Today, I read Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In this letter, we hear King’s frustration, disappointment, and impatience, especially with the white moderate. His words are just as relevant and timely today (60 years later!):
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
[The next paragraph is even more gripping, where King writes in detail about the daily horrors of being black in America.]
There are many ways we’re still saying “wait”: delaying criminal justice and prison reform; belittling affirmative action; privatizing education; exonerating police officers (again and again) who harm and kill people of color.
I’m looking inward and wondering, “Where do I say ‘wait?’” Where do I not want to give up power nor rock the boat of white supremacy nor even feel uncomfortable? (There are many places.)
It’s easy to look externally and say, “The capitol siege was an example of white supremacy.” It’s harder to look internally and see how my whiteness impacts me (every day!) in a positive, privileged way. Each time I think, “This is hard work! I want to take a break,” I remember that my black friends never have the choice of turning away.
