I guess it was about ten years ago, or maybe a little less, when I met Freddie Haynes, and I met him in church. I tell my children, I'm not one of those, dyed in the woods, primitive Baptists, but I go to church. Why do you go to church all the time? Why do you do that? Well, I've been going to church all my life, and I guess I just don't know how not to go to church. But I also discovered you can find some of the best people in the world in the church the best people. Now, I'm not up here to push a sermon, either, Freddie, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. But I was fortunate enough to meet Freddie Haynes in my church. And I did not know him initially, but then the word got out and there was standing room only in Harkin Memorial Baptist church. That church will seat about 5,000 people and there was standing room only. I gotta go hear him. I went and I heard him. The next day, I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him, and we bonded. We developed a friendship, because we shared a vision of America, where people are free and can enjoy all of the liberties of being a citizen of America... life, and liberty and justice and freedom. So I said, "I gotta have him part of this series." He asked me a little bit about it, but then he agreed to do it. This is the fourth time that he's been here, because my Dean said, "I could hear him every year." And I imagine there are those of you who have heard him before who've said the same thing I could hear him every year, because of those that I have contacted to be a part of the series, most of them came from the Civil Rights era. If you remember, I brought Joe Lowery here. Joe is about 95 now, and when Joe got here, and... the then-Dean saw him dragging himself across the room, and he said, "Oh my God, what did Bill Anderson bring here now?" And then he sat him up on the stage, and let him stand up there before a pulpit, and he tore it up. He was so good, the stories that he had to tell about the experiences in the Civil Rights Movement are unequalled today. Joe Lowery is a, was a treat, then. He set the tone for this series. And then, Charles Adams. I said I had to have some contemporaries some people are doing it today. Joe Lowery was then. I was then. We're has-beens, but I said we need somebody that's doing it today. Freddie Haynes was a natural. He was a natural, because he's doing it today. And he comes prepared, he got his training at Bishop College. I think they had 99%
black folks at that college, didn't they, remember, Bishop College? And he did further study in... at Oxford University, just to see how the other folks live so he could compare the two. And he says, you know we... we folks down here at Bishop need some of the stuff they got at Oxford and vice versa. So he has a church in... Dallas-Fort Worth area, it's the, ah... Friendship West, Friendship West. When he went there, they had about 200-300 members, and now they have like 12,000 members, and they keep growing, because of the message that he brings. Now, those of you who are ministers, you've heard of Samuel DeWitt Proctor, one of the greatest preachers of all times. Of course, Samuel DeWitt didn't live forever, either, so as he died, he brought up the next generation, and part of that next generation was Freddie Haynes. And Freddie Haynes was telling us a little while ago, how we have an obligation, where those who have helped us along this way, we have an obligation to reach back, and bring somebody else up. He's gonna tell you a little bit about that, in other parts of his work. But he also is the author of "Healing Our Broken Villages" and "Soul Fitness." I declare our villages need to be healed, those who are known by my name will humble themselves. Turn their face then will they hear from heaven. Yes, we need our villages to be healed today. Because there are those who want to turn the clock back, take our voters' right away, and emasculate, you know emasculate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution it doesn't apply to you folks any more. So he's received that B.A. degree from Bishop. And he has a Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation that I told you, he did do further study at Oxford University, so he has a wealth of experience, a wealth of educational exposure, and is valuable to this generation,and I am just proud to have him with you today. Now, let me present to you, Freddie D.W. Haynes. (applause) (applause) Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Let me express my appreciation to the Michigan State community for this wonderful opportunity. I shared at the breakfast this morning, that last week I was in Los Angeles with Reverend Al Sharpton, and Ervin 'Magic' Johnson came to the event. And so I was trying to think of, how could I engage Magic in conversation, and of course, that's real easy, because he is so gregarious and gracious and after a while, I finally said I have to get a one- upmanship on Magic, and so I said, "Well, you just need to know that I'm speaking at Michigan State University next week, whacha got to say to that." And then Magic's response was, "Well, you are going to holy ground, and as a preacher you ought to know, you have to kiss the ground when you get