Here on this day when we celebrate the life and works of Dr. King I thought I would share this message. My current health condition along with the pandemic prevents me from going out and actively doing something today physically to honor Dr. King’s legacy, so the best I can do is to share this with you from my heart:
Here in Atlanta we are very fortunate to not only live in the birthplace of Dr. King, but we are surrounded by great opportunities to actively live into the Dream. I commend to you the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing, located right next to the Morehouse campus. If I may, I would like to borrow from the words of Dr. Catherine Meeks, whom I consider a giant and hero in the mission of racial healing.
In an group conversation I attended with Dr. Meeks recently she brought to my attention that it is not reconciliation we are looking for, because reconciliation requires that there was once, somewhere in the past, a good or healthy relationship that was had between two parties. So, when you look at the long history of racial issues in America you will unfortunately find there is nothing to actually reconcile. From the day the first African person of color stepped foot on American soil in 1607 they did so as an enslaved group of people. It would not be until my own lifetime that they would even be recognized as full members of our society and afforded all the rights every white man has enjoyed since the founding of the American colonies. Even if many people and institutions still quietly seek to withhold those rights from them to this day.
So, no, it is not reconciliation we are looking for, it is healing. And this healing is not only for the black members of our society, it is especially important that white members of our society recognize the need for our own healing in these matters as well. It is only through the eyes of love and humility that we can come to terms with the steps we must take to heal this nation. So on this day lets take a moment to think about those friends or family members you know who stand out as beacons in your own life who have set examples on how we can move forward.
I would like to raise up two friends I have known over the years whom I admire dearly. The first I’d like to mention is Sam Crenshaw. You may know him as a sports reporter and sports anchor here in the Atlanta area. When I showed up at my high school Sam was a grade ahead of me. Sam was one of only four black students at my high school at that time in 1973. Sam was then, and has always been a class act, and friend to everyone. A person everyone who went to Headland High School in East Point, Georgia looks up to to this day. It would be decades before I finally had the presence of mind to contemplate how different Sam’s world was from mine during our years in high school together. To this day when we have reunions Sam lights up the room when he arrives, and if I know Sam he might even say our worlds weren’t so different back then because he is humble that way. But with all I’ve seen in this world over the last 45 years I know our roads were very different. Sam’s hills were steeper, his track was longer, his weight was heavier, and all just to be in the same place as people like me.
Likewise, the second man I’d like to mention is Vern Edwards. When I was in art school Vern was the only black student. Not only was Vern a black student in a very white program he was studying to go into an industry that was overwhelmingly populated by white men. Vern’s talent was off the charts. I related to Vern early on because he and I had one particular skill in common. We were the only two guys in the art director’s program who knew how to draw and paint at the same level as the illustration students, and that set us both apart from our peers. Frankly, I will tell you that I always thought Vern was much better than me as well. In the same way it took me too long to think about what Sam accomplished it also took me too long to realize what kind of road Vern had to travel going along in my same career path. The longer, steeper, bumpier road, bearing weights of society white guys like me can be terminally blind to.
When I talk about healing, that blindness is one of the first things to deal with, but it’s not all. I am thankful that I am still friends with Sam and Vern, even if we hardly ever see each other thanks to this damn pandemic!
So, on this MLK Day I lift up two men whom I admire greatly. Two men that inspire me to make the right choices and to keep me focused on a mission of healing in our great nation. In our incredibly imperfect nation that with God’s will can continue to evolve into that more perfect union it sought out to become 234 years ago. May we never rest in our desire to be a great nation and always use humility and love to move this great experiment forward day-by-day.
A blessed MLK Day to you all.
“The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.”
—George Washington, January 9, 1790
Letters From Nod 