"Black lives matter"--Go ahead, say it, you won't die!

No need for much comment on this post. 

If you read nothing else today, read this!

Legacy of courage, champion of justice

JFK: 52 years ago

Selma: 50 years later--a time to celebrate!

Grateful for not sneezing!

My dear friend and colleague, Randy Mayeux shared an inspirational post on Monday, as we celebrated the amazing life of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Read his wonderful words here. 

Note:  you'll do yourself a big favor is you read Randy's blog on a regular basis!

An amazing letter: challenging the "order over justice" methodology

Here's an amazing letter written by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from a jail cell in Birmingham. This presentation is a bit long, but moving and well worth the investment of your thoughtful time.


"A Reading of The Letter From Birmingham Jail" – Before the Dream... There was a Letter... from Kirwan Institute on Vimeo.

Dallas Faces Race

Tonight in Dallas: MLK, Jr. Symposium

Remembering Dr. King, a man who tackled reality

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man and a leader who operated with huge, significant ideas.  His moral philosophy challenged a nation to change, and change deeply. 

But throughout his life and career Dr. King matched his amazing thought life with practical, down-to-earth action.  He confronted the very real, often long-ignored problems of ordinary people who were living in and facing oppression, unfairness and injustice every day. 

King didn't let the majority of unknowing, thoughtless Americans stop or deter him from his mission or his concrete action in pursuing it. 

King died in Memphis, Tennessee because he decided to take action along with hundreds of low-paid, unorganized sanitation workers who simply sought the right to organize and to bargain collectively for higher wages and safer working conditions following the deaths on the job of a number of fellow workers. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. distinguished himself  in many ways. 

For me, as I think of him today, he was primarily a man of love and action. 

He showed us the way. 

May we develop the courage and nurture the faith that he displayed so clearly and effectively. 

Stars align for historic August 28, 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom

Facts for thought

50 years ago today. . .candid footage

A most important letter. . .

American Hero!

WASHINGTON (RNS) Frederick Douglass, whose seven-foot bronze statue was unveiled at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday (June 19), is known as the father of the civil rights movement. But the 19th-century abolitionist and former slave was also a licensed preacher.

“We do this not only to honor a giant, but also to remind one another of how richly blessed we are that such a man lived to prove that courage and ambition are not gifts of status but gifts from God,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Click here to read entire report. 

1964

The Civil Rights Act passed the U. S. Senate on this day in 1964.

I love this photograph of two of the key leaders who played huge roles in seeing it through for the good of everyone in the nation.  Dr. King and President Johnson got a lot done!

Juneteenth

Today is Juneteenth!

Celebrations began over the weekend and will certainly continue today here in Dallas, across Texas and, now, around the world!

It was on June 19, 1865, that General Gordan Granger and 2,000 federal soldiers arrived at Galveston Island as part of the plan to take possession of the state of Texas, previously under the control of the Confederate, rebel government.

Upon his arrival, Granger announced his enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln almost three years earlier on September 22, 1862. Unknown to the slave population of Galveston, Lincoln's executive order went into effect on January 1, 1863.

Standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the federal directive, “General Order No. 3”:

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Former slaves rejoiced in the streets of Galveston. The next yearJuneteenth celebrations began across Texas. All over the state freed African Americans pooled their funds to purchase land to accommodate the annual celebrations. Today the celebrations continue as a community tribute to the arrival of both the news of freedom and the actual beginnings of liberation.

But, freedom was hardly won in 1865. Even the language of the "General Order" bespeaks the continuation of limitations and hedges against complete liberation for African Americans in the United States. One hundred years later black Americans were still struggling for that liberation in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Today the celebrations continue. These times of rejoicing, memory and pride are invaluable not only for the African American community, but for all of us who cherish freedom, liberty and human equality.

The struggle, the sacrifice and the joy of African Americans provides a continuing vision for and appreciation of the best in our national life and memory.

Remember freedom today. Find your own way to join the celebration

From Dr. King's last speech. . .looking for Amos

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared the following comments in a sermon delivered in Memphis, Tennessee the evening prior to his death:

"We need all of you. . . and you know what's beautiful to me, is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel.  It's a marvelous picture.  Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher?  Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.' . . .

"It's alright to talk about 'long white robes over yonder,' in all its symbolism.  But ultimately, people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here.  It's alright to talk about 'streets flowing with milk and honey,' but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and [the] children who can't eat three square meals a day.  It's alright to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God' preacher must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee.  That is what we have to do. . . .

"We aren't going to let any mace stop us.  We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do.  I've seen them so often.  I remember in Birmingham. . .when we were in the majestic struggle there [and] we would move out. . .by the hundreds. . . . And Bull Conner would tell them to send the dogs forth and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing.  Bull Connor next would say, 'Turn the fire hoses on.'  And, as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history.  He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about.  And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out."

“True integration,” as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “will be achieved by true neighbors who are willingly obedient to unenforceable obligations.”

Dr. King's fight for economic justice--Taylor Branch and James Cone

Taylor Branch's books about the American Civil Rights Movement are classics.

 I was fortunate enough to sit in the classroom during seminary with James Cone.

 Both men command our attention, especially today.

 Watch and then react.

April 4, 1968

It was one of those moments that I will never forget.  I recall exactly where I was and what I was doing when the news reports crackled into the radio of my 1957 Buick.

My good buddy, Eddie Wilson and I were putting school board campaign signs out in yards where they had been requested.  I can't remember the name of the candidate my father was supporting, but we were working for him.  

I was 18-years-old, a senior in high school about ready to go off to college.  

The news bulletin:  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gunned down and dead in Memphis, Tennessee where he was supporting striking sanitation workers.  

Dr. King. . .dead.  

April 4, 1968.

I am remembering today.