to Michigan State." I said, "Man, it is going to be snow on the ground. I'm not kissing the ground until the summer." And so he said, "Well, give Michigan State a big hug for me." So I am indeed honored and humbled to have this privilege to share. Every time I hear from Dr. Anderson about this, experience, I don't care what I have on the calendar, I move it around, because I have such wonderful memories from having shared here. And every time, I am blown away by the energy of the students here. So I want to commend and appreciatively applaud the students for who you are, what you are doing and for your great leadership. And just know this, that every time Michigan State takes the field in football, the court in basketball, you got a brother down in Dallas hollering for you, (applause) so I am excited about this opportunity to share with you, but especially I'm just so turned on by the fact that I guess the word is "turn up," by the fact that this lecture series is appropriately named for a legend in our time in Dr. William Anderson. He indeed deserves this. We honor ourselves by naming this lectureship after him. I had forgotten and the Dean mentioned this that when you go to that marvelous Martin Luther King, Junior chapel there at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, as the Dean has mentioned, there is a marvelous portrait of Dr. Anderson again, speaking of his inestimable contributions to this country. Not just the Civil Rights struggle, because I'm convinced it was a second American Revolution that helped us in our journey toward a more perfect union. And you cannot write the history of that second revolution without including the name of Dr. William Anderson. And so (applause) to have him Amen (applause) to have him present me... I made a mistake in the class earlier and compared it to a basketball player being introduced by Michael Jordan. I'm in Michigan State, how dare I say that somebody that wore Carolina blue (laughter) would introduce me. And so I want to rephrase that, and so I felt like a basketball player being introduced by Magic Johnson, hall-of-famer. (applause) Because indeed, Dr. Anderson is that to us and so I appreciate him, I appreciated Sandy, who always handles things just warmly, wonderfully and brilliantly and of course, she well may be the brains behind the outfits. So Sandy, thank you so much for your kindess and hospitality. This Dean is absolutely amazing. I appreciate the Dean so much and I appreciated him responding to my anonymous emails because I am the one who anonymously says to you, "Make sure you invite Freddie Haynes (laughter) for the lectureship." I have I sent about a thousand out, I'll be sending them out next week, inviting myself back. And oh yeah, Dr. Anderson had me to reach out to someone that I know today and so I bragged in a text to him about this lecture series and his response on his way to doing something else was, "let's make it happen." And so, I am excited, I may just crash that party next year when that date is solidified. So thank you so much for this opportunity. In light of the historic moment that we find ourselves in, as it relates to the 60-50 piece, which I think is absolutely powerful, I thought it would be good for us today to discuss in the moments I have to share with you, Trayvon Martin and the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement. That's what I want to talk about during our time together Trayvon Martin and the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement. Our ancestors of ebony hue found themselves traumatized and terrorized as they were kidnapped from the shores of Mother Africa and brought packed like sardines surviving somehow, the insufferable horrors and hell of the middle passage to these shores, not to be treated as citizens of what was to become named, or referred to as "the New World," but instead to be treated as shadow property. A part of what some had labeled "The Miafo" or the "Great Suffering." So with that being the case, it is true that our journey is best poetically characterized by James Weldon Johnson, who, in that classic "Lift Every Voice and See," poetically portrayed our painful plight and pilgrimage, when he said, "We have come over a wave that with tears has been watered. We have come treading our feet through the blood of the slaughtered." How poetic that is, and yet, how on point he is, as he portrays our painful pilgrimage on these shores, one that has been characterized by both trauma and terrorism. And with that being the case, I thought it would be good for us to take a look not only at that history of overcoming such, coming to the point where through the Civil Rights struggle, led by such persons as Dr. Bill Anderson and Ella Baker and Septima Clark, not to mention Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Junior and Medger Evers, we found ourselves as a nation undergoing a second American Revolution that was joined by the likes of a sister by the name of Viola Louisa, all the way from Michigan, as well as others who made sure that this nation would live up to the true meaning of its creed, expressed with such beautiful eloquence in the nation's Constititution and Declaration of Independence. No other nation can