April 8, 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
This morning, The Leaders Network (an organization whose board I serve on that serves Chicago’s westside) gave an award and tribute to Rev. Jesse Jackson. Rev. Jackson mentored the founders of The Leaders Network, Missionary Baptist clergy whose faith calls them into public engagement to provide a voice for the marginalized people who fill their churches. In the Black community, the civil rights activists are usually members of the clergy. The finest ones have honed a moral voice for the wider community. Over the years, I have joined these Black colleagues for press conferences, meetings with politicians, and prayer sessions to lament the widespread violence and systemic oppression that the African American community faces.
On Tuesday, May 8, 1968, the memorial service for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was held. Today, Rev. Jackson is the last living Black activist who was with Dr. King in Memphis when he was assassinated. The anniversary, also on a Tuesday, is a fitting day for today’s tribute.
When Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984, two million Black people registered to vote. He amassed far more support and electoral delegates than anyone thought possible. He won five state primary and caucus elections and garnered 18.2% of the national vote during that presidential primary season.
Rev. Jackson also ran for president in 1988—and doubled his results. During his two campaigns, he called for a Rainbow coalition that included African Americans, Hispanics, Arab-Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, family farmers, the poor and working class, and homosexuals, as well as white progressives who fit into none of those categories.
Here in the Chicago area, I joined Rev. Jackson for several actions over the years at the invitation of my colleagues who founded The Leaders Network. Over time, trust grew among us that three of these colleagues joined me when I invited them into a multi-faith delegation to the Texas border. Together we witnessed the appalling conditions of a makeshift refugee camp in Matamoros shortly after Donald Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols were enacted. These protocols didn’t actually protect asylum seekers but instead rounded them up, deported them, and left them to fend for themselves in very dangerous cities like Matamoros. The blatant racism horrified them.
My friend and colleague, Rabbi Max Weiss—who also joined me on that trip—also serves on the board of The Leaders Network. I was so pleased to see him this morning. I asked him about his recent trip to Israel where he visited the equivalent of the Israeli Red Cross and spoke with families whose young people were either kidnapped or killed. The timing of his trip was especially difficult since he was there when seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen were killed. We both are big fans of the chef, Jose Andres, as he had set up a kitchen Ironically in Matamoros four and half years ago, a couple months after we were there. Rabbi Weiss said to me, “Two days before I left for Israel, I had told my synagogue to donate to help the people of Gaza and if they did donate to an organization helping people in Gaza, I personally urged them to donate to World Central Kitchen.”
All in all, it was a sobering morning. And I was reminded of the call for radical hope. I was reminded of many of my own commitments during the tribute to Rev. Jesse Jackson. I was with Black colleagues and other clergy who stay the journey in organizing for change.
If you’re like me and share the commitments of the Rainbow Coalition, stay close to hope, keep faith in the capacity of hardworking people staying the journey to embody our shared values. Given the state of the wider world, it may be tempting to collapse into hopelessness. If you struggle with this temptation, stay connected to people who share your commitments.
It’s a critical role of a progressive faith community to honor those who have gone before us and to take up the legacies of those who have lived our values.
May we recognize the interdependence between UU Westport and those who share our Unitarian Universalist commitments.
Warmly,
Alan
