As I get older, as we all must, I find myself speeding up
instead of slowing down. I think I have
always at some level seen myself as an activist, although not quite as active
as some. I still feel somewhat guilty
that I never went to jail or to southern freedom marches. I didn’t go to the historic March on
Washington because I had a summer job, or that is what I told myself. I was a frightened teenager, although I did participate
in a lot of peace and civil rights demonstrations. But in NYC, I was always in
a group of people who organized these things and the numbers were big enough
that you didn’t stand out. I wore all my
buttons everywhere and belonged to the most left-wing group on the Brooklyn
College Campus. I’m glad I was there and
saw what I saw.
Fortunately, I am no longer afraid. Things are different
today and I do stand out in this small South GA community. That’s okay.
I’m not a part of a large group, but the group I am in is slowly
growing. When you shout by yourself, you’re
not heard. There are so many ways now to
communicate and it feels like it all has to be done and said yesterday.
I am very proud of what I---we---have accomplished and of
those who have joined me. Things are
changing rapidly—not just politically, but artistically and culturally. To me that is a huge part of how people
change—by what they see and hear personally, not by slogans, jargon, and hype.
So, we will educate by performing “The Diary of Anne Frank”
and “Purlie Victorious”; by bringing black music to white citizens and vice
versa. By restoring an ignored historic
black cemetery and by teaching children how to communicate on stage. And, yes, we will demonstrate and verbalize
as the situation arises. We will write
letters, post on Facebook, and Tweet.
Whatever, wherever. History has
given us lessons which we will continue to share, from Moses fighting Pharaoh’s
army, to the Allied victory over Hitler and of course, to Martin Luther King
making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
To those of you who believe Jesus died to free us all must
remember that many others have come after him to do the same thing. Many others are doing that even as I write
this, in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. We should always be united in this fight and recognize
that the enemy takes many forms.
Once again, I can’t “agree to disagree”; there is no
compromise on hate of “the other”, or depriving people of basic human
rights. Remember “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness”? That includes
access to food, shelter, education and health care. Our current leadership is showing us every
day that is not the goal of this government.
We are in more danger than many of us would like to believe. It won’t just “blow over”. But it can be stopped. Find your inner activist and speed up, we don’t
have all day!
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