[15 January 2018]
For this Martin Luther King Day,
I am re-reading Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection from the Writings of Mahatma
Gandhi (edited with an introduction by Thomas Merton). In doing so, I
am confirming and refreshing my resolve to seek out, to be aligned with, and to
sacrifice for those in our society who are marginalized, who are exploited, who
are frightened, who are being attacked, who are boxed – ethnic minorities,
women, sexual orientation minorities, the economically desperate, refugees, the
displaced, the occupied, et al. I am repulsed and nauseated by the
weekend’s public appearances/gestures of Trump and his representatives re
Martin Luther King and civil rights when his/their deepest/defining values so
blatantly/categorically contradict and militate against being humane and
just. I have inserted and attached three photos –
The first photo I took several
years ago in Montgomery, Alabama. The round marker beneath the Martin
Luther King quotation (echoing the Jewish prophet Amos) names forty individuals
murdered in the struggle for civil rights during the 1950s/1960s.
The second photo I took a few
years ago outside the Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King was killed in
Memphis). My intent was to combine the symbolism of being on my back with
the hopeful image of seeing beyond the hotel sign into the blue sky.
The third photo I took before the
1991 ceremony began in downtown Memphis near the Lorraine Hotel, dedicating the
Civil Rights Museum. The woman sitting on the platform is Rosa
Parks. My wife, daughters, and I were sitting near the front. We
were very conspicuous in the almost all African-American crowd.
We must all resist the temptation
our privileges create to look away and instead we must all remain vigilant in
each day’s encounters and decisions to demonstrate respect, modesty,
compassion, and courage, with special attention to the most easily overlooked
or forgotten.
