IN THEORY:Honoring King’s legacy

Many UCI students, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., worked at a food bank Monday as part of a week of local tributes to the civil rights leader. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who worked at the food bank with the students, said it was the best way to honor King’s legacy. What do you think is the best way to honor King’s legacy, and are Americans doing enough to live up to it?

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often quoted Jesus’ words from Matthew 25:31-46 as how he, and we, would be judged: “In as much as one does good (feeds the hungry, welcomes the stranger, visits the sick and lonely) to the least of God’s children, that person does good with God.” So feeding the hungry of Orange County was an excellent way to honor King last week, and I am sure Rep. Loretta Sanchez and those wonderful UCI students brought a smile to King’s soul.

At Big Bear last Monday with our son, Don, and dog, Luke, I reread a speech King delivered on April 4, 1967, in New York City; he titled it “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.”

His call was for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation. King called us to an all-embracing and unconditional love for everyone. This oft-misunderstood and misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of humankind. When King spoke of love, he was not speaking of some sentimental and weak response to fear that makes one feel better; he was speaking of that creative, redemptive goodwill, which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life.

Love is the key that somehow unlocks the door that leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Buddhist-JewishChristian-Muslim belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the Christian Scriptures’ first letter of John: “Let us love one another, for love is God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. One who does not love does not know God, for God is love. If we love one another God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.” King hoped and prayed that this spirit would become the order of the day.

For some, love has. For most, fear rules. We can no longer afford to cower in fear, worship the god of hate or pray before the altar of retaliation.

As King said: “The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.” I conclude as King did, quoting British historian Arnold Toynbee: “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore, the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.”

(THE VERY REV’D CANON)

PETER D. HAYNES

Saint Michael & All Angels

Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar

The effect of slavery on the black population in this country, when blacks were taken from Africa, still haunts us today. The truth must still be told. The cruel torture of blacks who were sold into slavery in the United States has been minimized in American history books. For centuries, we mistreated inhumanely our black brothers and sisters.

The experience of slavery left as its most serious heritage a weakness in the black family. There was no marriage in the slave family — husbands could be sold away from wives, children from parents. There was no possibility of taking responsibility for the children, for one had no power over them. One could not educate them or, in many cases, discipline them. These facts have left their mark on the black community today.

In 2007, black families struggle more than most others. Many people distrust blacks on the basis of their color and there still remains discrimination in our society. Blacks, as a group, earn less than whites. Ethnicities do not see themselves as ethnic groups. Yet in Mission Viejo most street names are in Spanish, though few Spanish-speaking people live there. And in Santa Ana, most street names are in English, but Santa Ana is 97% Spanish-speaking. I guess you can say that groups are formed in strange ways. People still live in ethnic neighborhoods. There is evidence of segregation.

Realize that the black experience is unique in history. The black immigration to this country is not the same as the European ethnic and religious groups that came here. Europeans came here fleeing from oppression. Blacks came here sold as slaves from Africa. They had a holocaust of their own for more than 400 years of oppression. Whites can lose their religiosity based on simply not admitting their background or by not living it. Blacks cannot hide the color of their skin.

In sum, we can continue to live the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by creating a meaningful life of our own, black and white together, by ending stereotypes of blacks, ending prejudice toward all people, discarding discrimination, and removing hate from our vocabulary and our society.

RABBI MARC RUBENSTEIN

Temple Isaiah

Newport Beach

Volunteering is a great way to remember anyone. I am sure if people volunteered on Presidents Day instead of going skiing, it would go much more toward honoring the memory of these public servants. I am sure if people volunteered on Memorial Day or Veterans Day instead of going to the beach or having block parties, that those who have died and suffered for our freedom would be more honored. If Christians would volunteer on Christmas and Easter (Resurrection Day) instead of eating more, watching TV and exchanging gifts, Jesus would be honored. St. Patrick would be better honored by volunteering than by beer fests. God would be more honored by our volunteering on Thanksgiving and serving others rather than the food and football fest it has become.

In the end, though, our token service on any special day would probably frustrate the people who are being honored if that is the only time people served. All of the above people would probably much prefer to see people who live lifestyles of serving rather than spotty serving at convenient times.

The reason that the focus needs to be on serving on Martin Luther King Day or any other day is because people do not normally serve without some good reason. The organizers hope that by using the King name they can get at least one day of service out of people who would not normally be serving.

Poor people need to eat whether or not we are celebrating a national holiday. Children still suffer, regardless of our national celebrations. Serving for one day just because it is a national holiday is shallow.

RIC OLSEN

Lead Pastor

The Beacon

Anaheim

I write this during the week that Jewish people worldwide read the Torah section dealing with the onset of the plagues that descended upon Egypt. Of the penultimate ninth plague, darkness, the Jewish tradition says it was of such opacity that people could not see one another. The darkness was so deep and heavy that people were rendered prisoners of the place they occupied.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did battle with the darkness of prejudice, bigotry and racism that had fostered a society in which so many refused to see their fellow as a human being. King did not man the ramparts solely on behalf of freedom for blacks, but rather in a comprehensive struggle against all hatred and racism.

