Calvin O. Butts III - Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Service (undated)
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Transcript
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(upbeat organ music) | 0:01 | |
- | We are here tonight to give thanks | 5:03 |
for the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. | 5:05 | |
He told us that we can live together | 5:10 | |
in spite of our many differences. | 5:12 | |
We realize that there is still hurt and hatred in the world, | 5:23 | |
but we come tonight united as children as God. | 5:28 | |
(organ music) | 5:40 | |
(choir singing) | 6:49 | |
- | Let us pray. | 10:30 |
Gracious God, | 10:34 | |
we gather before you this night | 10:37 | |
in this place of worship | 10:39 | |
invoking your presence on our gathering. | 10:42 | |
In the past, you've sent us great profits | 10:47 | |
to speak your word of truth. | 10:50 | |
You've sent us the prophet Martin Luther King. | 10:54 | |
He spoke to us words of comfort, | 10:57 | |
but also words of truth. | 11:02 | |
He knew how to soothe the troubled soul of people, | 11:05 | |
and yet, he knew also how to inflame the conscience | 11:10 | |
of a complacent nation. | 11:16 | |
O God, we recognize | 11:20 | |
that his life was a gift from you, | 11:23 | |
that the words he spoke were words | 11:27 | |
that he was empowered through your spirit to speak, | 11:29 | |
that the great things that he accomplished | 11:34 | |
for his faithful, suffering, truthful people, | 11:37 | |
all was accomplished through your guiding hand. | 11:42 | |
And therefore, we begin this time together | 11:47 | |
by seeking your presence even yet among us. | 11:51 | |
Come touch us, we pray, | 11:56 | |
breathe your empowering spirit upon us. | 11:58 | |
May each speaker be empowered with your words of truth, | 12:04 | |
and more so, may our ears be opened | 12:09 | |
to hear your truth in our time and place, | 12:13 | |
for we need your presence, | 12:17 | |
we need your word this night | 12:20 | |
as much as ever before. | 12:24 | |
And so, we are bold to invoke your presence among us, | 12:26 | |
and may all that we do here be done for your glory, | 12:31 | |
and that your kingdom of peace, | 12:36 | |
justice and love may become a reality for us | 12:40 | |
in our time and place, amen. | 12:44 | |
Be seated. | 12:49 | |
- | Good evening. | 13:07 |
I'm very happy to be here this evening | 13:09 | |
to bring greetings from the city of Durham, | 13:11 | |
the Durham city council | 13:16 | |
on this very wonderful occasion, | 13:18 | |
this occasion honoring the great Doctor Martin Luther King, | 13:21 | |
a person who I think is probably | 13:26 | |
one of the greatest Americans, | 13:29 | |
one of the greatest human beings that ever lived. | 13:31 | |
It is fitting that we be here tonight | 13:36 | |
to keep the dream alive. | 13:38 | |
And I'm so happy to see all of you here. | 13:42 | |
I'm happy to see the mix of people that are here, | 13:46 | |
because Martin Luther King | 13:49 | |
was no respecter of color or persons, | 13:52 | |
he loved everybody, | 13:56 | |
and his dream was that America | 13:58 | |
would come to a time where every one of us, | 14:01 | |
black and white, | 14:05 | |
would live free and in a just society. | 14:07 | |
So, it's very good to see you here | 14:11 | |
to try to keep that dream alive. | 14:14 | |
And I want to say to you that dream is alive tonight, | 14:18 | |
although I must say that the dream has not been satisfied, | 14:23 | |
that Doctor Martin Luther King dreamed of freedom, | 14:28 | |
justice, and equality for us all. | 14:31 | |
And tonight, I hope that we will rededicate ourselves | 14:36 | |
and pledge to ourselves that we will | 14:40 | |
continue to work very hard to make sure | 14:43 | |
that Doctor Martin Luther King's dream comes true. | 14:47 | |
We are in some very trying times, | 14:51 | |
especially for a man that exemplified peace and harmony | 14:55 | |
throughout the world. | 15:01 | |
So, I think that we should and must continue to pray | 15:03 | |
for peace, harmony, righteousness, and justice, | 15:06 | |
and if we continue to do that, | 15:11 | |
I think that what we will have in the upcoming days | 15:14 | |
will be a better world. | 15:18 | |
I know that we are upset at this given time | 15:20 | |
about what's happening in the Middle East, | 15:22 | |
and we differ, some of us, | 15:24 | |
about whether we should even be there. | 15:26 | |
But we must be proud of our young men that are there, | 15:29 | |
giving their, maybe, some of them already have | 15:34 | |
given their lives in the defense | 15:38 | |
of freedom and justice for all. | 15:40 | |
So, as the mayor of the city of Durham, | 15:44 | |
representing the city council and administration of Durham, | 15:46 | |
again, I want to welcome you here to this event | 15:50 | |
honoring this great leader, | 15:53 | |
and hope that you will go away from this place | 15:56 | |
rededicated to his dream | 15:59 | |
of freedom, justice, righteousness, | 16:02 | |
and equality for all, | 16:06 | |
thank you very much. | 16:08 | |
- | There were three college students sitting on a pew. | 16:51 |
They were attendees of the King worship service | 16:55 | |
just like you. | 16:59 | |
A great spirit swept down | 17:01 | |
and whispered in their ears, | 17:04 | |
if you could in a few sentences, | 17:06 | |
please tell me why are you here? | 17:09 | |
The first student exclaimed | 17:12 | |
I am here to remember, | 17:14 | |
remember because, as Cicero said, | 17:17 | |
to be ignorant of what occurred | 17:20 | |
before or after you were born | 17:21 | |
is to remain always a child. | 17:24 | |
To remember the banished Jim Crow signs, | 17:27 | |
to remember the colorization of American politics, | 17:30 | |
to remember the birth of a new freedom, | 17:34 | |
yes, to remember. | 17:37 | |
The second student answered | 17:40 | |
I am here to celebrate, | 17:42 | |
celebrate because, Emerson stated, | 17:45 | |
in the mud and scum of things, | 17:47 | |
there always, always something sings. | 17:50 | |
To celebrate the first black American | 17:54 | |
honored by a national holiday, | 17:57 | |
to celebrate progress, | 18:00 | |
yeah, celebrate. | 18:03 | |
The last student exclaimed I am here to renew, | 18:05 | |
renew by studying, struggling, | 18:09 | |
