When Silence is Not Golden!

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

Those were the  concluding words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his now famous Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963). Dr. King’s letter was in response to eight white clergymen who denounced his nonviolent demonstrations against racial segregation in the South, encouraging him to allow the courts to settle the segregation issue in America.

I remember those days of racial unrest like it was yesterday. I remember as a teenager believing (mainly because that is what the adults in my town told me) that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a rabble-rouser who needed to be silenced.

I remember seeing the riots and the demonstrations by angry black protestors on television, as the Civil Rights Movement ripped our nation apart during the 1960s. I remember those televised images of fire hoses being turned on protesters and police dogs unmercifully biting them, and also seeing police brutally beating the protestors with nightsticks (It’s all part of a video history available for those who care to see for themselves).

I remember the infamous “white” and “colored” signs located in front of our town’s municipal building. I remember witnessing a black family being told to leave a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and feeling a twinge of guilt but accepted it as “just the way things are.” 

I also remember the day Dr. King was assassinated and witnessing many of my fellow whites appearing gleeful over his death. I didn’t realize it back then what a huge turn my nation was about to make towards justice for all people, regardless of race, gender, or orientation. I also didn’t realize the huge turn that was taking place within my own heart at the time (that’s a story for another time).

The struggle for equal rights continued long past the death of Dr. King in 1968 and only recently have LGBT people been give the Constitutional right to marry one another. Racial, gender, and sexual orientation equality has been a long and bitter struggle for those who fall into those social categories. 

This past weekend I read Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and was shocked by its contemporary relevancy for our own time. In fact I would suggest that every school child in America be required to read this compelling letter by a man who believed in and practiced non-violent resistance. His letter has become an important piece of the American Civil Rights history.

I suppose the most shocking thing about the Letter from Birmingham Jail was Dr. King’s disappointment over the silence of so many of the White churches and their pastors and elders during their struggle for racial justice. Writes Dr. king:

In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion, which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

Let’s be clear, there are troubling signs today indicating that the waters of injustice are being stirred once again, thus putting certain Americans at risk. 

The most powerful voice that would stand against this trending reversal towards injustice is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church possesses the most liberating message afforded to any other social institution of our time. At the heart of the Gospel itself is liberation (freedom). In other words the Gospel and social action work quite well together.

Clergy in particular, especially white clergy, have a God given platform to speak out against any and all government policies that infringe upon the rights of all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Now would not be the time for silence. It would not be the time for white Christians to hide behind the stained glass windows of their sanctuaries as they wait for their eventual trip to heaven. The signs of what might be coming are clear enough for those who claim to stand for justice for all. Silence for fear of repercussions may be a good survival technique but it is not in accordance with the Gospel. 

In the words of Dr. King: 

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

I am convinced that our white churches are filled today with good people, good-hearted and well- meaning folks; folks who would never imagine we could turn the clock back to a more unjust time. My words are not meant to be a judgment upon them but are meant to be a challenge to consider the role we all could play in the future.

Jesus came to liberate us all from the things that imprison us and make us slaves. The theme of liberation is central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is central to who we are as his followers to be sure.

Silence is not golden. 

In the words of Dr. King himself:

 “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Justice for everyone matters. It really matters!