Citing harsh lessons from Reconstruction, the rise of Fascism, and the Civil Rights movement, Urban League President Marc Morial told a Martin Luther King Day service in Morristown that good people must not look the other way as white supremacists and the Alt-Right movement try to roll back hard-won civil liberties.
“We cannot sit back and be spectators, and watch time be turned back,” Morial told the packed Calvary Baptist Church on Monday.
He urged spectators to renew their commitment to King’s vision of a fair and just America, even though it won’t be easy.
King faced detractors within the black community as well as the Ku Klux Klan, Morial noted. Yet gains were made–culminating in the election of a black president, Barack Obama.
Now, Morial said, strides toward equality are in jeopardy. They can be wrested away, just as the South replaced freedoms forged by the Civil War and Reconstruction with Jim Crow, and as Hitler unraveled the peace bought by World War I.
“When we see the Ku Klux Klan and, if you will, the Alt-Right, somehow show up at marches, and we see elected officials use the veiled rhetoric of division and hate, this is an effort to legitimize hatred as a mainstream political movement,” said the former mayor of New Orleans, in an apparent reference to Charlottesville.
“It’s not Republicanism or Democratic politics or conservative politics or liberal politics. It is hate, warmed over and repackaged and re-sold.
“People of goodwill have an absolute obligation… to our fore-mothers and fathers and our children, to speak truth to power, and say no, and we have to say never again,” Morial said.
Marc Morial speech part 2, video by Bill Lescohier:
Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated 50 years ago in April, would have turned 89 on Monday. It was Morristown’s 48th annual commemoration of his birthday.
Earlier, at a Morristown interfaith breakfast, clerics asked “what would Martin do?” in response to the divisive politics of President Trump.
Defending the Dream: Rejecting Hate and Embracing Love was the day’s theme. At Calvary’s noontime service, speakers echoed Morial’s warning that words are not enough.
Saying we live in “dangerous times” where religious values are under assault, Calvary Minister David Hollowell said comfortable members of society must reach out to “brothers and sisters who need help.
“We’re all neighbors. We’ve got to support each other,” said Hollowell, leading the church in a pledge of allegiance to humanity.
David Hollowell’s Pledge of Allegiance to Humanity, video by Bill Lescohier:
Morristown High School senior Bella Simon recited an original poem urging unity.
“Now America we know is not perfect. But it’s already great,” she said, alluding to Trump’s Make America Great slogan. “When powerful, dark clouds try to crush our spirit, we must hold hands and stand tall.”
‘Through Mine Eyes’ by Bella Simon, video by Bill Lescohier:
Morial, who, like Donald Trump, holds a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, imagined King would be pleasantly surprised by Obama’s election…and perplexed by Tweets now streaming from the White House.
“He’d say we have our work cut out for us,” Morial guessed.
He contends it’s a worthy challenge for the 21st century.
“Never before in the history of humankind has there been a multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious democracy,” Morial said. “We have that chance to build an America that is truly an America shining on a hill.”
Correspondent Bill Lescohier contributed to this story.
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