and preparing for the victory to come, | 18:12 | |
to renew my commitment to peace, | 18:14 | |
to renew my courage to do what is right, | 18:17 | |
yes, renew. | 18:20 | |
Well, the great spirit sighed, pondered, | 18:23 | |
and then replied, | 18:27 | |
have you honestly come to remember the man? | 18:29 | |
Have you really come to celebrate the dream? | 18:33 | |
Have you truly come to renew the hope? | 18:36 | |
If so, you have sincerely commemorated | 18:40 | |
Doctor Martin Luther King, thank you. | 18:43 | |
(applause) | 18:46 | |
(uplifting piano music) | 19:05 | |
♪ Our love is ♪ | 19:47 | |
♪ Warmer than a smile ♪ | 19:53 | |
♪ It gives ♪ | 19:58 | |
♪ To ♪ | 20:01 | |
♪ Every needing child ♪ | 20:04 | |
♪ If anyone should ask you what you love ♪ | 20:08 | |
♪ Tell them this is true ♪ | 20:14 | |
♪ That God lets all his love flow out to you ♪ | 20:19 | |
♪ God's love ♪ | 20:29 | |
♪ Feeds ♪ | 20:32 | |
♪ More than just a face ♪ | 20:35 | |
♪ It spreads through ♪ | 20:40 | |
♪ All of time and space ♪ | 20:45 | |
♪ You know that everything about his love is ♪ | 20:49 | |
♪ Precious and true ♪ | 20:56 | |
♪ And it lets me spread all my love ♪ | 21:00 | |
♪ To you ♪ | 21:04 | |
♪ Let our love shine throughout the world ♪ | 21:06 | |
♪ To every mountain top and steeple ♪ | 21:15 | |
♪ Let it be felt by every soul ♪ | 21:24 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 21:30 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 21:34 | |
♪ Let it reach out to every heart ♪ | 21:41 | |
♪ To every distant foreign people ♪ | 21:49 | |
♪ Til it is present in the world ♪ | 21:57 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 22:02 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 22:06 | |
♪ Our love sees ♪ | 22:16 | |
♪ That love's the key to peace ♪ | 22:20 | |
♪ We'll pray til ♪ | 22:25 | |
♪ All world wars have ceased ♪ | 22:29 | |
♪ If you or anyone you know ♪ | 22:33 | |
♪ Enough to say they feel as weak ♪ | 22:37 | |
♪ Let our universal song, O Lord, be free ♪ | 22:42 | |
♪ Let our love shine throughout the world ♪ | 22:48 | |
♪ To every mountaintop and steeple ♪ | 22:56 | |
♪ Let it be felt by every soul ♪ | 23:04 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 23:09 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 23:13 | |
♪ Let it reach out to every heart ♪ | 23:20 | |
♪ To every distant foreign people ♪ | 23:27 | |
♪ Til it is present in the world ♪ | 23:35 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 23:39 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 23:43 | |
♪ Say words of love to all we see ♪ | 23:50 | |
♪ To let them know that love is equal ♪ | 23:57 | |
♪ Let us lift up humanity ♪ | 24:05 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:09 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:13 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:17 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:21 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:24 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:28 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:32 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:35 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:39 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:43 | |
♪ Til love's ♪ | 24:46 | |
♪ All over ♪ | 24:50 | |
(applause) | 24:59 | |
- | Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. | 25:16 |
Why would you have the day of the Lord? | 25:19 | |
It is darkness and not light, | 25:22 | |
as if a man fled from a lion | 25:24 | |
and a bear met him, | 25:26 | |
or went into the house | 25:28 | |
and leaned with his hand against the wall, | 25:30 | |
and a serpent bit him. | 25:33 | |
Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? | 25:37 | |
And gloom with no brightness in it? | 25:42 | |
I hate, I despise your feasts, | 25:45 | |
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 25:48 | |
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings | 25:51 | |
and cereal offerings, | 25:54 | |
I will not accept them. | 25:56 | |
And the peace offerings of your fatted beasts, | 25:58 | |
I will not look upon. | 26:00 | |
Take away from me the noise of your songs, | 26:03 | |
to the melody of your harps I will not listen. | 26:05 | |
But let justice roll down like the waters | 26:09 | |
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. | 26:13 | |
- | Ladies and gentlemen, | 26:32 |
let me welcome you here tonight to this program | 26:34 | |
in honor of Doctor Martin Luther King. | 26:37 | |
I'm pleased to be able to introduce | 26:40 | |
the speaker of tonight. | 26:43 | |
In 1985, I think it was, | 26:48 | |
I first met our speaker. | 26:50 | |
He was doing what he does best when we met, | 26:54 | |
and that was to advocate for better treatment, | 27:00 | |
better support for children in New York City. | 27:04 | |
Doctor Butts is a New York native, | 27:11 | |
although he lived in New York, | 27:16 | |
he spent many summers | 27:19 | |
in rural Georgia | 27:22 | |
where his grandmothers | 27:24 | |
had a great influence on his life. | 27:27 | |
While they were churchgoing people, | 27:31 | |
and a young man was obligated | 27:35 | |
to participate in those activities, | 27:40 | |
and as we will see as his life developed, | 27:44 | |
it had an influence on him | 27:47 | |
that last until today. | 27:51 | |
He participated in some of the first integration activities | 27:55 | |
in the New York public schools, | 27:59 | |
and after graduating, | 28:03 | |
the south influenced him again, | 28:05 | |
and he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, | 28:09 | |
planning to complete a degree | 28:13 | |
in industrial psychology. | 28:16 | |
But as the confluence of events would have it, | 28:19 | |
Doctor Martin Luther King's assassination, | 28:24 | |
the influence and prevalence of religion in Atlanta, | 28:27 | |
the potential for religious leaders | 28:31 | |
to have an influence in shaping and developing | 28:33 | |
the social structure of this country, | 28:37 | |
Doctor Butts changed his major to philosophy | 28:41 | |
and graduated from Morehouse with a degree in that field. | 28:46 | |
He went back to New York | 28:52 | |
and entered union theological seminary, | 28:55 | |
and in 1972, as events would have it, | 29:01 | |
