{"id":28847,"date":"2022-09-14T21:14:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T04:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28847"},"modified":"2022-09-14T21:14:49","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T04:14:49","slug":"a-lost-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-lost-example\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lost Example?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four days prior to the writing of Letter from Birmingham Jail<\/em>, on April 12, Martin Luther King, Jr. and nearly 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders had been arrested after leading a Good Friday demonstration as part of the Birmingham Campaign, designed to bring national attention to the brutal, racist treatment suffered by blacks in one of the most segregated cities in America\u2014Birmingham, Alabama.\u200b The letter dives into the distinctions between what is just and unjust and provides a call and response methodology to \u201cA Call for Unity,\u201d a letter to MLK from Alabama clergymen, the basics of which I\u2019ve outlined below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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A Call for Unity<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Letter from Birmingham Jail<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
An outsider is stirring up trouble<\/td>\nI was invited; Injustice is here<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
King\u2019s plan is \u201cuntimely\u201d<\/td>\nWaited over 340 years; \u201cWait has almost always meant never\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
King\u2019s plan will incite hatred and violence<\/td>\nThe 4-Step plan\u2019s purpose is to open the door to negotiation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Preserve the principles of law & order; In the courts, not the streets<\/td>\n\n

The courts uphold unjust laws<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

While reading Mandela earlier this semester, I would consistently underline the dates given, making note of what was taking place regarding racism in the United States. While the felt injustices were similar, the clear distinction is that apartheid was law in South Africa. To read King this week, accompanied with Western\u2019s Global Leadership Perspectives<\/em> provided a fuller framework to the battles raging in both cultural contexts. What I found most interesting was the discussion about both the systems of apartheid and ANC \u201cwere characterized by heightened anxiety, of a persecutory kind. Mutual hatred and suspicion meant that both systems put authoritarian and oppressive authority structures in place.\u201d[1]<\/a> Is that how Mandela would have classified it? What about Tutu? But what was even more striking was the statement that \u201cthe leadership example set by Nelson Mandela somehow got lost.\u201d Could we say the same of King\u2019s example in the US? Were they aware of one another and the movements they were each leading, literally on the opposite side of the world one another?<\/p>\n

Similarly to Tutu\u2019s sentiments about our humanity being tied to one another, King writes, \u201cinjustice 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.\u201d[2]<\/a> The communal aspect continues to be a common thread in our readings \u2013 perhaps it is derived from, or points back to the fact that over 80% of the \u2018one anothers\u2019 Jesus gives throughout scripture are within the context of community. I firmly believe we were created within and for community, because it so accurately reflects the triune nature of the Creator.<\/p>\n

I use Kings letter in my freshman orientation class and end the class with the following. Perhaps these are equally as applicable to us, those on the very tail end of our higher education careers, as they are to those who are just entering:<\/p>\n