proudly point to such poetic brilliance as we find in our Declaration of Independence and beautiful words of our Constitution. "We hold these truths to be held self-evident: that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Of course, that birthed the first American Revolution. But then, the second American Revolution took place during the Civil Rights struggle. And yet, my brothers and sisters, you will agree with me that as far as we have come, we still have a long way to go. We still have a long way to go, and was that not sadly and tragically expressed in the case of young Trayvon Martin over the last two years. Trayvon Martin, at this point in his life, had it not been for a Barney Fife wanna-be by the name of George Zimmerman, would perhaps be a freshman, a second semester freshman imagine that, in college, if not a second semester freshman, maybe Trayvon Martin had chosen the route of going to get a job, or maybe Trayvon Martin was utilizing the brilliance of this generation in technology, to not just get a job, but to create some jobs. But Trayvon Martin, who could have been, never will become because of what happened on that tragic evening in February of 2012 there in Sanford, Florida. Trayvon Martin was killed. Trayvon Martin no longer is physically present with us, and yet Trayvon Martin becomes a metaphor, whose spirit speaks to us to the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement. And so, perhaps we can learn a lot from Trayvon Martin as we contemplate what we need to be doing in what Dr. Bill Anderson refers to as the next 60-50. Trayvon Martin has a word that speaks to each and everyone of us. 17 years old and no longer alive. Kanye West perhaps would interpret that by saying, "What's the life expectancy of black guys?" The system's working effectively. That's why, with that being the case, we agree that Trayvon Martin is a metaphor of one whose life was tragically aborted. Parenthetically, I'm using a word abortion that the right likes to use, but the right does not use it after a person is born. Does it not blow your mind that there are those on the right wing especially the religious right that will fight for our rights before we are born, but then do nothing for our rights once we are born. (applause) And so Trayvon Martin must be seen as one, even by those on the religious right, who was aborted. His potential was aborted, his life was aborted. One who could have been, never will become, because that is abortion. And Trayvon Martin again speaks to us as a metaphor... a metaphor of one who was labeled, a one who was labeled labeled, labeled, labeled. I like that, "labeled." I think it's Ophra Winfrey who suggests that to be black and male in what Mio Angelo refers to as these as yet to be United State of America, is to be labeled a suspect. A suspect. I use that, why? Because of the fact that during the trial of George Zimmerman, which ironically became the trial of Trayvon Martin, is that not a trip? I mean, Trayvon is dead, and yet Trayvon finds himself on trial. Responsible for his own murder. And while being on trial, responsible for his own murder, I was so aghast when the verdict came, that angrily when someone asked me how did I feel, all I could do was say I'm just a black man in America, trying not to get murdered, and then blamed for my murder while my murderer gets away with murder. (applause) And so, Trayvon Martin is killed by George Zimmerman, after being killed by George Zimmerman, tragically, the trial takes place and Trayvon is labeled "a suspect" if you followed the trial, you'll recall that when George Zimmerman was videotaped "testi-lying" about the events of that February evening, there in Sanford, Georgia, that George Zimmerman kept referring to Trayvon Martin as a suspect, suspect. I was blown away. He kept referring to him as a suspect. Oh, the suspect was armed, was he not armed with Skittles and ice tea? Surely, he's dangerous. The suspect was wearing a hoodie oh yeah, it was raining. I guess that's what you do when you're going through the rain on your way home into your gated community to the home of your father. Trayvon Martin was hunted and haunted, was haunted and hunted down, by one who labeled him him as a suspect. One could say that Trayvon Martin was a victim of racial profiling. I love the fact that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, who has gingerly avoided the mine field of race knowing that it would blow up in his face, politically, but yet, the week after the Zimmerman verdict came down, President Barack Obama shocked the press corps and most of us in the nation with an impromptu press conference, where he transparently and thoughtfully tried to share with America what was going on. The pain behind what was being expressed by African-Americans and persons of goodwill across this nation. And when he did it, he blew their minds by saying earlier, I had said if I had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin. But then he came straight home and said, no 35 years ago, I was Trayvon Martin (applause) and when he transparently and thoughtfully testified, did you not feel something in terms of our collective skin crawling as a country, that the now-President of the United States