he became executive minister of Abyssinian Baptist Church. | 29:06 | |
These events continued the influence | 29:12 | |
on his realization | 29:18 | |
of the value of a religious leader | 29:20 | |
in the communities of today. | 29:24 | |
He earned his masters in church history | 29:27 | |
from Union Theological Seminary | 29:30 | |
in 1975, | 29:34 | |
and a doctorate of ministry and church and public policy | 29:37 | |
from Drew University in 1982. | 29:42 | |
I met him in 1985, | 29:48 | |
he was the spiritual leader of Abyssinian Baptist Church, | 29:52 | |
he acted as the conscience | 29:58 | |
of the black community in New York City, | 30:02 | |
and in 1989, July, | 30:07 | |
he became pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church. | 30:12 | |
The events that shaped the direction | 30:18 | |
Doctor Butts took | 30:21 | |
continues to influence his life and his work, | 30:24 | |
his commitment to serving | 30:28 | |
his congregation and the peoples around him. | 30:31 | |
I think he is a fitting person to speak to us tonight | 30:36 | |
because I think, and I believe, | 30:40 | |
that his work and his life | 30:42 | |
typifies the kind of person | 30:44 | |
that Doctor King would have wanted | 30:47 | |
to have all of us be. | 30:49 | |
Of course, he's been and is chair of many boards, | 30:53 | |
but I want to mention, and having you meet Doctor Butts, | 30:59 | |
his commitment to serving people | 31:07 | |
in Harlem in New York, | 31:13 | |
his work at attempting to eliminate and remove | 31:15 | |
billboards that | 31:20 | |
are subject to lead young persons to drink, | 31:24 | |
his concern with health, | 31:28 | |
and his commitment to assisting and working | 31:32 | |
to develop more programs for persons | 31:35 | |
who are stricken with AIDS in New York City, | 31:37 | |
his concern for housing, | 31:41 | |
and his commitment to assisting and developing | 31:44 | |
more and appropriate housing | 31:46 | |
for people who are homeless in New York City. | 31:48 | |
I believe that Doctor Butts represents | 31:55 | |
the kind of person that Doctor King believed | 31:59 | |
could enhance all of our lives | 32:03 | |
to make us better persons | 32:06 | |
and would serve to improve the possibility | 32:08 | |
for peace on Earth and goodwill toward all men. | 32:13 | |
Ladies and gentlemen, | 32:17 | |
it is my pleasure to introduce to you | 32:18 | |
Reverend Doctor Calvin L. Butts III, | 32:22 | |
who will be our major speaker tonight, thank you. | 32:26 | |
(applause) | 32:33 | |
(choir singing) | 33:41 | |
(applause) | 37:12 | |
- | Firstly, I'd like to thank Doctor Leonard Beckham | 38:01 |
for the introduction this evening, | 38:05 | |
and for the privilege of being able to stand in this place | 38:07 | |
here at Duke University. | 38:12 | |
A special word of appreciation goes out | 38:15 | |
to the Reverend Doctor William H. Willimon, | 38:18 | |
dean of the chapel, | 38:20 | |
for extending also the privilege | 38:21 | |
of being able to stand in this sacred place. | 38:24 | |
I want to thank Brother Michael Hunt | 38:28 | |
for all of his kindness, | 38:30 | |
and especially for my swift and safe ride from the airport. | 38:32 | |
And I am blessed to have come in | 38:39 | |
just at the beginning of the remarks | 38:43 | |
of the honorable Chester Jenkins, | 38:45 | |
mayor of the city of Durham. | 38:48 | |
To all of these students | 38:51 | |
who have participated in the program thus far, | 38:52 | |
to the distinguished members of the faculty | 38:56 | |
and administration here at Duke University, | 38:58 | |
and to those persons who may be visiting here | 39:02 | |
from the local community, | 39:05 | |
I greet you in peace, | 39:08 | |
grace and peace be unto you | 39:10 | |
from God the Father | 39:13 | |
and from our Lord Jesus Christ. | 39:15 | |
I am | 39:18 | |
somewhat anxious about being here | 39:20 | |
simply because | 39:25 | |
I had to move so quickly to get here, | 39:28 | |
and I was scurrying to make sure | 39:31 | |
that I was in the airport in New York in enough time, | 39:32 | |
and I have learned about flying | 39:37 | |
that I don't like it, | 39:40 | |
and you go up and you go down | 39:43 | |
and my stomach rises and descends with the airplane. | 39:45 | |
My palms sweat, my knees knock together, | 39:50 | |
and my eyes roll to the back of my head. | 39:53 | |
Upon arriving, I saw a minister in the airport | 39:56 | |
who noticed how pale I looked. | 39:59 | |
He said son, why are you so pale? | 40:01 | |
I said I don't like to fly, it makes me nervous, I'm afraid. | 40:03 | |
And he said you should be ashamed, | 40:07 | |
you're a young clergy person, | 40:08 | |
God is with you on land, on sea, and in the air, you know? | 40:10 | |
But I remember in Matthew where Jesus said lo, | 40:14 | |
I am with you. | 40:18 | |
And so therefore I'm glad to be here. | 40:20 | |
It's a little New York humor. | 40:24 | |
(applause) | 40:27 | |
A little New York humor, you know? | 40:33 | |
But I really do appreciate the invitation. | 40:39 | |
And certainly nothing gives me greater pleasure | 40:43 | |
than to be able to address you | 40:46 | |
concerning the life and the work | 40:48 | |
of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. | 40:51 | |
And I want to begin my talk with you this evening | 40:56 | |
by raising a flag of caution. | 41:01 | |
Usually when people discuss the life and the work | 41:07 | |
of Doctor King, | 41:10 | |
they try | 41:13 | |
to compartmentalize him. | 41:16 | |
They try to put him in | 41:19 | |
certain categories | 41:22 | |
that would make him appealing to some of us, | 41:25 | |
but perhaps not all of us. | 41:29 | |
And I'm disturbed by that, | 41:33 | |
an I want you to be careful of it, | 41:34 | |
because I think it's dangerous to parochialize Doctor King. | 41:37 | |
Some people will say that | 41:44 | |
Doctor King was a great civil and human rights leader. | 41:46 | |
And, to be sure, | 41:51 | |
Doctor King was, in fact, | 41:53 | |
a great civil and human rights leader, | 41:56 | |
but he was much more than that. | 41:58 | |
Some people will say well, | 42:03 | |
Doctor King was a great black leader, | 42:05 | |
a great leader of the African-American community. | 42:10 | |
And I would agree, | 42:15 | |
Doctor King, in fact, was a great African-American leader. | 42:17 | |
