Dear Friends,
Each year, when we approach Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I marvel that it is a national holiday. For I remember how Dr. King was perceived during his lifetime. He was a polarizing figure. He was despised, vilified -- indeed, hated -- by many in this country. When he was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee almost fifty years ago, it was a shock -- but it surely wasn’t surprising that there were people who wanted to kill him. For, although he was committed to nonviolence -- which was one of the secrets to his success -- he strove for a revolution in our collective consciousness. He strove to challenge core assumptions about race and class that had long held sway in this country. And every revolution, however peaceful, engenders resistance.
And so the decision to establish a national day of commemoration, to honor the life and to mourn the death of this American preacher, dreamer and activist, was not an easy one. It took decades, as state after state, and finally the country as a whole, embraced the idea of honoring Dr. King and his vision. It wasn’t until the year 2000, 31 years after Dr. King’s death, that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was observed in all fifty states.
One could be forgiven for imagining that, with the establishment of this day of commemoration, the work of confronting bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism in this country would be over. Surely, we might have imagined, with the establishment of this day it would no longer be normal to discriminate against those whose skin color is dark, or who came from another country, or who speak English with an accent. We might reasonably have believed, as did Dr. King, that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” -- and also toward kindness, compassion and refinement. We might have thought that ugly talk about blacks would soon be a thing of the past.
We surely would have been forgiven for believing that, once it became not only part of our legal system but part of our national ethos to treat all men and women equally regardless of the color of their skin, racism would retreat to the dark corners of our nation, never to rear its ugly head again -- much less to threaten our communal spirit and our collective identity.
Sadly, this has not happened. Remarkably, notwithstanding the dramatic evolution in consciousness that has occurred in our country, notions of racial superiority continue to prevail. It’s as if the lessons of the past must be re-learned, again and again. Perhaps it is a reflection of a collective “
yetzer ha-rah
,” or “evil inclination,” of human beings as a species to consider those who look, sound, or dress differently from us not only as strangers but as insidious threats.
A few weeks ago, racist graffiti was scrawled on the wall in one of the bathrooms of our local public middle school. As my seventh grade students were quick to tell me, it contained the “N-word” and a swastika. Though shocking, it should not surprise us that, even today, there are those who are raising their children to disrespect, demean, and despise others. Even today, there are members of our community who feel free to to demonize blacks and/or Jews; who see us as despicable enemies, worthy of disdain.
The day is short and the work is great. We cannot rest. If we agree with Dr. King’s dream; if we share with him the hope that one day, all of our children will “live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” then it isn’t enough to go skiing on Martin Luther King weekend. We must resist the re-normalization of racism in this country. We must call out racism and bigotry whenever and wherever we see them, and ally ourselves with those committed to continuing Dr. King’s fight.
This isn’t easy for us as Jews. In standing up for justice and equality, we may find ourselves standing next to people -- even
Jewish
people -- who harbor ideas about “Jewish power and influence” or other blatantly anti-Semitic views.*
But as Hillel said, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” We must stand up for others, even if -- maybe
especially
if -- it requires us to defend ourselves.
As important as it is to condemn racism and bigotry, we must go further: we must work hard to educate the next generation to think and to feel differently about differences.
And so: yes, let’s enjoy the three-day weekend. But let’s never forget that the battles that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought remain battles that we too must fight -- today, tomorrow, and the day thereafter.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Carl M. Perkins
*For a disturbing op-ed piece in the
Forward
describing how fighting racism in this country can be conflated with anti-Semitism and gratuitous condemnation of Israel, click
here
. This does not appear to be consistent with Dr. King's eschewal of anti-Semitism and his sympathy for Israel. One of the last speeches that Dr. Martin Luther King gave before he was murdered was to the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis, at its annual convention in 1968. In that speech, given ten days before his death, he said, "peace for Israel
means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, [and] its territorial integrity." Click
here
for details.
