive Community…Harmony is a resource and catalyst for improving
race relations, increasing appreciation for cultural diversity and eliminating
intolerance.
Community of Christ Network Advocating Peace and Justice
Contact: David Mason
(Chair)
Jim Hannah (Secretary)
UN Peace Plaza on the International Headquarters property
Contact: Jim Everett, 816/313-6422
Independence Human Relations Commission
Two commissioners are members of the Community of Christ: Diane Kyser and
Roy Schaefer. They or other commission members are good resource people we can
work with.
Independence Ministerial Alliance
Available to any group to share dialogue, classes, and form partnerships on
issues such as race, culture and government.
Contact: President Reverend Pat Miller.
Submit news and announcements for consideration in NewsPEACE.
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