The Beloved Community

Today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s March on Washington and his “I Have A Dream” speech, perhaps the most important speech delivered in the history of the civil rights movement.  One of the today’s highlights was Rep. John Lewis’s speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; he also spoke at the 1963 march.  

Since marching with King 50 years ago, Lewis has never quit fighting for civil rights for all.  He must be exhausted, but he never gives up the fight. He’s such an inspiration and he knows how far we’ve come, yet how far we still have to go, especially in this chilling time when voters’ rights are under attack and we seem to be moving backwards in some ways. Lewis’s own history with voter suppression is well-documented. Because of his race, he couldn’t register in his native Alabama, so he waited until he went to Tennessee for college. He’s spoken eloquently about his family members having to take literacy tests. 

“I’m not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us,” Lewis said, exhorting the next generation to “push and pull to make America what it should be for all of us.”

Everyone who marched with MLK Jr. has stood in his shadow, but Lewis has made remarks that are just as powerful as MLK’s. Here are a few of my favorite over the decades: 

We have come a long way in America because of Martin Luther King, Jr. He led a disciplined, nonviolent revolution under the rule of law, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. Weve come a long way, but we still have a distance to go before all of our citizens embrace the idea of a truly interracial democracy, what I like to call the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself.

My position is very, very simple. That I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color, not to stand up and fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

My favorite one is a short, pointed call to action. It’s only 10 words, but it speaks volumes. 

“If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?”

Simple, and yet so hard to put into practice... 

I’ve given to many civil rights organizations already, including the MLK Center, the NAACP, the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and several others, and since I don't want to repeat myself, I think my searching led me to another good one that I’d never heard of before: The A. J. Muste Memorial Institute, which has be promoting non-violence and social justice since 1974. Muste, a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church,  was a pacifist and civil rights leader. He worked with, according to the Institute’s website, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), as well as the War Resisters League. According to his biography, near his death at age 82 in 1967, he was still fighting the good fight, standing outside the White House every day with a candle to protest the Vietnam War. 

Aug 24:  The A. J. Muste Memorial Institute. 

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Today was a big day, wasn’t it? The Supreme Court heard arguments on same-sex marriage. 

The question before the court is if the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution means that individual states cannot define marriage in a way that counteracts that protection.

Today’s arguments provided at least one exchange, below, that was certainly food for thought for anyone who wants to define marriage as solely a procreative purpose. 

"The concern is that redefining marriage as a genderless institution will sever its abiding connection to its historic traditional procreative purposes, and it will ... refocus the purpose of marriage and the definition of marriage away from the raising of children and to the emotional needs and desires ... of adult couples," argued pro-Proposition 8 attorney Charles Cooper, according to CNN.

Justice Elena Kagan then said: "Mr. Cooper, suppose a state said that, because 'we think that the focus of marriage really should be on procreation, we are not going to give marriage licenses anymore to any couple where both people are over the age of 55.' Would that be constitutional?"

"No, your honor, it would not be constitutional," Cooper replied.

Today’s arguments focused on California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.

Tomorrow’s arguments will address U.S. v. Windsor,  which challenges 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that keeps married same-sex couples from getting the same federal benefits as opposite-sex couples. 

As a political science major, it’s always fascinating to me to see how the Supreme Court parses up its decisions and how complex they are. Often their ruling has nothing to do with the actual question at hand— in this case, same-sex marriage —and they will dismiss the case because they feel it should be decided by the individual states, which could happen this time. 

But it feels like this is the right time to fix this wrong. It’s time to make same-sex marriage a fundamental right guaranteed by the Supreme Court, not something that each state decides on its own. It's time to be on the right side of history. This is a civil right, it has nothing to do with religion. We’ll know how the court decides in June. 

In the meantime, this graphic, which has been floating around Facebook all day today, describes my thoughts on the matter perfectly. 

Normally, Tuesday is Chooseday, when I donate to a charity in the person’s name who suggested a charity to me. That will return again next week. 

Today’s  $10 goes to Freedom To Marry, a non-profit that works to win the right for same-sex marriage. The 10-year old organization partners with other organizations across the country to allow same-sex couples the same rights afforded opposite-sex couples. 

March 26: Freedom to Marry  

Why I started this blog

Click here to get “Causes and Effects” delivered every day to your email inbox (the subscription link now works) or enter your email in the top right corner. 

85 down, 280 to go!!