But he was much more than that. | 42:23 | |
Some people will say oh, Martin Luther King Jr. | 42:26 | |
was a great orator, | 42:29 | |
he could really lay down a good stem winder. | 42:31 | |
He had the ability to relate to us | 42:36 | |
the rhetoric in a most eloquent way, | 42:40 | |
he was a master, if you will, | 42:43 | |
of the sacred rhetoric. | 42:45 | |
Martin Luther King Jr., yes, | 42:48 | |
was a great civil and human rights leader, | 42:50 | |
yes, he was a great | 42:53 | |
orator, and yes, Martin Luther King Jr. was, | 42:57 | |
with everything else, a great Baptist preacher, | 43:01 | |
but he was much more than all of these things. | 43:04 | |
And I think that the title | 43:08 | |
that makes Doctor King appealing | 43:13 | |
for all of us in this chapel | 43:16 | |
and all of us across the United States of America | 43:19 | |
is to say that Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. | 43:24 | |
above all things | 43:27 | |
was a great American. | 43:30 | |
He was an American, | 43:34 | |
and he said it himself, | 43:37 | |
because we can never rehearse the life and work | 43:39 | |
of Doctor Martin Luther King | 43:41 | |
without calling upon his great speeches. | 43:43 | |
He said, when he talked about his dream, | 43:47 | |
that it was a dream deep rooted | 43:49 | |
in the American Dream. | 43:53 | |
He defined himself as a great American, | 43:56 | |
and if we allow | 43:59 | |
people to compartmentalize him, | 44:01 | |
people to parochialize him, | 44:03 | |
if we allow people to put him in certain categories, | 44:06 | |
we will miss the great impact that he had | 44:09 | |
for all of us in this nation called the United States. | 44:12 | |
He was a great American, | 44:18 | |
and he did not come full grown out of the head of Zeus | 44:20 | |
with his love for America, | 44:25 | |
he did not combust on a street corner | 44:27 | |
in Montgomery, Alabama. | 44:30 | |
Martin Luther King Jr. was nurtured in the incubator | 44:32 | |
of America, | 44:37 | |
and he picked up his love of this country | 44:39 | |
from great Americans who had gone before him. | 44:43 | |
You see, because in order to understand | 44:47 | |
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., | 44:49 | |
you must understand that he was a man | 44:51 | |
who stood on the shoulders of giants. | 44:54 | |
Martin Luther King Jr. believed in America | 44:58 | |
because he understood that | 45:01 | |
those before him believed in America. | 45:03 | |
In order to understand Martin Luther King Jr., | 45:07 | |
you would have to understand Mordecai Johnson. | 45:09 | |
You would have to understand Mary McLeod Bethune. | 45:13 | |
You would have to understand Ida B. Wells | 45:17 | |
and Mary Church Terrell. | 45:20 | |
In order to understand Martin Luther King Jr., | 45:22 | |
you would have to understand Howard Thurman | 45:25 | |
and Benjamin Elijah Mays. | 45:28 | |
You cannot understand Martin Luther King Jr. | 45:32 | |
apart from his nurturing by other great Americans | 45:36 | |
who taught him that America | 45:39 | |
was the place where he should cast his lot | 45:42 | |
and build his dreams on the foundation | 45:46 | |
that was found in the preamble | 45:50 | |
to that glorious document called the Constitution. | 45:53 | |
We hold these truths to be self evident | 45:58 | |
that all, allow me a little editorialism, | 46:02 | |
persons are created equal, | 46:06 | |
that they are endowed by their creator | 46:08 | |
with certain inalienable rights. | 46:11 | |
And among them are life, liberty, | 46:15 | |
and the pursuit of happiness. | 46:17 | |
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., | 46:21 | |
recognizing what he had inherited from his ancestors | 46:24 | |
and also what he had inherited | 46:27 | |
from the founding fathers, if you will, | 46:30 | |
of this nation, | 46:32 | |
decided to cast his lot with America. | 46:34 | |
And even though he recognized | 46:40 | |
that the ones who put pen to paper | 46:44 | |
and drafted that great document called the Constitution | 46:47 | |
were themselves hypocritical as regarded its words, | 46:50 | |
he still believed that what was on that paper | 46:55 | |
could be used to create | 46:59 | |
the land of the free | 47:02 | |
and the home of the brave. | 47:05 | |
But you know, it's never good, really, | 47:09 | |
to talk about men or women | 47:10 | |
who resembled Martin Luther King Jr. | 47:13 | |
without being able to put them | 47:17 | |
really in historical perspective. | 47:20 | |
And culturally, we as African-American people, | 47:23 | |
like to call upon our great cultural giants | 47:27 | |
to help us to focus on our religious | 47:30 | |
and political spokespersons. | 47:33 | |
So, I want to help you to understand | 47:37 | |
Martin Luther King Jr's dream of America | 47:39 | |
by going back to the turn of the 20th century. | 47:43 | |
I wanna find a black person in Harlem, | 47:48 | |
Harlem, that white scar, | 47:52 | |
that black scar on the alabaster underbelly | 47:56 | |
of a leviathan called Manhattan. | 48:01 | |
I wanna find a little black poet | 48:04 | |
who's name was Langston Hughes, | 48:08 | |
my oh my what a curious thing | 48:11 | |
to paint a poet black and bid him to sing. | 48:14 | |
But Langston Hughes did sing, | 48:18 | |
and I want you to hear what he said | 48:20 | |
in a poem called Let America | 48:24 | |
Be America Again. | 48:28 | |
Now, this poem has many stanzas to it, | 48:31 | |
but I wanna lift up just one stanza for you tonight. | 48:33 | |
Listen to what Langston Hughes wrote. | 48:38 | |
He said I am the poor white | 48:41 | |
fool and pushed apart, | 48:44 | |
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. | 48:47 | |
I am the red man pushed from the land, | 48:53 | |
and I am the immigrant from Czechoslovakia, | 48:59 | |
from Greece, from Germany, from France, from England, | 49:03 | |
I am the immigrant from Korea, from Mexico, from Cuba, | 49:07 | |
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek | 49:12 | |
and finding the same old stupid plan | 49:16 | |
of dog eat dog and mighty crush the weak. | 49:20 | |
Oh yes, I say it plain, | 49:25 | |
America never was America for me, | 49:27 | |
but yet I swear this oath, | 49:30 | |
America will be. | 49:33 | |
Langston Hughes wrote that poem in the early 20s, | 49:37 | |
