Dr. Prathia Hall

A woman inspired Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. A woman named Reverend Dr. Prathia Hall. As a young activist involved in SNCC (Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee), she spoke the words, “I have a dream,” now immortal, that have become etched in our national conscience and history. I learned her name yesterday, in a sermon given by Mark Wilson at St. Columba Catholic Church in Oakland. Though I am an atheist, the sermon moved me deeply and resonated in its message of broad unity and resistance in the face of injustice. I share his words with you today, whether you, like me, are an atheist, or are a person of deep religious faith, or anything in between. My wish for us all is that in the time ahead we may anchor more fully into the truth of our common humanity as we resist tyranny and work towards the dawn of a new day when equity and justice guide our national political body.

In solidarity,
Pam

Guest Blog

FROM DARKNESS – LIGHT DAWNS ON THE UPRIGHT
by  Reverend Mark Wilson
A sermon delivered on Sunday, January 15, 2017 at St. Columba Catholic Church in Oakland, CA

Barbecues or bus rides on the Freedom Trail?  Cookouts and picnics, or conferences on racial justice, civil and human rights, diversity and equality?  Department stores sales and discounts at car dealerships for MLK Day, or community dialogues and community work days that would help us strengthen the dream, the vision, and the activism of Rev. Dr. MLK within ourselves, within our neighborhoods, within the nation and throughout the global world. This was the debate back in 1980, when we, a group of college students at Howard University, came together with an estimated 200,000 gathering of people around the country to march on the mall of the Washington Monument to push the government to make MLK Day a national holiday.

Community activists, college students and political leaders around the country debated and asked, if it were to become a holiday, would it be a day for barbecues, cookouts, vacation days or discounts and sales in retail stores, or a day of education, a day of workshops talking about the life and dream of MLK, a day dedicated not only to conversations about racism, inequality, racial justice and justice for all, but also a day of action to end racism, a day to put into practice we believe about equality, a day to walk justly, talk justly, act justly, be justly, do the right, the loving, the fair, and the just thing to live in peace and harmony before God and with our neighbors.

If it became a holiday, what would MLK day mean, was the question that activists, and young college students like myself were asking back in 1980, split and divided on the question whether there should be a holiday with one side of the debate arguing not to make it a holiday because it would be antithetical and out of line with want Dr. King wanted when he said don’t make a lot of fuss about me when I die.  Just tell somebody that I was a drum major for justice!  One side of the debate said no, we don’t need another holiday, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln presidents day, where more folk are concerned about eating barbecue, watching sports on TV or going shopping than they are concerned or interested in discussing presidential and political leadership.

Don’t make it a holiday, because the best way to destroy the message of justice of a prophet  is to turn them into a martyr to be worshiped, a saint to be memorialized, a savior to be praised, without taking seriously the message of justice that make them the martyr fed to lions, the saint persecuted by the authorities, the savior crucified on the cross, or the civil rights leader assassinated and slain from a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.  We don’t need another holiday, Continue reading →