“God is not interested merely in the freedom of black men, brown men or yellow men,” he preached. “God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.”

After each of the initial plagues wrought at God’s command, Pharaoh called his magicians, who successfully duplicated each feat. Should not Scripture cover over this ability, since it appears to diminish the efforts of Moses and Aaron? The Torah here provides the lesson that anyone can bring plagues into the world. The true gift lies in bringing plagues to an end. That was the gift King demonstrated as he gave from his life — and finally gave his life itself.

The Torah’s most profound teaching about man illuminates the way to halt the plague of prejudice: We are created in the divine image. It is not only that we must see one another, but that we must see each other as anything but an “other.” We are bound by our common humanity. This foundational teaching calls us to see in every visage a reflection of God. We are not bodies that have souls but souls that have bodies; although the bodies differ in color, gender and form, no one is granted more and no one is given less of God’s spirit.

Scripture presents the plagues in order of the devastation they inflicted. The plague of darkness was but one removed from the final plague, death. For the darkness of prejudice is akin to spiritual death. Only death is more devastating than the darkness that prevents one from seeing another.

Judaism avers that he who denies that his fellow man is his brother denies that God is his father. The ancient rabbis asked why God created but one man and one woman and did not fashion all humankind at once. They answered that, first, each person is equivalent to all humankind, and, second, so no one should say, “My ancestry is greater than yours.” We are all descended from a single couple, we are all one family of man.

Our deeds must dispel the darkness that obstructs our seeing that, regardless of superficial distinctions, all are created in God’s image.

For in the words of an unknown author: “Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.”

RABBI MARK S. MILLER

Temple Bat Yahm

Newport Beach

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy is a combination of relentless commitment and his willingness to put his own life and personal fortune on the line to help the United States live up to its promise of justice, freedom and liberty for all. Just as the founders of our country put it all on the line for our freedom, so too must all of us make the commitment to reach out and help those who suffer from lack, limitation and fear. As long as there is an inequity with respect to basic civil rights or the lack of political will to solve our nation’s healthcare crisis, then our country has not lived up to its potential.

I’m glad that Rep. Loretta Sanchez worked with students at the food bank, but what is the ongoing commitment? King didn’t just show up once a year. He was involved and checking up on all of his projects. That is the challenge.

It’s not unlike the same challenge my colleagues and I face every week when we address our congregations about living consistently in the principles we all teach. I am proud of all the wonderful things our country does to help its people and the world. I urge everyone to learn what it means to be in service, and I honor each and every person who consistently volunteers to help another human being.

God bless America and all that it stands for. I pray it keeps its commitment to peace, compassion and freedom.

PASTOR JIM TURRELL

Center for Spiritual Discovery

Costa Mesa

I commend those institutes and organizations for continuing to keep alive the spirit and the message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

No matter what we do, it always seems as if we are not doing enough to honor his legacy, especially in the field of civil rights activism.

To honor him, we must continue to struggle against injustice, prejudice and inequality for all citizens through peaceful means.

I think the greatest message that the reverend left for us is to teach our children that it is not the color, religion or race of a person that makes them a human being, but rather, it is their character and action that is of true measure.

SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI

Imam

Islamic Educational Center

of Orange County

To celebrate civil rights and to work to end discrimination based on race, ethnic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation or gender is at the heart of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The students’ actions to alleviate hunger and poverty are certainly appropriate and praiseworthy.

At the Zen Center, our topic on the Sunday of the holiday weekend was “Freedom: Cooperation, Independence and Rebellion.” We discussed the influence of Gandhi and the “satagraha” style of civil disobedience on King and on the U.S. civil rights movement. On the Monday holiday, we offered an introduction to Zen meditation workshop, which provided resources for freedom from self-preoccupation and availability for service to others, which is the spiritual core of movements to end oppression.

Buddhist activism is characterized by the principle of “inter-being,” which acknowledges that each of us has in our own minds the greed, hatred and delusion we are trying to remedy in others. This awareness contributes to compassion and understanding, rather than self-righteousness and enemy-making. Buddhist activism also calls for mindfulness in politics and community involvements, encouraging a deep awareness and experiencing of people, situations and our own opinions and emotions — before acting.

The best way to honor King’s legacy is by an ongoing, daily commitment to respecting the dignity of each human being. In November, the Zen center had a workshop called “Speak Up! Responding to Everyday Bigotry.” We used the booklets and program guide provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center at www.tolerance.org. The free booklets contain strategies about how to respond skillfully to bigoted comments from friends, family, colleagues and strangers. We pledge to speak up, to raise awareness, rather than remaining silent.

Most Americans participate in holidays at least minimally by being exposed to many hours of media coverage. But it is important to celebrate holidays by participating in religious organizations, civic functions and service projects that build community, rather than by shopping or golfing. Coming together to highlight and implement these important values encourages an ongoing, daily commitment. We can take heart in believing, with King, that “unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”

REV. DR. DEBORAH BARRETT

Zen Center of Orange County

Costa Mesa