On the 28th August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave his legendary ‘I Have A Dream’ speech during the ‘March on Washington for Job and Freedom’ in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history.
This week, some 57 years later another march on Washington took place, this time for racial equality. Which at one level only goes to prove the old French maxim by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”, or “the more things change, the more they continue to be the same thing, usually translated as “the more things change, the more they stay the same” (Les Guêpes, July 1848).
Here people are protesting at the treatment of African Americans in the present day. The right to peaceable protest and assembly is guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States. ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a re-dress of grievances.’ However in these days when even peaceful protests are characterised as the work of extremists and terrorists and met with disproportionate levels of aggravated response from the authorities and even armed militia, I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Lamentably, it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.”
It seems to me that at this time many of the values with which we have grown up are now being challenged and in some cases overthrown and that the need for peaceful protest to resist the rise of authoritarianism of our day has increased. Jesus is a model for us in challenging the powers that be and standing up for the poor, the persecuted and the outcast/alien. Even today I read: For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business (James 1:11)
To quote Martin Luther King Jr. again. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Love is a power greater than any other in this world and it is able overcome the divisions fostered by racism, sexism and any other ism you wish name.
We finish with a song from 1963 Sam Cooke’s ‘It’s Been A Long Time Coming’ sung by one of the great singers of the period Aretha Franklin. A change is coming if we will but allow it to take place.