and I want you to understand, my beloved friends, | 49:43 | |
that he lived in an America | 49:47 | |
where Jim Crow was the law of the land. | 49:50 | |
Langston Hughes lived in an America | 49:53 | |
where an African-American man was lynched | 49:56 | |
every few moments in the south. | 49:59 | |
Langston Hughes lived in an America where | 50:02 | |
in some parts, perhaps of even Durham at that time, | 50:05 | |
a black man had to jump off the sidewalk | 50:09 | |
in order for a white man to pass by. | 50:12 | |
But yet, when this poet wrote, | 50:16 | |
he saw an America made up of poor whites, | 50:18 | |
of the so-called Negro, | 50:23 | |
of the so called red man, | 50:25 | |
and of the immigrants coming from lands far away, | 50:28 | |
here was a man who had a vision of America that said | 50:31 | |
if America is going to really be America, | 50:35 | |
all of us have got to learn to live together, | 50:39 | |
poor white, so-called Negro, | 50:43 | |
red man, and immigrant. | 50:45 | |
O beautiful, for spacious skies, | 50:49 | |
for amber waves of grain, | 50:53 | |
for purple mountains majesty | 50:55 | |
above the fruited plain, | 50:58 | |
America, America, God shed his grace on thee, | 51:01 | |
and crown thy good with brotherhood | 51:06 | |
from sea to shining sea. | 51:09 | |
But how are you going to be my brother, | 51:12 | |
or how are you going to be my sister | 51:15 | |
when you don't even know my name? | 51:18 | |
And so, Martin Luther King Jr. said | 51:23 | |
if we're going to bring America together, | 51:25 | |
we've got to rise above our ignorance | 51:28 | |
and begin to learn who each other is | 51:31 | |
in terms of where we've come from | 51:36 | |
and what we've contributed to make America great. | 51:38 | |
Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us | 51:42 | |
that our ignorance keeps us apart, | 51:45 | |
and it creates hatred among us, | 51:47 | |
and because of our division, America is that much weaker, | 51:50 | |
for a house divided against itself | 51:54 | |
cannot stand. | 51:57 | |
So, Martin Luther King Jr. | 51:59 | |
made his way, | 52:02 | |
based on the thoughts of great Americans before him, | 52:04 | |
based on the foundation of the constitution, | 52:08 | |
and convinced that this nation could be great | 52:11 | |
if we would all come together | 52:14 | |
to build his beloved community | 52:16 | |
on love and the principle of love | 52:19 | |
that binds us together | 52:22 | |
because of our love for America. | 52:24 | |
I too sing America, | 52:29 | |
oh, I'm the darker brother, when company comes, | 52:31 | |
they send me to the kitchen. | 52:33 | |
And that's all right, I go to the kitchen, | 52:35 | |
and I eat, and I get fat and beautiful, | 52:37 | |
so when company comes again, | 52:40 | |
they'll see how beautiful I am | 52:42 | |
and no one will be ashamed of me. | 52:43 | |
Yes, I too sing America, | 52:47 | |
because this is my country. | 52:50 | |
Everyone wonders how America could be so rich and powerful, | 52:55 | |
I tell them that's no math test, | 52:58 | |
if you had all of us working for you | 53:01 | |
and paid us nothing for 200 years, | 53:03 | |
you could be rich and powerful also. | 53:05 | |
This is my country, | 53:12 | |
I farmed the land, | 53:14 | |
I worked in the factories and got a substandard wage | 53:17 | |
when everyone else was making more than I did. | 53:21 | |
This is my country, | 53:24 | |
I nursed the babies when their mothers didn't want them. | 53:27 | |
This is my country, I picked the cotton, | 53:31 | |
I cracked the tobacco, I cut the cane. | 53:33 | |
This is my country. | 53:37 | |
We've given America everything, | 53:40 | |
why, we've given America its only truly American music, | 53:42 | |
our subtle sense of song did that. | 53:45 | |
We gave America its only laughter and pathos, | 53:48 | |
its only fairytales and its mad money getting plutocracy. | 53:50 | |
This is my country. | 53:55 | |
As a matter of fact, in that city where I come from, | 53:58 | |
a barrier was built to protect the Dutch from the English | 54:02 | |
at the tip of Manhattan island. | 54:06 | |
You know who built the wall | 54:08 | |
after which Wall Street is named? | 54:10 | |
I did, I built it not only physically with my hands, | 54:12 | |
but the blood of my ancestors | 54:16 | |
made the money that keeps the stock exchange rolling today. | 54:18 | |
This is my country, | 54:24 | |
and when American decided that it | 54:26 | |
wanted to break free from Great Britain, | 54:29 | |
represented by a man named Chris Pizadeks, | 54:32 | |
there were countless thousands of Africans | 54:35 | |
who died to make this the United States of America | 54:39 | |
rather than the Confederated Colonies of Great Britain. | 54:43 | |
This is my country. | 54:46 | |
And when the nation was divided, | 54:49 | |
we marched not only with the north, | 54:52 | |
but there were some of us with the south, | 54:55 | |
fighting in order to try to create a balance, | 54:57 | |
and those in the north made this nation whole | 55:00 | |
and, thank God for Denzel and Morgan Freeman | 55:04 | |
on the screen and glory because nobody | 55:06 | |
maybe would've known the story | 55:09 | |
of how we shed our blood to save America. | 55:12 | |
Then in World War One | 55:20 | |
there was a group called the 369th infantry division | 55:23 | |
hup, two, three, four, | 55:27 | |
and they went over to Germany and France to fight. | 55:29 | |
I took my son to the museum | 55:34 | |
that's in the place in the armory in New York. | 55:37 | |
And he looked up and he saw this sign that said | 55:41 | |
these are the Hell Fighters. | 55:44 | |
So, being my son, he said Daddy, | 55:47 | |
why did they call them the Hell Fighters? | 55:49 | |
Chaplin, you'll forgive me, | 55:51 | |
but I had to tell him the truth | 55:52 | |
because they fought like hell. | 55:53 | |
And I wanted to make sure that you understood that | 55:56 | |
this 369th infantry division | 56:03 | |
quipped the Germans on every turn, | 56:07 | |
and they also had a band with them, | 56:09 | |
it was led by a man named Jim Europe, | 56:11 | |
he directed this band, | 56:13 | |
and they had a drum major, | 56:15 | |
his name was Bill Bojangles Robinson, | 56:17 | |
I want you to know this. | 56:19 | |
And so hard did they fight that after a while, | 56:22 | |
