Last week I re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” for a staff discussion here at The Expectations Project (isn’t that awesome?) It just happened to coincide perfectly with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. As I’ve been reflecting on Dr. King’s words and legacy, several things have stuck a chord with me.
First, though we have come far, racial and economic injustice are still very much alive in this country. But, like Dr. King, the Church gives me hope. As in Dr. King’s time, though, I think it is important to be aware of – and to challenge – the Church’s tendency to conform to cultural norms. Too often we choose what is comfortable over what is just.
As Dr. King said, “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” I could not agree more. As people of faith, we should know better. And almost nothing is more frustrating when we – and I’m including myself here – sometimes act like we don’t.
Looking at the life of Christ, it is clear we are to choose be courageous. Christ was an extremist of love and justice who turned the world upside down – and we are to do the same now. If we don’t, I fear that our generation will have to apologize not just for, as Dr. King wrote: “the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the silence of the good people.” I believe that it is not only a sin to do something unjust – it is also a sin to passively allow injustice to continue.
Nothing about Christ was passive. We are called to follow Christ’s example and storm into the face of injustice, helping to alleviate it to the best of the ability God has given us.
There are many, many injustices that still exist today – enough that we are clearly ALL called to action in some way. One of these areas of injustice that exists right before our eyes is our nation’s public schools:
One fifth of all U.S. children under five are poor. As if this statistic wasn’t horrifying enough, 40% of these children are African-American and 33% are Hispanic. These poor children attend the lowest performing public schools at a disproportionately high level. According to recent testing, 80% of minority students can’t perform at grade level in grades four, eight, and 12. Many children of color aren’t getting an education that will give opportunities equal to their white peers.
Instead of empowering all students to reach their God-given potential, many schools inadvertently hold them back. Instead of being a place where Dr. King’s dream of freedom and justice is furthered, many of our schools prevent children from even grasping the hope that anything can be different. If we want to see Dr. King’s dream fulfilled, we can start by improving our public schools.
Despite the sobering statistics above, I don’t believe it will take a lot to realize Dr. King’s vision of justice in public schools. But what it will take is each of us actively doing our part. It will mean walking to the neighborhood school a couple times a week to tutor a child, or finding your local school’s biggest needs and getting your church involved, or one of the many, many other ways we can each do our part.
Let’s not be a people of “good will” with “shallow understanding.” Let’s never be devoted to “order over justice.” Instead let’s be a “colony of heaven” here on earth, challenging injustice around us and being “disturbers of the peace” by bringing the true Peace.
*All quotes of Dr. King’s in this post are taken from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
