Nearly 49
years after the march on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.'s declaration "I have a dream" still echoes
in our society. His vision of a
national community based on equality and acceptance is a goal that guides us
and, at times, eludes us.
In late 1993, a group of clergy in Topeka, Kansas had been
meeting to plan an interreligious worship event to honor the memory and legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As
we tried to come up with a title for our service, one of my clergy colleagues
suggested that we needed to think of Dr.King's dream in terms of a
question. That question was
"Whose Dream is it?" Pastor John DeVeaux felt that, if we tried to
define the dream with our title, it would make Dr. King's vision of
equality too narrow. He believed that people in our
community related to Dr. King's dream on their own terms, based on their own
experience. That reality had the potential to bring more and more people of
diverse backgrounds together to tell their own stories or to relate their own experiences
to a journey that moved from oppression towards freedom.
Last night, I was
part of a local program that did just that. Cafe, communities in action and faith, facilitated a
discussion on race, diversity and multiculturalism. At one point, we were divided into groups of three to
talk about experiences when we were the target of discrimination and also a
time when we were not a target and how we dealt with those who did face
exclusion or oppression. When the
group got back together, I commented that when we share stories, we begin to
empathize with each other based on our common experiences, thus creating the
possibility of camaraderie and a desire to make changes to prevent any type of
exclusion and discrimination.
The story of the
Exodus that begins with this Shabbat’s Torah reading is a tale of oppression
that many people share. In his
book America's Prophet, Bruce Feiler chronicled the many ways that groups in
American history have identified within Moses as a model leader and adopted the
Exodus experience as their own. The pilgrims, the citizens of the newly created
United States of America, all those involved in the struggle against slavery in
the 1800s and participants in the 20th Century civil rights movement
viewed themselves as the Israelites leaving Egypt for a promised land. In a way, Martin Luther King's
dream began with the episode of the burning bush, when Moses gained a glimpse
of the possibility of his people's liberation.
Dr. King emphasized
in his work the importance of not hating one's oppressor, because hatred can be
like a consuming fire for the one who hates. King believed that love of others should be extended to all
people. Moses's encounter with the
divine demonstrated how escaping oppression could be like kindling a fire that
would not consume anyone, one that would burn brightly and offer warmth and
hope for the future.
Today, we may
still ask, "whose dream is it? - who needs to hold on to hope that they
will be able to gain or maintain equality in their own neighborhood or
nation?
Recent
events in Israel have shown how women's rights in the secular sectors of
society are safe, but that the intersection of the Haredi, modern orthodox and
secular communities has become a breeding ground for violent and hateful
tactics of a small group of Haredim who have no tolerance for people not like
them. Demonstrations
in Beit Shemesh that drew from the entire country, an all-female flash mob
dance to a song by the group Queen, and declarations from government officials
reiterating the rule of law, not hatred, have stated loud and clear how people
should treat one another in public places in Israel. Bullying, spitting, vandalizing Jewish schools or setting
fire to Muslim houses of worship, a tactic of the “Price tag” group, are not sanctioned by the breadth of
Jewish tradition. Prejudice
against Ethiopian Jews because of their skin color has no place in a state that
espouses Jewish teachings at its foundation. I was reminded last night at the Cafe program that diverse
populations in a society that have no contact with each other cannot reach a
point where they can begin to understand their respective triumphs and
trials. They can only begin to come
together when they are ready and willing to talk and and to listen. That includes residents of many
communities between the Mediterranean sea and Jordan river – some of whom are
engaging in dialogue on a regular basis - and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders
meeting in Amman to see if they can, finally inch toward peace.
And that applies to us in
this community as well. Our
own family stories of immigration from even 100 years ago may relate to the
diverse groups in New Mexico more than we know, enough that we can offer wisdom
and an open hand instead of a closed mind or heart. Our own moments of financial distress that we have resolved
can be a basis for reaching out to those facing foreclosure due to nothing they
did, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Any moment in our lives
when we experienced an unfortunate glimpse of anti-Semitism can give us insight
into what it feels like to be discriminated against based on race, religion,
ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic
status. Most of all, we have
this week's Torah reading and its eventual conclusion that we can contribute to
our neighbors - illustrated so well on the ark behind me- that the hope of
liberation based in a divine vision of equality and free of hatred is like a
burning bush that is, wonder of wonders, not consumed.
One of
the songs about the Exodus, Man Come Into Egypt - I am saving that one for
Passover - declares about Moses that "in his heart there burned a
flame." The flame and
the dream needs to come from inside each of us, but it needs to find and join
with the flame and the dream of our fellow community members, so that they
become one. Whose dream is
it? It is our dream, and as we try
to make that dream real, may we speak with words that are kind but firm and act
with determination to make God's oneness our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment