I fully understand the perspective and I appreciate the critique some express concerning me marching with a sign that says, ALL LIVES MATTER! As an African American male who has the privilege to convene the attention of a diverse listening of people, I dignify both their humanity and my own. My intention is not to withdraw focus from the idea that Black Lives Matter, nor to appear centrist but rather affirm ALL LIVES MATTER and BLACK LIFE is human life! My blackness is clear to everyone who sees me. My maleness is also. My humanity may not be as recognizable to those holding views of superiority or inferiority. I demonstrate my humanity by helping others to see their own. Dr. King became successful with the struggle for equality and justice when he and thousands of others provoked enough whites in this nation to see themselves as more than hateful, violent, reactive, inhumane segregationists and local terrorists, but to see themselves as a part the human family, and not rulers or owners of other human life. We dont need to convince people that African Americans are human. We need to help them to see that they are human. A man who cannot distinguish for himself that another human being of any color is in fact human, must himself be prompted to question his own humanity and what it means to be human. Our justified anger and outrage for the unspeakable and horrific crimes that have been committed must be channeled firmly toward changing laws and legislators through voting our values. Directing it toward each other dilutes our cause and widens the divide toward healing. However, when you have the privilege of living and leading a growing community of diverse people and thinkers, we get to form a new agenda through direct, loving, and respectful and frequent engagement of each other. We who marched together today carried the weight of each others signs. Some straight people carried signs saying, Gay Lives Matters. Some Whites carried signs saying, Black Lives Matter. Some Blacks carried signs saying, Jewish Lives Matter. Thats a big step for most people. To do so, we had to change and work on ourselves. We did not do it to win a popularity contest or to impress each other or out of anger, rage or fear. We could carry each others signs because we also carry each others stories and we can do so because we have come to know, love, and respect one another. Our demonstration is an authentic expression of how we live and the community we represent, Unity of Sacramento. The media didnt outrage us into drawing a conclusion of our oneness, its what we strive for and imperfectly practice everyday. For us this is embodied theology, personifying our values and dramatizing a radical inclusion for which we one day hope this nation strives for as well. How many others who marched today will have a community to return to where they will engage someone else of another culture outside of a work environment on more than a brief or passing basis? Its rare. Its also rare to see a diverse group of people push the envelope of social progress wide enough to carry the weight of not only ones own pain, but the pain and promise of all. Our march today carries with it a new message that draws people into a greater exploration of themselves. The media sensationalizes these demonstrations and uses the lives of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others often to drive ratings and to entertain, not necessarily to provoke transformation. We who have the ears of diverse groups of people may also have access to their hearts. Attitudes and biases about one another change when we take steps toward each other. Those decisions arent made by force but by privately and sometimes prayerfully by choice. By doing the harder work of confronting our own biases in the context of diversity, we can march together resolved that as we change ourselves, we can change the world. Unlike most people, we are consciously choosing to live with the creative tension that diverse thought and cultures introduce. As such, we must die daily to polarized ways of thinking to the rarified heights of synergistic solutions. We thereby adopt the great African ethos, I AM because We are and because We are, therefore I AM. Todays march was not about me being a star, but it was about me pointing peoples attention to the star. And as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, the star my friend is love.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:00:37 +0000
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