The Assassination Of King’s Dream
Clay
By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Monday, April 7, 2008
In recent weeks, there has been a national debate about the
appropriateness of sermons preached by Dr. Jeremiah Wright from the
pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Two weeks ago
the controversy led Senator Barak Obama to deliver an important speech
on race in America.
Opinion leaders in the national media praised the speech as
courageous, but the notion that simply more talk is needed will no
longer suffice. While politicians like Barack Obama and the national
media wring their hands over a problem that has persisted in this
country for nearly 400 years, they offer no solutions to the problem.
The tragedy of this most recent revelation of America’s racial divide
is that incendiary remarks by Rev. Wright were delivered in a church,
at the pulpit, by a pastor of a Christian church. If there is
something that can heal the racial wounds of America, it is the
Church. However, this latest incident underscores the lack of progress
and the urgent need for a deliberate and coordinated effort among
Christian pastors and prominent Christians to lead the nation in
racial reconciliation.
The failure of good Christian people to provide a clear and convincing
example of racial unity within the Church has contributed to the
divide between the races in the nation and it only appears to be
widening.
We must recognize that racism is not just a social problem in America;
it is also a spiritual problem. It is a matter of the heart. Healing
racism in the nation is, therefore a challenge facing our country that
must first be addressed in and by the Church. We believe that contrary
to what Americans have seen in the last few weeks, the Church can and
must help lead the nation toward reconciliation among the races.
This diagnosis of the nature of racism in the US is in keeping with
the clear teaching of scripture. Jesus prayed that His followers would
be united. He also said in John 17:21 that the world would believe His
mission and message because of the unity of His followers.
A racially reconciled church can eventually unite the nation.
Evangelical churches are especially prepared to seize this strategic
moment in American history because of their shared theology and value
system.
The basis of our action is an empowerment theology that is based upon
the scriptures. In contrast, liberation theology as preached by people
like Rev. Wright, if taken to extreme, can fan the flames of class
struggles and racial prejudice.
Many churches have already done a great deal to solve this problem,
but there will be dire consequences if the racial tensions of the
nation are not addressed. Just 16 years ago on April 29, 1992 a major
race riot sent shock waves from Los Angeles around the world. Seven
hundred million dollars of property damage, 13,212 arrests, 2,383
human injuries, and 54 deaths lay in the wake of an initial lower
court verdict concerning the beating of Rodney King by four LA
policemen.
We believe that repeat of that riot is possible today. The
protagonists may be black, white, or Hispanic but the danger of
unresolved race based anger deserves a national “intervention” by the
Church.
There is no time to waste.
It is time for America to see the Church as an unbiased representative
of Christ. We want to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. by announcing this Reconciliation Referendum on April 4, 2008- the
40th anniversary of the his assassination. Over 40 leading ministers -
20 whites and 20 blacks - have made a commitment to bring racial
reconciliation to our nation within the next decade. We collectively
make a commitment to take the following intentional and purposeful
steps to begin the healing:
1. Pray for racial healing and spiritual awakening in America.
2. Strategically evangelize across racial boundaries.
3. Conduct pulpit exchanges in our communities or regions which
congregations of different racial majorities.
4. Commemorate the contributions of Christian blacks, Hispanics and
other racial minorities to both the Church and the nation through
black history month and other dates of multi-racial and cultural
significance.
5. Develop cross-cultural leadership within our local ministries,
including spiritual and administrative positions.
6. Recognize that biblical justice is a part of our social mandate.
7. Develop trans-denominational approaches to address domestic
poverty.
What about practical solutions for non- churched people? In our book
Personal faith, Public Policy we give a visionary game plan for a
racially reconciled Church to serve the entire nation. As the Church
unifies, there are many specific public policy initiatives we can
introduce in order to create a greater atmosphere of biblical justice
in our land.
We are calling for all Bible believing Christians to accept this
Reconciliation Referendum and become proactive healing agents in this
nation. Chuck Colson, Richard Cizik, Steve Strang, Tony Perkins,
Bishop Wellington Boone, Tony Perkins, Marcus Lamb, Rick Joyner, Gary
Simons, and over 1,000 believers have signed onto this statement since
Friday. Please sign the Reconciliation Referendum at www.hilc.net
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Bishop Harry Jackson is chairman of the High Impact Leadership
Coalition and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville,
MD, and co-authored, Personal Faith, Public Policy [FrontLine; March
2008] with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
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