TWO AMERICAS
The Isolation Blues;
reflections during covid-19
There are literally two Americas. One America is beautiful for situation. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for their spirits. In this America, millions of people experience every day the opportunity of having life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in all of their dimensions. And in this America millions of young people grow up in the sunlight of opportunity. But tragically and unfortunately, there is another America. This other America has a daily ugliness about it that constantly transforms the ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair. In this America millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily in search for jobs that do not exist. In this America people are poor by the millions. They find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
These conditions of widespread poverty have brought about a great deal of despair, disappointment and even bitterness in the Negro communities. Today our cities confront huge problems. All of our cities are potentially powder kegs as a result of the continued existence of these conditions. Many in moments of anger, many in moments of deep bitterness engage in riots. Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve. But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention…We must realize that the time is always right to do right.
I still have faith in the future and I still believe that these problems can be solved. And so I will not join anyone who will say that we still can’t develop a coalition of conscience…And so I refuse to despair. I think we are going to achieve our freedom because however much America strays away from the ideals of justice, the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discourse of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
– excerpt from MLK’s speech “The Other America” delivered at Stanford University on April 14, 1967.
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The events of the last twelve days have left us reeling as a nation. As if the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t enough, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota revealed another pandemic the country has been unsuccessfully dealing with for decades (or longer). Systemic racism in all its pernicious variants has tainted our American society since its founding. With all of the social and economic conditions set up by COVID-19 the timing of a national reaction to the tragic killing of Floyd is not coincidental.
In times of national crisis when clarity and calm discretion is sometimes difficult to locate, I find myself returning to the great American writers, poets and leaders of years past. This week I reread several of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s speeches from the 1960s. One in particular stood out, “The Other America,” a speech delivered at Stanford University in 1967. It’s amazing how relevant it remains as the events of the past week highlight the same issues and arguments I’m hearing on CNN. I only included a short excerpt from the speech in today’s blog, but I encourage you to read it in its entirety. The analysis and points in his argument hold true to this day; it only needs to be applied. In his speech he laments the undermining of the “Great Society” and addresses “The Other America” of Negroes, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans and poor Whites. Racism, poverty, inadequate health care and income inequality are not just Black issues, they are universal issues of “The Other America.” The only way to stabilize a democratic society is to provide systematic justice and social equality for one and all.
One comment I’ve heard numerous times this week regarding the repetitive cycle of a violent incident followed by inaction is “Enough is enough.” The outrage and media attention last for a news cycle or two and then we move on. Perhaps I’m being optimistically pragmatic again, but it seems to me that this is different. Recent movements like Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick & The NFL Protest and The Poor People’s Campaign all made their contributions to the forward motion of social justice but for the most part struggled to sustain long term momentum in the national conversation. This feels different. I think people are ready for a change. We are talking about significant changes and that’s never easy, but we’ve been putting this off for fifty years now. I think the time is right. I think this is different. How can we go back when we have seen what we have seen and felt what we have felt? I too say, “Enough is enough.”
Still in the woods,
Dave
June 4, 2020