Born in 1959, I was a child during the 1960s civil rights movement. I remember vividly the assassination of Martin Luther King. Malcolm X was assassinated when I was only 6, in the neighborhood my grandparents lived in, raising tension and fear about safety. There was a pattern in our country of leading voices of color being assassinated for speaking against oppression. Due to that, Today leadership is decentralized, but in the 60s the two largest voices were Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They're often portrayed as conflicting, but the story is more complex. Both were children of preachers whose lives and ministries evolved, intersected, and complemented each other. King grew up in a relatively stable, middle-class household, rooted in the Black church and supported by a strong family and community. His education at prestigious Morehouse college, seminary in Pennsylvania and graduate school at Boston University shaped his theological and ethical vision summarized in his 1962 Cornell College speech: "People often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they do not know each other; they do not know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.'" Malcolm X had a very different upbringing. His father Earl, also a preacher, was a follower of Marcus Garvey promoting Black Nationalism. The KKK forced them out of Omaha, their house was burned in Michigan, and Earl was subsequently murdered, leaving the family in dire poverty. Social services broke up the family. Unlike Martin, Malcolm lived in abject poverty. As theologian James Cone writes, "In the ghetto where survival was arduous and violence was everyday experience, nonviolence was not meaningful and most regarded it as weakness." In prison, Malcolm found a foundation of belief in the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. This provided discipline and support for him and in the larger African American community. Malcolm rose to its highest levels, often proposing violence for self-defense, though I can find no record of him actually using or ordering violence. We should not confuse the Nation of Islam with traditional Islam, however The Nation of Islam instilled self-reliance and pride in African descent while being virulently anti-Christian, calling it the religion of oppressors. After negative publicity due to his negative comments about President Kennedy’s assassination, and discovering Elijah Muhammad's improprieties, Malcolm was ostracized from the Nation of Islam. This gave him new intellectual freedom. He took a pilgrimage to Mecca and experienced spiritual rebirth: He said 'What I have seen has forced me to rearrange my thought patterns and toss aside previous conclusions. Here in this ancient holy land, they were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans, all participating in the same ritual, displaying unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America led me to believe could never exist between white and non-white. You may be shocked by these words coming from me, but I have always tried to face facts and accept reality as new experience unfolds it.'" When Malcolm returned, he spoke to wider audiences—college students, labor unions, the socialist worker party: 'It is not a case of our people wanting either separation or integration. The use of these words clouds the real picture. The 22 million Afro-Americans seek recognition and respect as human beings.' Though not abandoning the possibility of violence, he moved closer to King in seeking reconciliation and justice rather than separation. Nine months after returning from Mecca, he was assassinated, presumably by the Nation of Islam." Malcom X’s profound transformation shows us what is possible. Transforming hate into love. Not abandoning ones principles or even tactics but seeing a wider more inclusive world view. Martin Luther King sent this cable to Malcolm's wife: 'While we did not always see eye to eye on methods, I always had deep affection for Malcolm and felt he had great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman….and had great concern for the problems we face as a race.'" We tend to idolize King today, freezing him in the 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963. But just as Malcolm transformed and moved toward King's position, King also evolved—becoming increasingly militant in his peaceful resistance. King's rhetoric sharpened dramatically over time. By 1967 he was calling America 'the greatest purveyor of violence in the world' and demanding 'a radical redistribution of economic and political power.' When he opposed the Vietnam War, recognizing the Vietnamese struggle mirrored African Americans' struggle here, many allies—Black and white—abandoned him, saying he should stay in his lane. But King saw that racism, militarism, and economic exploitation were interconnected evils that required a revolutionary restructuring of American society. The King who was assassinated in 1968 while supporting striking sanitation workers was far more radical than the King of 1963. Both Martin and Malcolm were moving toward a more comprehensive vision of justice when they were killed. So knowing what we know, facing increased racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and anti-semitism, how will we respond? Will we be like quiet Germans who looked away during Nazi Germany, or stand up to hate and build the beloved community? Will we take direct action to put forth our values in the world, stand with all who are oppressed, and speak truth to power to put this country back on the path to freedom? This past year we've seen assault after assault on immigrants—naturalized citizens, documented and undocumented residents. We hear vulgar, dehumanizing language from our leaders. People are stopped and asked for papers, ignoring Fourth Amendment rights. Masked ICE agents, a private army without accountability, round up people of color without warrants. Last week a young white woman's last words to the ICE agent was 'I'm not mad at you.'" Right before he executed her We have seen this barbarism before in history. In the lead up to sending Jews and others to the gas chambers. We have seen this in disregard for humanity in our country when we considered Africans property and not people, we have seen this racial demonization in war propaganda which led to Japanese Americans Citizens being sent into Detention camps during WW 2, while German Americans kept their freedom. Dehumanizing people is the first step to convincing people to harm others. So it is up to us to speak loudly and clearly what our values are, so our leaders know that we do not hold their values, that we show the community that we believe in humanizing people, that we need to recognize and respect that every human has worth and dignity, every human being deserves justice, equity and compassion. We as a country need a spiritual rebirth. Martin and Malcom showed us individual change is possible, and they showed us that people from all walks of life in the right place and time can rise and affect change in the world. Now is the time. Now is the place. We need to rise up and act against this morally corrupt government. As philosopher John Stuart Mills said “Bad (people) need nothing more to achieve their ends, than that good (people) should look on and do nothing” Let us keep Martin and Malcolm’s legacy alive by doing something to stop this travesty of justice I invite you to write letters to your elected officials. I invite you to join us every Sunday at our immigration vigil at Payne Park to bear witness and to bring attention to the moral failings of this government, I invite you to work for voter turnout at the next election. I invite you gather with our immigration coalition and other social justice teams and let us be united with our partners in the community in our work to stand up to injustice. Let us listen to those who are suffering and let us follow them, not just to the mountain top, but into the streets and wherever else is necessary until justice wells up like water and righteousness like an unfailing stream. We are not at the mountain top yet, in fact we are now in the plateau of despair, so it is time to continue to climb that mountain again, To remember the dreams of those who died in the struggle To remember that we are not in the promised land yet, It is still in the distance, and we cannot tire. The time to start climbing again is now. It will take all of us. May we make it so
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