What does Martin Luther King Day mean to you? Or perhaps I should be asking, What does Martin Luther King, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson Day mean to you? Having a holiday for these three men is about the strangest of trinities that I've ever heard of. And yet what these men have in common is that at different times in my life they have all been heroes.
That realization came to me when my brother, Dave, visited our family a couple of months ago. We decided to drive out to the Manassas Battleground together because we had heard stories for many years about our great-grandfather, Richard McGee, and his two brothers, Christopher and Walter, fighting for the 24th Virginia in both of the battles at Manassas.
We visited the main battleground, and then drove over to Chin Ridge, about a mile away, to see where much of the fighting took place at the Second Manassas. We walked the steps where the 24th Virginia were charging a retreating Union Army when the men in blue suddenly turned and with cannon and musket at point blank range mowed down dozens of Confederate men.
It was there we guessed that Christopher and Walter McGee were both shot, Christopher dying immediately and Walter taking over a year to die of his wounds. Somehow Richard survived not only both of those battles but many others, including Picket's Charge at Gettysburg. I wouldn't be here today if he hadn't. Out of 1000 men who joined the 24th Virginia from southwestern Virginia, only 23 made it home.
I was deeply moved standing there with my brother reflecting on those three teenaged brothers fighting for their lives. I felt this strange sense of confusion as a sincere sympathy and pride swept through me for my ancestors while at the same time a disgust for the waste of so many lives and the cause they fought for.
I did grow up with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson as my heroes. In the extremely southern environment of Jacksonville, Florida, I attended Jefferson Davis Junior High and then Nathan Bedford Forrest High School (both segregated of course). You may not be aware that Nathan Bedford Forrest was not only a Confederate general but was also the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. We were known as the Forrest Rebels, and at every football game the Confederate flag would be flown and Dixie would be played repeatedly.
Growing up in this racist environment made it inevitable that I too would be a racist. But then something changed me. It was 1964, and I was a junior in high school. Suddenly the face of a black minister was everywhere. He had come to nearby St. Augustine to fight against segregation, and his name was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Everyone in my part of the world condemned this man as a Communist and subversive, but secretly I was impressed by the courage of Martin Luther King as he was hauled away to jail with angry, bigoted white people jeering and threatening him. There was something about him and his cause that woke me from my sleep of ignorance and helped me to begin to realize that all people, no matter the color of their skin, were equal.
And so it is Martin Luther King who I commemorate and celebrate today, a prophet and visionary who awoke many people from their prejudices with his courage and spirit. And it is Martin Luther King who still challenges me and our Unitarian Universalist movement to continue our struggle against racism.
This is the second part of a three part series on "The Future of Unitarian Universalism." In the spirit of the new millennium, Joan Gelbein, Linda Topp and I are speaking on what we see as three of the biggest challenges in our future. Last Sunday Linda spoke on the challenge of balancing the demands of community with those of the individual. Next Sunday Joan will tell us her vision of the new church. And this morning I am exploring the challenge of becoming a more diverse church.
We pride ourselves as Unitarian Universalists on being people who are open and appreciative of diversity within our culture and within our churches. Our history is one of committed individuals who have struggled for racial justice, feminism and gay rights. We have been particularly successful at opening our doors and welcoming gay and lesbian individuals into our churches, one of the few religious communities who have done so, and we have been incredibly enriched by this diversity.
Yet, when we look around we do not look like a diverse congregation. Though I imagine all of us would like it otherwise, there are few people of color in our midst. We think of ourselves as being people of open minds and open hearts, and yet where is the rainbow of colors we so sincerely desire?
Some within our movement say that the reason we have no rainbow of diversity within our congregations is because of our innate racism. In response to that concern, the UUA's Faith in Action Department for Diversity and Justice developed a workshop called Journey Toward Wholeness -- A Path to Anti-Racism, which has taken place in most of our congregations around the country.
The emphasis of Journey Toward Wholeness has been to help UUs unlearn prejudices picked up in our formative years. The program teaches that we are often contributing to a racist environment, though we may be unaware of our collusion. We learn that racism is not just prejudice, but prejudice combined with the power of privilege.
