by Pastor Phil Huber
Fifty two years ago, in April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned for his participation in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama.
He was peacefully protesting segregation and, in so doing, was violating a court ordinance against such demonstrations.
In the tension surrounding these protests, a group of eight white clergymen had issued a public statement questioning the timing and methods King was employing.
King penned a 21 page response while in prison that has come to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” now considered a classic in civil rights literature.
It is disturbing to read, particularly as he writes of why he can no longer wait patiently for change.
Example after example is given of what prejudice looks like, on a practical level, for black men and women and children.
The string of examples concludes, “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.”
King’s rhetoric is powerful and his pain is real.
Even more disturbing is that the letter is written to me.
Not directly, of course. I was still eight years shy of conception at the time the letter was written. But I am reminded that King was writing to allies.
He opens the letter with “My dear fellow clergymen” and closes with “Yours for the cause of peace and brotherhood.”
These were men who agreed with King’s goal of racial harmony but questioned his methods.
They suggested patience, particularly as the brash segregationist Eugene “Bull” Connor had recently been voted out of office as Public Safety Commissioner.
They believed the new leadership should be given time to bring about change.
But this patience is easy for the privileged white clergy to propose. They aren’t the ones bearing the load of on-going prejudice.
King writes, “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.”
I don’t consider myself prejudiced. I can build my case, point to all the relationships I have with black men, and women, and children.
But I also recognize that I have done little to combat the racism that exists today. I am, I suppose, one of those white moderates.
My goodwill runs deep, but my understanding is shallow. I have only known life in the privileged majority. I don’t know what it is like to be treated with disrespect because of the color of my skin.
It is a hard pill to swallow when King suggests that my passivity may be a greater stumbling block to racial harmony than the activity of true racists.
But it is the pill he prescribes.
The book of Revelation offers a vision of the kingdom of God. It is a time when all wrongs are made right. Creation is redeemed and mankind is judged.
It includes a picture of people from every tribe, people group, language, and nation worshipping around the throne of God (Revelation 5:9).
The net is thrown wide with the use of the adjective “every” to define how expansive this racially diverse choir is.
Every tribe, every people group, every language, every nation.
And this racial diversity, wide as we can imagine, is held together in racial unity.
Their worship is introduced with the phrase “And they sang in a mighty chorus” (Rev. 5:12, NLT). This mighty chorus is relentlessly singular.
This is what history is plodding towards—racial diversity as wide as we can stretch it and racial harmony as narrow as we can hem it in.
As a Christian, I offer a foretaste of this kingdom vision now, bringing about this harmony as best I can on earth as it is in heaven.
I know I gravitate toward that peace which King describes as the absence of tension rather than the presence of justice. I slide into easy inertia rather then stepping up in courageous confrontation.
This is a pattern that affects all spheres of my life—my marriage, my parenting, my workplace, and, yes, my reaction to prejudice. I am making progress in many of those areas. This opens my eyes to one more sphere. And awareness is a first step.
This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, allow me to encourage you to read King’s letter, easily found in numerous sources online.