Fifty years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered
his classic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington D.C. This speech was a part of the larger “March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” which was designed to “dramatize [the]
shameful condition” of discrimination and economic oppression that
African-Americans faced. [1] The march in general and his speech in particular
were credited with pushing forward the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights
Act. As a result, Dr. King is recognized today as a national hero.
But Dr. King knew that there was more to it than that. He saw
that there were power structures that kept African-Americans at the bottom of
society, and he could give a sophisticated account of what these structures
were and was always prepared to supply specific examples of how they mistreated
people. However, his reasoning by itself was not enough to persuade his
opponents. So he helped organize boycotts and sit-ins, which exposed the
ugliness of police brutality and brought the injustice that was occurring onto
a national stage. When this happened, people accused him of making a big fuss
over nothing and inciting violence, even though he was merely organizing
peaceful assemblies! This is what led him to say, “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great
stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's
Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted
to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence
of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” [2]
This is still the
greatest stumbling block to minorities today. Although we have had tremendous
success in resisting the hard racism of the KKK, there is still a mountain of
resistance from “the white moderate” who lacks the patience to listen to cries
of racial injustice. [3] I know this because I was raised as a white moderate.
I love my home family and my church and I cherish all that they taught me, but
this was one area where they fell short. The white moderate today, like the
white moderate a half-century ago, believes that the fight against racism is
over. The white moderate today, like the white moderate a half-century ago,
thinks you have a right to your opinions but discourages you from putting them
in public forms, whether in political rallies or Facebook posts. The white
moderate today, like the white moderate half a century ago, silences the
conversation about race because, as Dr. King noted, they “prefer a negative
peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence
of justice.”
Having been a white
moderate myself, I do not believe that people who hold such views are secretly
harboring sinister intentions to harm minorities or even believe their race to
be superior. They are ignorant of the white privilege that they have inherited
from the legacy of racism, and if you could convince them of it, most of them
would give it up. But their ignorance is
a fierce one. It is not stirred by calm complaints and it won’t listen to
passionate protests. Intellectual explanations lose its attention and personal
testimonies don’t shake its conviction. I have often wondered how I can
communicate the transformation of my own perspective to my white-moderate
brothers and sisters in a way that is critical yet empowering, practical yet
inspiring, confrontational yet inviting. And today I remember that Dr. Martin
Luther King accomplished this by sharing a dream. So here is my dream:
I have a dream that wealthy white people will no longer
avoid schools and neighborhoods that are predominately populated by minorities
out of concern for their children, but that places with racial and
socioeconomic diversity will be seen as the best possible setting for a child’s
growth.
I have a dream that our prisons will no longer be filled
with black and brown bodies, but that our nation will learn to pursue the kind
of justice that restores individuals and communities to wholeness.
I have a dream that 11 o’clock on Sundays will become the
most diverse – rather than the most divided – hour of the week.
I have a dream that my children will live in a society where
we can have civil conversations about race, that they will understand that race is a creation of man and not of
God, and that they will therefore be able to acknowledge its influence without
legitimating its power. I have a dream that my children will not be surprised
when the progress we make inspires other oppressed groups to speak out and that
they will constantly renew their strength in the long journey toward justice.
I have a dream that people of every tongue, tribe, and
nation will come from the east and the west to take their places at the table
of Abraham, so that the one who gathered much does not have too much and the
one who gathered little does not have too little. This is a dream of the
kingdom of heaven. Only God can bring it about. But by dreaming it, I can see
it, I can participate in it, and I can find the strength to keep striving for
it.
End Notes
[1] This is how Dr. King describes the march in the second
paragraph of his, “I Have a Dream” speech. http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf
[2] This excerpt is from King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
[3] For a more analytical description of the racism that
persists in the United States in the form of “soft racism,” see my post about the Zimmerman trial.
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