On MLK Day, I attended the annual Rev. Dr. M.L. King and Rev. Dr. E.C. Whitehead Scholarship Breakfast hosted by the Greater Bristol Branch of the NAACP. I offered some thoughts that I hope will be something for Bristol to reflect on moving forward:
"In the last several years, we have seen increases in white supremacy, racism and hatred across our nation. In Bristol, particularly last year, we saw outside hate groups target Bristol. They saw Bristol as a fertile ground for growing white supremacy and racism, to attract more followers to their groups. For all of us, this was discouraging, disheartening, troubling and made us scared and angry.
I come to this breakfast each year for inspiration, so I don't want to leave you in a place of despair. Of course, I turned to Dr. King. The following is a portion of an August 16, 1967 speech he gave to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. I have learned that he is actually paraphrasing Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister and abolitionist in the 1850s, who was lamenting if slavery would ever end.
He said...'when our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice...this is our hope for the future.'
Dr. King did not just believe in words but in action and my hope is that with each action we take, no matter how small, we are doing our part to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice."
Remembering the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King is so important not just for our past, but also for our future.
|
|
