The Report Card

Newsletter August 28, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Today is the 60th anniversary of the March On Washington, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech (listen to it HERE). A day that would call upon millions of people to notice the prevailing racial injustices and imagine a world of equity and inclusion. It would inspire folks to act for desegregation of lunch counters and schools and pools, it would work for equity in hiring and healthcare, it would call out poverty and police brutality and restrictions on lending and home ownership.  

This historic gathering of 250,000 people in Washington, DC was just 2 years before the March across the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, for the ability to exercise voting rights, and just 1 year before the action to desegregate the Monson Motor Lodge pool in St. Augustine, Florida, site of the largest mass arrest of (white) rabbis who were there acting in solidarity with the movement. (Read their reasons for going HERE).

Perhaps most significantly, Dr. King's speech delivered an awful report card on the state of equality 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It seems, he said that, "It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note," that promised to guarantee "the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And now we are 60 years past King’s speech, 160 years past Lincoln. And where are we?

Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pakuda, writing 900 years ago encouraged each of us to do an earnest self-accounting. We should take time out to examine how our behavior lines up with our proclaimed and aspirational values. This season before the high holy days is meant for just that. It is the month of Elul- a time to examine our personal behavior and our collective behavior. 

So let’s take some time this week, if not today, to examine where we, as a society, are on the scale of diversity, equity and inclusion. On the professed values we cherish that all are created equal, that all should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. To help us reflect upon the current state of affairs, please take some time to review the work that was expertly put together by the California Task Force (read it HERE) which outlines the state of affairs in the US and also zeros in on California’s particular history. And you can join our next Rosh Chodesh Racial Justice Review September 13 to go further (register HERE). And from there, look to adjusting our behavior to help right the course-- so that in another 60 or 160 years, we will not still be dreamers, but that our efforts will have yielded a world where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Society owes a great debt to Dr. King for his inspirational remarks and ability to mobilize so many for the cause of justice. Tonight I will be delivering closing remarks at a gathering to honor the anniversary of the march and commit to our continued struggle for freedom. Email me at rabbimiller@keepingitsacred.com if you’d like details. 

This is how we are Keeping It Sacred. Together, we’re #keepingitsacred… 

Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...