40 Years in the Desert

Forty years ago on April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. We have certainly come a long way in these 40 years of wandering in the desert of racism. We are still wrestling with whether a Black man can be president. Yes, we know it is legal (which is in itself progress) but we do not know if it is politically possible.

Dr. King was fond of quoting Scriptures, particularly “Let Justice roll down like waters.” (Amos 5:24) The Bible exhorts us to “Do Justice.” (Micah 6:8). It does not say, believe in justice, nor value justice, but to just do it. Both in Hebrew and Arabic the word for Justice implies Wisdom. Justice, therefore, is not simply good or right; it is also wise.

For too long, many outside the mainstream of our society, people kept out and looking in, have remarked that American Justice seemed to mean Just Us! Just Us that gets a fair deal, a tax break and a little justice from the so-called justice system.

Justice seems to serve not those who stand and wait but those with, in the words of Mohammad Ali, the “connection and complexion” to get special treatment. Yes, American justice is supposed to be blind and not see race or wealth. But many believe that Justice has been peeking through the blindfold and that the scales were weighted against the poor; that justice was in fact more deaf than blind, deaf to the cries of the downtrodden and oppressed—what the Gospels call, “the least of us.”

At this 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King, I think of all those poor whites who wanted to keep blacks poor, who wanted them in their ghettoes and not as customers in white shops, stores and restaurants. They put off bringing the South out of the antebellum fantasy of the White Ages.

No ruling class, no privileged class ever gives up its benefits without a struggle. We resisted Black freedom and equality. We fought the franchise for women. We killed the Equal Rights Amendment for women. Historically, we battled the union movement in this country. We libeled Social Security as a communist scheme. We attack universal healthcare as a radical socialist takeover of our God-given right to be bankrupted by a catastrophic health event.

Religion is not simply about rites; it must also concern our rights as human beings, our relationships with each other and the wisdom to understand that we share a common planet and a common fate. Religion teaches us the wisdom of knowing our connection to life and each other today. Do justice. Not some day. Today. Do wisdom by healing our beautiful fragile world.

We must know that there is no such thing as separate justice. As we share one planet; there is only one common sea—not seven. There is one common atmosphere. The rain that falls on one falls on all—and justice denied one is ultimately denied all. Life, liberty and justice are the common right of all humanity—not just here, not just now, not just today, but always.

This world is ours to save, to make, not so much holy as, whole; to bring the broken shards of shattered cities, societies and lives together to make a beautiful mosaic of many colors, customs, peoples—people bound together by common rights, common purpose and common justice. Our purpose is no longer to look for Justice; it is to “Do Justice,” and remembering Dr. King, to “Let Justice roll down like waters” bringing new life and new hope to our parched world.