when the Germans heard their band play, | 56:26 | |
they put down their guns and ran | 56:28 | |
and said uh oh, here come the Hell Fighters. | 56:30 | |
My country, and when the Japanese | 56:34 | |
decided that they were gonna bomb Pearl Harbor, | 56:37 | |
a little black man got up on an anti aircraft gun | 56:40 | |
and shot down plane after plane of the Japanese, | 56:43 | |
his name was Dorie Miller. | 56:46 | |
When we marched off to Vietnam, | 56:49 | |
I was 10 percent here, but 22 percent on the front line, | 56:51 | |
this is my country. | 56:55 | |
I worked for it, I died for it, | 56:59 | |
I cared for it, | 57:03 | |
and anybody who tries to take it from me | 57:05 | |
has made a terrible mistake | 57:08 | |
because, you see, I want you to know | 57:10 | |
that I can sing perhaps better | 57:16 | |
than any other patriot, | 57:19 | |
this is my country, land that I love, | 57:20 | |
this is my country, sent from above, | 57:24 | |
and I pledge thee my allegiance, | 57:27 | |
America the bold, | 57:29 | |
for this is my country to have and to hold. | 57:30 | |
Your greatest patriots cannot sing like I can, | 57:33 | |
O beautiful for patriots dreams | 57:37 | |
that sees beyond the years | 57:40 | |
thine alabaster city's gleam undimmed by human tears, | 57:42 | |
America, America, God, mend thine every flaw | 57:46 | |
and confirm thy soul in self control | 57:49 | |
thy liberty and law. | 57:53 | |
I like to do that, you see, | 57:56 | |
because I know that there's some looking up | 57:57 | |
at my black face and saying | 57:59 | |
who do you think you are? | 58:00 | |
I'm an American just like you, | 58:02 | |
and I've earned every bit of it, | 58:05 | |
and I'm proud of it. | 58:08 | |
So therefore, when I go to the next portion of my speech, | 58:10 | |
I don't worry about what I have to say, | 58:15 | |
because I know that in the spirit | 58:19 | |
of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., | 58:21 | |
I have every right to be as critical of America | 58:23 | |
as the next person. | 58:27 | |
And as I work in the bowels of the urban north | 58:29 | |
and I see the dismay on the faces of men and women | 58:32 | |
as I watch as the number of homeless | 58:37 | |
continues to increase, | 58:39 | |
and as people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs | 58:41 | |
and sick with AIDS have no place to go, | 58:45 | |
as I watch as children who need daycare | 58:49 | |
are left alone so that their mothers can go out | 58:53 | |
and earn a few nickels, | 58:56 | |
and as I watch as the school system in New York | 58:58 | |
begins to deteriorate, | 59:00 | |
then I see hundreds of millions of billions of dollars | 59:03 | |
being taken out of this country | 59:07 | |
and sent overseas to fight a war | 59:09 | |
against a group of people who have never said anything ugly, | 59:13 | |
to me, | 59:20 | |
then I've got a real problem with America. | 59:23 | |
Martin Luther King Jr. was dead one year to the date | 59:29 | |
after he made a similar statement | 59:31 | |
from a church that looked as beautiful as this one | 59:33 | |
in New York, the Riverside Church, | 59:36 | |
April fourth, 1967. | 59:37 | |
And he said that the money that we were wasting in Vietnam | 59:40 | |
could be rebuilding lives right here in America, | 59:43 | |
and as I speak, I speak as a black man from New York, | 59:47 | |
but in the hills of North Carolina, | 59:50 | |
in the bowels of Georgia, | 59:51 | |
in the backwoods of Tennessee and Virginia, | 59:53 | |
not only blacks, but poor whites suffer from no healthcare. | 59:55 | |
Their children need to be nestled in daycare centers | 1:00:00 | |
to allow their parents to work. | 1:00:04 | |
Homelessness runs rampant not only in the black community, | 1:00:07 | |
but in all communities of this nation. | 1:00:11 | |
And as we look at the resources being taken | 1:00:14 | |
from here to protect countries | 1:00:16 | |
that don't even have their young men and women | 1:00:19 | |
on the front line, what are we to think? | 1:00:23 | |
I don't like to speak this way about my nation, | 1:00:32 | |
and my heart goes out | 1:00:36 | |
for those young men and women on the front lines, | 1:00:36 | |
black and white, | 1:00:39 | |
because they're children, | 1:00:41 | |
and many of them are just as frightened as they can be. | 1:00:42 | |
They don't understand why they're there, | 1:00:45 | |
someone said you're going to fight to save the world | 1:00:47 | |
from communism and to make the world safe for democracy, | 1:00:51 | |
and everybody here at Duke University at least | 1:00:54 | |
knows that Kuwait was anything other than a democracy. | 1:00:57 | |
And also, as we go forward to march, | 1:01:01 | |
we realize that we only get a small portion of our oil | 1:01:04 | |
from that part of the land, | 1:01:07 | |
and then we see that Saddam Hussein, | 1:01:09 | |
as crazy as he is, and he is an absolute nut, | 1:01:12 | |
is saying that he's got to tie | 1:01:16 | |
the Palestinian question to the solution for this war. | 1:01:20 | |
And I step back and I say oh my God, | 1:01:24 | |
what are we doing? | 1:01:28 | |
In the streets of New York, | 1:01:30 | |
I hear the chant no justice, no peace. | 1:01:31 | |
From South Africa, I hear the chant | 1:01:34 | |
no justice, no peace. | 1:01:36 | |
And from the Palestinians I hear the chant | 1:01:38 | |
no justice, no peace. | 1:01:40 | |
And I know what would count for peace in America, | 1:01:43 | |
and I know what would count for peace in South Africa, | 1:01:46 | |
but it is beyond me to figure out | 1:01:50 | |
what is going to count for peace | 1:01:52 | |
between the sons of Abraham, it's not our conflict, | 1:01:54 | |
bring our boys and girls home. | 1:01:58 | |
And as we sit back and wave the flag, | 1:02:05 | |
who's gonna pay for it? | 1:02:10 | |
Who's gonna pick up the bill? | 1:02:14 | |
Billy Graham can pray with the president all he wants, | 1:02:17 | |
but when the man puts the check on the table | 1:02:20 | |
it's coming out of your pocket, | 1:02:23 | |
and my pocket. | 1:02:25 | |
And something tells me that as much as I love this nation, | 1:02:27 | |
we've got to cure our waring madness | 1:02:32 | |
or else we will find ourselves at home | 1:02:37 | |
at each others' throats, | 1:02:41 | |
and we will become an easy prey | 1:02:43 | |
