Martin Luther King, Jr. has been in my thoughts more than usual this year. After I spoke at a MLK day event in January led to the formation of a coalition of African-American and Latino residents working for shared justice in rural NC. Then as March 19th approached I imagined how disappointed my MLK (‘cause just like when people say ‘my Jesus’ in that tone expressing that they indeed hold a unique image and have a unique relationship to this possibly shared entity, I have my own sense of MLK – a leader – flawed and visionary that still leaves a hole in the fabric we’re to use to transform society) would be with the activists, leaders and self described revolutionaries among us these days.

I imagined his disappointment at our falling so far from our collective potential. Given so many advances in so many areas over 40 years time how can it be that with all our brilliance, creativity, and blessings we still allow War – rooted in supremacy and oppression; fuel for continuing cycles of supremacy and oppression to continue.

Many people are reflecting on 1968 for other reasons and there are plenty, but to invoke justice, even retribution for many of the state crimes of 1968 bringing King to mind feels more powerful than other 1968 images.

In April when I spoke at an event commemorating King in Oakland it felt like the best way to honor the legacy of King 40 years after his assassination is by learning how to dismantle the systems and institutions that still hold us in cycles of injustice, oppression, exploitation and fear – to free up energy to collectively create NEW relationships to each other that are rooted in shared power and consciousness of privilege so that our focus is more about what we together can create than what we have had to suffer, more about what we have to hope for than what we have to fear, and more about how we get there as whole communities than how I achieve something by myself.

Si Se Puede!!

This feels confirmed when I read King’s words from his April 4th, 1967 speech at Riverside Church – “These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression”.

But are we? Are we acting against exploitation and oppression? The actions of the US government without doubt are rooted in oppression and manifest as exploitation. But what of our actions? Do our choices for actions to express our outrage at endless war, continued community injustice, economic and environmental assaults – all the manifestations of ongoing imperialism also work to undo oppression and at least mitigate exploitation?

It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like we’re caught in rushing waters heading quickly for a long drop to a rocky bottom. Occasionally we find a solid and safe space along the shore or a well placed rock, we may even get a bit upstream before the next huge rush of water pulls us back into the current, but we’re not setting deep stakes along the shore to anchor ourselves, or transforming those rocks to bridges to lead to another space altogether.

My sense is that as a movement we lack clear collective vision, effective strategic actions, and sound informative evaluation to move forward across the board on a progressive agenda simultaneously in ways that lift us above the chaos leaving clear paths to a shared place of Justice – the Beloved Community*

With your help IPPN can help build a progressive agenda rooted in our collective vision with strategies for effective implementation with measurable results.

*Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.

http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/bc/index.html