I joined a diverse group of co-learners during the MLK Jr. holiday weekend to discern and ruminate on the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We wanted to hear Dr. King’s prophetic voice afresh and allow his teachings to provide needed perspective in the backdrop of Trump’s upcoming Inauguration Day and as we navigate our current political moment.
We listened to Dr. King’s speech on The Three Evils of Society delivered at the National Conference on New Politics in 1967, and we heard his words echoing for us today:
We have seen our nation weighed in the balance of history and found wanting. We have come because we see this as a dark hour in the affairs of men. For most of us this is a new mood.[1]
The new mood of Dr. King’s Day is our continuing mood as we head into upending uncertainties and engage with cautious curiosity about what’s possible – the good, the hopeful, and the terrible. Dr. King linked three sicknesses to the enduring American challenges of his dayand the grief he carried and expressed on behalf of the poor, needy, and weak, struck a chord in me. He suffered grief not just for his hometown in the South or the urban ghettos in the North in the late 1960s, but all across the globe and in Southeast Asia where the Vietnam War raged.
I suspect that we are now experiencing the coming to the surface of a triple prong sickness that has been lurking within our body politic from its very beginning. That is the sickness of racism, excessive materialism and militarism.
The promise of a Great Society was shipwrecked off the coast of Asia, on the dreadful peninsula of Vietnam. The poor, black and white, are still perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. What happens to a dream deferred? It leads to bewildering frustration and corroding bitterness.
While sitting with others in a spacious, sunlit living room and discussing this speech, my mind swiftly transported itself to my childhood living room in the 1980’s. I am sitting on our large brown leather couch next to wooden bookshelves with at least 3 wide shelves dedicated to filing VHS documentary tapes on the Vietnam war. My dad sat cross-legged 2-3 feet away from our wide 30” TV, groaning in empathetic frustration over those suffering in Vietnam. Having lived through the start of the Korean War while living in Kaesong (now a city in North Korea), in his home country had a parallel experience of a Cold War era proxy war that killed over 3 million people and divided a nation in half at the 38th parallel. There was a dearth of video footage on the Korean War, aptly named the “Forgotten War,” and as he watched similar scenes he had lived through, his groans and sighs reflected his sentiment of having shared trauma with others who understand. He grieved amongst others who had also fallen victim to Western powers that drew lines in geographical sands, playing a game of Risk where they strategically shifted game pieces to bring about uninvited civil wars.
At dinner time, my dad taught us about the history of Korea, discussed the war and its impact on separating millions of family members, including his own, and spoke angrily about the militaristic ugliness of American policies. Dr. King’s speech echoed similar righteous anger but with a gentle and firm voice of pastoral conviction. His words softened my heart and gave me an understanding of the angry, pain-ridden voice that I had heard for years from my dad on the same themes
Dr. King’s prophetic message is a timeless and relevant one, providing me with a redemptive framework for the pained and passionate cries of war victims and all those who are oppressed. It is an insightful framework by which I can understand how we might have arrived at our current moment where we live in a divided nation that seems to be careening toward self-sufficiency, chaos, and autocracy. It is also the compass by which we need to press in for tomorrow.
So we are here because we believe, we hope, we pray that something new might emerge in the political life of this nation which will produce a new man, new structures and institutions and a new life for mankind. I am convinced that this new life will not emerge until our nation undergoes a radical revolution of values. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people the giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A civilization can flounder as readily in the face of moral bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy.
As someone who trusts in a higher moral system and in a power much greater than our current government institutions, I believe this new life for mankind can only emerge from the Kingdom that Jesus birthed upon His arrival. The Kingdom which we represent to this world and one in which we are called to build. We can find solace in knowing that all government will rest on His shoulders. I believe Dr. King was a spokesperson for this greater Kingdom and as a theologian, he spoke on God’s heart for justice and redemption. His words shone light on a God whose heart is captured by the poor, the oppressed, and whose values are radical compared to those of our world.
Jeannie Chun was born and raised in the SF Bay Area and resides in San Francisco with her husband and fluffy grey cat named Oso. She enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her spiritual community at Cross & Crown church. For fun, she enjoys hiking, taking Zumba classes, and pondering life’s deeper mysteries that God seems to enjoy revealing in bits and layers.
[1] This quote, and all the others mentioned, can be read in full from https://www.nwesd.org/the-current/equity/the-three-evils-of-society-address-martin-luther-king-jr/