This is Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans, and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson.
It began in 1926, with the second week of February, because that week coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.
Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. I’m confident that any serious celebration of the month would remember Lincoln and Douglass, whose birthdays fall within the month. But I’m more confident that the name most mentioned this month will be Martin Luther King, our modern prophet of justice. As I have pondered his unforgettable witness for justice, I think of his letter from a Birmingham jail.
In April 1963, he was jailed in Birmingham, having defied a state court’s injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit. A statement written by eight clergymen criticized the march and other demonstrations. This statement was printed in The Birmingham News, and the letter that King wrote, from jail, was in response to the clergymen’s statement.
Basically, the clergy were questioning King’s being in Birmingham and his criticism of the racial conditions there. This is a part of what King wrote from his prison cell:
I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be.
The issue of injustice is at the forefront in our nation which has never been more divided than it is presently. Today, we cannot isolate ourselves in Memphis from what went on in Washington on January 6th. Nor is there any way that we can say that injustice does not exist where we reside. I was a Methodist pastor in Mississippi when King was jailed 300 miles away. Most of my members and church leadership would agree with what the eight clergy in Birmingham were saying. Yet, in my little city, I could get an appointment with the mayor anytime, but my black pastor friend had difficulty getting an appointment. We began to see the mayor together and I was never denied an appointment for the two of us. Was there an issue white privilege?
I’ll write more about this later. For now, as a personal response to Black History Month, ponder the words of Dr. King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”