had gone through a season where he also had been racially profiled. Hear his testimony afresh as he spoke of the frustration of being followed in a department store as if he was about to become a thief. He spoke of what it meant to feel that he was a threat as he boards an elevator and a woman clutches her purse thinking that somehow his very presence signifies a threat. Hear him afresh as President Barack Obama spoke of being profiled walking by a car and hearing the door suddenly lock as if he's going to, because of how he looks do something damaging to that car. And so, Barack Obama shocks the nation, the President of the United States, the President says, 35 years ago, I also was Trayvon Martin before I was elected to the Senate, I understood the pain of being profiling. Now of course, this is for another discussion, but there are those of us who would say Mr. President, you were being real gracious, because you have been profiled since you've been President (applause) of the United States... but that's for another discussion. Again, President Barack Obama reminded this country that race remains unresolved. Racism still is something that we must deal with. And so with that being the case, agree with me, that there is some unfinished business to the Civil Rights Movement and Trayvon Martin is that symbol. Trayvon Martin speaks to all of us. You're not feeling me like I need you to, let me see if I can give you some quotes since I'm at Michigan State University. I think James Baldwin would put it this way: "Now, as then we find ourselves bound. First without, then within, by the nature of our categorizations." Well, you didn't like James Baldwin, so let me give you Alice Walker. Alice Walker spoke of being incarcerated by imputed images. I like that Alice Walker is suggesting that we find ourselves oftentimes incarcerated by images others have imputed onto us. And so Alice Walker talks about being profiled by nature of the incarcerating images. We find ourselves imprisoned by... if you didn't like Alice Walker or, who was it? James Baldwin, maybe I can go with Beyonce's husband Hoova I guess Jay-Z has to testify right now, because Jay-Z says, "Blindfolded, expected to walk a straight line. Mind-molded, taught to love you, but hating mind." Do you hear Jay-Z testifying that, in a real sense, he's rapping about being profiled I'm not even done. I'll give you one more... Paul Lawrence Dunbar, as he says in sympathy, he speaks of being profiled and now encaged like a caged bird. "I know why the caged bird sings. Ah, me when his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, when he beats his bars as he would be free. It is not a carol of joy nor glee but a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, but a plea to upward to heaven he flings. I know why the caged bird sings." He's not simply speaking of being incarcerated in prison, he is speaking of the African-American experience in this nation. Ironically, he is writing about the same time that W. E. B. Du Bois, in his classic, "The Souls of Black Folk" says the defining element of being African-American in this nation is to find yourself categorized as a problem. And then he rhetorically raises the question, how does it feel to be a problem? A problem that is not solved. A problem that is managed. A problem that is put up with. But a problem that is never-ever really solved. Yes, I'm suggesting that even in 2014, my man Trayvon Martin never became all that he could become, because maybe America has some unfinished business as it relates to the Civil Rights Movement. Unfinished business? Yes, unfinished business. After all, when you speak to Trayvon Martin from eternity he symbolizes the sad reality that the justice system experienced from the bottom up, is often criminal and unjust. I like that. Let me do that one more time. The justice system, when it is experienced from the bottom up in too many instances, is criminal and downright unjust. And of course, we recognize that because we've seen in recent days, how Lady Justice evidently is peeping through the blindfold when it comes to meeting our justice as it relates to cases of persons of ebony-hue. Check this. I'm from Texas, please pray for me, because there in Texas, we have this hang-em high mentality so much so, that we lead the nation by far in the number of executions. And sadly, there is an African-American man right now who may be executed, by the name of Duane Buck. Google him when you get a chance, and you'll discover sadly, that Duane Buck is on death row, because an expert witness, during the sentencing phase of the trial, had the unmitigated racist gall to suggest that because he is black, he is much more dangerous. It's his skin color that makes him, that makes him dangerous. And the jury then sentenced him to death. To execution. They are in the state of Texas, again I'll repeat, the criminal justice system experienced from the bottom up is often criminal and downright unjust. I shared earlier the sad reality, again, in Texas pray for us in Texas because in Texas one judge, according to Channel 8 News, WFAA, which is the ABC affiliate there is Dallas-Forth Worth the same judge who heard a case where one who killed four people and injured nine others, and the defense was affluenza is now sentenced to what? Probation in a posh-type place. That same judge gave a young, 14-year-old African-America child a 10-year sentence to prison, because he punched someone and accidentally killed them, and now he's serving time, not in a juvenile prison, but in an adult prison. Same judge, but vastly different sentences. And with that being the case, you will agree with me that there is something about experiencing the justice system from the bottom up that will cause one to conclude that the criminal justice system is unjust and it's downright criminal. I think it's who? Michelle Alexander, who challenges this nation prophetically with her indictment of the criminal justice system, as she refers to it as the "new Jim Crow." In which she dares to declare that a new cast system has been set up by mass incarceration. And now, there is legal there is the re- legalizing of oppression and racism through the new Jim Crow of the criminal justice system, which, through mass incarceration, feeds our prison industrial complex. I'll give you this... you do know that we live in a nation where, sadly, many states are gauging how many prisons they are going to build by the test scores of children in the third and fourth grade in urban schools. Is that not interesting? After all, to me, if you're going to get it right, why don't you correct your educational process on the front end, instead of building prisons (applause) on the back end? Well, I'm simply suggesting that there is unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement symbolized by Trayvon Martin, and we must understand that Trayvon Martin reminds all of us of the failures of a justice system that in many instances is criminal when it comes to people who view it from the bottom up. But that's not all Trayvon Martin continues to speak to us, of the fact that you can be persecuted when you are profiled. I'll do that again, 'cuz I kinda like that. Profiled in order to be persecuted. Labeled in order to be limited. To be limited and even justified being eliminated. I'm liking that. That's kinda good right there. Because Trayvon Martin was profiled by George Zimmerman as a suspect, and that justified the elimination of Trayvon Martin. That blows my mind, because Trayvon Martin, you will remember, was going home to his father's place in a gated community. Even a gated community was no protective gate for Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin was killed in a gated community. We know about what goes on in the hood, because we live in a nation that is more concerned about the economics of the gun than the affect of the bullet. You didn't like that, but you know that I just told the truth. (laughter) Because it's the economics of the gun, that keeps us from doing anything sensible about the effect of the bullet. And so when we see Trayvon Martin murdered that night at the hands of one George Zimmerman, we cannot help but question the fact that Trayvon Martin was persecuted because he was being profiled. And so the question I raise right now is, what was it that contributed to the mindset of George Zimmerman, that caused him to look at Trayvon Martin and conclude that he had... that he was a suspect? There was something that contributed to his mindset. You're not feeling me. So right now, I'm not concerned so much about who killed Trayvon Martin, as I am what killed Trayvon Martin. Because if we don't deal with the "what," we'll continue to have a lot of "who's", who engage in the mass murder of Trayvon Martins in... on the streets of our nation's cities. And so here we have a mindset. That's what it is a mindset that is fed in this nation. We saw that played out just recently, when Richard Sherman had to educate this nation in the aftermath of the vitriolic and vicious response to what Richard Sherman did immediately following a heated game against a hated rival, down ... the San Francisco 49ers. And so here is Richard Sherman, and he's speaking in a very heated fashion, and the next thing you know, he's being attacked viciously as a thug, and Richard Sherman, taking his degree from Stanford, said it's quite ironic you label me a thug. Is "thug" now the new way of saying in a sophisticated fashion the n-word? He's educating us to the fact, it's not just a "who" that killed Trayvon Martin, it's a "what" that killed Trayvon Martin. Until we deal with the "what" we will not ever experience the true humanity that this nation espouses as it relates to living by to the true meaning of its creed. So what can we do as we move from where we are to where we ought to be? As we move from this chaotic moment to a moment of community, to utilize the language of Martin Luther King, Junior, I would say, "Let's pick up the baton of the Civil Rights Movement" because evidently they got something right. There are some lessons we can learn from the Civil Rights Movement. And what I love about it, is that now, we have an opportunity to instead of sanitizing the movement but to go back and truly study the movement, and learn lessons beyond what we have been taught as we have tried to romanticize and sanitize that movement, because it was not romantic. It was a movement where persons of goodwill