wfn.org | Bishop writes annual letter to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 30, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green·(615) 742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn. 10-21-30-71BP{644}

NOTE:  A photo of Bishop White is available for use with this story.

By United Methodist News Service

Each year, United Methodist Bishop Woodie W. White writes a letter to his
friend and colleague, the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  White, 64, was
the first staff executive for the denomination's Commission on Religion and
Race, where he served from 1969 to 1984. He was elected a bishop in 1984 and
served eight years as bishop in the church's Illinois Area.  He was
appointed to the Indiana area in 1992.  This year's letter from White to the
civil rights leader follows:

Dear Martin,

I begin this letter in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Having been refused a
visa to visit this country more than 30 years ago, it is surreal to find
myself here today. An era after apartheid that few could see.

But Martin, South Africa is a sign of hope in the struggle for racial
justice.  As you so eloquently said, "No lie can live forever."

The "new" South Africa, already defying most expectations, is striving to be
a different nation.  It is seeking to undo a legacy of segregation, hatred,
and the vilest of economic exploitation.  The country is on its way!  

Martin, I write at the beginning of this new millennium, with both gratitude
and expectation.  Yet, not without a profound sadness.  Race seems a
persistent problem or challenge.  Despite giant gains made this century, at
least in the American experience, race seems to be forever the divide over
which the human family finds the most difficulty reaching.

I continue to be disappointed that the United States gave some of its
citizens rights and justice on an installment plan.  Incremental justice!  A
little right here, and a little right there.  So we gauge race progress
incrementally.  We say with truth, gratitude and hope, "Well it's not as bad
as it was 50 years ago!"  Of course not!  Nor should it be!!  It is a truth
and contradiction in a land that promises "...with liberty and justice for
all."

One must look back however, to see how far we've come.  And look forward, to
see how far we've yet to go!

On the verge of this new millennium Martin, I believe more firmly than ever
that racism and race prejudice are more a problem of the heart than of the
head!  It is more an indication of what one feels than what one thinks.
Thus, it requires a change of heart as well as change of mind.

Martin, the struggle of the last 50 years has been to alter and change
behavior.  Remember how you reminded us at the height of the civil rights
struggle, "I may not be able to make a man love me but I can keep him from
hurting me."  The progress in race relations has indeed altered behavior,
speech, policies, institutions, and laws.  Some hearts have changed along
the way.  But not enough!  

Now there are new hearts!  Young hearts.  Sadly and surprisingly, hate
crimes today, Martin, are crimes of the young!

As we move into a new century and a new millennium, it may well be the
greatest challenge to change hearts as well as laws.  To help people respect
and love each other, not just tolerate each other.  

Perhaps the greatest struggle after all Martin, is not race, or black or
white, but of good and evil.  An age-old struggle.  Racism or ethnic
prejudice is evil at its core and not the domain of any one race or group.
Evil is democratic.  It resides wherever it can.

Racism is fundamentally a dispute with God, inferring that God made a
mistake when creating the human family as diversity instead of uniformity.
This is a theological problem, not just a sociological dilemma.

The Church and religion have failed to address the issue of racism as sin
and therefore intrinsically evil.  In fact, it is God defiance that has
eternal consequences!

Dear friend Martin, I'm not sure if my letter at the beginning of this new
millennium is one of gratitude, disappointment, frustration or hope.  I
suppose it is all of them.  

Gratitude, that the America I was born into more than 60 years ago is not
the one I live in today.  It is a better place!

Disappointment, that America is not yet a land where all its citizens are
valued and accepted without regard to race or color - but are still judged
by both!

Frustration, that every new gain in race in the society and Church is met
with more challenges, more expressions of racial hatred and intolerance.

Hope, because God has already given us a vision of what can be and what was
meant to be - in nation and church.

Every place where men, women, boys and girls come together and color and
race are transcended is an indication of what can and was meant to be.  Each
wall and barrier removed, making possible genuine relationships across
racial and ethnic lines, is hope for a better future.  

Wherever justice and fairness prevail is evidence that it can occur
elsewhere. Martin, I shall not be dissuaded by setbacks or the latest
expressions of racism or racial intolerance, but am more committed to making
ours a nation, church, and society where all will finally be judged "...not
by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."   I still
hold fast to The Dream of a better America and a better tomorrow.

Thank you Martin for bringing us closer to realizing The Dream.

Happy Birthday.

We shall overcome!

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United Methodist News Service
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