By Dr. Kristen Barnes-Holiday, Ph. D., Contributing Columnist
Considering that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is upon us, I’m reminded of how the Black community, many people within the Jewish community and varying communities supported him, but I’m also reminded of closeted supporters and those who outright opposed him. As brothers and sisters in Christ, it is sometimes difficult to come to reckon with who we really are at our core, the values and morals that we carry and if we are truly down for the causes that we proclaim to support.
I propose a question, and I encourage you to engage in introspective reflection, Who are you and do your values publicly align with your private thoughts and conversations?
When Dr. King was living, he was not this revered human being that we now know him to be. He was wildly disliked, disregarded and challenged, as his values and heartfelt journey did not align with the core of what many Americans believed to be true.
Dr. King was a rebel. Though not cited often as an MLK favorite, in his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. King stood on business, reminding his oppressors that, “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”
Everyday Americans empathized with and even embraced the part of Dr. King that professed the love of Jesus Christ and carefully orchestrated rhetoric that supported peace, but these same Americans questioned–and even persecuted–the man who challenged economic injustice and called out America for what it represented during this period in history.
Dr. King was an anomaly.
So was Rev. Nicholas Hood II–the second Black man to occupy a seat on the Detroit City Council and a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). So was Joan Trumpauer Mulholland–Freedom Rider and first White woman to be initiated into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. SO was James Baldwin–Black American writer who wrote about race, social justice, and homosexuality–and was known for his famous quote, “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” Baldwin was non-negotiable in his approach, and averse to Jesus’ principals and teachings, but given the time, I hold space for the validity of his feelings.
Are you a freedom fighter or one who occasionally engages in closeted support of what you deem to truly be just? I can’t answer this for you. You must do the work.
You know, Dr. King reminds me of Jesus Christ; now I realize that he was not Jesus Christ and I’m careful to not make him synonymous with our Savior, but they share similar characteristics. And I suppose that we all share some of Jesus’ qualities.
As a darker-skinned man, born to a woman out of wedlock in a manger filled with hay and livestock, Jesus was classified on the margins. Nappy-headed. A Jew. A poor man. A man who challenged systemic and institutionalized injustice.
Jesus Christ joined the woman at the well and questioned her reasoning for choosing not to assist Him and minimizing engagement. He refuted her claims on her own soil (John 4: 7-14).
I don’t know about you, but I know that Jesus was about that life. If this makes it more clear, Jesus put His money where His mouth was. And if you’re still trying to interpret my reasoning, Jesus was fully onboard in support of the oppressed.
He welcomed the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48).
He healed Mary Magdalene from demons (Luke 8:1-2).
He judged the folk who refused to help the poor–those ostracized within society (Matthew 25:45-46).
Everybody is an ally until it is time to be an ally.
On which side of the fence do you reside, particularly considering some of the most pressing issues of our time?
Think about it. The choice is yours.
And if you’re still in the process of discerning, I wish you peace.
Until next time…
Love and blessings,
Dr. Kristen Barnes-Holiday, Ph.D., is a professor of English at Wayne County Community College District, a second-year divinity student at Duke University, and a Christian blogger. In addition, she is a teacher, preacher, and lifelong student of the Word of Jesus Christ.
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