came together believing America could become a whole lot better. I love that fact that when you look at the Civil Rights struggle, it did not start May 17, 1954, the Civil Rights movement began during the post-reconstruction backlash as it stirred one Ida B. Wells to fight against lynching. As it gave birth to the Niagara Movement. And today, in 1909, on this very day, the NAACP was born. Don't miss this as a multi- racial, anti-lynching, fighting racism unit. And then after that, you had others to pop up, who made up their minds that America could and would become better. And all of that set the stage for a ground-ground swell that led to the Civil Rights Movement. And the Civil Rights Movement again does not begin May 17, 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education, where there were several cases that came together from different parts of the country, and then led by the one and only Thurgood Marshall arguing before the Supreme Court, we then gave birth to Brow the, to the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, and here is what is so profoundly powerful... it literally overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson, which in 1896 had legalized discrimination. And now, May 17, 1954, we discovered that, through Brown vs. the Board of Education the back to legalized discrimination has been broken, and then that, of course, sets the stage for what takes place in the '50s, so that Rosa Parks responds, inspired by the courage of one Mama Till, who had received the broken and bloated body of her beloved 13-year-old son Emmett Till. And then she said, "I'm not going to have a closed casket funeral" to the undertaker who had inquired, but I want the casket to remain open that so that this nation and the world can see the hypocrisy of the way America is practicing democracy and then, Rosa Parks said she was so inspired by what Mama Till had done, that in December, it was no moment when Rosa said, "my feet are tired." It was the moment when Rosa said, "I'm sick and tired of racism and segregation and legalized discrimination." And that's when Rosa took her seat and Martin King, Junior was then propelled as a 26-year-old recent graduate of Boston University, with a Ph.D. pastoring now the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church there in Montgomery, Alabama. And for 381 days, they broke the back economically of the bus system there in Montgomery, Alabama. And as a consequence, we had the beginning of a movement that then found itself manifest profoundly and powerfully when students then picked up the baton and students at North Carolina, students across the south made up their minds that they were going to take a stand in dignity. And when they took that stand in dignity, the nation moved closer and closer toward becoming what it could and should become. And then, of course, the Albany movement, led by one Dr. William Anderson, who not only joined in with SNCC, but invited Dr. King to Albany. And Dr. King, in his last message was quite profound, as he reflected on Albany and said there in Albany, Negroes straighten up their backs and whenever you straighted up your back you're going somewhere, because no one can ride your back unless you bend it. And I think that's the first point we learned from the Civil Rights struggle, and that is, it's time America, to straight up our backs. It's time to envision what we can become in spite of where we are right now. I think that's what happens when you straight up your back your viewpoint changes. Because as long as you're bent over you're looking down, but the moment you straighten up your back, you can see a lot more. No wonder Dr. King could declare in the midst of a nightmare of legalized segregation, "I have a dream." Why? Because his back was straightened up and he could see beyond where he was, to what could become and maybe that's what we need to do in 2014 and that is to straighten up. I know it's kinda dark right now, when we look at mass incarceration, the case of Trayvon Martin, Duane Buck. Kenrick Johnson. Ernest Hoskins and the case in Jacksonville, Florida even right now. But here's the good news: It's when things get dark, Dr. King said, that's when you see the stars. Well, I'm not Dr. King, I'm Freddie Haynes, so let me give it to you Freddie Haynes style. And that is, if you go into a theater, here's your shout right here. When you go into a theater, before the main movie comes on, if you get there in plenty of time, you discover that the theater lights are up, but the moment they get ready to show the previews of coming attractions, that's when it gets dark. You didn't shout. I gotta give it to you again. You don't get a preview of what's coming until things get dark. And maybe that's where we are in 2014. Things may be dark. There is nothing going on with Congress in terms of correcting the ills of this nation. It's dark. Mass incarceration has us at 2.3 million people in prison today. Michelle Alexander says more black males are in prison today then we had in slavery in 1850. It's dark. But because we are straightening up our backs, we are seeing in the darkness, previews of coming attractions of what America can become. We can become that nation