King Day means we all have at least one day a year to reflect on the man, his legacy, and their meaning for our times. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it means we have Newt Gingrich calling Barack Obama “the food stamp president”…again. (“Newt, please stay after class. You obviously still haven’t learned today’s lesson.” On the other hand, we have Eugene Robinson’s lovely column from last Friday’s Washington Post. Key paragraph:
“For the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dreaming was not optional. It was a requirement of citizenship to envision a fairer, more prosperous nation no longer shackled by racism and poverty. It was a duty to imagine a world no longer ravaged by senseless wars. His most famous speech was less an invitation to share his epic dream than a commandment.”
Growing up in Albany, Georgia, dreaming was not optional for Bernice Johnson Reagon either. Reagon was one of the great voices of the Civil Rights Movement–first with the Albany Freedom Singers, then the SNCC Freedom Singers, and later with the women’s a capella collective Sweet Honey In The Rock.
The 1950s and 60s were a tough time for some traditionalists in the Black Church. Some young people were taking old church hymns, changing “Jesus” to “baby”, and singing in bars, nightclubs, and radio stations for money. Some young people were taking old church hymns, changing “Jesus” to “freedom”, and singing in picket lines, lunch counters and county jails. (Some did both.)
Here’s Sweet Honey doing the latter with their version of “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Set On Freedom)”:
This is dreaming as survival skill during hard times. Dreaming as daily, even hourly, discipline. Even dreaming as–when the moment comes–marching orders.
As Robinson writes, “In these sour, pessimistic times, it is important to remember the great lesson of King’s remarkable life: Impossible dreams can come true.”
What dream are you keeping alive–what dream is keeping you alive, this morning?
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/