The 3 C's: Courage, Compassion, Creativity. Civil Rights Activist Vincent Harding said these were the essential pieces of Dr. Martin Luther King's movement and philosophy. He also talked about Dr. King's "beloved community" and what he called a "love ethic." According to Dr. Harding, "love trumps doctrine every time." Dr. Harding died this year at the age of 82.
I think the legacy of his words and ideas, and others of like mind, are absolutely beautiful and lasting through time. And I like to listen to veteran civil rights activists (from the 50's, 60's and 70's) talk about the spiritual and religious component to the Civil Rights Movement. That aspect of the movement, is one that was not part of my education as someone raised in a white, liberal, secular home.
Growing up I was taught a lot about the 19th & 20th century efforts for equality made in this country by people of color, women, and LGB folks (we didn't talk about T and Q folks yet). Social activism. Civil rights. Gender equality. Anti-discrimination. These were all very big themes to my childhood. My parents, and particularly my mother, were adamant about me being well-educated on the history of oppression in this country, and particularly racism. This meant I was to know about African American heroes like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and of course Dr. Martin Luther King. I was to know about the freedom rides, the rash of lynchings, affirmative action, and the middle passage. I was to understand the importance of Brown Vs. Board of Education and defacto segregation which dominated New England urban and suburban areas.
But now, it seems strange to me that the religious and spiritual core of the civil rights movement was all but absent from my education.
I was reminded of this rather large and significant hole at church this past Sunday. Our Reverend was not preaching and we had a guest minister, an African American minister, in our vastly white Unitarian Universalist church (outside and inside). In the sermon the guest minister talked to us about the situation in Ferguson, Missouri in which people have had weeks of protest in the street to voice their disdain for another unarmed black person being shot and killed with no apparent justice to follow in the legal system. The minister used the word "hopelessness" to describe some of the feelings that many people of color and particularly African Americans may be contending with. He said the following day, Monday, he planned to go to Ferguson himself to march with the people of Missouri in protest and solidarity.
You could argue this action is an antidote to hopelessness. But I think it could be more. Not speaking for the guest minister of my church, but for some people, action steps to challenge oppression are embedded in spiritual practice. Working toward a beloved community. Engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience. Standing up and responding from a place of love rather than hatred. All of these seemingly impossible tasks, to me, are squarely in the camp of hard core spiritual practice.
And honestly, wouldn't they have to be? For a movement to sustain over time without giving in to the quicksand of hopelessness, self-pity, victim-stance, and cynicism that could be arguably valid for any variety of reasons?
Personally, I draw great inspiration from the spiritual lineage of the Civil Rights Movement. As in, I draw in a deep breath that clears my mind and focuses my attention on the tremendous possibility available to us. If the veteran civil rights activists were able to maintain their 3 C's: courage, compassion, and creativity in the face of brutal oppression and at times, threats or attempts to murder, I believe that I can too in the face of far, far less. It is actually a daring and radical choice to act from a joyful, hopeful, loving, and faithful place. I dare you to try it today...I will try too.
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