The Realm of Maximum Impact
In Luke 4:18-19 of the New Testament, Jesus read a scroll from the Prophet Isaiah (61:2 and 58:6) which reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He indicted the religious and governmental leaders of his day as perpetuators of injustice amongst the people they were to serve and represent.
Every Fourth of July, I am reminded of the great African American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, and his speech at an 1852 celebration in Rochester, New York. Like Jesus Christ, he brought to the attention of his audience the injustices, inhumanity, and ungodliness of the institution of slavery – sin against oppressed people. After his sermon, Jesus was run out of his hometown of Nazareth. I don’t recall the fate of Frederick Douglass in Rochester after his speech, but I am sure it was not favorable.
To speak favorably of independence is always relevant to one who enjoys freedom but to speak out against injustice is always relevant to the person who is being oppressed. The story of the lion is quite different than the story of the one who hunts the lion. In Kentucky, we have a heritage of oppression – some upheld and others we have moved beyond.
Jim Crow, the name for a Southern standard of racial oppression gained its origins from a song created by minstrel T. D. Rice in Louisville. The courthouse in downtown Lexington, built by African American brick-layer, Henry Tandy, was once an auction block for enslaved Africans. Even as recent as Memorial Day Weekend in 2009, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally at their Dawson Springs headquarters according to the recent Summer Report of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.
The heritage of slavery and racism in Kentucky is a heritage of ignorance. The perpetuation of it as a doctrine of hatred in any form is shameful and sinful. God made all of humanity in God’s image, according to Genesis 1:26-27. We are all the same.
So this Fourth of July, in celebration I stand with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, the Prophet Isaiah, Frederick Douglass, and Jesus Christ. I celebrate the freedom and democracy that is represented by the accomplishments of this great nation – the United States of America. However; independence stands for more than fighting foreign victories to establish and further preserve the cause of democracy. If it is not about holistic independence for those who are oppressed globally, if it is not about eliminating racism and the unqualified display of its ignorant doctrines, if it is not about the education, health, economic, and social well-being of all of humanity, then that independence is obdurate and becomes self-serving for a few.
Will you stand with us?
Holla!
Hi there! Great concept, but could this truly do the job?