Dear Friends,
This past Monday, January 17, marked a day of national commemoration of the life and work of civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Many White people too often characterize Dr. King as a gentle soul, all sweetness and light advocating racial harmony as if by the wave of some wand all minds would be changed, and brotherhood would breakout around the land. Especially if people would just quit talking about race. But Dr. King called, over and over again, for revolution.

I am disgusted when politicians—not only resisting voting rights for all citizens but actively working to disenfranchise people of color from voting—quote these words of Dr. King from his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” As beautiful as these words are, I heard them too many times this week in sound bites. Here are other words Dr. King said, in the same 1963 speech:

 It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

The moment remains urgent. Evidence in our times demonstrates both that full equality continues to elude this nation and that there cannot yet be rest and tranquility because the work is not done. As Unitarian Universalists, seekers of peace, justice, and equity, our work is not done.

I urge again this week: May we each seek and find our place in fulfilling Dr. King’s vision, as you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. I am here to accompany you. May you feel it so, and may it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita