MLK Jr. In-Service Day

So after only 1 full week back at work, it's already time for a three-day weekend. Initially, I was disappointed to see that we had an Amate event on Monday because work fatigue is really making me long for real vacations. Amate events are wonderful but they are by no means vacations.

I decided I really wanted to get the most out of the in-service day so on Sunday I read some speeches by MLK Jr. I of course read the famed "I have a dream speech" but I also came across a speech called "Beyond Vietnam" that stunned me.

(full text here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm)

When McCain was running for President, some criticized him for voting against making today a federal holiday. McCain's argument was he was against the government doing a lot of symbolic actions. I have a lot of respect for McCain and understand that we have a congress who only last year passed initiatives recognizing Christianity, Islam, and Judaism as "great religions" and that symbolic gestures can get ridiculous so while I disagree I can at least understand the sentiment. The US govt does waste a lot of time on symbolic gestures. However, many other people voted against the holiday because MLK was a "communist" and "just stirred up trouble." After reading the speech, I understood what the issue was really about.

In his speech on Vietnam, MLK acknowledged for the first time that he fervently believed that the Vietnam War was extremely immoral. He fiercely criticized how much money was being spent at the cost of both the poor in Vietnam and the poor in the United States. He stated in his speech that a "nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Our current government spends anywhere from 20-54% of our spending on military spending (depending on who you ask), and we account for 47% of the world's military spending. For a nation that is not even in a Cold War it's simply inexcusable. To be blunt, I fail to see how a "Christian nation" could even defend those numbers.

In addition, he was quite radical about major societal reconstructions. Here's one of his most powerful quotes: "A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." It seems to me that this following quote (found in Batman Begins) is quite applicable: "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain."

Dad and Billy, I hope I haven't lost you yet. Just stick with it because it gets more positive.

So today was a wonderfully positive day. It was a day to focus on social justice through reflective thought. We left the city and went to a retreat center near Wisconsin. We were instructed to spend three hours in silence. Journaling, reading, or meditating was encouraged. I spend the first hour in Eucharistic Adoration, spent the second hour reading a wonderful article called "The Burden of Nonviolence" and spent the last hour in the seminary's mass. The article examined fatigue in nonviolence from the perspective of a nun that's spent her life fighting the nuclear arms race. She reminds us that "the one carrying the greatest burden is the one carrying no burden at all." What she means is while the fight for justice can be a heavy burden, living a life where nonviolence is considered a joke is even worse because you can't even bring yourself to trust others. It was helpful because it spoke to a lot of frustrations in the torture field. Progress often seems impossible as your own government threatens to cut funding every year and refuses to investigate the past injustices in prisons on American military bases in Europe and Cuba. The article did wonders for my attitude.

After lunch, we discussed areas of injustice we see at work. It's a tough issue for me because I see our work at Kovler as purely reactionary. We don't really campaign against torture, but instead we merely help survivors piece their lives back together. I feel like I'm fishing for garbage in a river when maybe we should be closing the factories upstream that pollute.

In addition, MLK day is a great day to wonder how Catholics or Christians in general can bring about a positive change. Currently in Catholicism, there are two conflicting paradigms: Liberation Theology (which advocates political activism) and Evangelical Catholicism (which advocates withdrawing from the political structure; i.e. the Catholic Worker Movement). Studying Liberation Theology is empowering because it emphasizes bringing large structural changes to society. However, the Catholic Worker reminds us that Jesus never said that we should "take Rome for Christ" but rather give up all possessions and minister to communities. They believe the Church should distance itself from the state and the idea of a "Christian nation" has failed time and time again. It points to the fact that the Southern Baptist Convention declared the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as "just and necessary." I fail to see how a preemptive war that left over 100,000 civilians dead fits into Christ's message of radical nonviolence. It's a difficult question and both sides have a plethora of theories and writings to defend their respective sides. It's a question that's been on my mind since I took Professor Baxter's class on Catholicism in American Politics. I imagine the balance is found somewhere in the middle, but it's a subject to which I shall return.

All in all, I've decided MLK day is a wonderful day for everyone to examine the Church's role in social justice issues. He was a true Christian that ultimately died in the fight against injustice. He rightly should be celebrated.