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Commentary
REFLECTIONS: A letter to Martin Bishop Woodie W. White, Jan 14, 2010
Bishop Woodie White
Editor’s note: Bishop White, the first chief executive of the General Commission on Religion and Race, writes a “birthday letter” each year to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about the progress of racial equality in the U.S.
Dear Martin:
What a difference a year makes! Last year, I wrote with great exuberance about the election of the first African American to the presidency of the United States. Today, I am no less excited, because it demonstrated a huge step forward in our nation’s history.
However, some pundits have wrongly hailed the election as ushering in a “post racial” era! I think the events of the past year have dispelled that premature prediction.
Martin, we have been sadly reminded of the depth of prejudice in many hearts and minds as the new president has taken office.
Of course, not all criticism of him or any person of color is automatically based on race. I well remember the day when I realized that some people did not like me not because I was black, but because I was I!
But we have seen the awful face of racism for so long that we know it when we see it! We have seen it these past few months, and it is no less ugly.
Yet Martin, it is the face of a passing America. However loudly and strong the voices may appear, it is a last gasp! Most Americans are ready for a nation free of the racial division that characterized it for so long.
At the same time, is clear that the battle to end racial division is not yet over. We still have much to do to replace walls of separation and prejudice with communities of love and justice.
Too many people still are racially divisive. They exploit it, foster it and profit from it, some for political gain, others for personal and financial reward—and they come in all colors!
And sadly, the seeds of racial prejudice have been planted so deeply in some that though it may seem dormant, it takes little to stir hateful ways. So we must continue with efforts to heal brokenness, to bring clarity to misunderstandings and to address fears.
It would be misleading on this, the anniversary of your birth, to give the impression that progress in the area of race has stalled. It has not. Every day, new doors open, old barriers fall, and hands and hearts reach across the racial divide. But it is not enough!
Walls that come down can be rebuilt; old hatreds can be reborn. That’s the problem with celebrating achievements too quickly: Progress is never permanent. We need to continually nurture the good and challenge those elements committed to fostering ill will and division.
One of the most positive signs this year, Martin, was the election of Judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York as the first Hispanic justice to the Supreme Court. The daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Judge Sotomayor has a distinguished career and will bring broad law experience to the court. (Permit me a bit of personal pride, Martin—we both graduated from high schools in the Bronx!)
And I dare not forget that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is now the first African American to hold that office. Such “firsts” are becoming so routine, Martin, that they now gain little or no public recognition!
Martin, nothing has brought me more personal joy than the honor that came to our buddy Joe Lowery, who continues to be an influential voice for social justice and human rights. He was selected to give the benediction at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, and it was stirring! Then in August, Dr. Lowery received the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, the highest recognition possible for a civilian!
At the heart of the dream you shared that day in August 1963 in Washington, D.C., was that people would one day be “judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”
You told us, “It was rooted in the American dream.” And so it is! “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We shall overcome!
—Woodie
Retired Bishop White is bishop-in-residence at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga.
Bishop Woodie White
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