This definition of racism became especially controversial at our last General Assembly when a UU theologian by the name of Thandeka spoke out against the current racial policies of our Association. The fact that Thandeka is a brilliant African American woman gave her message significant credibility.
Thandeka's argument is that the anti-racist strategies of The Journey Toward Wholeness have two basic problems. First. They violate the first principle of our UU covenant to actively affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person; and second, they make an erroneous assumption about the nature and structure of power in America.
The Journey Toward Wholeness program does try to help people become more aware of their racist tendencies, but Thandeka believes that by confessing to being racists, we are affirming that human nature is corrupt and that we are in need of the salvation of anti-racism.
Thandeka also points out that in her own words the privilege that, according to the anti-racists, comes with membership in white America, actually belongs to a tiny elite, and that it is this classism that we should be focused on rather than racism.
Thandeka certainly strikes a nerve with many of us. Journey Toward Wholeness was the culmination of a serious commitment to do the good work of fighting racism. Many people and congregations claim to have been transformed by the experience. To have one of our few black UUs criticize this work has caused resentment by some and a call by others to forgo our anti-racism initiative. The debate has been intense, and how it is resolved will have a significant impact on the future of our movement.
In my view, Thandeka is almost right. When we do anti-racism work, there is certainly the danger of wallowing in the self-deprecation of confessing our sins. But it is not an inevitability. Our task is not to sacrifice our own inherent worth and dignity to uphold another's, but to raise up the humanity of all.
Thandeka points out that we make a mistake when we assume that all whites in America are racists (since we are in power), no blacks in America are racist (since they are not in power), and that whites must be shown that they are racists and confess their racism. Her theological objection is that this assumption is equivalent to the acceptance of original sin B which is as alien to UUs as speaking in tongues.
Thandeka is correct that this definition of racism is simplistic, and it neglects to recognize that racism is a multidimensional, multilayered beast that permeates all of our lives whether we realize it or not. But in reality the definition of racism offered by the Journey Toward Wholeness curriculum is more complex.
The program recognizes that there are two different kinds of racism, institutional racism which is the system of interlocking social
structures that reinforces white privilege and supremacy whether white people of good will like it or not. And there is "internalized racism" which happens when anyone of any race has feelings of superiority about people of other "color" groups.
This makes sense to me. No one can reasonably argue that those of us who are white are not benefitting from being white. And if we're benefitting, then that means people of color are being penalized.
To help illustrate the often invisible advantage, just think about how different our lives are from most of those from minority races. Let me read just five examples of white privilege, culled from a much longer list, found in materials presented by the Racial and Cultural Diversity Task Force:
As a white person, I can expect....
....that I will be shown a variety of housing if I go to a rental or real estate agent;
.....that my children will see many members of my racial group, white people, in positions of authority in educational, political and other social settings;
As a white person, I can expect....
....that, in general, I will receive good service when I go to a restaurant;
....that I will be able to find members of my race, white people, when I am looking for a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, a counselor, or other professional;
As a white person, I can expect.....
.....to wake up in the morning without having to think about the issue of race.
This last point is particularly important. Those of us who are white are not used to thinking often about race because we don't need to. But if you are a person of color your race is a constant concern since the chances that you will be treated differently from those who are white will be significant.
It's certainly not necessary to flagellate ourselves as racists. That label brings up images of Archie Bunker, David Duke and the Klu Klux Klan, and none of us want to be associated in any way with that ilk.
But it is necessary for us to be aware of how we are part of a racist system whose playing field is greatly tilted in our direction and puts other racial groups at a distinct disadvantage. We need to be aware that the evil of racism emerges when we of the dominant racial group neglect to hold ourselves accountable for the harmful effect of that collective privilege. And it is our responsibility to change this system.
Thandeka's other point is that we should be focusing on classism more than racism. I agree that classism is a critical problem in our nation, but it's also inextricably intertwined with racism.
Journey Towards Wholeness tries to help us to become whole individuals and to achieve a true Jubilee World by eliminating within ourselves and in our society racism, classism, sexism, ableism and any other behavior that deprecates another group of people. It's acceptable to concentrate on one of these issues at a time as long as we see the interrelatedness of all of them. The Unitarian Universalist Association has chosen to concentrate on racism because we are long overdue for taking racism seriously.