where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. We can become that nation that is that beloved community, where every community is a community of opportunity. Where people, where people can fulfill their God-given possibilities. I hope you see that right now. Because if you see it, it means you have straightened up your back and you're looking beyond where we are, to where we ought to be. Is that not what college should be about? College should be about envisioning what we can become. College should be about Langston Hughes: "Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken wing bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow." When we hold fast to our dreams of what we can become, here's your shout right here: we become so obsessed with our ought, that we are never discouraged by what is. I'll do that again, because I'm so obsessed with what can become, that I'm not going to get too down about what is right now, so I start living every day with my mind on my ought, in spit of what is. Knowing that if I keep moving toward my ought, my ought is going to become what is, and "is" got to give it up to the ought. (applause) And so we're straightening up our backs... not only are we straightening up our backs, but I have to quote who is it Taylor Branch, who does a marvelous job tracing the Civil Rights struggle, and in the opening... and in the opening, or the first piece that he does on the Civil Rights struggle, it's called I love it "Parting the waters." Parting the waters, I love that. Because, of course, as a preacher, he's using a biblical metaphor, parting the waters. I'm talking Moses parting the waters and defeating for once and for all, Pharoh's oppression. I love that metaphor, why? Because parting the waters says to all of us, on the one hand here's some preaching right here, a way can be made out of no way. Don't give up, keep looking up. But parting the waters also challenges us to take stands against unjust structures that still exist in this nation. Please, always remember that the Civil Rights struggle was successful not only because people came together of different stripes and hues, it was successful because the Civil Rights struggle brought about a change in public policy. Public Policy was changed. The 1964 Public Accommodations Act. The 1965 Voting Rights Acts, which the Supreme Court is doing everything in their power to gut by way of its strength and enforcing power. And so we're talking about a season where public policy became a reflection of the meaning of justice. Michael Eric Dyson says that justice is what love looks like in public spaces. Justice, Michael Dyson says, is when my group wants for your group the privileges of my own group. And when we reach that mindset as a nation, then we will be parting the waters as we stand against unjust structures that are... still allow for Trayvon Martins to take place. I'm almost done. This thing is just getting good to me. So let me wrap it up with this: not only must we part the waters, not only must we straighten up our backs, but please remember this, and this is profound and important, and that is even if Dr. King was and I believe he was the drum major for justice, please bear in mind, the thing didn't get done unless the band played on. You see, Dr. King was the drum major, but no music is going to get played if you just have a drum major run out on the field, and the band is not out there with every department playing their... with every section playing their note to bring about a harmony that makes the band sound so good. Go to a football game in the fall and you let the drum major just run out there by themselves, and the band doesn't follow, guess what? The drum major looks kind of crazy. But you let the band follow the drum major and every section do their part to contribute to the harmonizing piece, and before you know it, we make beautiful music together. And that's what we can do as a nation. We can make beautiful music together. Do you not know? And this blew me away, Dr. Anderson, so you can teach us more about this. I was studying this week about the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. The Highlander Folk School, they, they trained Rosa Parks and Scepter McClark and Ella Baker and others, and the Highlander Folk School was so powerful because whites and blacks came together to live in an egalitarian environment in Tennessee. You didn't shout. I gotta do that one more time. This is in the south in the '40 and '50s. And the Highlander Folk School said, when you come here, we're going to teach you non-violent resistance. We're going to teach you how to live together as brothers and sisters, and in the '40s and the 50s, blacks and whites from around the country descended on Highlander Folk School, and they did not live in segregated quarters, they lived together in learning how to live together once they left there, and they learned how to organize communities. They learned how to stand in non-violent resistance, or peaceful resistors against the violence that they would endure. That happened at the Highland Folk School. The Highlander Folks School becomes a preview, there is it, of coming attractions, of what America can become when we take seriously the meaning of America