In the film Selma, we meet Martin Luther King, Jr. the man. We see, quite clearly, that he was a man whose strength was not his own. King was upheld by those who surrounded him. In Selma we meet those men and women. It was their strength that upheld King in his darkest moments, and gave him the courage to move forward, one step at a time.
In one poignant scene, King asks a colleague what good is it having access to the lunch counter at Woolworth’s if a person can’t afford to buy a hamburger or read the menu or has been so broken down in his psyche that he doesn’t feel like he even belongs there.
This is the question that remains today, albeit in a slightly different form. What good are equal rights when systems remain in place that continue to bar African Americans from equal access to education, healthcare, housing, and public safety?
In 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down key components of the Voting Rights Act that King worked so tirelessly to secure. The U.S. Congress is currently debating whether or not they will restore some of these components.
We still live in racism’s grip. Like all sins, it will not go away through wishful thinking or turning a blind eye.
As Christians, we have a call to seek justice which means working to dismantle the legacy of our history of oppression. Justice is not inevitable, but something God calls us to work for.
We are the agents of his reconciliation. It is our turn to hold each other up. To continue to fight the battles that King and his colleagues began. Together.
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