Day 5- King Center

Today we journeyed to the Martin Luther King historic site, the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and MLK's birth home.  It was powerful to sit in Ebenezer Baptist, to hear a sermon and hymns being played in a National Park Service property and to remember how central the church was to civil rights.  Not only were churches a gathering place, but the gospel provided a moral backbone to the movement.  As I sat there, I wondered what the church will be courageous enough to fight for in order to follow God's will.  In the Civil Rights era, pastors were invited to lead the movement not only because of their spiritual gifts, speaking ability and prominence in the community, but also because they did not depend on whites for their income.  Today, our realities are different, as many pastors risk losing their jobs if they speak up for justice.  But our call from God remains the same- to lead our people toward the future God is preparing us for.  And I pray we will have the courage to follow.

What struck me most profoundly at the MLK Historic site was the years from 1966-1968.  They are years that we haven't talked much about so far since they are all after the Voting Rights Act was signed.  They are years that aren't talked about much in the Civil Rights Era.  And yet they are powerful years when MLK focused on economic equality, lack of jobs for the African-American community and our country's turn toward war in Vietnam.   

As MLK said, "A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle.  It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor- both black and white- through the poverty program.  There were experiments,hopes, new beginnings.  Then came the buildup in Vietnam.  And I watched the program broken and eviscerated as it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube.”  This is still the reality in our country and how do we address this as a moral issue and a deeply Christian issue, even when people oppose us? 

In the middle of our time at the MLK site, we had the pleasure of spending time with Mert and Gerry, a retired schoolteacher and a retired social worker, who came to tell us how life had changed during the nearly 80 years they lived in Atlanta. They told of us their mother, an incredibly strong woman who taught them to avoid participating in segregation as much as they were able- refusing to eat in separate dining areas or use separate bathrooms by simply taking care of what they needed at home.  They were taught to refuse a system that didn't treat them with dignity.  Mert told us about how she tried to interview the mayor as an 8th grader, but was turned away when she came to the office and the receptionist saw that she was African-American.  And how shopkeepers would ignore her until allwhite patrons had been served and left the store.  And Gerry told us about her years in education- about growing up with amazing teachers in the segregated schools and then becoming a teacher in the integrated schools and having to continually teach people how to treat her and other African-Americans as equals.  And she told a story of sitting in the front seats of the segregated buses because she felt compelled to do so.  The driver refused to ask her to move, despite the protest of one white passenger and she got off at the next stop.  Living like this was possible for them, they said, because they had such a strong mother who taught them they were valued and strong.  "But not everyone had a mother like ours.  And some people were broken by this treatment [in segregation.]"  Some African-Americans, they said, harbor such anger toward what was that they can't move forward. 

We asked how Atlanta had changed in the years since.  They talked about the progress made, but also about how they worry about the present administration who seems to be turning back the clock on some of the civil rights progress made for many groups and how they are making things more challenging for those facing poverty. 

Before they left, Mert and Gerry told us about how members of a white Presbyterian women's group contacted their church women's group to get to know each other soon after MLK's assassination.  The got together to hear each other's stories and to talk about what they were feeling and experiencing after 15 years of Civil Rights struggle.  And these conversations, which they feel are the backbone of reconciliation between people, began deep friendships with the members of the white Presbyterian church.

It was a sentiment echoed when we gathered with Gene Lewis and other folks from Atlanta and had a discussion about forming relationships with those different from us.  We talked about how this begins with hearing another and listening to their stories.  And how we need to work to make these relationships happen since forces in our world and in ourselves encourage us to gather with people who are like us. 

Al, a local doctor, also talked about how he sees racism play out in healthcare- how those who have money get great care and those who don't have care that is often closer to third world realities.  And too often, those who don't have money are African-American.  And this all goes back to the deep disparities in wealth between whites and African-Americans.  And he reminded us that all discussions about wealth disparities are challenging because almost no one with power and privilege is going to willingly give that up.  That was why the fight against segregation was so ugly- it was calling those with power to give it up.  It was asking them to give up a way of life, a culture that benefited them.  We as Christians have one who calls us to that very thing- giving up places of privilege for the sake of our brothers and sisters, but that kind of talk got Jesus killed.  It goes against our human nature and that is why it is so counter-cultural.  It is also why Jesus is so life-changing- he calls us to a way of life that opens us to God's future.  To living how God lives and loving how God loves.  It's not comfortable, but it brings life for us and our neighbor.

Tomorrow we had a bit of a change of plans (a joyful change of plans) and we'll be spending the morning with Mercy House- a congregation of those experiencing homelessness- before our final reflections and final worship.