in terms of its intent. And so, yes, Dr. King was a mighty good drum major. Dr. King dreamt a mighty good dream, but don't forget those other unnamed heros and she-roes, who helped to bring about the American Revolution, part two. That simply means you don't have to be Dr. King in order to bring about a new America. You can be you. And watch God use you to make America what America can become. Don't wait for the next Dr. King he ain't coming. Don't wait for the next Dr. King, why? Because you have that responsibility. That's why I love to quote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who brilliantly and prophetically said in a free society,"some are guilty, but all are responsible. All of us have a responsibility to make America a better place," and so whatever section you are in the band, play your tune. Whatever section responsibility you had... if you've got to play the drums, drum on. If you've got to toot your horn, toot on. But all of us must toot our horn of peace and justice and liberty for every single one of us in this nation, or if we do not this nation will devolve into a chaotic hell that is beneath the original intent of our Founding Fathers and, I gotta give it to you like this, our second generation of Founding Fathers, Dr. Anderson and the Civil Rights Movement. I close with this, this is so good right here Dr. Zan Wesley Holmes Junior tells of an African fable where these... where some persons died, and when they died, don't miss this, they were immediately escorted to heaven, and when they were escorted to heaven, they said, "Oh, so we are... we are going to get in?" And the angel Gabriel said, "Yes, you're going to get in. Why?" "Well, we just wanna see what hell looks like before we go to heaven. So will you show us what hell looks like as long as we don't have to stay?" And Peter said... and Gabriel said, "Yes, I'll show you what hell looks like, and then you've got to come back to heaven, that's where your reservation is." And so they said Cool and the Gang, just show us what hell looks like. When they get down to hell, Peter opens up the gate... and Gabriel opens up the door and is aghast at what he sees. A horrific, a hideous and ugly sight. The sight is horrific, because around a banquet table that is laiden with lavish delicacies, there are individuals who are sitting around the banquet table, and their arms are in slings, they are broken, and because their arms are in slings and broken, they are sitting in front of a banquet style-type food, a banquet style table and they are reaching for the food, and every time they try to feed themselves, the arm is broken. So you know what happened? They would try to bring the fork up to their mouth and the food would fly by their face and hit the wall on the back. So you had food on the table, you had food on the wall, and you had emaciated bodies that were dying of hunger. Is that not a hellified situation? I mean, think about that for a moment. Imagine being hungry, food is in your face, and you can't even feed your face. That's some hell right there. And so Zan said at that moment there they are now, saying, oh my God, this is horrible, we got to get out of here. What is heaven like if this is hell? And Gabriel says, "Let's go on to heaven now." When they get to heaven, the door opens similar scene. People are sitting around the table, their arms are broken in slings, but everyone is joyous and happy, everyone feels good about themselves. And so the man says to Gabriel, "What's going on? Why is it that they are happy they're all so full and eating. What's the difference between heaven and hell?" To which Gabriel responds, "Keep looking, and you'll discover in heaven as in hell, everyone's who sitting around a table that is laiden with lavish delicacies, in heaven as in hell, everyone around the table, their arms are broken, and in a sling. But here's the difference in heaven as opposed to hell we've learned how to feed each other. And so as a consequence, you see when you look in heaven, that persons are turning toward their neighbor and feeding their neighbor, instead of trying to feed themselves. Will America become heaven or hell? It depends on if we make up our minds. It's not just about me feeding me, it's about us learning to feed one another. Because when we feed one another, that's when the lion and the lamb will lie down together. When we feed one another, that's when income inequality will shrink, and the have-gots will no longer exploit the have-nots. When we feed one another that's when this nation will be one of liberty and justice for all, excluding ya'll, when we learn to feed each other, that's when America will truly be America and when that happens, we can say, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers and mothers died. Land of the Pilgrims' pride. From every mountainside, let freedom ring." Let's do that. Let's let freedom ring, and when we do that, Trayvon Martin will not have died in vain, because we will have continued learning lessons from the Civil Rights Movement. We've got some unfinished business to do. I've got one thing to say, since we have unfinished business to do : the meeting is now called to order, let us now conduct unfinished business. (applause)
