Good reminder for a time such as this…
by Rev. Richard R. Fernandez
On April 5, 1967, editorials in nearly 200 newspapers across the country screamed their displeasure at the speech that Dr. Martin Luther King gave in opposition to the Vietnam War before an overflowing crowd at Riverside Church in New York. Not in recent memory had so many editorials so quickly spoken in one voice of disapproval. King’s speech, the night before, “Beyond Vietnam—a Time to Break Silence” was delivered under the auspices of Clergy and Laity Concerned, of which I was the Executive Director. Joining King at the podium that evening to offer response to his presentation were: Rabbi Abraham Heschel of Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. John C. Bennett, President of Union Theological Seminary, and Henry Steele Commager, professor of American History at Amherst College.
“A time comes when silence is betrayal, and that moment has come for me” King began. He made clear that he was speaking to his “fellow Americans” and then launched into a seven-point critique of U.S. policy in Vietnam, the impact of the war on America’s low income communities, and a recent review of U.S./Vietnam history. He also spoke with great passion in support of draft age men who had chosen to be conscientious objectors, and those who were considering that alternative. That night he said he was particularly proud of the seventy Morehouse men who had selected the C.O. path.
I believe that King’s speech on that cool spring evening fifty years ago still has significance for those with imagination. Some believe that Dr. King presented a small blueprint for activists in the future when he argued that “when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, then the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” I don’t believe that Dr. King expected his words in 1967 would ever be used as part of an activist, strategic focus in 2017 any more than he would expect there to be demonstrations against Birmingham’s Bull Connor in 2017.
Running throughout his Riverside speech (as well as many others), King was always careful to include all of God’s people, brothers and sisters everywhere, and a worldwide fellowship. This kind of universalism was central to King and was the context in which he understood his own ministry. He quoted freely from scripture, particularly the Old Testament, to underscore his belief, in Mahalia Jackson’s words, “That the whole world was in God’s hands.” Failure to include this kind of universalism in a newly inspired King strategy for social change would be to go on a fool’s errand at best. If King could address us today he would certainly have underscored the importance of the environment and human’s rights, included the fact of red and blue states in his analysis and factor in the different role the United States is called to play now, fifty years later.
Thinking about King’s speech amidst our present obstacles and opportunities, here are three suggestions – no matter your politics- that will improve the road ahead over the hard scrapple terrain on which we presently travel.
- We are challenged to find ways to get out of our social/political silos. While it is warm, cozy, and often most convenient to be among those with whom we agree, it does not ramp up the health of our democracy over the long haul to loiter in such an insulated environment. Believe it or not, MSNBC and FOX news, as they seek to keep the campfires burning in the red and blue states, are not the beginning and end of life on this planet. One of the great losses of silo living is our immense capacity to objectify the other. As Dr. King shared with me in a personal interview in 1958, “Objectifying the other postpones the day for the society we want the most.”
- We need to get beyond identity, single issue, and white working class politics…all of which have been fueled by a society that is overly competitive and litigious. I am not suggesting that we turn our backs on issues or constituencies that are important to us. Going forward, we all need to figure out new and effective ways to make common cause or compromise with those whom we have found it too easy to dismiss. Reinhold Niebuhr had it right: “We should be far less concerned with the purity of our actions, and far more concerned with the integrity of our compromises.”
- Faith communities, too often too willing to either be either neutral or overly partisan when challenges abound, must commit themselves to the much harder task of being bridge builders as they construct a new and deeper pluralism than we have heretofore shared. This work is under way as Muslims have raised funds to repair a desecrated Jewish cemetery, a very few congregations have begun to provide hospitality to Syrian refugee families and others have taken on the long term and rewarding task, as an act of strengthening their own faith, of becoming familiar with religious traditions not their own.
King did not leave us with a strategic plan fifty years ago but he surely left us with a clear calling: “Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world…so that we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative balm of peace.”
Rev. Richard R. Fernandez is a United Church of Christ Minister and former Director of Clergy and Laity Concerned and lives in Philadelphia
CONTACT: Rev. Fernandez: fernandezrrf@verizon.net; c: 215-901-8318 l: 215 894 8761
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