The struggle against classism is a struggle against economic injustice that denies opportunities for people of different economic groups. There is a close correlation between the lower economic groups and people of color, but classism recognizes that there are also many white people who are in the underclass and even those in the middle class who suffer from the greed of the upper class.
But we don't have to choose between either fighting against racism or classicism; whenever we fight against one, we are working to defeat the other. In the words of Dr. King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
There is no doubt that we live in a classist society when you realize that 80 percent of the wealth in this country is owned by 20 percent of the population, and the top 1 percent owns 47% of this wealth.
I heard the other day that one of the investment companies for the rich and famous, Charles Schwab, is now offering a course for children of the wealthy on how to handle the problem of what they call "affluenza," that is how these young rich kids cope with the affluent lifestyle they live. Wouldn't it be better if instead they offered a course on racism or classism? But of course where would the profit be?
The work before us is certainly daunting, but it is work well worth doing. Let us not forget that Justice is central to our Unitarian Universalist faith. We understand justice as being rooted in the equality of all persons and we strive for a community in which each individual possesses equal opportunity. We strive to relate to other human beings on the basis of who they are as individuals, not on the basis of characteristics or circumstances which lie beyond their control.
To help bring about the Justice we seek I suggest three tools. First is the tool of self-examination and reflection. We need to struggle with our own tendencies to demean other people because of their differences. We need to unlearn the unhealthy patterns we've been taught by a dominant society. We need to reflect on our attitudes, our words, and our actions and transform them so that they grow out our deepest values.
You may have noticed in a letter to the editor in the Post yesterday a writer noted that he is changing the racist name of Washington Redskins to the Washington Area Football Team or the acronym WAFTees. When he slips and uses the racist name, then he pays his son $1. What an inspiring lesson for his son as well as for all of us.
The second tool is our Purposes and Principles, especially our first principle affirming "the inherent worth and dignity of every person," and our Seventh Principle, which acknowledges our fundamental interconnectedness with of all life, the web of interdependence.
These principles aren't just for show; they are to live our lives by, to use as the north star in the direction we set for our future. These principles mean that we should never demonize any individual. If we feel wronged or insulted, then we need to try and understand the deeper reasons for that behavior and then respond in a way that doesn't discount his or her humanity or that of a group of people he or she may represent. Let us not only believe in our principles, but let us live them.
Our third tool is sitting beside you. We need each other to help challenge our attitudes and actions and to support us in this difficult struggle. We need to talk about our concerns and fears and to listen to each other's ideas and dreams.
Next month a Covenant Group on racism and diversity will be formed in our church to do just that. This will be an opportunity to talk honestly about our experiences and to share our stories. Next Fall our church will also sponsor our first Jubilee Weekend at which we will invite all UUs from this area to join us in the Journey Toward Wholeness training.
And we need to organize. Let us build coalitions with other UU congregations and other religious groups who are also tired of racism and classism and any other ism that demeans the human spirit. Some of our members have joined in a national coalition for Fair Wages, while others are working on housing issues and Peace Camp and of course our Forum on Youth and Violence.
I'm especially excited about our church taking part in the commemoration and celebration of Dr. King's life tomorrow at 12:15 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church. This is a unique opportunity for us to form an ongoing coalition with the largely Hispanic Catholic Church and the largely African American Mt. Zion Baptist Church.
As Rev. Leonard Smith of Mt. Zion says, when we work together, we all drop our church's middle names so that we're not Catholics and Baptists and Unitarian Universalists, but fellow human beings who are dedicated to stopping injustice wherever we may find it. When we build these coalitions we find that fighting injustice together becomes a joyous journey. I do hope that you will join us for this celebration tomorrow.
People can change; I am an example of that, as many of you are. And nations can change as well. But we can only change if we recognize our need to do so, and then commit ourselves to becoming less racist and more inclusive, less fearful and more courageous, less angry and more loving.
My dream is that our church and movement will become racially-diverse and multi-cultured, a rainbow of colors, classes, lifestyles and beliefs, and that our doors will be thrown open for the community to come in and for us to go out into the community to make justice and peace a reality.
In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter -- but beautiful -- struggle for a new world. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell ... (our brothers and sisters) the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full persons, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.
May we choose to live out the message of hope and love and justice.
