Morning Comes
“It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive.” - Rev. Jesse Jackson
Traci: Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was a towering figure during my formative years, died earlier this week. Let’s start by thinking about his legacy and how it relates to hope and to this moment. Jackson grew up in South Carolina where he graduated from a segregated high school in 1959. He became a great civil rights leader working as a young man alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., carrying on that work throughout his life. When he ran for President in 1984, and again in 1988, he won multiple primaries, surprising many. He did this by focusing on building common cause across group divisions in what he famously referred to as “the rainbow coalition.” In 2008, after nearly fifty years spent fighting for racial equality, he was in the crowd at Grant Park celebrating President Obama’s historic win. On the one hand, we are still fighting so many of the same fights he did for civil rights and a multi-racial democracy. On the other hand, we would not have had the progress we have had without him.
MLK Jr.’s daughter Bernice King said of his passing: “My family shares a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love. As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places. May we honor his legacy by widening opportunity, uplifting the vulnerable, and building The Beloved Community.”
Julie: As we discussed in detail last week, I think the people of Minnesota are doing a beautiful job of building toward the Beloved Community. I also think it’s worth noting that both Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr. were faith leaders who were grounded in their belief in something bigger than themselves. We’ve talked before about how our own religious backgrounds inspire us.
I know Seeds of Hope has readers from a range of backgrounds and beliefs, so this may not resonate for all, but there is a part of my synagogue’s prayerbook that says “Pray as if everything depended on God. Act as if everything depended on you.” Every time I read those lines I feel something. It’s the both/and of it - that while we ask for things to change we must also act to create the changes we want to see. For me and the way I think about my spirituality, we are all connected and when we pray, that means reaching out to a collective wisdom that is both part of each of us and also bigger than us.
I’ve been turning to my spirituality, and my spiritual community a fair amount lately. It helps to be in community. It helps to be in conversation with God and the universe and the oneness of humanity. And it helps me to be present for a time.
Community and presence have been big themes for me lately.
Traci: I love that, Julie. It seems to me that throughout many of the most difficult struggles for justice and freedom humanity has faced, people’s ability to persevere has often relied on two things: their ability to place their experiences in a broader context of what it means to be human, which is what spirituality and faith can do for us; and a community committed to action and to creating a better world together, as your prayer book describes.
It’s because of those connections and the ways that faith both guided and sustained people in so many long struggles such as those Jackson and King led throughout their lives that I have leaned into my faith tradition, as well. I and so many others who share my religious background often call on this quote from the book of James: “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” I find so much hope in these ideas. So many spiritual and faith traditions, not only yours and mine, help us make this beautiful connection: What world do I envision? How can I believe that it is possible? And what can and should I do to help bring that about?
Julie: I heard Krista Tippett (yes, I’m a superfan) in conversation with the late Nikki Giovanni recently and Krista quoted Nikki: “The state of the world we live in is so depressing. And this is not because of the reality of the men who run it, but because it just doesn’t have to be that way. The possibilities of life are so great and beautiful that to see less wears the spirit down.”
That really spoke to me. Ai-jen Poo and other leaders I know have been talking about the idea of the three earths - earth one is where we are coming from; earth two is where we are now; and earth three is the better, more beautiful version we are fighting to build. Earth two is exhausting and awful in so many ways. But spending time imagining earth three can help.
Traci: That sounds related to The Beloved Community Bernice King referenced. For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was:
“a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence… a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood; international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.”
Sounds like a good vision for what earth three could be.
Julie: Meanwhile, here on earth two, there are some seeds of hope.
Fighting to Rein in ICE: Democrats have stood up to the Administration to rein in cruel, unlawful and dangerous federal immigration enforcement practices and the Department of Homeland Security’s funding remains shut down as a result.
Bipartisan Win: OK’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, the head of the National Governor’s Association (NGA), stood up for the inclusion of his Democratic colleagues when Trump decided to exclude Democratic Governors from an annual bipartisan NGA-White House event. Governor Stitt wrote: “We cannot allow one divisive action to achieve its goal of dividing us. The solution is not to respond in kind, but to rise above and to remain focused on our shared duty to the people we serve.”
Accountability: We are seeing some of those who were part of Epstein’s orbit face accountability.
Traci: I’m going back to Jesse Jackson and Bernice King here - it gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Every day. May we help honor his legacy by “pushing hope into weary places.”