for anyone who wants to sweep in. | 1:02:45 | |
Somebody said well, | 1:02:53 | |
y'all went up and got one of them liberals from New York. | 1:02:55 | |
And I don't see anything wrong with liberalism, | 1:03:00 | |
I told you, liberalism was the thing that made us | 1:03:03 | |
the United States of America | 1:03:05 | |
and not the Confederated Colonies of Great Britain. | 1:03:07 | |
Liberalism gave us freedom of speech, | 1:03:09 | |
freedom of religion, freedom of assembly. | 1:03:11 | |
Liberalism is what held the Union together | 1:03:14 | |
when it was about to split. | 1:03:16 | |
Liberalism is what gives you social security | 1:03:17 | |
and all those good things that you hope will be there | 1:03:19 | |
when you get old enough to enjoy them. | 1:03:22 | |
But I don't want you to count my speech | 1:03:26 | |
in just some kind of neoliberalism, | 1:03:28 | |
I think those titles and terms are altogether wrong, | 1:03:30 | |
just say that what's in this preacher's heart | 1:03:34 | |
and coming out of his mouth | 1:03:37 | |
is an appeal for sanity and love. | 1:03:38 | |
And that if, in the spirit of King, | 1:03:43 | |
you practice an eye for an eye | 1:03:47 | |
and a tooth for a tooth, | 1:03:51 | |
then all you will be is blind and toothless. | 1:03:53 | |
And still have the same problems | 1:04:00 | |
facing you. | 1:04:04 | |
So, I don't want people to say that | 1:04:07 | |
this man came down with an anti American speech, | 1:04:09 | |
for this is my country. | 1:04:13 | |
My country tis of thee sweet land of liberty, | 1:04:15 | |
of thee I sing. | 1:04:18 | |
Land, guess what? Where my fathers died. | 1:04:20 | |
Land maybe of the Pilgrim's pride, | 1:04:23 | |
but from every mountainside I do want freedom to ring. | 1:04:25 | |
And I want it to ring not for | 1:04:29 | |
just this lone little black boy standing up here, | 1:04:30 | |
I want it to ring for everybody, | 1:04:33 | |
the poor white, | 1:04:35 | |
the red man, the immigrant, | 1:04:37 | |
the so-called Negro, | 1:04:40 | |
I want all of us to recognize that America | 1:04:42 | |
can be America, | 1:04:46 | |
but it can't be as long as the best of us | 1:04:49 | |
are somewhere else fighting a war | 1:04:53 | |
that most of us don't understand. | 1:04:56 | |
And those on the rich, on the top, | 1:04:59 | |
keep getting richer, | 1:05:02 | |
and those on the bottom keep getting poorer, | 1:05:04 | |
and I'll bet you | 1:05:08 | |
that most of you out there in that audience are poor, | 1:05:13 | |
or you may not be as poor as the dirt farmer, | 1:05:17 | |
but you let a mean wave of depression hit and most of us, | 1:05:22 | |
even if we got a couple of hundred thousand | 1:05:27 | |
in the bank, will be wiped out. | 1:05:29 | |
And you know what keeps us apart? | 1:05:32 | |
The cruel hoax of race. | 1:05:35 | |
I don't care how poor I am, | 1:05:37 | |
I'm better than that colored man over there. | 1:05:40 | |
And I was being kind. | 1:05:42 | |
And I don't care what I'm going through, | 1:05:46 | |
you ain't gonna get me til your night with no white man. | 1:05:48 | |
We don't have anything in common. | 1:05:53 | |
Martin King was the architect that taught us | 1:05:55 | |
about each other and caused us to rise above racism | 1:05:58 | |
and put our arms around us and brought us together | 1:06:01 | |
so that we could effectively fight | 1:06:04 | |
spiritual wickedness in high places. | 1:06:08 | |
And whenever you see a prophet | 1:06:12 | |
point to the real source of evil, | 1:06:14 | |
John got his head cut off. | 1:06:17 | |
Jesus got nailed to a tree. | 1:06:20 | |
And Martin Luther King Jr. was shot down | 1:06:23 | |
on a Memphis balcony. | 1:06:27 | |
O beloved, when will we realize | 1:06:30 | |
that we've got to hold each others' hands | 1:06:34 | |
and unite for the common dignity | 1:06:38 | |
of all humankind? | 1:06:40 | |
And this one last point, | 1:06:44 | |
Martin King Jr. was a man who had a dream about America, | 1:06:48 | |
but that was not his total dream. | 1:06:53 | |
And if you were to understand him, | 1:06:56 | |
you must know that what he wanted most of all | 1:06:58 | |
was a place where the lion | 1:07:03 | |
and the lamb would lie down together. | 1:07:06 | |
Where men and women would beat their swords | 1:07:09 | |
into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks | 1:07:11 | |
and study war no more. | 1:07:14 | |
If you were to understand Martin Luther King Jr., | 1:07:16 | |
he really wanted the place where | 1:07:19 | |
every valley would be exalted | 1:07:21 | |
and every mountain and hill brought low, | 1:07:23 | |
where the leaves on the trees would be good | 1:07:26 | |
for the healing of the nations, | 1:07:28 | |
where the river flows pure as crystal. | 1:07:30 | |
If you were to understand Martin Luther King Jr., | 1:07:33 | |
he could never be satisfied with the mere | 1:07:35 | |
manmade or womanmade piece of earth, | 1:07:39 | |
he was looking toward the glories of heaven | 1:07:41 | |
where he expected all of those who loved justice and mercy | 1:07:47 | |
and righteousness to be. | 1:07:51 | |
And because he had that vision, | 1:07:53 | |
nothing on this earth would ever satisfy him, | 1:07:56 | |
so I leave you with this: | 1:07:59 | |
yes, I love America, | 1:08:00 | |
and yes, I wanna see it become what it can be | 1:08:01 | |
for all of us, | 1:08:04 | |
but my hope is tied up | 1:08:06 | |
in a realm beyond this place. | 1:08:09 | |
It's a land flowing with milk and honey. | 1:08:13 | |
Some of my more militant brothers say | 1:08:16 | |
but you speak like a fool, | 1:08:18 | |
you got your eyes in the sky, | 1:08:20 | |
but my prize is there, | 1:08:22 | |
and as long as my hope is built | 1:08:24 | |
on the foundation that there is a place better than this, | 1:08:27 | |
I'm not afraid of anything down here. | 1:08:30 | |
So, I'll give my life for freedom and justice, | 1:08:35 | |
whether it's for African-Americans in America, | 1:08:40 | |
black South Africans in South Africa, | 1:08:42 | |
or Palestinians in Palestine, | 1:08:45 | |
I will give my life for those | 1:08:47 | |
who have been crushed to the earth | 1:08:49 | |
because I know | 1:08:51 | |
that there is a place | 1:08:53 | |
where pleasure reigns. | 1:08:56 | |
Don't think this is it. | 1:08:59 | |
When the body bags come home, | 1:09:02 | |
