Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

From Letter From Birmingham Jail:

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I. compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place In Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

...

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

In honor of the holiday, it seemed appropriate to recap our trip this past summer to the National Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis, TN.

It takes up the building formerly known as the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, as well as the boarding house across the street from which he was shot. Opened 15 years ago, the museum is an absolute treasure, whose relevance today is unquestionable. Much like the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC, it serves to illuminate the vast brutality in our very recent history, brutality that continues today in Iraq, Darfur, and numerous other countries.

Touring the museum, it is hard not to be impressed by the pioneers of the civil rights era, whose vision of a better society endangered their own lives but ultimately erased many, but not all, of the grossest injustices that defined American society a mere 40 years ago. King and his brethren fought not just for the rights of Blacks, but for the rights of the oppressed, a focus sadly lacking in today's all-too-narrow discussions of just how appropriate it is to marginalize certain fellow Americans. In fact, my wife and I were struck, repeatedly, by how little the rhetorical devices of the intolerant have changed in four decades. We still hear of how outsiders threaten our way of life (immigrants), our families (gays), and our very existence (Muslims), how they walk amongst us, how our traditions and status justify forcing them to the dark corners of American society. If you will, Muslims, gays, and Blacks are the new Blacks. The Reverend King would be ashamed of us, and would never stand for it, nor should we.

How to keep his legacy alive? First, remember that if you are either White, middle-class, male, or American, or some combination of them, your fortunate birth put you instantly into the luckiest human beings ever to walk the planet. If I seem at ease with life at times, it is probably because my troubles are vastly insignificant with regard to just about everyone else in the entire world. honestly, if you think you have troubles, suck it up and stop complaining. People around the world and in this country go hungry, lack medical care, and truly struggle to make it from day to day. Do something to help them. This means ever so much more than money, but if you do have some spare funds, try the following in honor of the holiday:

• Kiva.org: If you want to donate, leave a comment to this post, and I'll match it too.
  
  
  


• NAACP: if anyone here becomes a member, I promise to do it too. Special note: madpoet, you have to buy one for yourself and a gift membership for someone else.


• United Negro College Fund: If you give a donation, I match it.


• National Urban League: You know the drill, people.
  

Remember, just because life is ducky for you, it doesn't mean it's quite so nice for your fellow man.

Don't cry yourself a river, just do something!

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!