We Must Overcome

In his commencement address at Oberlin College, 1965, Dr. King noted:

“We sing a little song in our struggle – you’ve heard it – We Shall Overcome. And by that we do not mean that we shall overcome the white man. In the struggle for racial justice the Negro must not seek to rise from a position of disadvantage to one of advantage, to substitute one tyranny for another. A doctrine of black supremacy is as dangerous as a doctrine of white supremacy. God is not interested in the freedom of black men or brown men or yellow men. God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race, the creation of a society where every man will respect the dignity and worth of personality. So when we sing We Shall Overcome, we are singing a hymn of faith, a hymn of optimism, a hymn of faith in the future.”

This message is lost on so many who maintain their adherence to the unsupported notion of white supremacy, that they may be replaced in the exercise of another form of racial tyranny. Dr. King’s “Dream” was not supremacy of one race over another or all others, but equality and justice for all races. Humanity unites us despite the idea that race divides us. We are what and who we are. But we are fundamentally humans and need to treat others as brothers and sisters in this complex and wonderful species.

And yet, just this week, an African American FedEx delivery driver was shot at by two white men in Mississippi in a chilling echo of the Ahmaud Arbery case.

We MUST overcome this kind of racial insanity. Denounce every occurrence of racial hatred and violence, regardless the source. “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” We must unlearn the hatred that has steeped too many segments of our society and embrace the love that is our birthright.

There will never be peace without justice, and the foundation of that is in the prophet’s call to mercy and righteousness. There is nothing just and righteous in racial hatred. When all have a voice and a place at the table, we will have made progress. But we have not arrived there yet. And precious little progress has been made without setbacks from fearful men desperately trying to hold on to their power. It is willful blindness to fail to see that there is greater strength in diversity. It is willful ignorance and abject cruelty to turn away from suffering imposed by inequality.

I do believe that Dr. King was right in saying, “God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race, the creation of a society where every man will respect the dignity and worth of personality.” This will not be a color-bind society, but one that goes beyond the recognition of differences and celebrates those differences as fundamental to the humanity of us all. To borrow an idea from the Psalmist, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. All of us. Together.