when money is short, | 1:09:05 | |
when we realize who's gonna pay this bill, | 1:09:08 | |
you haven't seen anything yet. | 1:09:12 | |
The ugliness is going to overflow into the streets, | 1:09:16 | |
and the repression coming from the top | 1:09:20 | |
is going to be more cruel and brutal. | 1:09:22 | |
Blacks and whites are going to face off against each other, | 1:09:26 | |
and there's going to be a terrible confrontation | 1:09:31 | |
in the streets of America. | 1:09:34 | |
Those of us who would fight for equality and justice | 1:09:36 | |
will be a small number, | 1:09:40 | |
so I leave you with the words of the hymn | 1:09:43 | |
of the great Methodist preacher, | 1:09:45 | |
harder yet may be this fight, | 1:09:48 | |
and right may often yield to might, | 1:09:52 | |
and wickedness a while may reign, | 1:09:56 | |
and Satan's cause may seem to gain, | 1:10:00 | |
but never forget there is a God | 1:10:04 | |
who rules above | 1:10:08 | |
with a hand of mercy and a heart of love. | 1:10:11 | |
And if I'm right, | 1:10:16 | |
I think Thomas Jefferson was right, | 1:10:18 | |
he might've had some slaves, | 1:10:20 | |
but I think what he put on paper was right. | 1:10:21 | |
I think that Lyndon Baines Johnson | 1:10:24 | |
and John F. Kennedy were right, | 1:10:27 | |
I think that Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was right. | 1:10:31 | |
I think that Martin Luther King Jr. was right, | 1:10:34 | |
I think that my momma and daddy are right, | 1:10:36 | |
and they never taught me to hate anybody. | 1:10:38 | |
And if I'm right, | 1:10:41 | |
I believe that God will help me | 1:10:42 | |
to fight my battles. | 1:10:45 | |
And we, | 1:10:49 | |
black and white, | 1:10:51 | |
rich and poor, | 1:10:53 | |
male and female, | 1:10:55 | |
Christian and Jew, | 1:10:57 | |
we will be free | 1:11:00 | |
someday. | 1:11:05 | |
(applause) | 1:11:08 | |
- | Let's bow our heads and our hearts together in prayer. | 1:11:41 |
Father, we do long for that day | 1:11:46 | |
when every knee shall bow before you, | 1:11:50 | |
where men from every nation, every tongue, every people, | 1:11:52 | |
black and white, | 1:11:56 | |
where every country across the globe | 1:11:58 | |
will recognize you, will love and adore you, | 1:12:00 | |
and spend every day, | 1:12:04 | |
every year for eternity | 1:12:07 | |
enjoying your great presence together. | 1:12:10 | |
But this is today, Lord, | 1:12:13 | |
and we see division, | 1:12:16 | |
we see it 11 o'clock every Sunday morning, | 1:12:18 | |
your people divided, black and white, | 1:12:21 | |
and Lord, our hearts weep | 1:12:25 | |
because we see in our own lives, our lives divided, | 1:12:28 | |
spent with those like us, | 1:12:31 | |
with those whom we are most comfortable with, | 1:12:34 | |
Lord, fearing, lacking the love, | 1:12:37 | |
and lacking the drive | 1:12:41 | |
to take the initiative to work to reach out | 1:12:43 | |
to those whom you love, | 1:12:45 | |
whom you've called us to love. | 1:12:48 | |
God, move in our own hearts to root out | 1:12:52 | |
bigotry, to root out hatred, | 1:12:55 | |
to root out pride, | 1:12:59 | |
and fill us with your love | 1:13:01 | |
for the man next door, for the woman on the street, | 1:13:04 | |
for the friend beside us in a classroom, | 1:13:08 | |
for the professor ahead of us, | 1:13:11 | |
or toward those around. | 1:13:15 | |
Or where there are walls, personally tear them down, | 1:13:16 | |
and bring repentance among your people, black and white, | 1:13:20 | |
that we might be one on one, unify with one another. | 1:13:24 | |
Father, where there is a wall between structures, | 1:13:30 | |
between groups of peoples, tear it down. | 1:13:34 | |
God, rise up great leaders with great visions | 1:13:38 | |
who are unafraid to stand firm in your cause, | 1:13:42 | |
who will take any name, any suffering, any cost, | 1:13:46 | |
that we might be one people, | 1:13:52 | |
black and white together in this nation, | 1:13:54 | |
that we might worship you in unity, | 1:13:57 | |
that we might serve and walk side by side, | 1:14:00 | |
that we might sacrifice for one another, | 1:14:02 | |
not holding onto that which is ours | 1:14:05 | |
but realizing that all that we have is yours. | 1:14:06 | |
God, tear down the structures within our nation | 1:14:10 | |
that do make the rich richer, | 1:14:15 | |
that make the poor poorer, | 1:14:17 | |
that leave the rest of us able to continue | 1:14:19 | |
as if nothing was wrong, | 1:14:22 | |
as if the fight is not ours, | 1:14:24 | |
that it is ours because it burns on your heart, | 1:14:25 | |
and let it burn in our own. | 1:14:30 | |
Lord, the time is over now | 1:14:33 | |
for men and women to hate one another, | 1:14:36 | |
and now is the time for your love. | 1:14:39 | |
Father, the time is over now | 1:14:42 | |
for whites to hold onto that which is theirs, | 1:14:44 | |
and to realize that your great bounty, | 1:14:48 | |
given to this nation, | 1:14:52 | |
is for all the people in the city, in the poorest sections, | 1:14:53 | |
in the mountains, where they have nothing. | 1:14:57 | |
Lord, raise up a generation of leaders on this campus | 1:15:02 | |
with new dreams, | 1:15:06 | |
with new visions, | 1:15:07 | |
and Lord, empower them with every bit of the resources | 1:15:10 | |
of your great kingdom to make it happen in our day. | 1:15:14 | |
That black children and white children | 1:15:19 | |
can play together in schools that are strong, | 1:15:21 | |
Lord, in this own very city we see great division, | 1:15:26 | |
in our own community on campus we see great division, | 1:15:31 | |
and how we long for a day when you will bring us together, | 1:15:35 | |
and not just out of programs or out of a particular week, | 1:15:38 | |
but Lord, the unity would be built on love and respect | 1:15:45 | |
for one dignity recognizing that every man and woman here | 1:15:47 | |
is made in your image. | 1:15:52 | |
Stir in us, Lord, hearts that yearn for the things | 1:15:55 | |
that are on your heart. | 1:15:58 | |
In Christ's name, amen. | 1:16:01 | |
I wanna remind you to join us for a reception | 1:16:04 | |
in the alumni room of the Divinity School | 1:16:07 | |
immediately following the service. | 1:16:10 | |
(organ music) | 1:16:16 | |
(choir singing) | 1:16:56 | |
(organ music) | 1:20:48 |